HELLO BRUNEI! What’s There to Do Here?

Honestly, I just wanted to explore Southeast Asia first—so now only Myanmar and Timor Leste are left on my list. I was super curious about what’s here, and I also have some friends and online buddies from Brunei. So if anything happens, I’m not too worried since I have some backup or people who can help me out in a foreign country, hehe.

Before going anywhere, I always do my research about accommodations, transportation, and stuff like that. One thing I noticed here is that public transportation is quite tricky. They have an app called Dartz, but registering was so difficult that I eventually gave up.

Anyway, I bought my ticket early this year because the price was pretty cheap—somewhere around (75 to 94 USD) including 20 kg checked baggage and 7 kg cabin baggage on AirAsia.

So, after leaving Bangkok, Thailand, I went back to Bandung, Indonesia for 2 days and 2 nights to take care of some work, then headed straight to Brunei.

My flight from Indonesia was supposed to leave around 7 PM, but it got delayed, so I arrived at Brunei airport at around 10 PM. I always thought, “Wow, I bet hardly anyone goes to Brunei, so the plane must be empty.” But actually, it was packed! From what I saw and noticed, many passengers were Indonesian migrant workers, mostly working as domestic helpers in Brunei.

When I got to immigration, most people weren’t there for vacation—they were working. So, the immigration lines were separate. The process was pretty quick. Basically, if the officers yell “yang cuti-cuti” (meaning for tourists on holiday), you go to that line. Don’t get confused like me—I accidentally queued in the migrant worker line, where everyone was holding paper visas. I was totally lost!

I double-checked which line was for tourists, then switched over.

They asked me what I was here for, how many days I’d stay, which hotel, and for my return ticket. Thankfully, everything went smoothly and I was allowed in. The vibe chatting with people here felt just like back home in Indonesia—no fancy Malay talk for me, hehe.

So, I decided to use the hotel’s shuttle service. Waiting around the airport back and forth without finding anything was super frustrating.
Just wandering around and—hey!—found a mosque at the airport.
Finally, I found someone from the hotel team. And guess what? I’m all alone here, hmm.

So, which hotel do you think I stayed at in Brunei?

To be continued...