11 August
At 10:40 PM. the plane landed in Brunei airport.  Dhan  Singh  and  Rup  Bahadur were  waiting  for  me  outside.  Major Chandra  Bahadur  Pun,  whom  I contacted from Manila, had sent them to receive me. We took off in a jeep to Gorkha  Reserve  Unit.  It  was  raining hard and the tire got a puncture on the way. It was impossible to change tires in the pouring rain. The driver went off with my bicycle to call for another jeep. We talked and waited. It was already 1:15, when we arrived at the guest room  of  GRU.

12  August
Major  Chandra  Bahadur  Pun  arrived  at 7:30. I was still sleeping. He arranged a tour for me in  Badara Seri  in a car. I went to see the city and learned about the roads, so that it would be easier for me to travel on my cycle later.

13  August
There  are  around  1500  army  personnel in GRU. Inside the compound, I had to live  by the army rules. You need permission to go out and come in. The fact that I am living within the army camp cannot be flashed so I couldn't even  contact  any  newspapers. I came out of the camp at 4:00, after taking  permission  from  the  major,  of course.  Bandara  Seri,  the  capital  of Brunei is not a big city.  Brunei is a small  Muslim  country  with  a  population of  around  3  lakhs.  They  speak  Malay and the women cover their head with veils.  The  roads  are  clean;  majority  of the  workers  are  from  India  and Bangladesh.  The  business  economy  is  in the  hands  of  the  Chinese  population.  It takes  around  30  minutes  to  look  around the shops and all. From there I went to see the Royal Palace. There I met a French  cyclist,  also  a  traveller.  He  had travelled to Africa for 3 years, and told me how unsafe it was, theft and robbery was  common.  My  mind  has  already become  preoccupied  with  the  thought  of
travelling  in  Africa.

14  August
Following the direction of GRU, I went to the  District  Office  with  Laxmi  Prasad Gurung at 9 in the morning. He said, .this place is worse than Nepal, people are lazy and work get done at a snail's space..  The  officer  seemed  too  busy however,  and  we  made  an  appointment for  tomorrow. After a meal at 12, I returned to my room and tried to rest. But a crowd of Nepalese  gathered  who  wanted  to  know about me. I am getting tired of answering  the  same  questions  again  and again.  It  seems  like  such  a  headache sometimes. The  radio  interview  was  scheduled  at  3 p.m. After that I returned to the district office to give the letter from GRU. The GRU  Officer  mess  had  organized  a special party in the evening. It was on reaching  Brunei that I got to taste Nepali food for the first time.

16  August
The  Brunei  Bulletin  had  published  my interview with the title .From Nepal with Peace.  People  who  have  read  that  now waved  at  me,  especially  the  drivers,
most of whom were women. I even had tea with two curious people. The city is 6 km. from GRU. At the embassy,  people  made  a  face  when they  saw  my  passport.  They were saying  I  needed  a  Malaysian  sponsor.  I showed them the paper cutting of my interview.  They  were  impressed  and even wanted to take snaps with me. For
free? No, they were willing to pay $ 10 each! I also got the visa. At 12:30, I had lunch with Major Bhuwan Singh Limbu. He is the father of Rita Limbu, my favorite RJ (Hits FM), back home. At 4 p.m., I went to look around the city again. I am a celebrity for those who know me. I went for tea in a tea shop run by a Madrasi, an Indian. He gave me a tie-pin. I met a lot of Nepalese  on  my  way  back,  who  stopped and talked to me. It took a while. There was a party in GRU at 7, and it was already  7.  I  met  mothers  and  sisters who cried for me. I got emotional too. Back  in  my  room,  major  Bhuwan  Singh was  already  waiting  for  me.  As  luck would have it, I had left the keys inside
my locked room! There was no way I could go to the party in the clothes I was wearing. After a frantic hunt, I finally managed to borrow a pant and a shirt. It was already 7:30. Finally, we made it to the party. The officers and their families were all waiting for us. Oh, we got a puncture,. we lied.

