The capital city, Bandar Seri Begawan, is nothing like you would expect. Apparently the building heights are restricted to the height of the Omar Ali Saifaddien mosque whose minaret stands at 44m. So everything else seems understated and somewhat pathetic for the capital of a country ruled by one of the richest men in the World. 

Of course the palace is spectacular, but it's inaccessible and located just out of the centre, so can only be admired from afar .

I had heard it was dull, but I was still surprised to find it really was THAT dull. There seems to be very few visitors and the streets are almost deserted most of the time. It's reasonably clean and well maintained here, but there is nothing to see or do other than a couple of museums and mosques.
 
The one thing this country has going for it is the greenery. The Kingdom of Brunei generates so much money from petroleum that there's been no need to exploit the forests. So, Brunei retains some of the best rainforest in Borneo. However, it only occupies less than one percent of the island so deforestation elsewhere remains a significant problem.
 
Of course, we weren't going to let dull defeat us. But frustratingly even the geocaches are not particularly inspiring. 
 
We had to get at least one, and most of the 6 throughout the whole country, seem to be missing so we located one just out of town and managed to find the right bus to drop us off at the bottom of the hill. 
 
Of course this was the one time I forgot to carry bug spray and just the right time for the mosquitoes to come out, so it was a hot, sweaty race up the hill to try and avoid getting bitten, to find the hidden treasure, and a dash back down . A kind passer by stopped to give us a lift back into town, thankfully, as waiting for a bus at sundown was an invitation for a mosquito massacre.
 
After a thorough read of the guide book we tucked into day 2 of the limited sights. Below is the low down from my perspective, but really, unless you are passing through with no alternative, just skip this place. Unless it's Hari Raya - in which case head to the palace which is open to locals and tourists. I wouldn't come back here just for that, but the Sultan of Brunei only allows access to the palace for this annual celebration around mid august each year. 
 
Royal regalia museum
 
No cameras, phones, shoes and bags it seems, so be prepared to hand over your belongings and put them in a locker whilst you wander round the rabbit warren of a museum. There is room after room of cabinets displaying mainly items gifted to the Sultan. Most things are labeled with details of who gifted them, but some are disappointingly not. I was more intrigued by what exactly some of these gifts actually were, as it was often impossible to determine whether the item symbolised the country from which it came or something else . This was particularly the case with the models of mosques made out of mirrors and other materials. 
 
Some of these items must be worth an absolute fortune as most seem to be made as one off items, especially for the sultan. Others such as the silver model of Angkor wat, gifted by the King of Cambodia were really beautiful. 
 
It's nice that the Sultan saw fit to share these gifts with the general public by putting them in this museum, but surely anyone who had presented him with said gifts would be a little offended that they do not reside in one of his many homes. 
 
There were some lovely glass boxes containing what appeared to be chocolates and other edibles, from the prince of Saudi Arabia, but these hadn't even been consumed and remained in the containers looking like they had gone well past their sell by date.
 
Be warned that some of the rooms are freezing cold from the air conditioning and the marbled floors do not help if you have bare feet. It's an expensive building with extremely expensive contents, but shockingly the toilets are the complete opposite .
 
Brunei museum
 
Rather badly thought out, this museum is located about 4.5km out of the town. Bus #39 from the bus station will drop you of outside for just B$1.
 
There are six different galleries here, but unfortunately only three were open when we visited, and Islamic art and the history of shell oil in Brunei wasn't really of much interest to me. 
 
I was keen to see the Brunei traditions exhibition but the overstaffed reception informed us that it was closed for maintenance, so coming here was a wasted journey. I vented my frustrations openly on a comments card and posted it in the glass box ensuring everyone who chose to could read it!
 
Gadong
 
Desperate for something to do we headed into Gadong, apparently the centre for shopping and eating, just a few kilometres out of the city centre. 
 
There was a shopping mall, and it did have shops and a food court. But seriously, this was pretty poor for a city that makes out this is what people come here to do. I've seen better shops in the run down, half empty, old shopping centre in my home town .
 
Kampong Ayer
 
Despite my negativity towards the Kingdom of Brunei, the water village is definitely a highlight. In fact it's worth a visit to Bandar just to take a boat out to here. 
 
Negotiating a taxi boat isn't much fun, as they do try to rip you off, but if you wait long enough, as we did, you may be lucky enough to get a good price. We were offered just B$15 for a 1 hour tour, compared to offers of up to B$60 from some of the more tourist boats (the ones with roofs).
 
Or boatman was very informative as we speed through the waterways in and out of the stilted wooden houses of this vast village. There are average schools and mosques here, as well as a police station, fire station and garage. We even got to visit our boatman's home and meet his family.
 
Getting out
 
Take the ferry to Labuan, Malaysia. There's a bus to the ferry terminal - an express bus that runs directly to the ferry terminal from the bus station, but this only runs a few times a day. We took the #37 bus instead, to Muara, and changed to #33, which only costs B$1 (you have to handover your ticket in exchange for a new one, and not keep it for your scrapbook) compared to B$3 for the direct bus .
 
The ferry is currently priced at B$15 plus a B$2 terminal tax. Bring something warm to wear, as it's another freezing boat with no access to the outside.
 
Update: A new Sharia law is soon to be released in Brunei... http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24624166