Kota Kinabalu to Brunei (BSB) by Bus: 8 Passport Stamps in a Single Journey

Kota Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia and Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei are two of the major cities in the island of Borneo. Travel between these two is easy and convenient, since there are a lot of options available. There are flights between Kota Kinabalu and Bandar Seri Begawan served by different airlines; there are ferries you can take from Kota Kinabalu to Labuan and onwards from Labuan to Brunei; and there is also an option for a long land journey, if you have enough time and you’re not in a rush. During my tour in Borneo, I only had a short time of vacation but I took the last option, because of one reason: PASSPORT STAMPS! In case you’re not aware of it, choosing this route will let you earn EIGHT (8) passport stamps, and this is a good way to fill up your passport if you’re fond of collecting them.

Taman Haji Sir Muda Omar Ali Saiffudien, Bandar Seri Begawan

The only bus that caters this route is

Borneo 2016, Part 1: Kota Kinabalu

I love short escapes from the mundane life. It just relaxes my mind and free myself from stress for a while. It was another eid holiday season this September, so it was meant for me to go out again for a long weekend. On the earlier part of the year, I booked a cheap flight from Manila to Kota Kinabalu, knowing that tentatively, the work-free day would fall on a Monday, September 12, as listed by some of the sources I checked online. Good news, the holiday was announced to be on that date.

Gaya Island, Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park

Kota Kinabalu, the city where I would land, is the capital of East Malaysia’s Sabah in the island of Borneo, the third largest non-continental island in the world after Greenland and New Guinea. This island offers a lot of natural sights and is famous for its diverse wildlife, white sand beaches, excellent diving spots, and huge national parks. Borneo is shared by three countries: Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak), Brunei, and Indonesia (Kalimantan). Kota Kinabalu is the main gateway to East Malaysia that’s why it is the second busiest airport in the country. The main sight I was planning to visit there is the well-known Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park, a group of five islands some kilometers away from the city.

I planned to have a four-day vacation there. This would be my itinerary, supposedly:

Traveling Visa-Free in ASEAN Member Countries

Having a Philippine Passport, one of the things that makes us difficult to travel aside from purchasing costly airfares is the mandatory application for tourist visas to most of the countries. Based on Passport Index, currently our national passport is only ranked 63 by the number of visa-free countries where we can enter (which is 62), that is a long way down from Germany and Sweden with 158.

Thankfully, our neighbours will always welcome us. Last 2006, there was a signed agreement between the ten ASEAN member countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) that grants the passport holders of these nations to move freely around the region and enter each country without applying for a visa for a stay of up to 30 days, depending on the regulations of each one of them. It means worry-free travel to those who wish to explore the culture around us!

Here is the list of the ASEAN Countries with their corresponding number of visa-free days: