Kampong Ayer - Venice of East, Bandar Seri Begawan

Kampong Ayer, literally translated, means Water Village. So here you have it - houses and mosques and little shops, and schools, all on stilts, in the Brunei River near Brunei's capital, Bandar Seri Begawan. And very picturesque and interesting it is too. The best way to see it is to hire on of the water taxis - open topped speedboats - and get the man to drive you round. It's fun darting through the little narrow alleyways, seeing the washing hanging ...
...puteh' (white people) - if you are in fact white, that is. Ask the water taximan for a 30 minute tour, and remember you can get badly sunburnt in that time - there's no shade on the boat.

This is where Brunei's people started, out on the water, before moving onto land when the economy changed over time, and many people still choose to live in the water villages, despite onland housing schemes. But times have changed, and now the houses ... more

Kampong Ayer, literally translated, means Water Village. So here you have it - houses and mosques and little shops, and schools, all on stilts, in the Brunei River near Brunei's capital, Bandar Seri Begawan. And very picturesque and interesting it is too. The best way to see it is to hire on of the water taxis - open topped speedboats - and get the man to drive you round. It's fun darting through the little narrow alleyways, seeing the washing hanging out, and little kids peeping out at the strange 'orang puteh' (white people) - if you are in fact white, that is. Ask the water taximan for a 30 minute tour, and remember you can get badly sunburnt in that time - there's no shade on the boat.

This is where Brunei's people started, out on the water, before moving onto land when the economy changed over time, and many people still choose to live in the water villages, despite onland housing schemes. But times have changed, and now the houses have mod cons - electricity, TV's etc. And most inhabitants have cars onshore - they park them and make the final leg home by water taxi.

You don't have to visit by boat. There are various places where you can just go in among the houses by taking a walkway from the shore. The narrow wooden walkways are on stilts and for the tourist it can be a pretty scary experience teetering along them, if you don't like heights or walking with moving water beneath you. You feel very silly compared to the locals who walk along confidently.

This trip is a must-do in Brunei. But I find it embarrassing when Brunei tourist material calls it the Venice of the East. I have seen the Italian Venice. It doesn't consist of lower level housing with lots of the garbage and detritus around. One is wood, the other stone. One is on stilts, the other built into the seabed. One consists of fine multistorey houses and even palaces built with Venice's mercantile wealth. The other is one storey wooden houses built originally by fishermen. I could go on. In short, this is not much like the real Venice..

 

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