In Brunei, couch surfing

So we're in Brunei, couch surfing...

Brunei Darussalam is a small Islamic country best known for money and oil. The guidebook calls Brunei "highly Islamic," and we flew here on 9/11, the day that some crackpot church and their idiotic minister from Florida planned on burning Korans. Add to this the fact that technically to get a visa on arrival we are supposed to have onward tickets, which we didn't have. Luckily my American passport didn't cause any problems and we easily passed through immigration.

We took a water taxi to Kampong Ayer, the world's largest water village. About 30,000 residents live in this centuries-old community.

Many of you have probably already heard of couch surfing. The basic idea is that its a network of like-minded people, building a global community. There is a host, someone with a spare room or couch available, and there are surfers, travelers looking for a place to sleep (for free) in a foreign land. But it's more than just a free bed - couch surfing is an in to the society and community that you're visiting. The experience is so much different than just walking around as a tourist.

Since Brunei is much more expensive than other countries in the region and we're on a strict budget, we decided that it was a perfect place to do our first surf. From the airport, we grabbed a taxi and headed to a residential address in Bandar Seri Begawan (the capital). The taxi drivers at the airport seemed a bit confused. It's not every day that a couple of Westerners with backpacks take a cab to a residential neighborhood in Bandar.

We lucked out. Rudy (our host), his girlfriend Amelleia, and his entire family are so welcoming and have made us feel right at home. It's almost as if we are temporary members of the family, or as if Rudy is an old friend that we're visiting.

Amelleia and Rudy

After consulting our guide book and other travelers, we decided that we could "do" Brunei in just one or two days. Perhaps if we were staying at a hotel and were on our own for touring, we might have been right. But we were totally wrong. In fact, we're enjoying our stay here so much and Rudy and his family have been so kind in inviting us to stay longer, that we decided to stay until Thursday (6 days total).

Jame’ Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque

Rudy has a passion for sharing everything about Brunei; culture, history, cuisine, politics, the good, the bad, and the ugly. He's taken us to some his favorite places to eat, and taken or directed us to all of the important sights and museums. We've hung out with some of his friends, had home cooked meals with his family, and harvested coconuts from his yard. The sale of alcohol is illegal in Brunei, but its legal for non-Muslims to take small amounts over the border (Rudy is Catholic), so we've even gotten to drink a bit.

Janet plucking coconuts

Our timing was perfect. September 10th was the first day of the Muslim holiday of Hari Raya, when the fasting ends and feasting begins. This is significant for us non-Muslim travelers for two reasons: open houses, and meeting the Sultan.

Queued up at the palace

For the first three days of Hari Raya, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah (once the richest man in the world) opens the palace up to the public (including foreigners) for a free lunch and a chance to shake hands with the Sultan and royal family (if you're male) or the Sultan's wife and female royalty (if you're female). We decided that the novelty of it was worth waiting in line, so we went to the palace, ate lunch with thousands of Bruneins, Malaysians, and migrant workers (Bruneins don't do other people's dishes), and queued up. I waited in an orderly queue for an hour and a half and anticlimactically shook his hand (its only a handshake, after all). Janet was not so lucky - she struggled through a disorderly line of women, all pushing and shoving, screaming children, and cramped quarters for four hours. I was pretty concerned that she had disappeared, since she entered the palace and never exited, and ran all around looking for her. Finally she emerged, exhausted.

Janet mentioned in a previous post that during Hari Raya people will open their houses to friends, family, and neighbors to come socialize and eat. We went to one open house in KL, and we've been to three here in Brunei. People dress in traditional (Malay Islamic) attire at these events, which is very colorful. We've had an amazing cultural experience.

At one open house, two older guests told me about a friend of theirs who, dressed in traditional attire, was detained at an American airport for 11 hours with no food or water, and then deported solely due to his clothing. The two men were clearly upset about the issue, and let me know it as if I were complicit in their friend's mistreatment. I completely agree that the way their friend was treated is wrong, and told them this. American immigration officers tend to be rude, even to Americans. And I don't doubt that a couple of ignorant a-holes would [illegally] mistreat someone in that manner. It's a shame that their actions follow me around. People like those immigration officers and the Koran burning idiots have probably never left the country and have no desire to, but their actions affect those of us who do.

On our last night, we prepared a meal for our hosts to show our appreciation

What do you all think of our couch surfing experience? Are you more inclined to do it now? Do you think we're nuts?