As Steven and I were driven from our hotel in Brunei's capital city of Bandar Seri Begawan toward Ulu Temburong National Park, our driver mentioned that the main road in Bandar is closed to cars on Sundays to allow people to exercise. The park, the first national park established in Brunei, has been protected since 1991 and is famous for its treetop canopy walk.
Understanding that few people know anything about Brunei, he said the country's first language is Malay, with English being the second. He added that while the government makes it very hard for expats to work in Brunei, the king (I think he meant the Sultan) "takes care of people," so there are few poor people. Gas cost just $1.50 a gallon in the oil-rich country.
The Prime Minister's Office Building, known for its distinctive white domes, has led some to refer to it as the White House of Brunei.
We passed by the Teng Yun Temple, which was the oldest Chinese temple in Brunei.
The driver took us across the 19-mile-long Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien Bridge, which spans Brunei Bay and is the longest bridge in Southeast Asia. We spotted star-and-crescent symbols at the bridge's highest points, signifying Brunei as a Muslim state.
When we reached Bangar, the gateway to the national park, we were attracted to the Temburong Supertrees, modernist installations constructed primarily of glass and metal.
As we were only on a day trip, we had no need for the chalet-like housing in Sumbiling Eco-Village, where we met our guide and rested briefly.
A case of how small the world is: In the camp, we met David, a teacher now working in Bandar, but he grew up in Ken Caryl Valley and attended Chatfield High School, not even a ten-minute drive from our house!
All aboard for the 45-minute boat ride along the Sungai Belalong River through the Peradayan Forest Reserve toward the park! We were excited to jump in the traditional long-boats known as temuai for the journey upstream.
Mangrove forests came to the edge of the river.
One of several hanging footbridges over the river:
Though we passed several more camps along the river, we saw very few people out and about.
This was where our boatmen, the spotter in front and captain in the rear, were about to earn their keep, as they had to get out of the boat to pull us over shallow rocks in several stretches of the river!
No doubt the boatmen were relieved when the water level soon deepened again.
More hazards ahead!
Orchid blossoms had fallen from the trees overhead and were floating in the lazy current.
The longboat journey on the river trail to Ulu Temburong National Park was part of the travel experience.
From the park headquarters, we had 1,000 stairs to climb to reach the canopy walkway, the highlight of most visitors' trips to the park. No wonder Ulu Ulu translates to far away!
We were relieved when our guide, Fikri, whom we'd met in the village, said we'd have four stops en route to the canopy, and that we could climb at a slow, steady pace.
When we reached Bangkala, the first hut or rest area, Fikri told us that it was named after a very bitter Indonesian vegetable dish made from this tree. When a daughter is born, her family plants a tree in her honor, so that when she marries, the wedding guests circle the tree.
This was one of five hanging bridges in the park. It had recently been replaced after a tree fell down on the previous bridge, which was built in 2019. Our group of 12 had to space out fairly evenly, so we weren't all bunched too closely together on it.
As we neared the end, I was quite happy to step on terra firma again, as it had swayed a little more than I'd liked!
Only another 747 steps to go, Steven - you can do it, sweetheart!
The Mata Kunan Hut was named after a tall, fruit-bearing tree that has bulges on its sides. Stay clear of it, though, as it causes seven days of diarrhea, Fikri warned us!
As we continued our hike, Fikri pointed out breadfruit trees and mentioned that people collect honey year-round.
Unfortunately, with other people in our group around and always on the move, I wasn't able to ask him what he meant when he told us how people communicate (or perhaps communicated, as in times past?) over long distances using the banana tree. Somehow, announcements were made about deaths, wars, etc. He added that one side of banana trees is a good shelter if a roof is added, as it won't burn, because it contains so much water.
While he was talking, he said the sound we were hearing was a hornbill's mating call.
A sign by the Belimbing Tampoi Hut listed the profusion of life forms in the rainforest, including epiphytes, creepers, mosses, and liverworts. Some have developed unique ways of surviving as stranglers, drawing their nutrition from dead organic matter, or by forming "relationships" with ants!
We were three-quarters of the way to the top at this point!
While resting briefly at the fourth hut, Pandok Uratmata, Fikri commented that there are few animals in this part of the rain forest because they realize there's a constant stream of people and thus stay away. I don't think he indicated the type of tree it was, except for mentioning it was used for carving longboats used on the river.
At long last, we arrived at the first of the five towers in the park and what we'd come to see and do! Because of safety concerns, only five people could climb each tower at a time, and only two were allowed on each platform.
There were several guidelines or rules that seemed commonsense, namely holding onto the railings when crossing the bridge, not running or jumping on the bridge, and not extending any body part over the railings.
I guess this wasn't the best time to say I was afraid of heights, right?! However, I was bound and determined to try to overcome my fears. Fikri said a 90-year-old man had climbed the towers with his great, great-grandson in 2020. If he could do it, surely I could, as I'd only turned 70 the day before.
The first tower was about 138 feet high and consisted of 21 floors, with 8 steps per floor. Climbing up was almost mind-numbing, with just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other, and going up, up, and up.
Looking down was probably not the best thing to do, even if it was to see the light of your life!
The part that I found the scariest was walking across the bridges because we were no longer enclosed as we had been on the flights of stairs. But hey, it was "only" 210 feet across to the second tower, and just a further 18 floors off the ground!
The views among the treetops were undeniably gorgeous from that high up!
The towers had originally been built for research purposes before they were opened up to the public.
You can see from my sweaty brow how much we had exerted ourselves, or was that from nerves, too?! Surely, not just the heat!
One of the walkways far below us!
What goes up must come down, so we began our long trip back to solid ground. Fikri was very solicitous, kept telling us to take our time, and offered words of encouragement along the way. I'm sure he didn't often get 'saddled' with two old folks with bum extremities!
The ever-patient Fikri!
We were so lucky to arrive at the canopy tower when we did, as when we finally reached the bottom, there was quite a crowd anxiously waiting to begin their ascent. Then it was back in the boats for a short jaunt upriver before what Fikri said would be a "five-minute walk" to a waterfall. Ha ha - it was more like 15 minutes of clambering over downed logs, trying to make our way through muddy streams, some of which felt like quicksand, and, well, you get what it was like!
The reward was a free 'fish pedicure' with tiny fish nibbling our feet and lower legs! I'd first experienced the unusual experience in a foot spa in Bangkok umpteen years ago, but this was the real McCoy and a lot more fun. You can tell from Steven's expression that he wasn't wild about having the fish bite his tootsies.
I was game when Fikri suggested he accompany me under the waterfall. Lina, you would have been proud of me when I did your telltale Lina pose!
The pumpkin-orange blossoms at the water's edge were called Flame Vine or Ixora, according to Google Lens.
Thanks to AI again, which identified these striking tropical plants as Heliconia, often known as lobster-claw.
If we'd gone straight from the roundabout, we'd have landed up in Malaysia in thirty minutes!
The driver told us that the Sultan Haji Omar 'Ali Saifuddien Bridge had been fully funded by the Brunei king ( I think he meant the Sultan), with the first half built by the Chinese and the second by South Korea.
When I asked the driver about this view, he said that the Chinese had leased the island six or seven years ago to build the oil refinery. The more we travel, the more we have observed that China has exercised its political and economic might in massive infrastructure projects in disparate parts of the world.
Posted on March 26th, 2026, from San Francisco, where we are visiting our son, Alexander, and his family for a few days before beginning the first leg of our next adventure. Please take care of yourself and your loved ones.
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