Previously on “Two Up and Overloaded” -
Marisa: We had a long, tough ride through one of the most remote jungles of the island of Borneo. With no towns, or hotels, or gas stations along the way, we were barely able to make it with the spare gas we carried. And what's worse, I was sick with a fever.
But we finally arrived in the town of Keningau, and I was at last able to rest.
[Keningau – Malaysia]
Good morning, everyone. I am feeling a bit better today! And Tim was so kind. He got me so many wonderful things. I've been eating my chicken noodle soup—actually, no noodles, just the chicken soup. Perfect. I've had my rambutan and apples.
So we woke up that morning, and I was feeling quite a bit better.
Tim: Yay!
Marisa: Still sick, but feeling better.
We have a short ride today, it's just 2 and 1/2 hours. So...
Tim: I think it's 3 and 1/2 hours, to be clear.
Marisa: I'm happy with that. Yesterday was really, really, really long for me, and I'm glad I'm feeling a bit better, but I don't want to overdo it. So that should be good. We're going back to the town of Lawas. So this is the first place that we have actually been to before, and I really liked that town.
So that's the plan for today. And then tomorrow we'll be going back through the country of Brunei, which I'm super excited about because our first time through, as you may remember, was so rained out. So I really want to be able to see something and enjoy it for what it is.
Tim: Yeah, I want to go back over that bridge on a nice, sunny day. It would be cool.
So our overall trajectory is, we had done the Borneo Loop, and it was an awesome adventure. But now we were slowly making our way back toward Sarawak. To get there, we had to go through Brunei via the longest bridge in Southeast Asia.
Marisa: Yes. So there are two ways to get from one side of East Malaysia to the other and cross the country of Brunei. You can go by road into the country and cross through the two lobes, which would technically be like eight different immigration checkpoints by the end of it, or you can take this new bridge that connects the two lobes of Brunei.
Tim: So in our research—because Marisa is a little mis-researcher—and so when I say our research, in Marisa's research, she has found that there is another bridge in Thailand that is "longer.” But it's kind of like one of those Futurama spans over the city bridge, you know?
Marisa: Yeah, it's more like a highway that's been raised over the city streets, kind of like an overhead monorail type of thing. That is technically the longest bridge in Southeast Asia.
Tim: But we like to think bridges go over water or something, you know?
Marisa: In my opinion, this is the longest bridge in Southeast Asia. Because when I think bridge, I think that it's spanning over some sort of distance.
Tim: Yes. So let us know if you think it's Brunei or Thailand, or if it's a tie.
Marisa: And time for check out.
Because our original journey through the country of Brunei had been completely rained out, we weren't able to fully experience one of the most impressive things this tiny rich country has to offer, the Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien Bridge.
But this is the story of how we retraced our steps and found ourselves gloriously riding over the ocean on Southeast Asia's longest bridge.
Intro: Hey everyone! Nice to have you here. We are Tim, and Marisa Notier. I ride in the front. And I’m in the rear. We travel the world and we pack too much gear. Oh, all the places we’ll go! Through rain and through sleet and through mud and through snow. Oh, all the things we’ll see! We’ve been to a country or two. Or three! Oh, all the fun we’ve had! To have you along, would make us real glad. So give us a like, and hit subscribe to join us along our epic ride.
[This episode is brought to you by Emmaus Moto Tours.]
[Motorcycle off-road adventure tours. www.EmmausMotoTours.com]
Tim: So the current road that we were on was this long, twisty, beautiful road.
[Music]
[Music]
Marisa: So there's this really weird thing that goes on in East Malaysia where you're going from one state to the next, and you actually have to go through a real official border crossing. This is just like an international border, but it's between the states of Sabah and Sarawak. But they check your passports, they check what you're bringing in as if you're going through customs and immigration, and they restamp your passport, and you get another 90 days or whatever your visa is. I know, it's amazing!
Tim: You can have an endless loop of Sabah, Sarawak, and just live there forever.
