Welcome to the first entry (for the few that are bored enough to read) of my super-cool travelling blog. I apologise now if anyone is expecting anything written well. I spent over 10 minutes thinking of full metal jacket quotes before landing on the current title. its also horrendously late so bear with me as i catch up!

The journey began with a coach from oxford to heathrow at 5.30am, which posh indian family aside (I mean really posh) was uneventful as was the flight to Dubai, and subsequently the 8 hour flight to Badar Seri Bagawan, Brunei (where we were to spend 5 hours in transit). It was here that things began to get f***ing mental. Being a (relatively) small airport, I was expecting to sleep most of the 5 hours here in a very well furnished environment. We were given the option however of going on a free 'transit tour' of nearby bandar seri bagawan (hereby referred to as bandar, due to laziness).

The tour was only scheduled to last 1hr 25 mins, but in that short amount of time, we got to see a nice window on a previously unknown (to me) country. Before the tour began Becky decided she'd try and offend as many locals as possible by wearing a vest top in public whilst sipping on an iced coffee in a (predominantly) Islamic country during Ramadan (where, because of fasting eating/drinking outside is considered rude). Dirty sket. Once we avoided being stoned by the locals and our green minibus arrived it was time for the tour to kick off.

Out tour guide 'Tom' (almost certainly not his real name) was a very eager oriental Asian man who sat at the front pointing out various buildings and other sites of interest. Because of time, we were only able to see the sights from inside the bus, apart from a mall visit at the end to get some lunch. Despite my moderately racist remarks about the largely Islamic populations and customs, Brunei is a surprisingly multicultural country with 'Tom' revealing that actually most locals understand that non-muslims need to eat during the days of ramadan (or more appropriately in the 40-degree heat, drink water) and have no problem with people doing so. In return non-muslims are usually polite enough to eat/drink as conspicuously as possible to help those that are fasting (apart from Becky)

The first thing that struck me about Brunei was that they drive on the left, which was the first of many British influences on the country. 'Edinburgh Palace' as it was called was used as accommodation solely fore heads of state (Prince Charles for example was not allowed to stay there, according to 'Tom'). Our tour then went to the floating village (due an upgrade apparently) and a visit to the outside of his majesty, the sultan of Brunei's palace. Apparently its the largest state palace for a head of state in the world, and fair play it was pretty big.

We then got a chance to savour some local food at the largest mall in the country. Looking back on it, it really wasn't that big. After our heartfelt goodbye with tom we finally boarded the flight to Kuala Lumpur, where we spent a grand total of 13 hours having met up with the rest of the group. After a meal, and contemplating drinking skol super (served in bottles) we slept in our compact hotel beds, ready for a 6am flight to Hanoi the next day.

P.S - the blpog makes me add a photo. so i've included a completely irrelevant one of a vietnamese man finding great delight at my face