Back to civilisation

By the river at Sumbiling

I spent the morning reading my book by the river, and then Rudy and I left Sumbiling at around 10am. Back into the car, back into the speedboat (I missed the crocodile, apparently) through Malaysia and to Bandar Seri Begawan. I checked into the hotel, went for a walk down to a dead shopping centre, got some ice-cream and then came back to spend the rest of the afternoon in the hotel pool, which I had all to myself.  A local man sat down and started talking to me, bought me a juice and offered to drive me around Brunei. Something just didn't seem right, particularly since he wasn't staying at the hotel, so I politely declined. After he asked for my room number I felt good about my decision! Mind you, another one did the same thing 2 hours later so maybe in Brunei they don't see why asking for the room number of a single female traveller is inappropriate. I walked across the road to a small hawker market for dinner, it was pretty forgettable. I fed my "meat" to a cat who just looked at me, going "as IF" and stalked away. If the cats won't even eat it...

I am very much enjoying my hot shower, aircon and comfy (dry) bed!!