It's hot. Marisa is over there. It takes a while, and this isn't to get in between two different countries. This is like going from Illinois into Indiana, you know? Hopefully, we get in the shade up here. Marisa has got our passports out already.
Yeah. It's really interesting. And a lot of our new Malaysian friends in the comments below have said that Sabah and Sarawak are unique in that fact. Fellow Malaysians, even if they were from KL, Kuala Lumpur, if they were to fly in, they themselves would need to go through the passport process.
Marisa: Yeah, isn't that interesting?
Tim: Yeah, I mean, it would be like us if we were going from Illinois to Indiana and having to show our passports.
Marisa: Yeah, which would be very weird.
Tim: Yeah. Because why would we go to Indiana?
Marisa: So once we got into the state of Sarawak once again, the landscape changed a bit and became these beautiful limestone karst cliffs.
Tim: One of the things that makes it really cool is the fact that we can talk to each other and point out the monkeys we see on the road or the excitement of "Hey, the bridge is coming up," as I'm looking at the map on my phone. Yeah, all the audio that you hear of us talking between each other on the motorcycle is from our Cardo units, which are awesome. We have the Packtalk Edge. They're my favorite intercom that we've ever had, and we've had up to, like what, I think three so far?
Marisa: Yes. And I cannot have a single day's ride without my Cardo unit. I mean, I'm listening to music, I'm listening to podcasts, I'm listening to audiobooks, and I'm listening to Tim and talking to Tim about everything that we see on the road. And sometimes that is super essential to have that conversation and that communication, the ability at high speeds, windy, it doesn't matter. We can always hear each other.
Tim: Absolutely.
Marisa: So these Cardo units are priceless.
Tim: They are. They're having a sale right now, and if you use promo code "2UpAndOverloaded," I think on some of their items, you get 20% other items like 25% off. So be sure to check out the link below for Cardo, awesome units. The Packtalk Edge are amazing. And use code "2UpAndOverloaded" for a discount of your own.
We're on the road and we might be in a disagreement. You can just kind of like power hang up. Like, "Whatever!" And it's like just, she can see that that's the equivalent of slamming a phone. You can't do that on a cell phone, but you can do it on a Cardo. "Whatever, Marisa!" And then she'll chime back in, "Don't hang up on me!" "Whatever." I'll do it again. There's multiple uses to the Cardo, and that's not really the angle they like to pitch, but that's some inside information from us to you. 2upandOverloaded promo code!
[Lawas - Malaysia]
And then, alas, we were in Lawas.
Marisa: Now, we had been to the town of Lawas before, but this time we decided to stay in this super fancy beautiful hotel that we had seen before but didn't stay at. I don't know why! But this time we were like, "Yeah, let's check it out.”
This is fancy.
Tim: Yeah, right? And we're definitely going to go there.
Marisa: Once we got into that hotel that night, it started raining, downpour, crazy cats and dogs.
I didn't want to go anywhere that night. I was still not feeling well, and we had been just like go, go, go, first to that jungle road, and I was really sick and just riding the motorcycle every day. And I was like, "You know what? Let's get room service tonight."
Tim: Oh my God.
Marisa: And let's stay here in this fancy hotel an extra day.
Tim: Absolutely.
Marisa: So we ordered room service. I mean, why not, right?
Tim: I think on our trip the room service counter went from 0 to 1.
Marisa: Yeah, we'd never gotten room service before.
Tim: This was, uh, there were no golden plated burgers on the menu, but we got some good food. And who doesn't enjoy just room service?
Marisa: I know, right? Especially when you're not feelin good and it's pouring down rain outside.
Tim: Yeah.
[Southeast Asia Journey - Day 135]
Marisa: Good morning. I am pretty sick today, so we're going to stay an extra day at this awesome hotel. It is so nice. I'm so excited just to lay down and not go anywhere. I don't feel good. I took another Covid test, again negative, so that's great. But I got something, and it is not fun.
So the next day, we did as we planned and we stayed in, and I pretty much stayed in bed the entire day just to recover from my sickness.
We got more room service because it's wonderful. It's a little pricier than normal, but they had Laksa Sarawak, which I love. And they didn't really have it in Sabah. Just so you know, we are not in tiny little separate beds by choice. This was what was available, so it's good though, because I'm sick, I should probably not be near Tim. We do have our own little beds.
Tim: So we heard a loud cheering outside, as if FIFA was going on. And I look out and there's like a high school football game. And it's just an uproar of people applauding and excitement.
Marisa: Yes!
[applause, cheering]
Marisa: It was a day well spent.
Tim: This is true. More room service.
Marisa: Yes.
Tim: Room service clicker - two.
Marisa: I think it was three. We got lunch and dinner.
Tim: Yeah, we sure did. Once you go room service, you just keep on hitting that little service bell.
[Southeast Asia Journey - Day 136]
Marisa: Good morning, everyone. I want to update you with how I feel today. I feel better! I'm so excited! Yay! I'm not 100%, but I feel much, much, much better. Yay! So today, we are going to go through Brunei.
Tim: Twice.
Marisa: Yes, there's like the two lobes. No, we enter, then we take the bridge to the other lobe. So we enter it once, and then we exit it once, which is nice.
Tim: Really only once?
Marisa: Yeah, only once.
Tim: News to me, folks. I don't know what we're doing!
Marisa: But overall I'm excited because the weather looks really nice as opposed to the day that we first went through Brunei. So hopefully we'll be able to have a whole new experience there. And I really want to get a view of that incredible bridge, which is the longest bridge of Southeast Asia. And I'm happy that I'm feeling better. Yay! So we're going to go to the amazing breakfast that they have here, and then pack up and head off. Yay!
So finally, the next day, this was the day that we were going to be going through Brunei.
Tim: And across that mega bridge.
Marisa: Yes! And I was feeling so much better. I was so thankful.
Tim: They had a whole buffet, a little breakfast buffet, and it was really, really super awesome.
Marisa: Oh, amazing! That hotel was so nice.
Tim: Yeah, and it was really inexpensive, um, comparatively. We lavished and luxuried ourselves. Are those proper adjectives?
Marisa: Yes, absolutely.
Tim: We luxuried ourselves.
Marisa: Looking back at the breakfast that I chose after that entire buffet, and I got lettuce and some carrots. What was I thinking?
Tim: You chose poorly.
Marisa: I chose poorly.
So we got back on the road that morning feeling good. The sun was out. Our previous time going through Brunei had been super rainy, so we were extremely happy that the weather was turning out to be fabulous. And the border to Brunei was like right there, 5 minutes away.
We’re at the border already.
The procedures were easy, and all of a sudden, we were in the country of Brunei.
Tim: Good?
Another 90 days. We had 88 days left on our old visa from Sarawak.
Marisa: Brunei is a tiny country, and is Asia's fourth smallest country after the Maldives, Singapore, and Bahrain. But with less than half a million people living there, it is Asia's second least populated country after the Maldives. Still, despite its small size, Brunei is hugely wealthy due to its oil and gas reserves. It is the fifth richest country in Asia and the 13th richest country in the world.
One of the things I love about Brunei is that besides its main little city there, it is all forest. And the first thing we came to after crossing that border was this highway cutting through pristine old-growth rainforest.
Tim: Yeah, and there was a little troop of monkeys that greeted us, which is always nice.
Oh, there's, that one's got a baby. Bye-bye, monkeys. Oh, there's more monkeys! He just ran across the road. Yeah.
Marisa: Oh my gosh! They're everywhere.
Tim: Yeah, he just ran. There he is on the light pole.
And then that little road kind of turns into a pre-bridge, if you will. And it builds up this excitement that you know you're about to launch yourself on Southeast Asia's *longest bridge.
Marisa: In our opinion.
Tim: In our opinion.
