MY 2-DAY TRIP IN THE MAJESTIC COUNTRY OF BRUNEI DARUSSALAM

  The Jame ASR Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque

This is my first time to visit Brunei Darussalam, just a side trip when I climbed Mount Kinabalu.  Just for a reference, Brunei is a tiny nation on the island of Borneo with a total area of 5,765 square kilometers or 2,226 square miles, where the island of Samar of the Philippines is even bigger with a total land area of 6,048.03 square kilometers.   It has 2 distinct sections surrounded by Malaysia and the South China Sea. The capital of Brunei is Bandar Seri Begawan, the only city of the country, the home to the opulent Jame'Asr Hassanil Bolkiah mosque and its 29 golden domes.  The capital's massive Istana Nurul Iman palace is the residence of Brunei's ruling sultan.

Lunch stopover in the town of Pekan Sipitang of Sabah, Malaysia

Our tour package afforded us to have a van transport from the city of Kota Kinabalu, also a part of Sabah, Malaysia.  After 2 hours and 50 minutes of land travel from Kota Kinabalu, we had a stopover for lunch in the town of Pekan Sipitang, also a part of Sabah.

Arriving Brunei after 6 hours of land travel from Kota Kinabalu

It actually took us four passport stamps for our land travel from Kota Kinabalu to Brunei, because there is a need to cross both Sarawak/Sabah and Brunei/Malaysia borders.  You will get stamped out of Sabah, into/out of Sarawak/Limbang, and into/out of Brunei's exclave (Temburong) before reaching mainland Brunei.  This this is the detailed road travel key checkpoints:

           Checkpoint 1:  Exit Sabah, Malaysia (Sindumin)

           Checkpoint 2:  Enter Sarawak, Malaysia (Merapok)

           Checkpoint 3:  Exit Sarawak (Limbang/Pandaruan)

           Checkpoint 4:  Enter Brunei (Temburong District)

Dinner treat at Borneo Kopitiam Restaurant with my cousin

As soon as we arrived in Brunei, my travel buddies had check-in to their accommodation which is just within the city center while I my cousin, Jovito Bracero, who works in Brunei, met me and treated me for dinner at Borneo Kopitiam and drove me to my accommodation at Poni Homestay just near his accommodation.  It was our first meeting after so many years, so he gave me 50 Brunei Dollars with peso equivalent of P2,350 and a Philippine peso of P1,700.  I only exchanged P6,000 at the nearby foreign exchange which was converted to 130.43 Brunei Dollars.

The Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien Bridge

After dinner, Jovito tour me around Brunei.  The first destination that we visited was the entrance of the Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien Bridge.  This is the very bridge that we passed thru earlier in going to Brunei from Kota Kinabalu.  This is also called Temburong Bridge, a 30-kilometer and US$1.7B structure connecting Brunei's Temburong District to the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan.  It is considered as the Southeast Asia's longest bridge which includes 14km of marine viaducts, 12km of swamp viaducts, two cable-stayed spans, and advanced RGBW LED lighting, cutting travel time to under 30 minutes.