Not all those who wander are lost
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AKAMA REPORT 12
9 August 2003
In our last report, we left Sarawak and headed off on our own for
Brunei. Brunei's full name is Nation of Brunei, Abode of Peace (Malay:
Negara Brunei Darussalam). It is a sultanate located on the northern
coast of the island of Borneo, bounded on the north by the South China
Sea, and on all other sides by the Malaysian state of Sarawak. Dense
tropical rain forest covers 84 percent of the total area of 5,765 sq km;
much of it is primary growth (never logged). Petroleum and natural gas
are the primary mineral resources, making it a very rich country.
The first day of the trip was long, 12-hours, but uneventful. We
stopped overnight just outside a beautiful, but totally empty marina.
The breakwater alone was breathtakingly huge, and incredibly well built
(well, perhaps only a yachtie can appreciate a well built breakwater).
We were going to anchor inside but were waved away by a soldier. We
assumed that this was the Sultan's private anchorage, as another yacht
had passed through and reported it to be so, and one of his palaces is
nearby. It turns out that it is one of a number of failed ventures by
the Sultan's brother and we probably could have anchored there
overnight, had we entered later in the day and left early. In any case,
we anchored just outside and spent a quiet night, sheltered by the
marina wall.
On 26 June, we went into Muara and checked in with immigration and
customs, one of the easiest we have encountered; we were
suspicious...but thankful. Muara is a port town outside the capital
city, Bandar Seri Begawan. After spending the night anchored near the
Royal Brunei Yacht Club (RBYC) we went up river on the rising tide to
Bandar. This was a fascinating trip. Like Malaysia, the river is lined
here and there with stilt villages, called kampung air (kampung meaning
village and air or ayr meaning water in Bahasa-Malayu). The earliest
inhabitants of SE Asia lived in stilt villages and some of the villages
can trace their origin back centuries.
Stilt villages are traditionally built of local materials, and there are
still plenty of these around. First, wooden posts (now concrete) are
driven into the ground, some on shore and some in the water, and then
wooden houses and shops are erected over them. Equally-elevated, wooden
sidewalks run helter-skelter from house to house. Water is either
caught or run in from a nearby stream (see Report 4 for a brief
description); nowadays they are connected to water mains. Sewage
disposal is a hole in the floor to the river or tidal mud flat below,
which seems to bother the environment less than our sensibilities.
There is plenty of marine life, but low tide neaps can sometimes provide
a pungent aroma until a higher tide cleans things up. Unfortunately,
garbage disposal is often similar and many of the rivers are terribly
polluted with plastic bags. We snapped a photo of one spot that was
wall to wall garbage, mostly plastic. It was so dense that a cat was
sunning itself atop the floating mass!
Stilt villages in Brunei are obviously more well to do, some being brand
new, concrete construction with all the modern conveniences from water
and sewer to phone and satellite TV. As we neared Bandar, we ran close
aboard the edge of the world's largest stilt village, which occupies the
entire bank opposite Bandar.
The whole river in Bandar is mayhem, mostly due to water taxis zooming
around all over the river by the dozens. These are small open boats
with huge outboards. We proceeded through Bandar, sightseeing, to where
the water shallows near the edge of town, and then retreated about
10-miles down river to the Bandar branch of the RBYC, anchoring opposite
their pontoon. The yacht club has an excellent air conditioned dining
room, a snooker room, a library and so on. We had a terrific meal,
including a bottle of smuggled wine (alcohol was banned in Brunei about
15 years ago) and settled in for the night.
Brunei is ruled by a sultan who is like kings used to be before they
were emasculated by parliaments. He was once the richest man in the
world. In any case this guy still has a few bucks, as evidenced by the
jewels and other artefacts on display at the Royal Regalia building. In
another display of wealth he built a beautiful theme park full of
world-class rides, as a gift to the people; it must have cost hundreds
of millions of dollars. While still operating, it is now nearly
deserted. We rode everything that still worked and were open, except
the largest roller coaster. The most awesome was the Free Fall, which
took us high into the air and then dropped us to the ground. It must be
like being in an elevator with a severed cable, except that on the
ride, at the last possible moment, unseen technology slows the descent
for a soft landing. Like most royalty, the sultan is not without
skeletons in his closet. He had two wives, the first (and current) one
and the second, a former airline stewardess. The latter is now
imprisoned in one of the Sultan's palaces for infidelity. The man she
was seeing was reportedly a very ugly Indonesian...Rasputin syndrome?
She was to have her head chopped off, except that wife number one asked
for clemency. He also has a brother who spends huge amounts of the
royal money on questionable projects, like the unfinished marina and a
6-star hotel that is mostly under booked. He's currently out of the
country in disgrace but rumour has it that he's coming back soon.
