Go Solo Backpacking Manila - Brunei - Kuala Lumpur - Jakarta - Pekanbaru

MANILA TO BRUNEI

Before entering Indonesia for a cultural visa, I took some time to travel from Manila to Brunei and Kuala Lumpur. I know that the teaching days even if under cultural visa will be very demanding again so I thought that this trip would be a form of recharging.

Before the flight, I have already had crowdsourcing over Facebook asking if any of my friends are there. Fortunately, a person who happens to be a distant relative is working there. She referred me to another relative who is also her uncle. So I contacted him and got his address as it may be needed before my departure from the Philippines. And, my instinct was right, the address is needed to be written on a departure sheet prior to boarding.

I was briefly asked by the immigration and finally got my exit visa from the Philippines on 28 August 2018. The travel time from Manila to Brunei is around 2 hours and 20 minutes: from 20:45 in Manila to 23:05 at Brunei International Airport.

When I arrived in Brunei, my passport was stamped with 14 days stay. But I only used 2 days and 2 nights. From the night of 28 to the afternoon of 30 August 2018.

With the short days of stay, I only managed to visit some places in Bandar Seri Begawan areas like the Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Complex, Times Square, The Mall, Bandar Bus Station, Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque, and the River overlooking Kampung Ayer.

I explored the Jubilee Park that is contiguous with Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque. It is a spacious park with the phases of moon metallic exhibits scattered along the periphery of the park. There are also baobab trees which remind me of "The Little Prince" and other tropical and local plants. The sun is piercing hot from late morning until late noon.

I took a picture of Muara Chinese Temple in Bandar Seri Begawan area. This is requested by a monk friend from Sri Lanka. I sent the picture to him immediately via Facebook messenger.

I have also seen our minibus passing by the Philippine Embassy and the Indonesian Embassy.

The airport: Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Brunei or Brunei International Airport is a small one yet a first time traveler can see how clean and beautiful it is. It is newly built and smelling fresh all around. It is spacious and one could sense a relatively few passengers coming in and out of the airport. But, my host who is working in the airport as a porter has noticed the increase in the volume of passenger transiting Brunei airport in the past year. I was also thinking that since Brunei is a small nation and relatively few tourists visit this former British protectorate, so the airport is that relatively small.

Currency: I just knew then that the value of SGD is the same as BND. SGD can be used directly to pay for goods and services in Brunei.

Environment: Brunei is preserving its trees, forest and maintains cleanliness everywhere.

People: Majority of the people also look like typical Filipinos with brown skin, medium built, medium sloped nose and black hair. Women can be drivers too. In fact, the taxi I rode with is driven by a woman. There are some Indian looking people around who work as salesmen, street sweepers, technicians and maintenance people. They speak Bahasa Melayu also, which I understand because I can already use basic Indonesian.

This was my itinerary and estimated expenses

Date	Activity/ Accommodation	Price PHP	Price BND	Price MYR	Price IDR
28 Aug 2018	Flight Manila – Brunei (2-way ticket reservation for tourists)	4,253.68
28-30 Aug 2018	Tour around Brunei Grocery for Pasarabo		150
30 Aug 2018	Flight Brunei – Kuala Lumpur		108
30 Aug – 4 Sep 2018	Hotel (Cronona Inn, Bukit Bintang), 5 daysx130RM			650
	Tour around KL			100
4 Sep 2018	KL - Jakarta			262
4 Sep 2018	Jakarta - Pekanbaru				939,000
TOTAL

Before leaving Brunei

My host was leaving very early in the morning for his duties at the airport so I have to go out with him too as there is only one key in the house. He let me ride a taxi first before finally heading to work. I took a taxi from the waiting shed seen at the right and planned to roam around Bandar area before going to the airport.

The taxi is only 1 BND but I gave a tip because the driver is so accommodating. She is a woman and drives fast but smoothly. My manong (host) warned me to transact the price immediately so that you will know what to pay ahead of time because there are those who charge a very high fee if they notice that you are ignorant of the place. He said that if I did not ask how much at the start, others might charge as much as 5 BND.

At the Bandar area, I bought some pasalubong and spent most of my time at the coffee shop near Bandar bus station. There is not much to see in Bandar area except for the malls, some restaurants along the riverbank, and the mouth of the River overlooking Kampung Ayer. The rests are small shophouses and restaurants.

At noon, I rode a minibus going to the airport. The bus route is easy to follow and the bus drivers could also talk to you in broken English yet they can still direct the right way. I also spoke in Bahasa but some of them speak in other languages that sound like Tamil or Sanskrit.

I left Brunei via Air Asia flight to Kuala Lumpur at 16:10 and reached my destination at 18:30 which is still relatively on daylight. There is no time difference between the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore.

KUALA LUMPUR

The following day was Friday and I thought I could process my cultural visa but unfortunately, it was a holiday in Malaysia. So, I had to wait for the following weekday (Monday) to have my visa stamped. Because of this, I stayed in KL for 5 nights and 5 days. This is longer than the expected 2N and 3D stay only. I stayed in Corona Inn Hotel in Bukit Bintang area.

I left KL on the afternoon of 4 September 2018, 13:05 and reached Jakarta at 14:15. It was a 2 hour and 10 minutes flight. Indonesia is 1 hour late compared to Malaysian time.

From the Soekarno-Hatta International airport, I had to transfer to the domestic terminal so I rode the connecting train ride which is free.

I left Jakarta at 18:00 and reached Pekanbaru at 19:45. The flight lasted for an hour and 45 minutes.

PEKANBARU

I arrived in Pekanbaru on 4 September 2018. It was no longer the same Pekanbaru that I knew before. I was lively, cool, and relatively polution free. But now, it is hot, dry and may of the establishments have closed already. It seems that some businesses have left Pekanbaru.

At that night, I could not sleep. But I tried to take a rest as I have started my mission immediately the following day.