Brunei Darussalam is a unique country in the extreme.  Extremely traditional; extremely wealthy.  It's an odd combination only made possible because this Connecticut-sized nation sits on top of some of the best oil resources in the world.

Many Bruneians live in water villages--the biggest in the world faces the boardwalk of their capital city.  You see hundreds of seemingly ramshackle wood houses on stilts over water.  It sounds like the desparately poor Bajau water gypsies of SE Asia.  But on closer inspection you notice that these houses are quite large.  And once invited inside, you're amazed at how posh many are--central air, late-model home electronics, & sometimes gold-plated bathroom fixtures.  Then you learn that on the shore at the end of the wooden pier they have a BMW that whisks them to their other brick & morter villa on the mainland.

The people are majority Malay Muslim, with unquestioned devotion to their Sultan, who wears every important hat in government.  Many years he's the richest man in the world, and he has enough to hand out wealth to his people.  Some call it a Shellfare state.  Much is paid for by the kingdom, and many immigrants flock here to find work with better pay than in nearby countries.

The Malay Bruneians strive to hold on to their traditional lifestyle--keeping 100% of their people Muslim, living on the water, yet modernizing at a dizzing speed & getting exposed to the outside world as they can afford to travel--and they do.  Here are some glimpses of their lives.