For those who are fond of the culture and history of Islamic civilisation, Brunei will surely add further spark to that interest. This country is so rich in features of Islamic history. Visitors will be able to experience it when visiting the renowned Kampong Ayer, one of the landmarks that define Brunei for travellers.
Kampong Ayer and the roots of Islam in Brunei
This water village settlement on the Brunei River has long been regarded as the place where Brunei’s civilisation was born. It is here that Islam first took root in
Brunei, and it was also one of the important ports for trading ships that ply the Strait of Malacca. Arab traders who visited the Malay archipelago in search of spices
The spice trade legacy
made Brunei one of the ports that had to be called at. The effect of their trading legacy can still be seen in Brunei’s local culture today. The same spices are not only used in local cooking but are also used in various traditional therapies unique to Brunei and to the Southeast Asian region.
Visitors can pamper themselves by visiting spas at the main hotels in this country that feature those same trading spices in various kinds of soothing treatments.
Kopitiam nostalgia
This is also the best time for visitors to get to know the local coffee shops, also known as ‘kopitiam’. These shops bring back the nostalgia of the small coffee shops that were popular in early Islamic civilisations.
Source: MUHIBAH, the Royal Brunei Airlines in-flight magazine, 2015 Jan-Feb, pages 52-52. Printed in Bahasa Melayu and translated into English for this site; text recovered from the scanned page by OCR and lightly corrected.
