If you were the Sultan of a tiny country that had, to be honest, nothing going for it, and then, much to your joy, you discovered that you were in fact sitting upon untold amounts of oil, would you:

a. Celebrate by building a US$350 million palace?
b. Allow your brother to go on a US$16 billion spending-spree?
c. Build grand shopping malls and then fill them with products no one can afford?

Well, if you answered a,b or c, you might well be Sir Hassanal Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei. Yup, Brunei is a tad strange, but yet, somewhat paradoxically, still able to live up to its name as the most boring destination in South East Asia. It’s not a horrible place by any means, but as you wonder the empty streets and malls you can’t help but wonder why, with so much wealth at its disposal, Brunei hasn’t done more to attract tourists.

One reason could be its zero tolerance approach to alcohol consumption which, for the average backpacker, makes venturing into its borders on par with purgatory. That said, having travelled through so many countries that have sold their souls to mass tourism, it’s nice to see a society standing by their core beliefs.

After walking aimlessly for half a day, we decided we should at least take the customary boat ride out onto the massive river that runs beside the city. The thunder clouds overhead added an element of excitement and we at least got to see the shanty towns that line the riverbank.

And that was pretty much how we spent out time in Brunei. Perhaps we could have given it more of a chance but, then again, maybe Brunei should have tried harder to impress us.

I will, however, give you a small gallery. Click here if you have time to kill…

Categories: South East Asia
Tags: Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei