It's a Stressful Time....

For all the people that told me that I would love this place, I have one thing to say..... You were WRONG!! Yes, it is a beautiful place and everyone is happy all the time, but they have no clue how to conduct business here. They make life very frustrating! Since it appears that we will be in this hotel for at least another month, we decided to look on the open housing market again. We found a house that we both like, and is ready to move in anytime. It is a little further away from the office than we would like, but it's still only about a 10-15 minute drive. Jim goes to Brunei Shell housing department(BSHD), and asks them what is needed in a rental agreement. They tell him that the rent and the other furnishings can be itemized on the contract. We meet again with the owner and we agree on a price of 3500 BND per month with everything included. The owner writes his standard contract, itemizing the rental of appliances, gas, electricity, water, internet and the house. Jim brings it to BSHD and they reject the agreement! They don't explain why, just that it is rejected. You can not win in this situation. Moving targets are difficult to hit, and usually they are not any fun. Finally, after much heated discussions, Jim get a copy of a sample contract. It does not let you itemize anything! Why did they tell him that? Do they get some joyful pleasure out of this? Who knows? First of all, the owner wants to itemize the rent so that he does not have to pay taxes on the other items that are included. Fair enough! The new contract does not allow utilities and appliances to be itemized. How will we solve this? Jim filled out the new contract last night, and will ask the owner, William to sign it today. I doubt if William would sign it because it is not what he wants. I hope that Jim will bring William to BSHD today and let them figure it out together. Hopefully, they can come up with an agreement. The Riviera Hotel is where we are staying, along with many other Brunei Shell families. Some have been here for 2-1/2 months. There are BS houses available, but BSHD will not release them. They claim they have to be inspected and of course, there is only one inspector. I expect he is on holiday this time of year. That information can not be disclosed! There are over 60 families living in hotels here. I think I have it figure out though. The BSHD is made up of all Bruneians. Therefore, they are fueling their own economy. The hotels would have very few people staying in them, if it were not for all the expats. Restaurants would not flourish if all these expats were no living in these hotels. The restaurants here are nothing to write home about. Especially, with my MSG allergy. They can buy MSG by the kilo here! It's another poison for our bodies! No thank you. I think it is just that simple. They are NOT complex thinkers, so this fits very well. The Riviera Hotel is not the worst place I have ever stayed, but it is definitely next to the worst, which was in Nigeria. That's not saying much. They consider Brunei to be a developed country. I think NOT! The staff at the hotel are not trustworthy, therefore, I don't allow them in my room unless I am present. Yesterday, (a friend that is staying across the hall from me) I went to her door, which was open and said "anyone here?". The cleaning crew's cart was outside her room. No one answered, so I stepped inside and observed a man lying on one of the beds watching TV, and another playing with her baby's toys, as others were watching this activity. I quickly left the room. After she returned, and the smoke alarm went off, we both stepped out into the hallway to exit the building when it stopped. Hmmm. I wonder what that was about. We started chatting in the hallway, and she invited me in. As I was sitting playing with her 4th month old baby, I casually told her what had happened earlier. Understandably she was very upset by this news. She asked if I minded her speaking to the manager about it. I said that was fine with me, but that I was not one of their favorite people. I told her why I keep my "Do not disturb" sign on all the time. About an hour or so later, she asked me if I could come downstairs to discuss this with the manager. I said I could and proceeded downstairs. When I entered her office, she did not introduce herself, and asked me to have a seat. The manager asked me to explain what I saw, which I did. She asked me if I had done anything else in the hallway before entering my friend's room. I told her that yes, I had taken a plastic trash bag from the cart for my kitchen, since I had brought out the trash the night before. Then, she made a big deal about me taking one trash bag from the cart, and carried on about it for a few minutes. She also told me that I had "no right" to enter my friend's room. I paused at the door and called her name. She could have been in the bedroom changing the baby?? My friend did not have a problem with it. Her behavior was that of a person that had something to hide. She told us that the man sitting on the bed was "checking the channels", so we replied, I've never seen them do that while I am there?? She said that they only do that when the guest is out of the room. What the hell?? She had us watch the CCTV of this time, which took up a good 20-25 minutes. It was dinner time and we both wanted to leave, but she kept going on and on. She brought up the trash bags again! I finally said, Really? You want to argue with me about trash bags? Do you know how much they cost? I will bring you the trash bags and that way they will ALL be accounted for! With that I left her office. I came upstairs and retrieved the trash bags and brought them back to her, which she would not take, so I let them fall to the floor and left. Another thing about this lovely hotel, which Jim and I have made quite a joke of is the toilet. When we flush the toilet we have to hold the handle down until it completely flushes, which takes roughly 20 seconds. We always cheer when it flushes successfully! After a hard rain it does not flush! Now you know about our stressful lives in Brunei! I can definitely see how it could be laid back and relaxed, but we are not there yet.