‘brunei’ タグが付いた投稿
Brunei Library
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Visiting libraries is a kind of my ‘to do’ when I travel abroad. I started it when I visited a Helsinki library in Finland. The library had relaxing atmosphere and was quite modernized. I loved it so much. So, as always, I visited a Library when I was in Brunei 
This is the library building in the capital city Bandar Seri Begawan.
On the left side of the picture, you will see a big picture drawing a book on the middle surrounding by people, animal, etc. It might be describing the importance of knowledge written in a book.
And the right side of the first picture, there is an entrance of the library.
Brunei’s official language is Malay, however many Arabic are used, in the library too. Unfortunately I’ve never studied Malay nor Arabic so what I can understand is they open 8:00-18:00 almost every day 
Below are pictures I took inside the library. The building has 3 floors, the 1st floor is for adult and the 3rd floor is for young adult.
Many books are piled up on a table. Librarians might have been working with them. Most of library materials are Malay books, but some English books are available too.
On the 2nd floor, there are children library, a service counter, and some computers.
In summary, it’s not modernized nor popular like libraries in Singapore. It made me remember what I felt about a library when I was a child: It’s quiet and not crowded, might be good for studying, however a bit boring. I changed this idea when I was a university student. The university library had many computers and academic books, and used computers to organize things well. It was fantastic. Moreover, libraries in Singapore are much modernized and owe many computers and materials so lots of people use them. Visiting a Brunei library made me realized I took it for granted. However it seems public libraries in general are not so fantastic yet.
Trip to Brunei
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Sachi’s blog post brought me to Brunei. Staying 4D3N in the country was really fun! It’s relaxing, cozy Muslim country in Borneo island.
Mosque
All villages in Brunei have at least one mosque. It means more than 100 mosques in such a small country!
Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque is situated at the centre of the capital Bandar Seri Begawan.
15 min drive will bring you to Jame’asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque, the biggest mosque in the country. It was built to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Sultan reign. It’s really gorgeous and luxurious, especially the chapel inside. It’s pity photos are not allowed inside.
In city area
I stayed in the capital Bandar Seri Begawan. The population of Brunei is less than 500, 000 and the population in the capital is only 140, 000! Brunei is an Oil country so that oil are super-cheap and not many people are walking in the town. I guess they are two of the reasons for coziness of the country.
Morning Market. Many fishes, tropical fruits, vegetables…
This is The Royal Regalia Building. Many treasures of the Sultan’s and special gifts from surrounding countries are displayed.
Ulu Temburong National Park
It’s the highlight of my trip! A Long boat brought me to inside of the Borneo jungle. Borneo is famous for their tropical animals, however this time I went Ulu Temburong National Park for canopy walk so that mainly enjoyed their tropical forest. As I was grown up in a mountain area in Japan, I felt at home when I rode a long boat in the narrow river. The scenery made me remember that my dad sometimes brought me to a river in mountains and let me play there.
Going to Jungle through a River
In Jungle
Canopy Walk
a Water Fall in the Forest
The Empire Hotel
I told a local guide that I would stay in the Empire Hotel. Then he said to me, “the Empire hotel is tremendously big! You can even live in their bath room!!” Yes, it was huuuge! A bathroom has a toilet, a bidet, a shower room, a bath tub, and two basin… And certainly, the floor is made of marble.
Apart from a bathroom, it’s still a huge and gorgeous hotel. It’s quite reasonable to spend 250B$ (The price varies with the seasons) for 1 night in a normal room. If you wish, you can stay in the Emperor Sweet which famous politicians and celebrities stay when they come Brunei with 16,600B$