Marisa: The Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien Bridge is 30 kilometers long, or 19 miles, and spans impressively over the seafront Bay of Brunei, and connects the two enclaves or lobes of Brunei.
[Music]
It's not just a long bridge, but it's a gorgeous bridge that was designed and built to impress. Construction on it started in 2014, and it was completed very recently, in March of 2020. It is named after the current Sultan's late father, Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Kheiri Waddien, who is widely regarded as the architect of modern Brunei.
Tim: It's a prime example when hyphenating your name goes astray.
Marisa: It's a long name.
Tim: It's a really long bridge, and a really long bridge name, so it's fitting.
Marisa: I remember last time you were like, "It used all the letters."
Tim: Yeah.
[Music]
You can see again the suspension part of it with the archways that hold the suspension. And it's kind of like you're going into the elf realm in Lord of the Rings or Skyrim, some beautiful bridge into another portion of the epic fantasy landscape. It was really, really cool.
Marisa: It looks like the color of stone, and so you feel like you're crossing under these giant stone archways. And each of them is topped with the golden crescent, and they have written in Arabic "Subhan Allah," which means "Glory to God," or "Alhamdulillah," which means, "Praise to God." It is so beautiful, and it definitely felt like we were crossing into this other fantastical culture, this great civilization that built huge, beautiful things.
Tim: Where the fairies go at the end of Lord of the Rings, their home.
Marisa: Oh, the Grey Havens.
Tim: They used to all have to take boats. Now there's a bridge because it's, you know, technology.
Marisa: It's the elf bridge.
Tim: But some bridges, it's like... “Cool. It's still a bridge.” But this one had a lot more emotion to the stone, if that's possible.
Marisa: Absolutely. I felt it. You felt it. We were both like, “Oh my goodness.” It was just breathtaking.
[Music]
Tim: So going across this bridge still takes about a half an hour of cruising at like 80 kilometers an hour. And prior to that, you'd have to take a boat ride, or I'm assuming a ferry ride.
Marisa: Yeah, which was 45 minutes just for that boat ride. Or you could have gone 2 hours through the different lobes of Brunei that crossed in between Malaysia, and it would be four border crossings.
Tim: Yeah.
Marisa: Uff!
Tim: And now they're trying to connect, they're in the process of making the Pan Borneo Highway, which is what we took from Kilometer 0 in Kuching all the way up to the Tip of Borneo in Sabah, and then did the loop from Tawau. But now the Pan Borneo Highway is trying to bypass Brunei, so you don't have to go through Brunei. It's still in process. It's a big laboring task, but in our opinion, Brunei was fun to go through. It's another country on our list, check mark. You know, it's not all about check marks, but it's nice. And that beautiful bridge, you're
going to bypass that. Sometimes things aren't worth bypassing. You know, sometimes it's nice to experience everything you possibly can.
Marisa: Very well said.
Tim: Thank you. Unless it's like a clogged artery in your heart.
Marisa: Then you should bypass it.
Tim: You should bypass that.
Marisa: Next time, we discover what we consider to be the most deserted stretch of beach in Southeast Asia.
And we head to huge, huge caves.
But that will all be in the next episode. So if you've been enjoying these videos, please check out our Patreon link in the description below. For as little as a dollar a month, you can sign up and get some exclusive little clips. You can see our videos early, ad-free, and you can get a postcard sent to you from wherever we are in the world.
Tim: We want to thank all of our existing patrons. You really help us fuel the tanks, fuel our spirits, and get further down the road.
Marisa: Thank you so much for watching this video. I hope you liked it. If you did, please give us a big thumbs up and hit the subscribe button below. And we'll be seeing
you next time.
Tim: Stay safe, everybody.
Marisa: Bye.
Tim: Peace.
Marisa: This means that despite its tiny size, Brunei is home to an array of rare wildlife, including pangolins and rare species of horn—
Tim: Yep.
Marisa: I can't say rare!
Tim: Really rare species...
Marisa: Willy ware species of wild wife.
Tim: Wild wife. I was like, wow.
