The golden sultanate — oil, orchids, and the Omar Ali mosque
Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB) is the capital of Brunei Darussalam, a tiny oil-rich sultanate where the Sultan is absolute monarch and the no-tax economy means citizens pay zero income tax and receive free healthcare and education for life. The city centres on the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque — one of Southeast Asia's most beautiful, with Italian marble walls and a real gold dome — and Kampong Ayer, the world's largest water village, where 30,000 people live in stilt houses on the Brunei River.
Brunei was one of Southeast Asia's great maritime empires: in the 15th and 16th centuries, the Sultanate controlled most of Borneo and parts of the Philippines, and was the polity Spanish forces encountered when they arrived in Luzon in the 1560s. The empire contracted through the 19th century as Brunei ceded Sarawak to James Brooke (the 'White Raja') and North Borneo to a British chartered company. Independence came in 1984. The current Sultan, Hassanal Bolkiah — who has reigned since 1967 — is one of the world's longest-serving heads of state.