Issue link: http://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/52531
royal retreat Australians are spoilt for Asian getaways and stopovers but few have set foot in the land of Brunei, a wealthy and peaceful sultanate with a bounty of brand new cultural and wildlife experiences to offer. STORY STEVE MCKENNA PHOTOS BRUNEI TOURISM AS I HOPPED IN A TAXI upon my return Down Under, the driver asked where I'd been. When I told him, he replied: "Brunei? That in Europe somewhere?" Because it's an oil- and gas-rich Islamic sultanate, Brunei is usually mistaken for being in the Middle East. It actually takes up a few smidgens of territory on the exotic island of Borneo and as I discovered on a four-day stopover on the way back from London, if you're after a laid-back, nature-and culture-fuelled Asian escape with a bit of glamour thrown in, look no further. Brunei: Abode of Peace, as its name translates to, has few of the hassles you often find in this fascinating, but occasionally frustrating, part of the world. Indeed, in the diminutive capital of Bandar Seri Begawan, I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of traffic jams, smoggy air and persistent touts and hawkers, not to mention dazzled by the city's spectacular gold-dome capped mosques and bowled over by its vibrant, colourful Malay fashions and traditions. My favourite spot was the rustically atmospheric Kampong Ayer, bumping Bandar's compact modern centre. It comprises thousands of pastel-shaded wooden buildings stilted above the murky brown Brunei River. It has been here, in some form, for a millennium, and receives mention in the records from Ferdinand Magellan's early 16th- century circumnavigation of the globe as a 'floating fishing village'. Kampong Ayer is now home to around 30,000 people – nearly a third of the capital's population. Take a water taxi across the river and you can amble through the inter- travel&living 87 OPPOSITE A mother and daughter in colourfully traditional Bruneian dress tread the boardwalks of Kampong Ayer, the rustic collection of stilted villages at the heart of Bandar Seri Begawan. ABOVE Motor-propelled wooden water taxis ferry people across the Brunei River, which snakes past Kampong Ayer and through the centre of Bandar.