- drizzle splashing on ya face straight from heaven with cold breeze
- riding high speed boat on a river with only jungle surrounded
- eat eat eat a lot in the jungle
- enjoy standing on top of the mountain with the serene view of valleys around
It was a more than expected joy trip last weekend arranged by my company to a totally untouched and unspoiled natural ecstasy in Brunei. Here is the travelogue for your information and pleasure.
Started late afternoon from the small town of Seria (where we living at the moment) and we (40 ppl) met at the Empire (7 Star) hotel in the capital Bandar . That’s our first transport out of 5 stop overs.
We parked the car in hotel and hopped over the bus arranged for us to take us to the Kampong Ayer (River Village). Its my first time ever going beyond the airport in Bandar. The view of the river village was a first time for me. The place is called as venice of East as it has the similar setup but Asian way. So the bus was our second transport to reach the river bank.
Few quick clicks here and there to cherish and then jumped in to the water taxi that can carry 20 ppl at a time and cruise through the river at highest speed possible. We slowly dimmed away from city outlook to travel-in-the-middle of jungle feel with only trees and plants on either side… click click click The ride was around 45 mins long and the sky started to open up slowly with the marshalling rain drop soldiers. That’s our 3rd transport which is from Kampong Ayer to Temburong town.
The heavens opened up completely now once we reached the Temburong town jetty. Now, that’s a proper village and very much pleasant sight. We hopped in to another bus (our 4th transport) from the river bank to another jungle river bank. Now, the planz to split in to groups of 5 each and take these adventurous looking long boats (the 5th and final transport) This was the highlight of the trip as it’s the open top boat and cruising up the hill against the river stream all perfect for my clicks.
The Resort is all bliss along the river bank after another 40 mins ride where no other means of transport is possible to reach there. Since we are 40 ppl, we completely occupied all the suites in the resort. The resort had cinema, pool, lovely lounge with karaoke facilities etc. The evening was leisure like singing, playing, swimming etc. The next morning we got up at 4.30 AM for the sunrise trek to the top of the hill. Being Trek lover, I enjoyed each step to the hill encountering hanging bridges, steep rocks and stairs as well.. sweated ridiculously due to the atrocious humidity. However, the hill top was a colder and all worth sweating for.
Klaus and me were partners for the final canopy walk on top of the hill. Getting in to the construction as the last 2 to enjoy more sun light that uncovered mist partly to give us the sight we waited all long for.
Later, we walked back down and its not tough to guess the amount of breakfast I swallowed once we reach the restaurant back. Amazing food and still digesting it ;) After food was few more photo shoot sessions with in us. Then, jumped in to the river for water rafting, kayaking and free swim. The current of the river is far heavier than I thought. I tried this violent attempt to cross the banks but it was the toughest swim I ever made. Here is the the map of my mini adventure.
Then, we went to a water falls near by. Ive been to atleast 1 million falls in India but the unique thing about this one is I wasn’t wearing my crocs so I have to walk bare foot over the stones and rocks to reach the falls. Another lovely experience was the fishes right under the falls. They all are Dr. Fishes which jus attacks your leg as a gang and eat all the dead cells out of ya.. All tickling was fun to watch every one laughing madly with out bothering about any embarrassment : )
As conventionally said, the rest is history ; ) The photography as usual updated in my facebook/orkut. Shame, I couldn’t get my family in such a serene outing
