award-winning inflight magazine, , available to guests of high-end hotels, also publish the prayer times for easy reference.
Meanwhile, the musolla (praying room) is also available in major tourist attractions. Tour companies that operate in Brunei also respect prayer times, further providing peace of mind and ease
for the Muslim traveller as they vacation around the country.
It’s also interesting to note that on Fridays, the holy day for Muslims, businesses close for the duration of the entire Friday
prayer as sign of respect. This includes restaurants and
eateries (although hotel staying guests can still make use of inroom dining facilities), and allows the visitor unique insight into
the everyday Islamic practices of the faithful in Brunei.
Ease of vacationing is further provided by the widespread availabilityof halal food. From fine dining to street food, there are plenty of choices to satisfy the traveller. All fast food and international F&B chains are halal certified, too. Muslim tourists visiting during the holy month of Ramadhan will also find number of places that offer iftar (breaking fast) and meal) while the iftar spreads are often culinary adventure in themselves
For lovers of Islamic culture and history, Brunei will appease their appetite for these and more. It is simply country filled with rich historical and Islamic references. Visitors can truly understand this when they visit the famed Kampong Ayer. This cluster of homes built on stilts over Brunei River is where Brunei’s civilisation was thought to have stemmed from. It was through here that Islam first came to Brunei and, it was also once an important trading port for ships sailing from Straits of Malacca.
The Arabs that came to the Malay archipelago to trade spices would make Brunei their port of call. Fast forward to the present day, you will see how remnants of that trading have lodged itself into cultural realm. Those same spices have come full circle and used not only for local cooking, but extend into healing
therapies unique to Brunei and the South East Asian region.
Visitors may explore the spas in major hotels that highlight the use of these historically traded spices in various indulging and relaxing treatments. Itis also good time to familiarise yourself with the local coffee shops, or ‘kopitiam’. Brunei’s kopitiam revive the art of
Where once coffee beans were chewed to keep worshippers alert at night, Brunei has taken the coffee concept and localised it to reflect the country’s cultural diaspora Of course, other mainstream attractions are there too for the traveller to explore, such as the Royal Regalia Building, Brunei
Museum and Ulu Temburong National Park.
Brunei is an easy country for one to have shariah-compliant vacation. From the airlines to hotels and local businesses, and everything el cond. Royal Brunei, for instance, is the only South East Asian airline that maintains an alcohol-free environment. It is for these reasons that the country is poised to capture the huge halal travel market and remain among one of the top destinations for the Muslim vacationer.
Source: MUHIBAH, the Royal Brunei Airlines in-flight magazine, 2015 Jan-Feb, pages 46-47. Text recovered from the scanned page by OCR and lightly corrected; spelling may differ from the printed edition.
