Day 3: Labuan to Brunei

16/4/2011. Saturday.

I sleep and surf the net again. Had late breakfast at the cafe.. which is very simple. I went to the nearby pasar and minimart and bought some replacement for the minibar. After that I check out at 12.00pm. I decided not to explore the town at the other side of the island. Bought some chocolate at the duty free and off to the ferry. Before that I had lunch at the chinese coffee shop. I plan to had coto makasar as suggested by my friend but its sold out. Had to settle for nasi ayam instead. The journey to brunei took about 1 hour. I arrive at the Muara and took a teksi sapu which cost me brunei 20 but then again he ask for another 5dollar. fuck teksi sapu. I wont ever use your service tomorrow. I slept at the hostel at pusat belia which is very cheap.. Only R$10 per nite. Can pay using dollar brunei or Singapore (the rate is pretty much the same)

I share the room with Manabu, a japanese from Yokohama who is backpacking south east asia for 3 months. Amazing, for this trip hed been to Philipines, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia & singapore. He said that he is working in a hotel industry and it is winter in japan right now so theres little demand for the business. Thus, his boss encourage his staff to take vacation. Manabu is a seasoned backpacker and he had been to south amerika, south africa, new zealand , aussie and a few other contreis every winter.

Hes jealous that I had paid little for this trip.. saying that malaysian are lucky because we have air asia.. He also praise Malaysian muslim who he says are very kind, help him during his cyling trip from Penang to KL.

At 4 pm I decide to take a walk around the hostel area. The area is very strategic, located nearby lots of attractions. I met fellow Malaysian, Lan at the same dorm. He gave me an illustrated map that is very handy. I walk to the Kampung Air jetty but decided not to take a boat to the other part due to time constrain. I walk to the Masjid with a big ship in front of it and just stroll around that area. What I like about Brunei is how they preserve the old building and fuse it with development. Tulisan Jawi is well preserved here. Been here its like been in old skool KL. I walk back to the hostel at dawn after I had KFC. The KFC taste almost the same as Malaysia. I tried it because a Brunei Blogger told me that KFC Malaysia is tasteless compared to Brunei. I had it just to proof the fact and boy he was wrong. But I can approved that KFC in Singapore taste bad compared to Malaysia. The chicken is not fresh.

Had a shower, then walk to the 24 hour nasi katok joint, Sri Mama Express. Nasi katok is the official dish of Brunei and I cant miss it. The taste is very unique unlike anything I ever taste in Malaysia. The rice is creamy, but not like nasi lemak..its like pulut durian creamy and the sambal is sweet but not the same as sambal kelantan.

After I had my dinner and stroll along the waterfront near kampung air, noticing some bapuks there. Get back to the hostel, had a chat with Lan and Manabu and off to sleep.