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Photo: Homes hovers on stilt in Kampung Ayer
For at least 600
years, Bruneians harvested the bounty of the
seas, forging a way of life that is still
strongly evident in the lives of the 30,000
inhabitants of Kampung Ayer, the capital's
sprawling water village and also a famous
tourist attraction.
Here, the village's
centuries-old web of homes, markets, mosques,
schools, medical clinics, police and fire
stations hovers on stilts over the shallows of
the Brunei River. Even today, water taxis are
the most efficient and popular means of
negotiating the Kampung Ayer's labyrinthine
waterways. From their prows, one could see the
mosque's glistening minarets rising above
multi-hued, garden-draped homes.
Brunei has not been
spared the encroachment of high technology and
high-flying aspirations, but beyond the cold
blinking faces of computer screens and beneath
the hum of modems, Kampung Ayer's heart still
dances to an ancient rhythm.
Visitors may wonder
along the Kampung Ayer's pathways at appropriate
hours.
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