Big Trouble in Little Brunei

Click.
I didn’t think anything of the harmless photograph taken of the busy street corner. A green sign with Arabic beneath advertised “Jalan Sultan” – the street name. Behind the sign was a Dairy Queen – the first and only one that I have ever seen in Asia. Dairy Queen is an ice cream / fast food chain found in nearly every small town in America.
As I lowered the viewfinder of my camera from my eye, a man with a two-way radio and uniform was standing toe-to-toe with me.
“Excuse me sir, you must follow me.” Smiling and friendly enough, but it was obvious that he was serious. I’m no longer a travel greenie to even advanced scams like the false police officer gig.
I decided to stand my ground.
“Why?”
“Please let me see your camera.” My scam defenses were now in full-alert. There was no way that I was handing this stranger – no matter how much he smiled – my SLR camera. The words “piss off” were just forming on my lips when he surprised me with what came next.
“You have just taken a photograph of a US Embassy.”
I glanced at the credentials hanging around his neck – he wasn’t joking. A sense of dread began creeping around the back of my neck. Grizzly bears, komodo dragons, poisonous snakes…I would rather face all three together in a head-to-head death match than to tangle with the insane, paranoid juggernaut that is American bureaucracy.
I had been in Brunei – the smallest country in Southeast Asia – for less than 24 hours and found myself innocently standing in deep $#*#.
Never loosing his friendly smile, he raised the radio: “This is 14, I have the suspect for questioning.”
Here we go again…
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