Brunei The Travel Show

Now on BBC News it's time for the Travel Show.

This week on The Travel Show, I had to Brunei to check out

the word's largest floating town.

Hello.

Ade is in London to find out why so many nightclubs are closing down.

Bingo.

I'm mixing.

It kind of looks like a spare part that has fallen off a Stormtrooper.

And Tommy plays around with the latest in travel gadgets.

For many, London is a dream destination.

It is a city steeped in a rich history and maybe that is why it's

the most visited city in Europe.

But is it still top when it comes to it's nightlife?

In the last five years, an estimated 40 club venues have

closed their doors in London and that has got promoters worried.

Some of the most iconic nightspots have simply gone.

So, is London even up there any more when it comes to number one clubbing

destinations worldwide?

I would describe as the most diverse clubbing scene in the world,

as opposed to the leading or the best.

I think the reason for that is you have other

cities in the world, for example, Berlin,

where clubbing is supported by the local authorities a little

bit more positively, you could say the same

for Amsterdam as well.

However, saying that, there is still a very strong dance

music scene in London.

Ministry of Sound is celebrating 25 years.

I can't believe it.

I came here in the early days.

This place started off as a small club in a derelict garage and it has

since become a massive global brand.

In fact, at one stage, it owned the biggest independent

record label in the world, selling over 70 million records.

Hey!

Ministry of Sound was London's first ever super club.

It has survived a number of attempts to shut it down.

Justin Berkman is one of the founders.

He is also one of its resident DJs.

I am in good hands with this DJ lesson.

You have got your volume controls here, you have got your highs,

mids and lows, your base knob.

Give it a little bit of sibilance.

Strip that out, bring that down.

With the technology today, it gives you much more flexibility

to take risks and do things you could not deal in

the old days with vynal.

-- vinyl.

Could you put a classic opera track with some hip-hop?

Yes.

Beethoven wrote most of his music in 120 BPM.

He was one of the first house DJs.

He knew what he was talking about, he dropped beats.

A lot of his stuff was dance music speed.

All right, let's do this then.

One, two, three, four.

Two, two, three, four.

Bingo.

I'm mixing.

Now time to see if all that training has worked.

It is the moment of truth.

I tell you what I will say, it is very loud in here.

I am in a DJ box with Gavin Mitchell, he is the resident

DJ and promoter for the Gallery, which takes place every

Friday night at the club.

Now, fortunately, it is still early, so the pressure is off a little bit

and I am getting the hang of things.

By the end of the night, I've got the house rocking.

Ministry of Sound almost closed following the development of a 41

story tower of flats just yards from the entrance.

But thanks to the power of the Ministry brand

and its finances, the club has been saved to rave another day.

I think all clubs have their nemesis moment where there comes something

along that wants to close it.

It is usually residents and it is the balance between a city

and the fact that it needs some form of entertainment.

You cannot have one without the other, because a city

full of bedrooms is no fun.

You have to have nightclubs, you have to have restaurants,

you have to have bars, you have to have entertainments.

Last year, Fabric nightclub, one of the biggest in London,

was forced to shut down.

It was stripped of its licence and faced permanent closure

after the drug-related deaths of two teenagers.

It has since reopened after the local council agreed

to strict new licensing conditions, including an over 19s policy and ID

scanners at the entry to the venue.

When Fabric was temporarily closed, a lot of people saw that

as a very worrying sign.

It looked like the authorities were not classifying dance music

and nightlife culture as something of a priority.

When they changed their mind following the public response,

not only did it show how important this culture is to people,

it also showed that the authorities are actually beginning

to take that seriously.

Fabric's survival has been seen as a boost to the London clubbing

scene and while development isn't the only factor why so many

clubs are closing down, there are other things to contend

with, like lifestyle changes, high entry prices, inflated costs

of drinks inside nightclubs and early closing times.

But one London underground club is aiming to diversify its brand.

The Boiler Room are turning to technology by creating the first

virtual reality nightclub in the UK.

This is the Oculus Rift.

Kevin Molloy is from a company called Inception VR.

They are one of only a few companies in the capital at the forefront

of virtual reality content.

He is bringing club nights to your living room war,

or in my case, an office in North London.

Going to one of these super clubs in Ibiza is something that maybe

you get to do on an occasional holiday, but it is not something

anyone can just do at any moment.

We identified it as one of the places where it could be

great if you could go there even when you were able.

If we can take people and put them in the middle of Amnesia in Ibiza,

in the middle of a DJ set and have them experience what that is like...

Sally from Basingstoke can end up going to Amnesia and having it

large in her front room.

Absolutely, that is the plan.

I will put this on.

