Easy Enticing Brunei

By Cheche MoralInquirerLast updated 00:40am (Mla time) 10/22/2006

Published on page D1 of the October 22, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

OUR HOST SAID IF HE threw a stone across the room in a busy dim-sum restaurant in Brunei where we were having lunch, chances were whoever it would hit was related to him. If not, he added, pretty soon they’d be related.

He was kidding, of course, but with Brunei having a population of roughly only 350,000—just about as many as the inhabitants of several buildings on Ayala, jested one Filipino companion—quite likely he was right.

Its modern capital city of Bandar Seri Begawan is said to have one of the highest human-to-car ratios in the world (a liter of gas is about Brunei$.50; Brunei$1 = P32), though for us who live in frenzied Manila, its roads seemed like lonely empty highways.

It was imagined visions of the gilded ostentation of palaces of one of the world’s richest men that had us going when Royal Brunei Airlines (RBA), the Brunei Tourism Board and Tourism Malaysia brought our media group on a twin-city tour of Brunei and Kota Kinabalu in the Sabah state of Malaysia.

It was dusk and drizzling when our plane landed in Begawan, and even in the falling darkness, the lush foliage below was visible from our plane window. Nestled among them were sprawling abodes that would make Manila mansions seem humble in comparison. This petroleum-rich sultanate, after all, has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. It’s a state-subsidized, tax-free society.

While its Asian neighbors have long been vying for their share of the tourism market, the affluent sultanate is only now just beginning to promote itself as an alternative destination for its traveling neighbors.

“Very little is known about Brunei,” said Hj Rozman Hj Junaidi, RBA’s VP for corporate communication. “Not many know that it’s only a two-hour flight from Manila or Singapore,” and not in the Middle East as we thought.

Ideal haunt
Brunei Darussalam has a total land area of 5,271 sq km, 70 percent of which is rainforest, making it an ideal haunt for ecotourism. In the eastern part is the Ulu Temburong National Park, a vast unspoiled forest that has attracted nature lovers and scientists from all over.
Getting there is an experience in itself. A 45-minute ride aboard a water taxi, or morbidly called Flying Coffins, takes you through Kampong Ayer, the Old Brunei where some 30,000 locals still reside on houses on stilts. (The gold dome of the royal palace can be seen from here.) Thick mangroves line the water highway.

After a yummy welcome of roti and rendang at a local eatery, a short drive will take you to a pier where a motorized banca awaits to transport you on a 20-minute ultra-speed ride upstream to the park. Beats the roller coaster any day!

Don’t be surprised if you suddenly hear someone from outside your group speaking Tagalog. Brunei has some 20,000 Filipinos living or working there. (Yes, they have Jollibee, and many locals are fans of Kristine Hermosa and Jericho Rosales soaps.) Our guide, Lilian, for one, is an Ilongga married to a Bruneian for the last 17 years. In this former British protectorate, locals speak English, Malay and Chinese. (The nation boasts a literacy rate of 92 percent.)
Make sure you’ve logged months of training on the treadmill if you take this trek. Elderly Japanese tourists we met on the way up put us to shame for not breaking a single sweat!

It’s over a thousand-step uphill climb amid centuries-old trees to get to the foot of the canopy walkway, and another 50-meter climb on the steel structure that affords a breathtaking bird’s eye view of the virgin forest. Not for wusses, sure, but if you can muster enough guts your wobbly knees are justly rewarded.

Our home in Brunei was perhaps what best approximated the lavish images we had of the sultanate. The Empire Hotel and Country Club (www.theempirehotel.com) was built in 2000 to house the dignitaries of the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference. It’s a six-star beachfront hotel that has over 423 rooms and villas; three cinemas; a full-service spa and gym; and an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus-designed championship golf course, making it the ideal getaway for families, honeymooners and diehard golfers. (Brunei has four major golf courses.)

The Empire’s magnificence is underscored by its high ceilings (the atrium soars over 12 stories from floor to ceiling), gold fittings, Italian marble columns, walls and floorings, and stair railings inlaid with semiprecious stones. Its presidential suite alone has its own lap pool and costs about $17,000 a night, or equivalent to the cost of a small house! Late-edition Porsches and Lexuses line the clubhouse’s driveway at any given day.

Royal reception
If your visit falls on Oct. 26 at the end of Ramadan, make sure to join the queue at Istana Nurul Iman, the residential palace of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah. (Trivia: our National Artist Leandro Locsin designed the palace.) This is the one time of the year when the royal family opens the palace to well-wishers.

The Sultan and other male members of the family hold an audience with male guests. Her Majesty and the rest of the female royal household receive the women guests. (RBA offers Hari Raya tours for Oct. 25-27. For other packages, call 8973309, 8953545, 8996290; visit www.bruneiair.com/philippines. RBA is the only airline that flies to Brunei directly from Manila.)


But if, like us, you end up in the sultanate at other times of the year, you can make do with a visit to the Brunei Museum, where you get a glimpse of the royal trappings, including His Majesty’s coronation carriage and the gifts received from other heads of states (including a salakot and a kris from two Philippine presidents). Encased in glass are the coronation finery made of gold and precious stones, among which is a gold life-size replica of an arm, palm facing upward; our guide said this was where the royal rested his chin during the long ceremony. Soak it all up with your eyes as no picture-taking is allowed within the museum.

Also a must is a visit to the mosques. One of the main and newer ones is the 26-gold-domed Jamé Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque. The Sultan is the 26th ruler. As in any visit to a mosque, women are asked to dress modestly; an abaya, a long black robe, is provided for female visitors.
Don’t expect to find great shopping in Brunei like you would on a trip to Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur or even Manila. While it has its share of malls, BTB officials say the population is too small that they would likely not sustain bigger retail activities.


Bruneians prefer to go abroad for their own shopping. This is also why RBA is offering twin-city tours, which can be a choice of Manila-Brunei-Singapore/KL/Hong Kong/Jakarta jaunts.

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