There seems to be a pattern developing here - girls come out on holiday and we find a suitably pleasant hotel to go and stay in with them. All very nice I am sure but there are not many hotels close by left to go and stay in! However we may just return to to this one.
The Empire in Brunei is a 2 hour drive (along the worst road in the world according to Claire - our Prado's suspension is a bit bouncy anyway and the roads here are wavy - there's no other way to describe it! Something to do with building roads on peat bog. So it's an interesting journey if you don't like the rolling motion.)
Anyway, back to the hotel. Once a palace belonging to the Sultan's brother it has been turned into a hotel and some say it is a 6 star. I'm not sure about that rating although it is very nice. However Brunei's tourism industry suffers because the country does not allow the purchase of alcohol in its hotels. Thus the hotels are relatively quiet and relatively cheap. And since we can import wine and beer from Malaysia it is a small matter of a quick visit to the duty free at the border and taking it with us. The restaurants in the hotel are quite happy to serve you any bottle of wine you might take in, with no corkage fee. So all very civilised.
BTW I know it is a touch ridiculous writing our July blog in September but the truth is we have just downloaded all our photos from Julyin order to leave some space in the camera for the NEXT trip.
Afternoon tea and the view from our balcony
And the golf course
And no this is not at the Empire - this is at the Boat Club here in Miri. The teenagers all got together and organised the boat man to take them out on the Banana Boat for a couple of hours. Great fun was had by all, and it served to bond them all for a great couple of weeks of fun. And the promise of more when they all get together here the next time.
The Empire in Brunei is a 2 hour drive (along the worst road in the world according to Claire - our Prado's suspension is a bit bouncy anyway and the roads here are wavy - there's no other way to describe it! Something to do with building roads on peat bog. So it's an interesting journey if you don't like the rolling motion.)
Anyway, back to the hotel. Once a palace belonging to the Sultan's brother it has been turned into a hotel and some say it is a 6 star. I'm not sure about that rating although it is very nice. However Brunei's tourism industry suffers because the country does not allow the purchase of alcohol in its hotels. Thus the hotels are relatively quiet and relatively cheap. And since we can import wine and beer from Malaysia it is a small matter of a quick visit to the duty free at the border and taking it with us. The restaurants in the hotel are quite happy to serve you any bottle of wine you might take in, with no corkage fee. So all very civilised.
BTW I know it is a touch ridiculous writing our July blog in September but the truth is we have just downloaded all our photos from Julyin order to leave some space in the camera for the NEXT trip.
Afternoon tea and the view from our balcony
And the golf course
And no this is not at the Empire - this is at the Boat Club here in Miri. The teenagers all got together and organised the boat man to take them out on the Banana Boat for a couple of hours. Great fun was had by all, and it served to bond them all for a great couple of weeks of fun. And the promise of more when they all get together here the next time.
And finally our farewell to the Boat Club for the summer...the girls last day before their flight.