Brunei is rich in wildlife, including monkeys, birds and reptiles. At
the Brunei tourist information centre, we met Jungle Dave, a local
conservationalist and guide. Dave is a fount of knowledge about Brunei,
even though he hails from a place nearby in Malaysia. Dave took us on
an eco-tour of the river, upstream from Bandar. This area is protected,
as is about 20-percent of the country. As such, it is closed to casual
visitors, including tourists, and is therefore teeming with wildlife. A
special permit is required to enter, and these are generally granted
only to certified guides like Dave. We saw saltwater crocodiles,
several species of egrets, lizards and monkeys. We learned that there
are 39,000 proboscis monkeys in the area, the greatest number in Borneo,
the only place in which they are found. If you are not familiar with
these creatures, you've got to look them up in your encyclopaedia;
Encarta has a photo. The Malay word for them translates as 'Dutchman',
due to their striking nose and pot belly. They have the large pot belly
due to the need to consume daily about twenty percent of their body
weight in leaves and fruit. The adult male's large, flat and fleshy
nose droops downward over the chin and probably functions to attract
females. These are the largest monkey, males measuring up to about 30
inches in head and body length. We saw several bands of them on the
tour, although they were far enough away to make us wish that we'd taken
with us a good pair of binoculars. Until recently, the existence of
these monkeys in Brunei has been kept from most of the world. Even the
locals, mostly city dwellers, are not informed about them. According to
Dave this secrecy is intentional, as the locals would probably hunt
them to near extinction for "traditional medicine".
We stayed in Brunei for nearly two weeks, as Louise-Ann had to renew her
passport. While the tourist guides generally are not high on Brunei,
we were not bored; the place was worth the visit.
We left Brunei for Labuan (Sabah) on 9 July, travelling down the river
back to Muara, where we discovered that our easy entry was just a fluke.
We had lots of bureaucratic hurdles to leap over for our exit,
including extra paperwork to atone for our earlier easy entry. Just
when we figured we had it aced, the authorities realized that Louise-Ann
had a new passport and required us to go back to Bandar to have it
stamped. We won't bore you with the details, but it took us all
afternoon to accomplish this seemingly simple task.
The trip to Labuan was uneventful, as it is only about 25 miles from
Bandar. Labuan is a duty-free port, which was the reason we went there.
We had planned to stop only long enough to stock up on cheap grog and
then move on to Sabah. However, the city has a certain charm, despite
the polluted mess that constitutes the anchorage. We entered during a
rain squall and hoped to anchor in the local marina, which we heard was
now disused. Well, it is not only disused; it is gone, except for the
breakwater, which is closed by a boom to stop the garbage from building
up in it. The last vestiges of the docks are a few pilings and broken
pontoons that are piled up on the shore. The former club house is still
there, operating as a hotel, which is what it really was in any case.
There are, apparently, no plans to rebuild the docks, due to lack of
money.
Father in, opposite the ferry terminal, we noticed a few small boats
moored near a stilt village, so we anchored there. This was
surprisingly comfortable, even though it is at the end of the bay where
there should not be much shelter from the SW monsoon. We expected
swells to bother us, but none came in. During the day, though, we were
jostled about quite a bit by passing fishing boats and by water taxis
similar to those in Brunei.
Stocking up in Labuan is great, as there are several decent
supermarkets, a great wet market and tons of bottle shops. The
selection of fish, vegetables and fruits in the wet market is awesome;
although far from the biggest, it is among the best we've encountered in
Malaysia. The grog is amazingly cheap. For example, a bottle of
Philippine Rum costs about four U.S. bucks. Branded, hard spirits
average about ten dollars a litre. Wines, mostly Australian, are on
offer starting at about six dollars, and most sell for much less than
the Australian domestic price.
We were invited for a tour aboard LADY DAWN, a ship used to tend
off-shore oil platforms, both for anchoring, provisioning, fire fighting
and rescue. There are lots of these ships around, as Borneo has lots
of off shore oil. Though 20-years old, the ship is amazingly well
equipped with computers and all the latest telecommunication equipment.
The motor for one of its bow thrusters is more powerful than AKAMA's
main engine. Its main propulsion is four CAT 3408 diesels, driving two
variable pitch propellers. After the visit, two of the ship's officers
took us to a local restaurant that calls itself a yacht club, which it
may have been at one time. The food, all Asian, was terrific and
reasonably priced.
We proceeded from Labuan to Kota Kinabalu, taking two short days to make
the trip. Overnight we anchored on the secluded, eastern shore of
Pulau Tiga (Third Island), where we rocked and rolled all night due to
incoming swells. Pulau Tiga has a small resort on its western side,
which we did not visit. Trivia buffs may want to know that this is
where the first Survivor TV show was made. The next day we went to KK,
taking an indirect route so as to see the islands along the way. There
seems to be lots of good cruising around here.
Well, that's it for now. We intend to stay here for several months, as
the weather going further north of here will not be safe until at least
October.
PS: We've received several emails from our readers telling us that
they've passed our reports on to friends. More recently, one of our
friends suggested that they be placed on a web site. While we're
flattered that people find our ramblings interesting, these reports are
intended to be personal letters to our friends and relatives. We would
not want to see them posted on the internet or otherwise published,
although passing them on to your friends, especially if they know us, is
fine.
PPS: We still do not hear much from most of our friends and relatives.
Please drop us an email from time to time telling us what's going on in
your world. |
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