(vi) Repurposed water villages

That first tickle of sunshine on a Winter's skin.

It just teases happiness to the surface.


*****

Kampung Ayer. 'Water Village' cast in the river ways of Brunei bay. Actually 28 villages. The wooden Venice. A shantytown on stilts.

The very fabric of Kampung is repurposed. Each wooden panel speaks of different intention. A life changed. Adapted. Cycled anew. Shabby, not chic; yet beautiful, rising from a sewage bed of fair stagnant water.

The perfect place for ticky-it.
You're it.
Try to catch me.
You will see,
planks that bend and walkways
lead to watery ends.
A hasty foot
brings 10 foot drop.
See me, see me now,
but catch me not shalt thou.

I play hide and seek. I lose myself aplenty.

A wooden stilted Mosque, a school even a fire station. Satellite dishes abound, each juxtaposed less appropriately than the last. Every village holds identities that both define and integrate. Except one. A Sultan's gift. A government project. Kampung Boliak smacks of 1973. Council regeneration. Each property identical. Designed. Intended. Soulless. As I turned square corners of terraced sameness, my only surprise was to find no pebble dash.

*****
Just had a can of Yeo's Grass Jelly drink.

The lawn freshness was quite appealing.

The jellied globules less so.

*****

Turns out the fire station doesn't count. Part built on stilts, part on land.

Can't risk the water fairies getting wet now can we...

*****