Brunei is a tiny nation on the island of Borneo of 0.4 million people, surrounded by Malaysia and the South China Sea. Brunei is known for its beaches, bio diverse rain forest, Mosques and oil reserves.

Heard Different Opinions About Brunei

I heard a few different opinions about Brunei, before it was finally my own time to visit this tiny nation and have a look at the country with my own eyes. One of my travel friends told me it was his least favorite country and a country he had some really bad experiences in. He told me he didn’t want to revisit the place at all! I still came here with an open mind as always and wanted to make my own impression.

The Sultan Of Brunei Isn’t The Most Popular Guy On Earth

Yes, we can’t neglect talking about this guy when talking about Brunei, because he is the most influential man by far in the country. The Sultan of Brunei who wants gay people stoned to death and who lives a lavish lifestyle with £19k haircuts, it’s even rumored he once paid Michael Jackson £13m to sing for his birthday. With a personal wealth of £15billion, the Sultan of Brunei is the second wealthiest monarch in the World, behind the King of Thailand, and he has been on the throne since 1967 and ruled the country.

Recently the global community has boycotted staying in some of the Sultan’s Hotels around the World, because the Sultan of Brunei wants gay people stoned to death. He has actually brought in a law to punish gay sex with death by stoning.. But like with any other country with bad leadership, I think it’s unfair to say a whole population and country is a sh*t place, because of one ‘Man in Power,’ who makes some super retarded laws and comments. There’s a big difference between the leaders of a country and the people who live there, and I think it’s an important distinction to make, yet I still obviously thought a bit about these stupid things the Sultan has done before visiting the place. Hard not to, right?!

What Is Brunei Like To Visit?

1. The Mosques

Brunei’s mosques are well-known for their beauty and elegance, and after 124 countries I can assure you of the fact that Brunei has some of the World’s most picture-perfect mosques. Traditional and futuristic elements are perfectly blended in the architecture of these mosques. For example, the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque, which uses a mixture of Mughal and Malay elements in its design. It has carpets from Saudi Arabia and chandeliers from Britain. The Ash-Shaliheen Mosque in Brunei looks like a mosque in Marrakesh, Morocco, and the Jame Asr Hassanil Mosque looks like something taken out of a Hollywood-movie. The country also has mosques that stand on stilts on a river!

2: World’s Biggest ‘Water Village’

Kampong Ayer, in Brunei’s capital, is the world’s largest settlement on stilts. Kampong Ayer literally translates to “Water Village” in Malay, and it’s quiet easy to visit the village.. Plus you can do it cheaply! You can just go to the Habour Front and negotiate a cheap price with some of the many locals, who are boating around most of the day in the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan. Kampong Ayer is called ‘Venice of the East,’ but forget all about paying 100 euros for a boat ride here, unless you want to of course. You can go for less than $10 usually, it depends on the person in the boat, but a must-visit place surely!

It’s really cool to walk around the water village and see the way the locals live here, you’ll actually find around 3% of the country’s population on these stilts. Fascinating!

The Population

Other travelers told me people were rude in Brunei, and I was actually attempted scammed on a long boat ride through the mangrove in Brunei, so I had to jump off the boat in the middle of the jungle and make my way out, more about that story later, but one bad experience obviously won’t make it or break it for me.

The feeling in Brunei was different than I expected. I was picturing a country with people who weren’t especially welcoming to outsiders, a country with extremely strict rules, etc. I guess I was expecting Brunei to be as sterile and “orderly” as Singapore, while also somehow feeling like a major Gulf city.

What I found was the opposite. The people were very warm and welcoming. Everyone was informal. I didn’t feel like I was in a police state, the capital and the country side felt very Southeast Asian. There was a lot of natural beauty and no other tourists.

Can You Travel To Brunei In Good Conscience?

I don’t like “supporting” countries with ridiculous laws like earlier stated. At the same time, I think there’s so much to learn from visiting a place you have a negative impression of, and finding out that it’s nothing like what you were expecting.

That’s not to discount some of the horrible laws in place, but rather to say that it’s worth separating out the laws created by a non-democratically elected Leader from the people who make up the country.

In terms of the destination as such, Brunei is a pretty country, yet it’s not the most exciting place on Earth, but I had a great time here. I did all of TripAdvisor’s Top 5 in Brunei, and I’m sure you can find better Top 5’s elsewhere in other places, but there still was something charming about this tiny country!

It was an interesting experience. Goodbye Brunei, my country 124.

Gustav

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