First border run

Last night I went on my first border run! That was quite an experience - I can't wait to share it with all our future visitors!
My friend T had told me that the first time she did it, she had expected an air conditioned tax free-type shop... mmm, yeah... that's not quite what it is...
My expectations were slightly lower, and kind of about right:

First you have to park the car, quite a bit away from the actual border, to avoid getting towed. Walk over, show your passport twice - first for exiting Brunei, then you walk through no-mans-land, and then show it again to enter Malaysia.
On the other side, there are loads of little shacks that sell all sorts of things if you are interested, mostly food and snacks.
You make your way to the "bar". All the expats apparently go to 'Linggis Place', cause he has the best selection of booze, and the best toilets (more about them later...).

So, seated at Linggis, you then order your esky with beer, that is kind of a laundry tub-thing full of ice and as many beers they have been able to cram in there.
You also get a box of tissues with it, with which you are apparently supposed to wipe your beer off thoroughly, because of where it's stored... (I didn't want to know more than that...)

Most of the time, when you go to the border, you bring a few friends and make a night out of it. Yesterday there were eight of us, and we spent a few hours there, with some fries, satay and cold beers. It was really nice!

Then, they bring out the "menu", of alcohol - and you make your order. The menu consists of nice little pictures of all the alcohol they offer and the choice is not all that bad actually.

I was in luck yesterday, cause two of my friends were not bringing back their allowance of beer, so I got to buy 36 cans, 1 bottle of wine and 1 bottle of Campari - it all came to $90. (We paid $3 each for the beers and food we had had while we were there!!) Here is Anna and me:

Then, after we all got merry and happy and had received all our black bags full of alcohol it was time to go home.

First, a visit to the toilets. They were literally just a box of corrugated iron, with the door hardly hanging from it's hinges. You had to have a really good singing voice... Luckily my friends reminded me to bring my own paper before I got in, and then you "flushed" by pouring water down the toilet from a bucket... Not for the weak hearted...

And then, back the way we came. Here I am with some of the purchases, just at the border:

Looking forward to many more!