further to the population ... think
free housing, free healthcare, free
education, cheap fuel.
The ‘Darussalam’ in Brunei’s name
literally stands for ‘abode of peace’
and that’s literally what you can
expect. There’s no nightlife at all
and after 8 pm, the capital’s streets
are empty. I was lucky to stay with
an expat from New Zealand and his
family to get more of an insight into
the ambivalence of a rich sultanate
with strict Sharia law.
To some extent, Brunei is trying
to make up for its dependency on oil
which, is said to run out in about 30
years, by investing in its education
sector. Right now, the country still
seems to struggle in finding a balance
between implementing a Western ed-
ucation system while still maintain-
ing a rather conservative religious
education.
Threatening the death penalty for
adultery and homosexuality, Brunei’s
shift to strict Sharia law in 2018 has
been widely criticised by the inter-
national community. To date, no
dealth penalty has been executed. In
my opinion, the local law and beliefs
shouldn’t hold you back from visiting
Brunei.
Borneo is known for its strong
cultural variety. One cultural group
being the Dayak people who tradi-
tionally live in longhouses.
Originally, longhouses were wood-
en houses on piles stacked onto each
other which provided a more eco-
nomical and social way for families
to live together. In remote areas, you
rely on being part of a community.
Just out of the town of Marudi, I
found a traditional-looking longhouse
and got off the bike to take a few pic-
tures. It was afternoon and I made
conversation with young guys from
the longhouse who were hanging
out on what was probably one of the
world’s longest porches. They made
me come up to them and I asked if
there was anything like a guesthouse
TRAVERSE 104
around, while realising that the ques-
tion was perhaps obsolete as this was
clearly not an area frequented too of-
ten by travellers, let alone foreigners.
They told me to wait for the chief
of the longhouse to arrive. As he did,
he immediately invited me for dinner
and to sleep in his living room.
As a traveller, it’s truly humbling to
receive so much hospitality even from
people that don’t have a lot. Although
our communication was limited, I
had a great evening. We talked about
wine farming and while I showed
some pictures from my hometown,
the chief kept pouring me homemade
rice wine.
One thing you cannot overlook
while on Borneo is its large-scale
palm-oil fields. Coincidently, and
thanks to a local motorcyclist, I had
the ability to stay with the manager
of a palm-oil plant. He told me he
would be happy to host me, and it
turned out that this was happening
on-site as he had a few empty workers