The way it works, you put on a VR headset and,

depending on how good it is, your brain will be tricked into

believing you are in a 3-D world.

There are loads of things floating in front of me.

Now, I'm told it is all about the stereoscopic display,

which is ultimately 360 degree views, which allows you to move

left, right, up or down, as if you were there.

I am in Ibiza now, I think.

It feels that you can touch...

Oh yes.

Right now, I am in a club on the beach in Ibiza.

I am loving this.

I am dancing with spaceships in the air.

Ah!!!

I love this.

It's too freaky, it's too freaky.

That is such a bizarre experience.

You really feel like you're there and Ibiza has changed.

Since when has there been aliens in Ibiza.

The question is, can virtual reality clubbing be something

that will ever overtake the real clubbing experience?

Everything has got these potential positives and negatives.

If you look in Japan, there are hundreds of thousands

of kids living at home, never gone out of the house,

because they can experience life from their computer.

That is the first step toward the Matrix.

It is both a good thing and a bad thing.

Ade exploring the changing face of the London club scene.

Here is a rundown of some other great clubbing

destinations around the world.

Green Valley is a Brazilian clubbing landmark.

The South American mega- club in Santa Catarina has come

a long way since its early days when it started life as a rave tent.

Now the club boasts impressive laser shows, CO2 cannons and several

whopping sound systems.

And a massive man-made lake.

Ibiza has been long known as the destination of clubbing

holiday hotspots for partygoers.

Amnesia is perhaps the most famous venue on the island,

founded back in the 70s on the site of an old farm, the historic venue

hasn't lost any of its magic.

Finally, on the other side of the world, to the Gangnam

district in Seoul, where Octagon has gained a reputation as the place

to party in South Korea.

This nightclub is now pulling big name international DJs

and fashionable millenials with its upfront house vibe.

Next up on the Travel Show, we are trying a delicacy found

in the finest of restaurants.

Native oysters from the British Isles are some

of the best in the world.

We have tracked down where many of them come from,

Galway Bay on the West Coast of Ireland.

This is the heart of the oyster bed.

The wild oysters here, you see them here, the native flat oyster,

they have come from the wild oyster fishery out here.

There are 800 acres of wild oyster fishery.

The fishermen go out there in the winter months,

November and December and fish them off the beds.

We buy them and we put them in our own bed here,

where they develop their own unique flavour and they get that

from the fresh water coming in from the fields of Athenry

and we have the Burren to the south and we have Connemara to the north,

so you have wonderful textures and flavours in the oysters

when they develop.

So, these oysters, we are taking them up and they will be brought

over to the packing shed where they will be sorted and graded

and packed into the baskets and they are heading off to London.

In 36 hours they will be on restaurant tables over there.

You really have very fresh, good quality from the West of Ireland.

Some people like to eat them, they love to put a drop of Tabasco

or a squeeze of lemon or a crack of black pepper or even

horseradish and tomato sauce, but because they are so good

here and the flavours are so good, we just eat them naturally.

Squeeze the knife in here, we pop the shell and we slide it

back and cut the muscle to release the top shell.

There we have a beautiful native wild flat oyster from Galway Bay.

Take a nice smell and savour the flavour and the taste and a sip

of the juice.

Slide it in.

Delicious.

I could stay here all day eating this.

Still to come here on the Travel Show.

I head to Brunei to check out the largest floating town

in the world.

Plus, Tommy tries on some of the latest travel must haves

with his Global Gadgets.

So, stick with us.

Tommy here with your Global Gadgets round-up and today

we are in Hertfordshire at the snow centre just outside London.

People often ask me, Tommy, what have you done for me recently?

What have you done for me?

I tell you what I am about to do, I am about to potentially

save your life with this.

Enter the enter the Mammut ultralight, with its removable

airbag system in a backpack.

Without the air canister, this pack is nearly race weight

and it comes in under two kilograms when all topped up,

this means you might not have the sacrifice much speed

for the additional avalanche safety.

The compressed air system is the third model Mammut have made

and they say it is a proven design that has been credited with saving

lives in the field.

This is obviously the kind of case made for people who are going to be

visiting extreme conditions, but here is the problem,

the canister inside here that blows up the air

to save you in an avalanche, cannot be taken on planes

because of regulations and, on top of that, it takes up so much

space inside the bag that it leaves very little room for shovel blades

or a pickaxe.

If that is not a problem for you then you will love

the design, you can feel it is really robust

and a potential life-saver.

So, as well as potentially being here to save your life,

I'm also here to make sure you can be both hot and cool when ever

you want to be.

And you can, with this.

It is the G2T.

This odd and futuristic looking contraption is ultimately

an electric scarf.

