borneo weekend getaway p3

Most would agree that a day trip would suffice for Brunei. I still learnt a fair bit about this neighbouring country even though both share the same language and religion. In fact, if you didn't realise it, you wouldn've have guessed that you crossed over to a new country.

The landscape may be quite similar, until you start noticing that instead of English, the signboards are in Malay and Jawi.

maybank in brunei

I'm told that for Chinese restaurants, they have to send the name for proper translation into its equivalent Arabic alphabets.

face shop & its arabic equivalent

So they also have a playground which is supposedly so big it's larger than Phase 1 of Disneyland HK. Jerudong Park is the largest and most expensive amusement park in South East Asia. A few years after its opening, Michael Jackson gave a free concert in celebration of the Sultan's birthday.

Jerudong Park Playground

It used to give free rides to all, but for some reason started charging admission fees, and that was when the number of visitors started to dwindle.

Jerudong Park Garden

When we were there, it was closed, so I didn't get to see what rides they had.

not for muslims

Since it's a rather conservative Muslim country, alcohol is prohibited, though some bottles can be brought in for personal consumption. We had kolo mee, which tasted very much like wan tan mee, a form of egg noodle served with crushed garlic & shallot, minced pork, white vinegar, vegetable oil, and sliced barbeque pork.

i had already started eating when the tofu came

This little shop was found tucked on the ground floor of a residential flat which looked like only the locals would know. Looking at the pictures make me salivate, wish I had the stomach to eat more that day!