This quiet capital has some amazing buildings and is far more like Singapore than Kathmandu: they actually do drive on then left, as opposed to just driving, and it is very hot, but not dusty. Over the weekend I was lucky enough to be taken out a couple of times: my hostess' friends are horrified when I say that I am happy on the modern local buses and insist on driving me everywhere! So kind and very much appreciated because there are no bus stops (you just wave your arms) and no timetable (you just wait ... and hope). I visited the huge white mosque which dominates the BSB skyline and was invited by a local, to walk around the grounds despite it being prayer time: unusual and greatly appreciated: I can go back and see the interior with its Italian marble floors, Saudia Arabian carpets and English crystal when it is not closed for prayer. Central BSB is a very small area so it was easy to walk along the spotlessly clean promenade and see the water village on the opposite shore. On Sunday I was invited out fro breakfast and then taken to the plant market, the Sultan's polo club, the fish market and the Empire Hotel. This is a 5*+ hotel which is almost empty - apparently due to a politcal mix-up within the royal family: beautiful to wander around though. After this it was time to return home to play with the dogs for a couple of hours before being picked up by another lady and taken out for tea! Delicious cakes and good company (one of the ladies thoughtfully produced a box of tea bags from Fortnum's - as you may recall I don't actually drink tea, but it was a very kind thought indeed!) So all in all another lovely day! meant that I felt really relaxed and not a little spoiled by the time I returned home just before a terrific thunderstorm took hold of the skies for the evening.
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| Dosai |
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| Fruit trees for sale |
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| Inside the Emprire |
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| outside one of the buildings of the Empire |
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| One of the beaches at the hotel - cloudy day! |
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| Afternoon tea |
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| The Sultan Omar 'Ali Saffuddien - built by the current Sultan's late father and finished in 1958 |
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| Some of the houses in Kampong Ayer - the water village - actually home to 39000 people, so more a water town! |
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| The dome is covered with pure gold and the combination of gold, white and blue was captivating. |
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