Bandar Seri Begawan

The settlement on this stretch of the Brunei River is old. Chinese and Malay records describe a trading port here, and by the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries it was the capital of a sultanate whose authority reached along the coasts of Borneo and into the present-day Philippines. Its population lived almost entirely on the water, in the stilt villages collectively called Kampong Ayer, which Antonio Pigafetta, sailing with Magellan's expedition in 1521, described as a city of thousands of houses standing in salt water.

Brunei's power shrank through the nineteenth century, as territory passed to the Brooke rajahs of Sarawak and to the British North Borneo Company, and in 1888 the remnant became a British protectorate. The town on the river — then known simply as Brunei Town — remained small and largely waterborne. A deliberate move to build on dry land began under British residents in the early twentieth century, and oil found in the west of the country from 1929 gradually paid for roads, schools and government buildings.

Japanese forces occupied Brunei from 1941 to 1945, and Allied bombing badly damaged the town before liberation. Postwar oil revenue transformed it: the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque was completed in 1958 as the symbol of the new capital, the centre was rebuilt in concrete, and much of Kampong Ayer's population was rehoused on land, though thousands stayed on the water. The city was renamed Bandar Seri Begawan in 1970 in honour of Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien III, who had abdicated in favour of his son. Full independence followed in 1984, and the decades since have added ministries, mosques, malls and suburbs across the Brunei-Muara district.

The capital is the showcase of Malay Islamic Monarchy, the state philosophy that binds Malay custom, Islam and loyalty to the Sultan. Its effects are visible: the scale of the mosques, the royal ceremonies, the absence of bars and the quiet of Friday afternoons, when shops close for prayers. Religious festivals structure the year, and the Hari Raya open house at the palace, when ordinary residents queue to shake the Sultan's hand, is the city's largest annual gathering.

Courtesy is formal and unhurried. Greetings involve a light touch of the hands followed by bringing the hand to the chest, shoes are removed at the door, the right hand is used for eating and passing, and a thumb rather than a forefinger is used to point. Hospitality is expected to be accepted, and refreshments are offered to visitors as a matter of course.

About a tenth of the population is ethnic Chinese, with temples and clan associations in the older streets and a full Lunar New Year calendar, and Indigenous Bornean communities add further languages and traditions. Social life happens in homes, at restaurants and coffee shops, at the night markets and in the malls rather than in public nightlife. Visitors are expected to dress modestly, to behave discreetly, and to treat the monarchy and Islam as subjects beyond argument.

Around seventy thousand people live in the municipal area, and most of Brunei's roughly 460,000 residents live in the surrounding Brunei-Muara district, which makes the capital and its suburbs the centre of national life. Kampong Ayer still houses thousands on the water, with piped services, schools, clinics and mosques reached by walkway and boat, while newer housing spreads inland in low estates of detached houses.

Government is the largest employer, and the oil and gas industry that funds it operates mainly in the west of the country. Wages are supported by a welfare state of free or heavily subsidised healthcare, education and housing, and by very cheap fuel, which helps explain why almost every household drives. The long-standing worry is the economy's near-total reliance on hydrocarbons and the slow pace of diversification; many young Bruneians study abroad and return to public-sector work.

The rhythm of the day is early. Offices and schools start soon after dawn, the midday heat empties the streets, and the evening belongs to the night markets, the malls and family meals. Friday's long prayer break is the fixed point of the week, and the city is at its quietest then.

Bruneian cooking is close to Malay food, with Chinese and Indonesian influence and a strong preference for rice, fish and chilli. The dish visitors are pointed towards is ambuyat: sago starch mixed with hot water into a thick, sticky, almost tasteless paste, wound onto a two-pronged bamboo fork called a chandas and dipped in a sour sauce, then eaten with grilled or fried fish, boiled jungle ferns and sambal. It is a shared, slow meal rather than a quick one.

Everyday eating is cheaper and faster. Nasi katok — rice, fried chicken and sambal wrapped in paper — is the national snack, sold from stalls and shophouses at all hours; noodle soups, satay grilled over charcoal, and kelupis and lamban, glutinous rice rolls wrapped in leaves, fill in the rest. The Gadong night market is where most of this is eaten, with rows of grills and fryers working from late afternoon.

Kuih, the brightly coloured Malay cakes made from rice flour, coconut and palm sugar, are sold everywhere, and in huge quantities in the hour before the fast breaks during Ramadan. There is no alcohol, so meals are paired with sweet iced drinks, fresh fruit juices, coconut water and strong tea; coffee shops and the cafés of Kiulap and Gadong take the place that bars occupy elsewhere.