We landed in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei on November 2nd. It is definitely a culture shock coming from Qatar in some ways. Drivers are actually courteous here! It is rare to hear a horn beep. There is never any traffic to talk about. People are very laid back, and don't get excited or mad about anything. And it's GREEN here! We've spent these last two weeks doing all the paperwork that is need to get our Brunei Identify Card (IC) processed. Jim has a clean bill of health now, and has presented to Shell the necessary medical results. Now we have to wait for Shell to complete the preliminary paperwork with the government. Until we get the next piece of very important paper(s) we cannot go onto the next step of getting a local driving license. We have to have our driving license before we can purchase a car. We have picked out a Mazda to buy when we get the correct paperwork. We are living in a hotel/apartment in Kuala Belait (KB). It's not anywhere near as fancy as the hotel we stayed in when we were in Qatar, but it works.... well most of the time. It has a small mini kitchen, so I can still cook some meals. Some thing in this place, I just have to laugh about. The toilet for example did not flush so well when we first arrived, and Jim was going to "work" on it. While he was at work on day, I call the front desk about it and they sent the plumber. This indian guy shows up at the door, and I thought this should be interesting. He would work on the toilet for 10 minutes or so and have me come and check it. I would throw some paper in the toilet and show him that it was not fixed. I don't think he spoke a bit of English. Finally, he understood what I wanted. I think he adjusted the level in the tank for the toilet to flush properly. All of this took about an hour. Hey, no worries! It's just another adventure of life! We expect to be here for probably two months. Here are some photos I have taken around town. This is the control tower at the airport, which I took when we where waiting on the cats.

These were taken around KB town.

This is where you buy a ticket to put on your windshield for parking.

This is looking down the street in KB town. This is the main shopping area!

These little drainage canals line the streets.

A nice sunset on the river.