21st June - Brunei - He Man etc - Pulau Keraman

Saturday 21^st June

Brunei...NOT a mirage!

Brunei all day…except for this evening, when we are anchored off Pulau Keraman, which looks like a lovely, peaceful little island, not far from Labuan.  The sun was setting when we got here so…maybe we can have a few minutes here tomorrow before we rush off again, just to check it out.

Last night we had a delicious dinner at the yacht club.  Around the pool there was a party – about 10 people, all expats, mostly armed forces.  Jacqui is by profession a costume designer (movies, UK,) so she and I gravitated, fascinated, towards the party, in between delicious food courses.  She was very ticked to find a man dressed as an Oscar

while I was more thrilled to find He Man, Master of the Universe!  I told my HeMan that my very own son LOVED He Man, and was born in 1981.  As was I! he cried, happily.  (She Ra was, sadly, absent…)

This morning Jackster left early, for an idyllic island today on Pulau Tiga. We didn’t…

But our day was quite fascinating, cruising up the river into Bandar Seri Begawan.  (The river, not so inventively, is just called the Bandar Strait.)  It was nearly twenty nautical miles to get to the Istana (the Sultan’s Palace.  Maybe the BIGGEST in the world…)  We only got a glimpse…

But along  the way we saw the glorious Golden Mosque

And the 28 stilt house villages which make up the kampong where 30,0000 people still live right into the centre of the city.  On the outskirts there were grand houses behind the traditional houses;

in the city it was traditional suburban living!

And just beyond the Golden Mosque, on the way to the Istana – pristine mangroves!

I was very taken by the brand new resort facility…Mangrove Paradise Resort…

In my limited experience with mangroves…well, they are gorgeous,; fertile breeding grounds for fish, birds, prawns crocodiles etc.  And…mosquitoes!!  Why one would want to stay on an elegant little houselet perched just above a stinky mangrove swamp full of bitey insects…well…

2XS waiting patiently while we go to Harbour Master, Customs, Immigration, checking out of Brunei..