Nation of Brunei, Abode of Peace

Above is Brunei's official English name. I've come for a couple of days of downtime as this trip winds up and I've earned some compensation leave.

Brunei is the only country in South East Asia that I hadn't visited but I hesitated before booking a ticket as it has some attitudes towards human rights that I'm fundamentally opposed to. The Abode of Peace moniker may not extend to the death penalty on paper meted out for engaging in a same-sex act. By stoning, provided there are 'four qualified witnesses' present.

I realised that by withholding my tourist dollar, it would make approximately zero difference to the government, whose sea of petrodollars gives Brunei one of the world's highest living standards and zero public debt (the International Monetary Fund noted this in 2011). And that it's much better to experience somewhere before making simple criticisms. Plus, shark finning is illegal, a first for the region, and a win for marine wildlife.

It feels like Singapore in many ways; a state wealthy enough to provide pedestrian walkways and crossings, green landscaping, road signs that enforce a slower speed in the rain and scuttling cockroaches replaced by cute geckos all over the pavements.

There is very little in the way of public transport. I was rescued when walking down a highway slip-road towards the city by a kind-hearted Bruneian called Shan, who deposited me in the centre and seemed bemused as to why I would choose to leave my hotel on foot. On the return, the buses had dried up and I couldn't locate a taxi, so I had a very long and humid walk along peri-urban lanes and highway grass verges, sometimes needing to hurl myself over highway crash barriers. Note: plan better and book hotels closer to the centre.

It surprised me to learn that Brunei only won its independence from the British in 1984 as it feels a lot more removed from the UK than Singapore which won its own twenty years earlier. These super-wealthy city states are both strictly controlled in order to maintain the status quo of high living standards and a flourishing economy. The airport made me think everything was regulated tightly: even having to declare the 1 Brunei dollar I was given in Kuala Lumpur by a man in exchange for a selfie (which was puzzling as it's hardly like Europeans are a rare find there) and the 400 Cambodian riel (10 cents) I'm carrying that I sarcastically mentioned but that she made me note down. The ink from the biro used was worth more.

I strolled around enjoying the ordered serenity of the recreational park, the ever-so-helpful tourist information centre and the pleasant nods and smiles of Bruneians.

This is the Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque, the premier attraction of the capital Bandar Seri Bagawan (BSB). I perched on the wall of a flower bed in a deserted park at dusk as the call to prayer rang out and the light all around it changed.