48 Hours in Brunei: Hollywood Reporter Infiltrates the Underground Gay Scene

I went to Brunei many years ago on business. It was certainly an interesting place. I was there to finalize the purchase of two King Airs and bring them back to the US. Royal Dutch Shell had decided or the Sultan had decided to switch from fixed wing to rotary wing transport for Shell's management/workers. Rotary wing means helicopters.

Flew from MEM to SFO, met my other pilot and we departed on a Pan Am 747SP to Hong Kong. Spent the night and flew on a British Caledonia 707 to Bandar Seri Begawon where we were met with what appeared to be a Gurkha at ;least he was in uniform and drove a WWII style jeep. He drove us a hotel near the airport and office of the aviation branch of Shell. Beautiful grass strip. Plenty long and so well manicured I think you could have played croquet or whatever on it.

Spent 4 days waiting on the money to be wired in, hire a shipping company to build a large container for all the spare parts that were part of the deal and getting to know San Miguel beer. Some say an aficionado can tell whether it is made in Manila or Hong Kong by the taste. I was hot and it was cold so all was well. However, it was strange to see the sign on the hotel bar that said NO Muslims allowed to enter.

During the wait time, we changed the registration from Brunei to US. One day I was exiting a building in the complex and a Chinese looking gentleman approached and asked my name. He then said he was from the FAA in Guam and here was my permit to fly on US registry. I have no idea how he got there or what he did next. I never saw him again.

However, because we could not easily get tanking or the overweight permits needed, I decided to go west back home even though it was farther. That turned into an eleven day adventure I will not bore you with.

Best regards,

RA1

Sorry, no gay adventures on this trip.