My first real contact with the people of Brunei occurred at the border from Sarawak. The local bus took me through 3 stages – stamp out of Malaysia, health check and stamp in to Brunei.
We all got off the bus at the second stop and presented our health papers to an official in a small room. One by one we were called up to be screened. While I waited, I noticed that the screening was done by thermal imaging and there were rooms out the back, presumably for anyone showing up positive. As each person went up, their image showed on the operator’s screen as a patchwork of orange and red against the yellow background.
When my turn came, my image almost blended into the background. How could this be when I was sweating buckets in the heat? The only part that stood out was the brilliant red where my nose would be. I’m not sure what that says, but they let me through to country number 34.