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Brunei - 'from rags to riches'
A thousand years ago an ambassador from Brunei kow-towed before the Chinese Emperor and apologised for the poverty of his country. “The king of Brunei prostrates himself before the most august Emperor and hopes that the Emperor may live ten thousand years,” he said. “My country has nothing to offer but some camphor, tortoiseshell, ivory and sandalwood. I pray your eminence will not be angry with me.”
The Brunei boondocks remained almost totally overlooked on the northern edge of the island that was then known as Kalimantan, ‘River of Diamonds’ (the name that still designates the southern, Indonesian two-thirds), for the next four centuries. Then, in 1929, oil was discovered and within a few years it had transformed the riverside settlement of Bandar Seri Begawan into a boomtown business-centre, complete with marble shopping malls and chic hotels.

Yet the unspoilt rainforest survives and Brunei provides the most convenient access into the lost world of one of the world’s greatest jungle islands.

Profile:
Area: 5,770 sq km
Population: 340,000
Population density: 59 people / sq km
Languages: While English is almost universal in Bandar Seri Begawan, the further you venture into the ‘interior’ the greater the need for a good Malay phrasebook.
Conversation stopper: ‘The New Mosque’ in Bandar Seri Begawan is surrounded by a fence with gold-plated tips. Merely surrounding the real riches of the mosque, this fence has been valued at eight million dollars.
Articles:
Venice of the East -travels through the Sultanate of Brunei
Into the Fever Trees of Borneo -an overview of one of the world’s greatest jungle islands

 

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