City Reflection: Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

By: Isaac Olson

After traveling around Malaysia for several weeks, entering the capital city of Bandar Seri Begawan (commonly shortened to Bandar) in the tiny country of Brunei Darussalam was a noticeable difference. First off, getting to this place wasn't entirely easy. One can fly there without much difficulty, but the flights are usually quite expensive, especially on Royal Brunei Airlines. My fiancée and I opted to take a fast ferry from Kota Kinabalu in the Sabah state of Malaysia. The boat rocked terribly and made us both sick, but we briefly stopped on the duty free island of Labuan to change boats giving us some respite.

Getting to Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

Arriving in Brunei is nothing spectacular. The ferry terminal is relatively small, and there wasn't even a place open to exchange money. A bus ride into the city center took about twenty minutes. The condition of the roads while approaching Bandar was very good in comparison to Malaysian Borneo and there was a definite air of wealth and organization that is not as discernible in Malaysia. The city center of Bandar is quite small, since the city only has about 30,000 inhabitants. Although, even for this number of people, it didn't seem very large.