According to a friend you can't tick a country off your travel list unless you've left the airport. So Hong Kong stays on the list. Today, however, I have had the pleasure of exploring a brand new city, one that wasn't on the list, and probably never would have been.
I'm currently laid over in Brunei, in transit between New Zealand and London, for 12 hours. My initial impressions of Brunei were limiting. On the plane we were reminded that drug traffiking is punishable by the death penalty. On the arrivals card I am asked if I have any jewellery, cigarettes or telecommunication devices. All of which I have, but for some reasons I am suddenly hesitant to admit to.
To my pleasant suprise though, Brunei airport offered a free two-hour city tour to visitors in transit from specific countries. With my electronics equipment on the blink a tour of the city offered an exciting reprieve from a 36 hour leg to London.
Stepping outside the airport into the muggy heat (it was 30 degrees at 7.30am) seven of us were bundled into a small, air-conditioned mini van as our lovely tour guide (who didn't look a day over 12) educated us about Brunei life. And what a life it is.
The city itself seems ridiculously clean and so, so green. Luscious, colourful plants grow everywhere (75 percent of the land here is covered in forest), the vehicles are new and many of the government buildings and several of the sculptures gifted to the city from the Sultan are coated in gold.
The average salary is $2500 a month, all of which is take-home pay because tax isn't imposed here. In fact, it's hard to spend anything around here. Gas is about 30 cents a litre. Education is roughly $25 a year (for the cost of textbooks etc), healthcare is free bar a small registration fee of $1. If you are very sick and you can't be treated in Indonesia the Sultan will fly you anywhere in the world to be treated, along with one family member, "so you don't have to go alone."
Lunch was at a local market. A can of diet coke, five spring rolls and a meal of beef stir fry with rice cost $2 (and I was very kindly shouted by a fellow tourist as I didn't have any local currency on me). We were even treated to a paparazzi style police motorcade as the Prince of Brunei was shuttled to his palace through a big traffic jam.
Maybe it was the euphoria at being let out of the airport but I could almost begin to see sense in such strict penalties on drug smuggling. These people seem to have a wonderful way of life, their country is rich and their Sultan is very well respected. What's the saying? Don't look a gift horse in the mouth? Crime rates are a very low five percent and it's easy to see why- in a country where the people are given so much, why would you feel the need to rebel?
| That Sultan sure is swish- gold coated palace |
