Saturday, February 28, 2015
Leaving Darwin, Australia
heading out through the Timor Sea for Muara, our next port, and the Island of Borneo, the 4th largest
island in the world, we will be at sea for 4 days.
On the second sea day we travelled
through the Banda Sea, full of hundreds of islands, the Halmahera and Ceram
Seas. A number of islands in the Banda
Sea are active volcanoes - none which, thankfully, erupted during our passage.
The third and fourth sea days we
continue sailing through the Indonesia archipelago and the Molucca Sea. The area is rich is coral and known for
diving.
Arriving at Muara, the port and
gateway for Brunei's capital city, Bandar Seri Begawan is approximately a 45
minute bus ride away. Bandar Seri Begawan
is the largest city in the sultanate of Brunei.
It is grounded in Islamic tradition and is one of Asia's most uniquely
distinct capital cities. Brunei embraced
Sharia Law two years ago.
The Sultan of Brunei is one of the
World's richest men, making his money from oil at approximately $120 million a
DAY and supports his family and the 400,000+ people of his country.
We visited the major sites of
Brunei. Kampong Ayer is an assortment of
28 villages built on stilts over water connected by wooden walkways. Some call this area the "Venice of the
East".....
A must stop is the Royal Regalia
Museum where you are required to remove your shoes. The museum tells the story of the rich
historical past, it's luxury and splendor.
One of the most beautiful mosques in
the world with marble minarets, golden domes, courtyards and lush gardens is
the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque. Every
mosque we saw had golden domes and we saw many!
But the most amazing site we saw was
the palace, the Istana Nurul Iman, means "Palace of the Light of
Faith." The official residence of
the Sultan of Brunei spans over 2,000,000 square feet and has 3,000 employees,
who live in their own apartment complex.
The gates to gain entrance to the grounds, the lake, polo area, etc,
just goes on and on - amazing.
We set sail at 6PM for Kota
Kinabalu, Malaysia, also on the Island of Borneo and will arrive tomorrow.
