Nine hours to kill in Brunei airport - and that after a longish journey already; a train ride from Berlin to Frankfurt, a flight Frankfurt - Bangkok, a flight Bangkok - Brunei. I am rather done now. And of course, right now there is an announcement, the flight to Sydney is delayed by a further 45 minutes.
My time in Berlin went by very quickly, but I did notice a few idiosyncrasies which were not that clear to me before:
- very few people on the streets
- you always get very much personal space (almost too much, I feel now)
- it's a very green city
- there is very little traffic, even during rush-hour (compared to really big cities)
- very effective and clean public transport (and buses incline to let you step in and out more conveniently!)
- the soccer world cup apparently has changed a lot - there is much less unfriendliness (people now use the words "please" and "thank you" all the time!)
I was truly surprised on the train from Berlin to Frankfurt (spotlessly clean, carpet on the floor; a few minutes delayed as due to a technical issue the travelling speed had to be reduced to a mere 200 km/h instead of the usual 250 km/h) when overheard a discussion between two ladies on the fact that one insisted on having the empty seat next to her stay empty because she "needed" the space. In the end the offended woman got up to look for a an other two seats somewhere else... Weird world where empty seats next to you are considered a necessity.
My flights so far with Royal Brunei was quite interesting, too. An obviously through-and-through islamic airline. The stewardesses wear a veil decoratively draped around their head and shoulders but leaving the face visible. Before the take-off they always play an official prayer / blessing in Arab beginning with a triple "Allah uh akbar". I have never flown before with a direct blessing of Alah and hence felt very safe. Then, the flight information system continuously displays besides the usual stuff (altitude, distance to destination, outside temperature etc.) the current distance to Mekka and the actual direction relative to the airplane. In case you need to say your prayers and bow into the proper direction... The service and food, by the way, are really quite good (no alcohol, though - Brunei as a country is entirely "dry"). A little disturbing, though, the ubiquitous reminder that any sort of drug crime is simply punished by death in Brunei. But I certainly did not consider any offence here!
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