Discovering the World’s Largest Floating Village: Kampong Ayer
Exploring the maze of boardwalks in Kampong Ayer
Although I grew up for the first six years of my life in the country of Brunei, I was surprised in my most recent visit there to come across a completely new place I had never visited before. Kampong Ayer, the world’s largest floating village was here, right in my own backyard. Located in the capital of Brunei - Bandar Seri Begawan - Kampong Ayer, translated as ‘water village’, is a massive city of wooden houses built on stilts. The area is 38 kilometers of wooden boardwalks criss-crossing a massive area that includes homes, schools, clinics, mosques, restaurants and other businesses. The 10,000 residents who live there, speed along the many waterways on zippy motorboats, hopping between the literal and figurative worlds of modernity and tradition. Homes are built in the traditional Malay style and there is cable TV and WiFi.
Cats are everywhere in the water village!
Kampong Ayer was coined in 1521 by a Venetian scholar by the name of Antonio Pigafetta as the ‘Venice of the East’. Antonio, travelling with Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, would have seen the village at the time, very much like how it is now, with residents and merchants floating along waterways, traveling from one neighborhood to the next. The main exception being the drastic population reduction seen today.
According to ancient records from Chinese merchants, the Bajau people of Southeast Asia, sometimes called “sea nomads”, were the first people to settle in this and the wider area of coastlines off Indonesia, Philippines and Malaysia. More than a 1,000 years ago, Kampong Ayer was founded and grew into a large settlement that was the centre of Bruneian Empire. Today, more than half its residents have moved over to land dwellings and the village has weathered away in some areas. Moreover, rubbish and sewage floating downstream the Brunei River, have infiltrated the waters surrounding the village despite efforts by both residents and the government to clean it up.
An unfortunate situation of garbage collecting and washing ashore from the river, upstream
Getting to Kampong Ayer
Getting to the floating village is a quick and easy two-minute $1.00 BND motorboat ride from the city waterfront. There are usually a few boats along the waterfront most times of day that you can flag down to take you over to Kampong Ayer.
Where to Stay
We were lucky to be introduced to an incredible guesthouse (owned, we later found out by our amazing host, Kem, who turned out to be a distant relative!) called Kunyit 7 Lodge. We felt so at home and were even fortunate enough to get a little boat tour around the village.
Kunyit 7 Lodge - bright, cosy, and a perfect place to call home for a night
Brunei, as a whole, is still relatively undiscovered by tourists, so we were delighted to find ourselves the only tourists walking the boardwalks of Kampong Ayer. As we walked the boardwalks, we observed villagers going about their day, kids coming home from school, cats lounging in the sun, fishers bringing in the catch of the day, and woodworkers building boats. Some friendly residents even invited us in to their homes to experience their traditional way of life. Everyone was beyond kind and village life truly felt tight-knit and tranquil.
School children excitedly on their way home
If you want to continue exploring the area beyond Kampong Ayer, simply flag a boat from one of the many jetties and you can hire a driver to take you along the waterways of the village and even beyond. The nearby mangrove forests are an amazing way to catch sight of proboscis monkeys, crocodiles, and monitor lizards!
