Boarding Gate 101

I visited Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of the Sultanate of Brunei, last November. Brunei is located in the island of Borneo, surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak. I stayed in the capital for two nights, arriving one Friday evening from a Cebu Pacific flight from Manila.  BSB, as the capital is known, is different from all the other capitals of Southeast Asia that I have visited so far. No maddening traffic, no skyscrapers and crowds, and glitzy malls. In a word, I find the capital rather dull.  Kampong Ayer. Venice, it is not. Economy-wise Brunei is very rich, with the fifth highest per-capita income in the world. I learned that almost every household in the capital has a car, explaining probably why there are only about fifty taxis in the whole country (which means getting anywhere via a cab is expensive and tedious, as you cannot just hail them off the street). It is also a small country, with about 400 thousand citizens, mostly concentrated i...

Not a lot happened in the first 2 days of 2018, but some shopping and doing touristy things in Dubai. ____ Ninoy Aquino International Airport, January 3, 3:00pm I arrived safely in Manila, and this concludes the trip. It has been an epic 18 days - visited 3 countries and 11 cities and towns - from snow-covered passes to deserts and everything in between,  ate exotic food, got nekkid in hamams and baths,  made new friends, and had countless spills on the slopes. Everything has been amazing, and can't wait for the next adventure. Thanks for following me here, folks! January 2 Abu Dhabi Airport, 9:00pm We reached the airport, and I got inside right away. Goong through immigration is now automated, no more stamps on the passport. I just got eye-scanned, and my passport too, and I am in the departure concourse. I got some more last minute items from duty free and I spent my last dirhams buying a box of dates. My flight is scheduled at 3am, and I schedu...