Kampong Ayer

We had a lazy morning, encouraged by the General Manager of our hotel because Friday was prayer day, and not a good morning to go out if you're a tourist.  In the afternoon, the hotel shuttle delivered us to the Brunei River for a tour in a speed boat.

The boat driver showed us the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque, the Sultan's original palace before oil was discovered (looked like rubbish), and a couple of government buildings.  He sped out of the city limits and along to areas of the river where high mangroves lined both banks.

The Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque, whose main dome is made of pure gold.  Our driver said it's 24 carat gold.

Our driver pointed out small crocodiles along the way.  He said the larger crocodiles measure around five metres in length.

Other boats made the water choppy.

Jean and our driver

We stopped regularly to look for monkeys, but for a long time couldn't find any.

Our boat driver looked and looked for monkeys among the mangroves.  Any monkeys out there?

Jean couldn't see any monkeys either.

Look!!  Look!!  We see a monkey!

Half way along the first branch to the left sits a monkey.

Jean and I on the Brunei River

Apart from crocodiles and monkeys, we also saw storks.  It was the second time in four days we'd seen storks.  They also live in the Everglades in Florida.

This is Kampong Ayer, where many city people live.  Here, we saw varying quality of housing as well as schools, the police station, the fire brigade, and a mosque all accessed by boat or by walking bridges that often link the above with each other.

Housing on Kampong Ayer

The fire brigade

This mosque with walkways that provide access to it.

After our boat ride, we strolled around a nearby shopping mall and ate dinner.  When we exited the mall, it was close to dusk.  Small flocks of birds rushed past overhead, stopping in nearby trees.  Many more small flocks kept coming and coming, all arriving in the nearby trees.  This bird looked and behaved exactly like the starlings we watched in Aberystwyth, just no starling clouds now.  One of them dropped a poo on a Brunei lady.  A Google search confirmed there are starlings in Brunei.  

Our shuttle collected us at 6.45 pm.