Brunei Darussalam

On the huge island of Borneo, which is part Malaysia and part Indonesia, about 1% of the land area is occupied by the country of Brunei, a prosperous nation which levies no taxes on it's citizens, provides free education and medical services and has $2/gallon gasoline. Brunei has a monarch ruling it since 1968 and it has huge proven oil reserves.

Bandar Seri Begawan is Brunei's capital city.

The Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah is seen on the currency and all the restaurants and stores I visited had the framed pictures of the Sultan and the queen.

The Omar Ali Saifuddien mosque had a gate commissioned for the coronation of the current monarch.

The mosque is on well manicured gardens.

The Brunei river has many boats plying for customers and for 20-50 Brunei dollars, you can get a tour of the river, the Kampong Ayer water village and the mangroves. The river is very wide and has the Southeast Asia's longest Temburong bridge spanning 30km. It is a new bridge built for $1.2B that opened in 2020 and started allowing non-Brunei people to use it in 2023.

The green Al-Ameerah Al-Hajjah Maryam Mosque is seen at a distance from the Brunei river boat tour as well.

The Istana Nurul Iman palace was visible from the river. It is the world's largest residential palace sporting 1788 rooms over 2 million square feet and can host 5,000 people for a feast.

The Kampong Ayer water village is 15th century historical site boasting 3 schools, a couple of fire stations, 20,000 inhabitants.

The riverboat ride is very invigorating, with strong breeze making you forget the humidity and 90F temperatures and displays endless mangroves.

The new palace is also seen from the river.

There was a proboscis monkey family on one of the mangrove trees but it was partially hidden.

Brunei is very green, people seem happy and it is a great place for a visit.