Our last few days have basically been in a city so not much happening there!
Today we caught a bus to Brunei. Passport was checked as we boarded the bus & we were asked why we had no visa! I'd google & it said that we didn't need a visa if only staying for 72 hours! The bus left and about 30 mins later we were leaving Borneo - all well passport stamped. 5 mins later we were at the border to enter Brunei. Out of bus to immigration, bus driver calls us out & takes us to an official to explain that we have no visa. The official tells us that we need a visa for multiple entries as to get to Sabah we leave Brunei, enter Borneo, leave Borneo, enter Brunei & finally enter Borneo. Sound complicated?!
All was well because they could do the visa for us. Meanwhile everyone on the bus was through immigration except us - we were told to sit & wait. We felt like naughty school girls! The crunch came when we were told to pay $30 Brunei. We don't have Brunei dollars we said but we do have American (official snorted), Autralian & Malaysian. No we only take Brunei or Singapore dollars!Is there an ATM? No! What to do? The bus driver paid for us & eventually we recieved our passports.
Arrived safely in the capital, went to ATM & were able to pay the driver. Got to Hotel and all was well.
Went for a walk to look around and went into a large Mosque. We had to don some sort of garment and were able to walk inside. Both outside & inside covered with gold. We walked along a purple carpet which ended abruptly half way up the Mosque. Valda and I debated about whether we were allowed to step off it when she took the plunge - within seconds we were being yelled at & told to get back on the purple carpet!
So that's been our first day in Brunei!
No comments:
Post a Comment