From Singapore to Brunei International Airport (13. Jan. 2019)

Sunday morning (13. Jan. 2019), I arrived into Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam!

Some of you may be wondering what Brunei is and why go there. Glad you asked (cheesy, I know).
Brunei Darussalam is a tiny country on the island on the northern coast of Borneo. The Malaysian state Sarawak surrounds Brunei, except for the coastline. Brunei takes up all of 5,765 sq. km. (2,226 sq. miles). Not big by any stretch of the imagination, but not quite minuscule either.

I have a thing for tiny countries. I'm also fascinated by countries/regions that are unknown to the majority of people I know. I guess I'm an explorer.
Something else is that I was supposed to go down there last winter vacation, but I sprained my ankle and canceled all those vacation plans instead. Better said, I postponed them indefinitely. Needless to say, I was extremely grateful and excited to go this time around!

From Singapore

To catch my 8:40am flight to Brunei, I needed to get to Changi Airport by 6:30am. Since I wasn't familiar with Singaporean traffic, I decided I needed to get a taxi by 6am. Mission: "6am-taxi" was successful.

Chinatown (where my hostel was), Singapore at 6am. 

You'll never see Chinatown like this at 6pm.

Beside my hostel. There's a lamp post going through the "H" in "Chinatown."

Arrived at the airport, went through the first batch of security (check boarding pass, passport, & a fingerprint), and was able to roam freely around the terminals.
First things first: where can I get breakfast? Oh, at a 24hr food court? Let's go and see what they've got.

My breakfast at Straits Food Village in Terminal 2.

You should be able to read what was in the dish I ordered.
After being in Singapore, I now realized that this was an "expensive" set.

Before

After

Oh man, that was great.
Let's walk it off (and occupy the time) by wandering around the terminal.

The Water Lily Garden in Changi Airport

Even their signs are quite "green."

At your gate, you go through security again, but this is when your bags go through the x-ray machines, and you have to empty out your pockets. Singapore does airport security differently.

In the airplane

Brunei and Singapore have a lot in common.

The 2(+/-) hour flight to BSB was one of the few times I got an exit row seat. Having to put all my stuff in the overhead compartment was a little annoying, but the legroom I got more than made up for it. I had the row all to myself too. I was assigned an aisle seat but then moved to the window for landing. I love flights that aren't thoroughly booked.

One benefit of having an exit row seat. This was a first for me.

I appreciate the list of ingredients. Who would've known?

Hi there, King Cloud.

Hello, Brunei!

I haven't seen so much nature in so long.

Behold, Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital city of Brunei.

Some of Royal Brunei's fleet.

Immigration was very painless. Perhaps that was because there wasn't much of a line (were we that early at 10:50am?).
I was Couchsurfing for my accommodation in Brunei, and my hostess was really busy and wouldn't be able to pick me up until 20:00+ that evening. Good to know I didn't need to rush to get anywhere. Not-so-good to realize I had to drag my carryon everywhere I went. It wasn't heavy or anything, it's just the fact that I need to have it with me at all times.
Meh, onward.

Bathrooms

When you go to the toilet in Brunei, you have 2 options...

Option 1

Option 2

Notice that there's a hose? Westerners/toilet-paper-users, toilet paper is used, but it's not that normal of a thing there. The common thing to do is to use the hose. I'm not used to it. I prefer toilet paper, but I accepted the challenge, even though I didn't like it that much.

Money

Brunei has their own dollar. The paper money is actually made of plastic. The Bruneian Dollar is tied in value to the Singaporean Dollar. This means, you can use your Singaporean Dollars in Brunei--and your Bruneian Dollars in Singapore (however, I've found Singaporeans to be not-too-happy to take Bruneian Dollars. Ten dollar Bruneian notes in Singapore are fine, but don't push your luck with Bruneian coins).

Bruneian Dollars (front)

Bruneian Dollars (back)

Brunei International Airport Mosque

Brunei is a Muslim country. In case you didn't know, you should when you see the airport has its own mosque--and it is lovely.

Brunei International Airport Mosque from inside Arrivals (small airport)

You must take your shoes off before continuing.

I guess you should wash your feet before entering. Makes sense.

I can't get enough of these patterns.

You don't have to be Muslim to appreciate this mosque's beauty and elegance.

In case you were wondering if hashtags are a thing in Brunei.

From here, I got a taxi to the Royal Regalia Museum. More on that in the next post.