Brunei- Chapter 6: Humour and bills

How to reconcile humour and paying the bills? Can it ever be fun to pay the bills? These might be questions that come to mind when reading the title of this chapter and yet, there's no mistake.

I was asked the other day what were in my view the biggest differences between China and Brunei, and I don't think I gave a good answer. Here are two: dealing with civil servants and the cost of utility bills. Whenever we had to go to a bureau in China, whoever was on the other of the desk would either not look at you and wave instead, or look at you sternly and eventually wave or shake his head in refusal- most times than none. You always felt like you bothered them and to be fair that is probably a correct reading of the situation. Here in Brunei, we provide entertainment! When Seb had to go and put units on the electricity card, he was nonplussed at the scene that had just taken place.
"How much, Sir?"
"100 dollars, please?" Not knowing how much it cost nor how much it would last, he thought that would be see us through a few weeks. Our only comparison was China. Peals of laughter came out of the two ladies behind the counter.
"Alright. So, how much is it? How does it work? What's the minimum, please?"
"Minimum 6 dollars."
"Ok. So, can I put 6 dollars on the card, please?" This sounded ridiculously low and he thought he'd have to go again soon but to avoid more laughter... Unfortunately, the ladies thought buying 6 dollars' worth of electricity was hysterically funny and they redoubled their laughter! Seb laughed too, more out of embarrassment at not knowing, not understanding why he had been such an entertainment to them. We still don't know to this day. This episode would fall under what is called, "cultural experiences". Still, 6 dollars of electricity lasted two weeks; that's about 30kwai.

If we thought electricity was cheap in China, Brunei produces more than needed, hence the cost. Water, though becoming rare in many places, is not only abundant here, but there's no word to describe its cost. If cheap applies to the cost of electricity, then water is "free": 5 dollars (or 25kwai) for two months. We'll just ignore that we have to pay a water bill as for that matter, it had gradually reached summits in China. I went back twice to the office to make sure I had heard right. There was no way it could be so low, and yet it is!