Louder, funkier music begins and the guys and gals begin to boogie. Although the scene is not yet common, it is one of many signs that this tiny, oil-rich nation on the northwest coast of Borneo is loosening up. This is no accident. There are swish Italian, Japanese and Sichuan restaurants alongside the usual McDonald's, Pizza Hut and Delifrance. Caffeine addicts can partake in 24-hour coffee shops.
Bookstores sell foreign titles that get past the censors faster than in Malaysia or Indonesia.
Capital Gold, with its outrageous, campy DJs, blares on car radios real-time direct from London. Thanks to unfettered satellite TV, there's lots of choice on the tube. Video shops rent current movies. Malaysian lawyer V.L. Kandan recently visited Brunei for the first time in 10 years. He was blown away.