Any info for Royal Brunei?
 

Can anyone give me some info for Royal Brunei? Many expats there? How is the life style in Brunei?

Ill help you...
 

I just got back from living in Brunei for 5 yrs. If you have a young family it is a great place to live. Though for kids, the older you become the less appealing it is. (Im 16 at the moment.)

However it is quiet, peaceful and safe. There are a lot of expats within Brunei. This is because you have the sultan's money maker (Shell), the British army, school teachers and of course RBA. The Shell and Army expats live in Seria 100k away from the capital (Bandar Seri Begawan) where RBA is based. (see map)

However if you try to have anything done in Brunei you will be constantly :ugh: banging your head off the wall as everything goes in slow motion.

The country has one decent private school. www.jis.edu.bn that has a staff made up of mostly expat teachers.

There are no taxes in Brunei :ok: and it is a dry country. But you can drive for 20 mins or so and jump over the border into Malaysia where you can buy booze. Also there is a huge amount of fake CDs, DVDs and anything else you can think of. The cost of living is much cheaper.

The food is not as good as in Australia but it is alright. The sultan owns his own ranch larger than Brunei in NT that supplies all the meat to Brunei and the meat is much cheaper than here. But vegies, fruit etc. has to be flown over so it's a bit more expensive.

If you enjoy travelling it's in an excellent position for going to anywhere in South-East Asia.

Also RBA are planning on purchasing new aircraft and expanding their route network. They have just starting flying to Vietnam.

If you have any other questions just email me.

Cheers

Mark

http://media.maps.com/magellan/Images/BRUNEI-W1.gif

Aaargh! The Black Spot!

Right on my house.... :(

Damned map makers always get the location of the capital wrong.

Would agree with all Mark has said, apart from the food! It you prefer to stick with a "western" style diet, then you will find food expensive, though as far as I've observed, the quality is good. However, if you enjoy the local Malay cuisine, or a wide variety of other Asian dishes, you'll find Brunei a fantastic place to eat out, and very cheap.
Just my two cents worth. :ok:

Thanks guys!
 

I can see Brunei sounds pretty nice place to be...compare to some other country ( like where I am in ).:)

What about transportation? Trains? Buses? Taxis?? Easy to get around?
You guys have maids??
If you have any other info about RBA, please let me know!

Thanks

Pinkflaps

Transport
 

There are no trains that I know of, but plenty of local buses and taxis. Most people have their own car as petrol is cheap. The road network is constantly being improved, but the busy shopping areas such as Gadong get very congested.

Most expats have amahs (maids), either live-in to take care of kids, or as required for cleaning, laundry etc.

cars...
 

Can you import your own car?? Or do you need to buy from local? Cheap petrol sounds very good.

Nasi Lemak, so Brunei has some food court like Singaporean hawker center?

cars
 

You can import your own car, but it must be less than 2 or 3 years old - can't remember exactly, but when we looked into doing it there were lots of restrictions, eg you have to take the car out of the country with you when you leave. Decided it wasn't worth the effort as second hand cars can be bought locally at decent prices. Expats leave quite regularly as contracts end, so there are often cars and household goods for sale.

There are SIN-style food courts, but also a couple of hundred or more small local restaurants where you can eat really well for a few dollars. You can see why I chose this user-name:)

RBA
 

Can anyone share the conditions in RBA? With or without an agent deal....

Thanks!;)

Contact Rishworth in NZ - they handle the majority of RBA recruitment.

Let me sum it up for you pinkflaps.

Good food, cheap booze & a slow lane!
:ok:

Thanks for info, guys...
 

So, Rishworth package is not too bad?? I have heard some guys are hired directly from RBA, how does it happen?? Can we go thru any other agent?? :confused:

RBA short of crews right now. If you have 767 experience, tell them at the interview you'll only accept an RBA contract. I bet they'll accept you on those terms.

So what are the finer details of the RBA contract compared to the Rishworth contract??:}

Hi guys!

Just wanted to ask if RBA recuits expat-pilots/FOs from other SEA nations. Thanks a lot!

RQ