Brunei

There a few trips that one does during their life that they know they'll never make again. This was one of those trips for me. Most people have never even heard of Brunei, much less would they be able to point it out on a map ... and that's exactly why I wanted to go.

Brunei is a small country on the northern part of Borneo, in Southeast Asia. It shares the third largest island in the world (only smaller than Greenland and New Guinea) with Malaysia and Indonesia. Brunei also happens to be one of the richest countries in the world. Thanks to large oil reserves, they have made their Sultan one of the richest men in the world. The country is also predominantly Muslim.

The Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque is a royal Islamic mosque located in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of Brunei. It is also one of the most spectacular buildings I've ever seen.



Jame'Asr Hassanil Bolkiah mosque in Kampong Kiarong in Brunei is the largest mosque in the country. I was able to spend Friday morning at this mosque during the call to prayer, which was an incredible experience.

These boys arrived at the mosque with their fathers and seemed quite pleased that I would ask them to model for me in this picture.


It may be hard to tell from the pictures in the city, but Brunei is in the middle of a tropical jungle. We took a boat tour into this mangrove forest and watched long-nosed monkeys swing from the trees. We later saw about 20 more of them on the golf course at our hotel (playing on the green).