Brunei

Brunei is land of plenty - lots of oil, land and wealth. The king who governs the country is also very generous in sharing some of its wealth. There is absolutely no tax - income, sales/goods or property. In fact, the land is given to its citizens for free!! For this reason, the government wants to control the immigration and it is very difficult to become citizen of the country. Because it is an oil producing country, the gas is very cheap, only $.59 per litre. It does not seem hard to cumulate wealth but we were told that most people seem to be quite content with what's given and are not too driven.   

We have been treated like royalty by our friends, Karen and Yong, who have been living in Brunei for many years and are well established here. We stayed at their  humongous rental house all by ourselves. It is on top of a hill over looking the Brunei river. Karen also took us to their private resort about 45 minutes from the city. The resort is located right between the river and the South China Sea and has its private access to the sandy beach. Our stay is too short to enjoy the wonderful facilities.