Story and photos by Benjamin Layug
Brunei Darussalam (Arabic for “abode of peace”) is often overlooked by travelers as a viable Southeast Asian destination as this well-ordered and tightly regulated sultanate, with the largest oilfields in Southeast Asia, is the first country in the region to adopt the Islamic penal code at national level, a move that hasn’t exactly served as a tourism draw card. However, it remains one of the world’s safest countries for travelers and, if you look beneath the surface, it’s well worth stopping by to soak up for a couple of days and feel the underlying warmth of its people.
To check it out, my son Jandy and I joined a group of travel agents from the Business Executives Alliance in Tourism, headed by President York Virtucio, leaving for a familiarization tour of the country. We left on the eve of Eid al-Adha, one of Islam’s most important holidays, which commemorates Abraham’s near-sacrifice of his son Ishmael. The trip, via Royal Brunei Airlines from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal I, took all of two hours. Our home for the three days in the capital Bandar Seri Begawan would be the 112-room Times Hotel, conveniently located near the airport and atop a shopping center.
Day two was to be a whole-day tour, which would take us to majestic mosques, a museum, an entire “suburb” on stilts and a thriving food scene. Our first stop was the Jame’asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque, the country’s largest mosque, named after Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzadin Waddaulah (the dynasty’s 29th ruler). Started in 1988 and opened on July 14, 1994, the night before the sultan’s 48th birthday, it was built to commemorate the monarchy’s silver jubilee rule. This stunning and beautiful mosque has four terrazzo-tiled minarets that dominate their surroundings, plus 29 golden domes. At night the mosque is lit up like a gold flame. The interior more than matches the mosque’s lavish exterior, with a prayer hall laid with a beautiful carpet and lit with a big chandelier. When the Sultan comes here for Friday prayer, he has his own personal escalator at his private entrance to the mosque. Serene gardens, with fountains and pools with many species of flowers and plants, decorate the landscape.
Next stop was the Royal Regalia Museum, a large semicircular, gold-domed structure fitted with especially designed mosaics that was established to celebrate the 1992 Silver Jubilee of the Sultan’s coronation. Here, we were presented a historical review of the present Sultan’s life, narrated through family pictures with detailed narrative texts. The main display at the entrance hall is a huge Royal Chariot, a “gold-leafed winged chariot” that was used for the parade carrying the Sultan through the streets of the city during the silver jubilee celebration.
After a sumptuous buffet lunch at the Millennium Restaurant and a short photo-opportunity stopover at the main gate of the Istana Nurul Iman, the Sultan’s Palace, we proceeded to a jetty, where we rode a water taxi to tour the charmingly haphazard Water Village, actually small villages consisting of over 4,200 structures, including homes, mosques, restaurants, shops, schools and a hospital, all resting on stilts over the water, and linked together by more than 29,140 meters of foot-bridges and 36 kilometers of boardwalks. Docking at a jetty, we traversed a wooden boardwalk to get to one home where we were served snacks and tea.
Our last stop was the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque, a famous tourist attraction often considered as one of the most beautiful mosques in the Asia Pacific. Named after the 28th sultan of Brunei, this example of modern Islamic architecture was designed by the architect and sculptor Rudolfo Nolli and was completed in 1958. Built in an artificial lagoon, the 52-meter (171-foot) high mosque has marble minarets, golden domes (the main dome is covered in pure gold) and a courtyard. The interior features stained glass windows, arches, semidomes and marble columns. The marble is from Italy, the granite from Shanghai (China), the crystal chandeliers from England and carpets from Saudi Arabia. A nearby marble bridge leads to a replica of the 16th-century Sultan Bolkiah Mahligai Barge, completed in 1967 to commemorate the 1,400th anniversary of Nuzul Al-Quran (coming down of the Koran).
Our last day was spent shopping. Others availed themselves of an early-morning tour of a nearby mangrove forest, where they could observe proboscis monkeys in the wild. Longing for Filipino food, we all had lunch at the Filipino-owned Cocina de Lola, dining on beef kaldereta and kare-kare, before leaving for the airport.
Image credits: Benjamin Layug