Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Brunei Museum is 4.5km east of central BSB along the coastal road, on a bluff
overlooking Sungai Brunei. To get here, take the Central Bus line or a taxi (around B$10
from the bus station).
Malay Technology Museum
(Jln Kota Batu; 9am-5pm Sun-Thu, 9-11.30am & 2.30-5pm Fri, 9.45am-5pm Sat, last
entry 30 min before closing)
Linked to the Brunei Museum by a short path down the hill,
this museum has somewhat outdated displays on life in a Malay water village (stilt archi-
tecture, boat making, fishing techniques, handicrafts) and a Murut (Lun Bawang) long-
house.
MUSEUM
Twelve Roofs House
(Bubungan Dua Belas; 224 4545; Jln Residency; 9am-4.30pm Mon-Thu,
2:30am-4:30pm Fri, Sat 9am -11.30am; )
The one-time residence of Britain's
colonial-era high commissioners, said to be the sultanate's oldest extant building, is now a
museum dedicated to the longstanding 'special relationship' between Brunei and the UK.
The evocative photos include views of Brunei as it looked a century ago and many fine
shots of Queen Elizabeth II. The swimming pool out the back is rumoured to be haunted -
during WWII the Japanese executed people there. It was unaccountably closed when we
visited, so you may want to call ahead.
The building is 1.5km southeast of Sungai Kianggeh, towards the Brunei Museum, on a
hilltop dominating the river. To get here from the city centre, take the Central Bus line, a
taxi or a water taxi.
MUSEUM
BLASTED, BLASTING BEDIL
One of the more interesting exhibits in the
Brunei Museum
- partly because it's one of the few pieces of dis-
played culture that is native solely to Brunei, as opposed to the surrounding Malay culturesphere - is a series of
bedil
, or cannons. It was not oil but these bronze-cast weapons that were once the source of the sultanate's wealth
and power. The cannons of Brunei subjugated many of the smaller kingdoms of Borneo and extended the sultan-
ate's power all the way to the Philippines. They were so common they became an expected dowry gift; perhaps
rightly so -
bedil
are beautiful. All are decorated in a baroque fashion, and some are carved to resemble dragons
and crocodiles, because let's face it: what's more terrifying than a cannon ball erupting from a crocodile's mouth?
