On our way back from holiday in Brunei my darling Yuma and I had a one day layover in the Pilipino capital Manila. With only one night to spare we wanted to make sure we could get a memorable stay, and after having done some research about accommodation I stumbled about Hotel H2O, a hotel that comes fully equipped with its own underwater world in the hotel room.

Have you ever wondered how it's like to stay at Brunei's best hotel? For the last part of our trip to Brunei my darling and I had the pleasure of staying at The Empire Hotel and Country Club, a self-proclaimed seven-star hotel where even the Sultan himself occasionally comes to play polo. The hotel has been welcoming guests since 2000 and has become a symbol of Brunei's cultural heritage with its extravagant and luxurious interior.

As the travel enthusiast I am I always seek to explore new places I haven't yet been to. When I was in university I would spend my holiday backpacking South-East Asia, and recent years I've had the pleasure of visiting countries like Myanmar, Palao, the Philippines and the Maldives.
This year my darling and I decided to try out yet another unknown terrain; the Empire of Brunei. Doing our usual light research online (I usually don't do much research, as I prefer to go to a new destination with an open mind and just see what I stumble upon while I'm there) we soon figured out that there weren't many sources that could help us on the way. Hopefully, my series of posts about Brunei can be of help to some of you out there considering a visit to this beautiful country.

We stayed in Brunei for 5 days, and one of the things we did during the stay was the mandatory visit to the capital city Bandar Seri Begawan. For the first half of our trip, we stayed at the Palm Garden Hotel, which was located a 30 min walk from the city center. Although our hotel offered free transportation service we figured it would be nice to walk to town on the first day to explore our surroundings a bit.

As a part of our visit to Inle Lake we went on a day trip around the lake to see various parts of the local life style culture, a trip that included among others a stop at a lotus weaving factory and the Jumping Cat Monastery. After our short stop at the monastery our boat driver took us through a long and narrow creek to Indein village. 

The Nga Phe Kyaung monastery is both the biggest and oldest monastery in Inle Lake. Among tourists it is still known as the "jumping cat monastery" - a name it got because of the cats living there, who had been trained by the monks to jump through little hoops. You can see a simple YouTube clip that demonstrates the practice below:

To hotel's page

The Shwedagon Pagoda, or the Shwedagon Zedi Daw, is considered one of Myanmar’s top places to visit, and the magnificent golden stupa towering over the city can be seen most places in Yangon. Known as the "crown of Burma" it is considered to hold the world's oldest Buddhist stupa believed to be dating back 2600 years.

When Yuma and I arrived at our hotel we got our first Wow experience of the trip as we stepped out on the hotel’s rooftop balcony and saw the fantastic view of the pagoda. The big stupa gilded with gold foils, so you can imagine how it shines up in the night when the spotlights are on. The word “shwe” means gold, and “dagon" is the old name for Yangon, so Shwedagon literarily means something like “Gold Yangon”. In the night the golden shine of Shwedagon can be spotted from far, far away.

You can enter the pagoda area from four different entrances named after the different orientations; east, west, north and south. As our hotel was located right by the east entrance we ended up approaching the pagoda from the east.

Everyone visiting the temple has to take their shoes off before ascending up the long staircase towards the main temple area. By the entrance to the staircase there are women (during daytime) and children (in the evening) who want to sell you plastic bags to put your shoes in, but at the end of the staircase you'll also find a place where you can pay a small fee to leave your shoes as you go visiting the pagoda grounds.

We made our way up the long staircase to the temple, beautifully decorated with ornaments and pictures. The contrast was stark to the many vendors with their small stands all the way up the stairs selling all sorts of bling-bling plastic souvenirs. 

We had to go through a small security check before entering the temple area, and after the check there were only a couple of stairs left until we could reach the temple. 

At the temple we payed a 8000 Kyat entrance fee (foreigners only). They must have had a lot of experience with foreigners not bringing enough cash, because by the entrance to the holy grounds you could find a ATM machine ready at your service. After we had payed the fee and entered the pagoda we were soon approached by a local guide who asked to show us around the pagoda for a small fee. We agreed to his offer, and he took us around the great pagoda.

Day of Week: Sunday
Zodiac animal:Garuda (mythical bird)
Attributes: Kind, generous, challenge seeker, energetic, motivational

Day of Week: Monday
Zodiac animal: Tiger
Attributes: Intelligent, intuitive, detail & goal oriented, strong, patient, respectful of laws and responsible.

Day of Week: Tuesday
Zodiac animal: Lion
Attributes: Natural leader, dignified, honorable, strong-willed, opinionated, decision-maker, challenge seeker

Day of Week: Wednesday Morning
Zodiac animal: Elephant (with tusks)
Attributes: Unpredictable, enthusiastic, spontaneous, passionate, independent

Day of Week: Wednesday Afternoon
Zodiac animal: Elephant (without tusks)
Attributes: Contradictory nature, doesn't like interference, excellent at promoting own works, avoids risks, is successful in business, able to accomplish achievements

Day of Week: Thursday
Zodiac anima: Rat
Attributes: Clever, witty, intelligent, good at spotting opportunities, can be introverted and quiet, but also focused and driven

Day of Week: Friday
Zodiac animal: Guinea Pig
Attributes: Artistic, creative, easily bored, loving, kind, sympathetic, sensitive to others, a wonderful friend

Day of Week: Saturday
Zodiac animal: Dragon
Attributes of the Dragon: Philosophical, understanding, confident, great sense of humour, independent 

(You can find more detailed information about the Burmese Zodiac here)