After the whole day journey of exploring the mysterious Bruneian food, now, we need to lodge in an place and have a night's rest.

Do you think I would bring you to the sumptuous hotel —— the Empire Hotel? 

Like this?

The swimming pool of the Empire Hotel The garden The coastal beach behind the Empire Hotel

No no no. 

But you would not be disappointed because I would give you a rarer experience compared to other tourists, leading you to step into the real residence of Bruneian ordinary people and have a chance to closest experience Bruneian culture.

Bruneian Malay's House

Stepping into local family's house, we need to take off our shoes. It is the Islam's belief. They consider wearing shoes into the private space would bring filth to the house. Some parts of the floors are covered by carpets.

The local house is usually spacious, with two or three floors. Most of the Bruneian parents would have four to eight children and before they get married, they would usually live together. Moreover, they would normally prepare one or two guest rooms, so each floor would have at least five to six bedrooms to ensure the rooms are enough.

Could you guess how much does such villa cost? You just need to pay $50,000 (about 250,000 RMB), then could own the entire house and its private property rights. Brunei governments are always generous to its citizens. Apart from the medical and education welfare system we have introduced before, Brunei’s housing system is also a wonderful miracle. You could even apply for life-long interest free loan!

Our room is in the second floor, so we walk around on the second floor. But except for having more cats in the house (Muslims are not allowed to touch dogs according to Koran), there are no great differences compared to the normal one. (Or could you find any differences comparing with your house? Except it is bigger!)

The interior of the second floor

Then we entered our room. The room is quite big and tidy. It is also similar to the ordinary living room, having bed, desk and cupboard. What is special is that there is a full volume Koran. The house owner said, the government would offer three to four volumes of Koran for each family freely.

What attracts me most is the outside view from the window. The blue sky, the luxuriant trees and the peaceful atmosphere are plenty of the Chinese looking forward to. Brunei is just like a small village, every residence are surrounded by trees and animals, especially monkeys.

The outside view

Over 67% of the Brunei's lands are still convered by forests. 

                                                                                —JPKE data (2017)

Monkeys meeting Monkeys trying to climb into the room A monkey stole my peanut sause

Not only the environment, but also the social atmosphere is also very close to Chinese village life. The person you meet on the road is probably one of your friends or acquaintances. They are  hostile and willing to give you a hand. (Secretly telling you, I have successfully thumbed a ride for so many times.)

The night in Brunei is very quiet. The local Bruneians have plenty leisure time, could end their work before 4 pm. But because it is a Muslim country, alcohol, large party and recreation activities are not allowed, most of the people just spend their evening time with their family. In the room, I could just hear the cry from the house lizard. (If you like this little creature, you should come here! You could easily find tens of it in a single room.)

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After visiting the local Muslim's house, our next destination is Bruneian Chinese house, to experience a special Chinese New Year in this mysterious country!

Bruneian Chinese House

From the appearance, there are no differences between Muslim’s house and Chinese. Some of them might stick “Fu”and couplets on the door.

Inside the house, we also found it similar to Malay’s. But in Chinese New Year, they would follow they ancestry tradition, China’s southern coastal cities’ origin, decorating the house with flowers.

The flower in Chinese New Year

During the Spring Festival, Bruneian Chinese would also invite relatives and friends to their house. They would not gather and have meals in the restaurants like us, the domestic Chinese. Instead, they serve dishes and snacks at home and place them like a buffet. Then the guests just help themselves and have a free talk as they like.

Some snacks

Other types of the Chinese traditional customs also be protected and continued by Bruneian Chinese. Elders would give red envelops to the young and the lion dance would be on the Chinese temple every Lunar New Year's Day.

Chinese temple in Brunei

Though most of the time, we could directly distinguish Bruneian Chinese from Bruneian Malays because they usually dress in a different way, these two ethnic groups do not vary a lot in many lifestyles. Malay food and Chinese food always blended and Malays friends would also be invited as a guest to a Chinese house in the New Year. No conflicts and discrimination exist between different social group. In this country, kindness and friendliness permeate every aspect of life.

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After visiting Bruneian Chinese house in the Spring Festival, we would go to a place whose house differs a lot from the previous one we visit, the water house in the water village, Brunei’s Kampong Ayer. 

House in the Water Village

There are hundreds of the houses located on the Brunei river. These houses’ appearance is old, but all of them are equipped with modern facilities, including electricity and water supply. The residents there take  gasoline boat to go out.

Gasoline boat  The boat used by residents

Moreover, although located on the river, the other public institutions police offices to support residents’ living such as schools, mosques, are also complete and mature. The water village has become a national symbol of Brunei.

The primary school in the water village The police office

The life in the water village shares the same characteristics with the residents in Brunei's other places, that is peace. Walking on the blank bridge, we would find few people walking around, just some children would sit in front of their house's door. The only creatures following us are the cats.

Cats everywhere

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In these two days' journey, we have stepped into three types of residences. Though some different features could be found, "peaceful" is their common characteristics. Negara Brunei Darussalam, the "state of place". 

Just like its golden national flag and mosques, Brunei is a glittering country.

Negara Brunei Darussalam