We spent a day in Brunei (official name: Brunei Darussalam), a tiny (a little larger than the state of Delaware), independent, oil-rich country wedged between the states of Sarawak and Sabah on the Malaysian side (northeast) of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia.

For some quick facts about the area, first and foremost it’s a wealthy country. Indeed, if you think of Brunei you might automatically think “Sultan of Brunei” – and why not? The Sultan of Brunei is one of the wealthiest men in the world (at last estimate, his net worth was more than $20 billion). He also has a sketchy love life such as marrying his first cousin, a few ugly divorces, and some supposed forced prostitution of beauty queens. You’ll have to look those scandalous things up for yourself. As for the people of Brunei, there are some nice benefits for Brunei’s citizens. Namely, citizens in Brunei receive free education and medical services from the government as well as subsidized gas. It might be no wonder that in 2018, Brunei ranked higher on the Human Development Index (43 overall in the index) than all other countries in Southeast Asia aside from Singapore. Lest you think it’s all butterflies and rainbows in Brunei, keep in mind that the sale and public consumption of alcohol is illegal in Brunei (although non-Muslims can bring up to two liters into the country). Also, and less tongue-in-cheek, Brunei passed a law in 2014 making homosexuality a crime punishable by ten years in prison. In 2019, it was announced that the penalty would be death by stoning. So not exactly an accepting community.

Let’s move on to what we did while in Brunei. John, Ryan, and I went on an excursion that included a mangrove cruise and a visit to a water village. We first cruised the wildlife-rich waterways outside Brunei’s capital.

The protected waterways are lined with mangroves that support an abundance of wildlife, including macaques, monitor lizards, crocodiles, and countless waterfowl, which feed on the bountiful supply of shrimp, crabs, and other aquatic creatures that inhabit these waters. The main reason we wanted to do the tour, though, was to see the famous proboscis monkeys that inhabit the mangroves. These are the monkeys with the extraordinarily long noses. Unfortunately, we saw a lot of mangroves and only a single monkey who seemed Hell-bent on hiding his (or her?) nose from our view.

After cruising the mangroves and spotting the sole monkey, we went to a water village built entirely on stilts above the Brunei River. Established more than 1,300 years ago, the village contained an amazing assortment of homes, restaurants, mosques, shops, and hospitals, all connected by rickety wooden boardwalks.

We visited one of the residences for a cup of tea and some tasty treats.

One of my favorites of the treats, in part because of how unique it was, was called a jelurut (or celurut depending on who you ask). It is a sweet long conical snack that you must unravel (or squeeze!) the palm leaves surrounding it in order to eat it. The treat itself was rather gelatinous, which I didn’t mind but Ryan and John weren’t big fans of it.

Finally, we saw a few other notable places while we were on the excursion. First, we saw two mosques. One was Jame’ Asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque, named after Hassanal Bolkiah, the 29th and current Sultan of Brunei.

Another mosque we saw was  Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque the other national mosque and national landmark.

Lastly, we saw Teng Yun Temple, located in downtown Bandar Seri Begawan (the capital), the oldest existing Chinese temple in Brunei. Flanked by much taller office blocks and a multi-story car park, this ornate Taoist temple with its bright red walls and green roof almost looked like a Chinese restaurant amidst the surrounding commercial area.

We did a little souvenir shopping at the conclusion of the excursion to round out our day. One postcard and a magnet later we returned to our home-sweet-home ship. Another country checkmark completed!