Its makers claim by directing warmt onto your neck that it helps

moderate the temperature of your entire body.

I know, it kind of looks like a spare part that has fallen

off a Stormtrooper, but what this is trying to do

is actually really good.

It warns you up when you are on the slopes and cools you down

if you are in a hotter climate.

It is the way it does it that doesn't work for me.

Having it round your neck feels really restrictive and it is rather

bulky and that is the last thing you want when you are out

and about and being active.

Pretty little smart watches are everywhere, but the makers

of this one claim it is the daddy of smart watches,

because it is chunky and robust and it can also save your life

if you are stranded at sea or on the side of a mountain.

This is ultimately a smart watch that looks like a high

end runner's watch.

The makers say they wanted to create something a bit different

for the seurf and ski fans with its design which comes

in three different colours.

The big sell here is the fact that this watch has GPS tracking.

It can also track all your ski sessions and will even update

the weather forecast for you via the Android app.

There are lots of smart watches to choose from,

you know that.

This one isn't sleek, it isn't slim and that is why it can

receive a fair bit of criticism, but that is what I like about it,

it is big, bold.

It is a bit like me.

You know what I really like?

People with warm souls.

I have a warm soul, in fact I have two of them,

because I have the Digit Soles in my shoes right now which not only

keep my feet warm, they also track my steps and tell me how many

calories I am burning.

I am burning right now.

The Digit Sole uses Bluetooth to connect to an app

on IOS or Android.

From there, you can adjust the temperature on each foot and see

statistics on your walking.

It is not the most elegant aap in the world but you probably

won't care much as you walk around just thinking about how

toasty your toes are.

It takes about three hours to charge these in full and from that you'll

get six to nine hours worth of use.

Perfect for a whole day on the slopes.

The only thing is it is just another thing to plug in,

so before you go to bed you have to plug in your phone,

your tablet, your laptop, your camera and now your insoles,

obviously.

And finally, I'm off to visit one of the largest floating villages

in the world.

Houses built on stilts can be found across Southeast Asia,

raised if few feet from the ground to protect them from flooding.

But the village I am about to see is on a scale that is hard to match.

It is in Brunei, a small country on the island of Borneo.

The capital of Bandar Seri Begawan has all the trappings

of your average modern city.

But if you venture a little bit further out of town,

you will come across a way of life that is a lot more traditional.

Along the Brunei River lies Kampong Ayer.

It is made up of 4000 stilted buildings and over 18

miles of walkways.

To get over to the floating village over there you have to take these

water taxis which only cost one Bruneian dollar and it is very

choppy this little body of water, it is a channel almost,

there is a lot of wind.

A lot of these whitecaps, as you can see.

Bruneians have been living on the water for over 1000 years.

Kampong Ayer itself goes back at least six centuries.

As head villager, Haji Ahmed Haji Bujang is an authority

on the community.

As head villager, Haji Ahmed Haji Bujang is an authority

on the community.

Do you see a new generation of Bruneians coming to live here,

to keep up the traditions?

Kampong Ayer is said to be home to 30,000 people,

most of whom are fishermen and craftspeople, but if the community

is going to survive it is going to have to attract a new generation.

To entice people, the government has built these stilted

houses from concrete.

This, a new bridge, which will dramatically cut journey

times into the capital.

These houses kind of overlook the old Kampong, the old village,

all made of old timber and that metal grate on top.

I think I'm more interested in heading over there and seeing

what it has to offer.

The older section of the village still features plenty of wooden

buildings and walkways, it is not as pristine as the modern

section, but it has its own charm.

I'm going to learn about one of the crafts that have been

practised here for centuries.

This little boat builder has been going at it for a few

generation is now.

I am keen to see exactly what kind of techniques he uses and how

he does it.

Hello.

Wow.

What a beautiful boat.

You made this?

So big.

So, is there anything I can do to help you finish the boat?

OK.

How many generations of your family have been in the industry?

After spending a day here at Kampong Ayer,

I can actually see a lot of change happening in the near future.

I do hope they keep some of this old world charm,

it is such an attraction for people who have never seen a floating

village of this size.

Well, that's it for this week.

Join us next week if you can, when in the run-up to

Saint Valentine's Day...

If you touch it with both hands, you're going to be in love

and married within six months.

Chris is at a matchmaking festival in the west of Ireland where people

go to be swept off their feet.

If you can't wait a whole week for your next travel fix then

you can join as in real time by sending to our

social media feeds.

All of the details are on the bottom of your screens now.

From me, Henry Golding, and the rest of the Travel Show team

here in Brunei, it is goodbye.

Hello, good morning.

Things are calming down a bit for this weekend.