18  August
The  Gorkha  Major  Chandra  Bahadur  Pun came to my room to bid farewell. Many Nepalese  gathered,  with  garlands,  near the gate to see me off. Eyes glistened with tears. Nar Bahadur  dai and Khar Bahadur  dai  accompanied  me  up  to  15 km in the army van. Then I was on my way, all alone. In the short span of time in GRU, I got so much love from the  Nepalese  settled  there.  But  I  have to move on. For a while I rested in Jerudong  park,  a  beautiful  park.  A big diamond is placed in front of the park.  There  weren.t  many  people  in sight. It was difficult to see houses or shops on the way.  In  Tutong, the road narrowed, but it was under construction.  There  is  no cultivated
land; big open lands lie fallow, full of weeds.  Brunei  is living on oil wealth as it  extracts  maximum  petroleum. After  I  reached  Serea,  I  headed straight  to  the  Gorkha  camp.  Bikash  and Sherjung  introduced  me  to  the  Acting Gorkha  Major.

August 22
Teaching the Gurkhas in Brunei about the geography of Nepal is a tough task. "Where do you live", everybody asks. "Dolkha", I reply. The inevitable second question, "Where is Dolkha?" I feel a wee bit sad that these Nepalese know all about East Timor, Bosnia and Kosovo but are ignorant about their own home country. May be a war is necessary for them to know my village too.
At last, I was alone around 4:00 and went to Kola Beliat, the boarder of Malaysia at 15 km from Seria. I bought a tyre for the bicycle and a pair of gloves. I don't know why I always keep losing my gloves…
In the evening , there was a ceremony organized by the Gorkha Major Dharam Bahadut Gurung and other officers in my honor. The army officers talked about their life and I shared my memories. The dinner had fish and drymeat along with other delicacies. I began missing my village. Is maize ready for harvest now? Maybe they are cooking 'makaiko dhindo'…..

August 23
Milan Tamu woke me at six in the morning. Today I was moving to Malaysia from Brunei. I went with Milan Tamu for the interview which was followed by visits to a hospital and a school. The little children smiled kindly and little hands waved goodbye lovingly. I had many things to do, like posting letter, buying batteries fo camera. Thank god Jai was there in the right time with his car. All tasks over, I went to his home to show my face to his wife. The BFBS radio was still broadcasting news about my farewell to Brunei. After listening to the radio, there were many people who were curious about me. At 11:00, The British commanding Officers bided me farewell with garlands and military bands.
Dipak dai dropped me at 5 km from there. Ramdhani had sent $75 for me again. Ramdhani is a renowned businessman in the army. I stopped for a meal at Istana Kota Mengellela, an old palace. The Sultan also stayed there in his tour to the sea and the Gurkhas provided the security there also. Together with Bhoop singh Thakuri, several Nepalese brothers came to see me off at Kola Belait. I took a steam boat from there and walke 12km to reach Sengai Tutoh Boarder. The path was tough, all marshy lands, jungle with no villages at all. There were monkeys playing in the trees and some people were fishing in murky water. There were dead snakes all over the road, crushed by the cars.
10 km. Road ahead for Kuala Baram was no better. In Kuala Baram, a man came to ask for an autograph in his Tshirt. I obliged and he paid me $10. 10m dollars for an autograph was not bad at all, I was happy. He knew about me from TV and newspapers.
I took a ship again to cross the Baram river. I talked with a mAlaysian trekker in the ship. I was still 2km away from Miri. A person named Chong Shin fait, invited me to his shop and gave me 2 bottles of water, 2 bottles of fruit juice and a packet of biscuit. He provided me with an escort too, his fat little son, who was supposed to introduce me to other people and tag the bicycle along to reduce the weight. It was already dark when I reached Miri. It was hard to find a place to stay. Finally I planned to stay in Tropical Inn. I went to a restaurant to have meal. Sad, I had forgotten to exchange the Brunei dollars for Malaysian. All the money exchange counters were closed. Finally, the restaurant owner accepted 100 Brunei dollars. I I headed for the hotel.