Braving Brunei: The Gift

"Mga ten to fifteen minutes lang siguro," the hotel staff says in Filipino. Downtown Bandar Seri Begawan, he said, is just about a quarter of an hour away. Though you are about 800 miles away from Manila, you instantly feel like you are home - almost all the staff members of your hotel on Jalan Tutong are Filipinos, from the front desk clerks,  to the room attendants, and even to the restaurant staff.

It is almost 10AM. You swear it must be at least 34 degrees Celsius. Under the mind-blowing, blazing heat of the sun, outside your hotel, Mexie, your friend, pulls out a map as she wipes her forehead with her right arm. You feel heavy sweating on your back. Ignoring this, you pull out your map too, as TC, your favorite travel companion, starts taking photos again of what seems to be just buildings.

Your fingers trace the road you intend to take, to get to downtown BSB.

"The guy said it'd just be 15 minutes," you tell them both, as if asking for approval that it's a good idea to walk, despite the heat. You need to save for last minute shopping, of course. So every cent counts.

Mexie agrees, "I do not see any buses around anyway." TC, who seems indifferent whether we make it at all to downtown adds, "I don't think there are taxis here either."

So, the majority has spoken - we are walking.

You see a tailoring shop in a shopping arcade near your hotel. You decide to ask for directions from a local. The friendly Indian-looking tailor gives you instructions to just cross the road, right outside the complex, and just keep on walking. What's tricky about your map is that it does not distinguish an alley from a main road at all. Thus, the confusion.

"Terima kasih," you thank the tailor, in Bahasa Malay, which is what the locals speak in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei.

Scanning the horizon from left to right, you wonder where North is. Yes, you know how to read a map. But when it gets to a map like this, where you do not even know where you are, all the hope you have left is some local who'd point you to the right direction.

"I think it's that way," you point to the giant billboard. TC and Mexie, who are obviously sweating and thirsty by now, follow. This gotta be the right way. This has to work, or else, you know they would blame you later.

You cross the street and follow a concrete path, only to find yourself in the middle of a park with no real way out. You are surrounded by all sorts of tropical plants. It really feels like home.

The three if you  can see the main road a few meters away And seeing that the road is a little blurry only means one thing: it's already too hot out here, so you have to find at least a place to rest at.

Now if you get to the road, you know you'd have to jaywalk. You have heard of the harsh punishments Brunei has for breaking the law and you are not about to do that in another country. But seeing the main road, which looks like an exit from the freeway, you run towards it, with TC and Mexie shrieking at the top of their lungs as they follow you. You are all scared to be caught running on a pathless patch of land which is also submerged in a little water. Mexie almost left her right shoe, as it was muddy too.

"One-two-three. NOW!", you and your gang cross the main road, from under a giant billboard.

You check if someone saw you. You look to your left. You look to your right. And you realized, you should have done this (yeah, looking to the left and right) before crossing the street.

"Close call, we're safe," Mexie says, as she continues walking and rubbing her shoe against the pavement, to remove the mud. TC, as if nothing happened, continues taking some shots on his Fisheye.

About half an hour after leaving your hotel, and already feeling (and probably smelling) like sun-dried fish, you decide to rest in a waiting shed.

"Do you think we should take the bus?", you ask them, as you see one going the opposite direction. You all agree that based on the map, you should be close anyway. Besides, it looks like Mexie is enjoying this long walk. TC couldn't care less, still - he's taking his pictures.

So you continue treading the supposed 15-minute path, as the sun cooks you from rare to medium well done. Ten more minutes and the chef would probably throw you out the window.

The walk is an interesting one, though not as eventful as other countries you have visited. Brunei really looks like home, minus the trash on the streets, the homeless people, and the bumper-to-bumper traffic. Here, you can take a deep breath without the risk of lung cancer.

About an hour after, you spot something. The coffee shop signage looks like an oasis to you, Mexie, and TC. You are way, way dehydrated. So you take a much needed 20-minute rest. You couldn't believe the hotel staff. He said 15 minutes and here you are, you don't even know where you are.

"Can we smoke outside?," you ask the barista who you swear could pass for a Filipino. He explains with his Malay accent, "No smoking outside, but sometimes people still smoke there." Great, now you can smoke. While pulling out your pack of Marlboro Lights from your front pocket, you confirm again, "There are no cops, right?"

"That, I do not know. Maybe, sometimes."

Okay, that's enough to give this up. You'd find a place to smoke later anyway, you tell yourself, but that's not what the sign outside the coffee shop says.

You swear to God that there's a list of about 20 or more places you cannot smoke at (including coffee shops), or else you will be fined (or maybe jailed, you think). It's almost as if it is telling you that you won't get to smoke anymore until you get out of the country; which shouldn't be long from now.

This, after all, is just an overnight sidetrip. You wonder if Mexie and TC feel the same way. Like what the Filipino waiter said yesterday, "I'm sure di na kayo babalik dito." She's sure that we won't come back anymore.

The three of you proceed to navigate the side streets of what seems to be already downtown. Sensing that this alley does not necessarily have vehicular traffic, you light a cig, with much excitement like a 4-year old opening a candy bar, observing if the locals would frown at the act. And since no one really seems to care, despite what you read about smoking in front of Muslim being disrespectful, you manage to steal four or five puffs before putting it out, and run towards Mexie and TC to see if they have found your destination.

The  narrow road now leads to a busier area, and from where you, Mexie and TC stand, you see a river. You cross the road, while already following traffic rules.

You stand in the middle of what looks like a town plaza and marvel at Kampung Ayer at the other side of the river.

Kampung Ayer is a water village, where houses are built on stilts. It kinda looks like some of the houses in Manila Bay, except that as far as you are concerned, there are no poor people in Brunei. With its rich oil reserves, the working class does not even have to worry about income tax.

Boats acting like river taxis transport people from where you are to Kampung Ayer. There are probably hundreds or even thousands of houses across the river. You ask Mexie and TC if they want to take a river taxi and just sail around, but one travel article your read about an accident convinces you it's not a good idea anyway.

You cross the road again to what looks like a commercial center. The Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Complex is actually a medium-sized mall selling clothing, jewelry, and a lot of other things.

You only want to find one item in this mall before heading back to your hotel to catch your 5PM flight back to Kota Kinabalu.

Two hours after leaving your hotel, which should have been only 15 minutes according to the hotel staff, you start digging through a pile of Giordano shirts for women. You find it and you smile. You pay for the shirt, with the sales clerk probably wondering if it is for you. But you do not care.

It's enough reason to brave this two-hour, heat stroke-causing walk.

You pull out the I LOVE BRUNEI  t-shirt from its bag on your way home. It's for your mom. She'd be very happy to try this on.

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Happy Mother's Day everyone!