A road trip to Tutong!

Last Wednesday, I got the chance to visit Kg. Bukit in Tutong. The visit is part of the SEDP program at work, and I was there with my colleague Danny to accompany the participants to the village. We gathered at work, then headed to our first destination to Jabatan Daerah Tutong at 8:35am to meet our tour guides. We arrived at around 9:05am at Tutong, then followed our tour guides on the long and winding road to Kg Bukit. I seldom go to Tutong or any of the other districts since we don't really have relatives in those districts, so the only time I ever pass Tutong or Belait was only during our family trips to Miri, hehe. My colleague and I rode on another car, following the tour guide's car and the bus carrying the participants.

It started to drizzle a bit when we reached Tutong but fortunately, it stopped raining once we reached Kg Bukit. Along the way to reach Kg Bukit, we saw houses situated a few in between, with some areas opened to grazing cows and crops. Eventually, we reached the village's centre or hall, where we were greeted by the Penghulu & Ketua Kampung as well as some villagers.

We were welcomed with open arms. We sat in the audience and were given a welcoming speech by the head of the village. The village is famous for its handcraft especially of traditional Bruneian designs such as 'Takiding' and 'nyiru'. After question and answer sessions, we were free to talk to the locals and watch their live demonstrations of basket weavings and such. They were also selling their local products and handicrafts. Some weavings are intricately designed and patterned.

As a souvenir, I bought a woven basket which costs $4. We were then treated to brunch by the villagers. After taking group photos, we ended the visit and thanked the villagers for their hospitality. We then made our way back to the main Tutong area but we first made a pit stop at Tamu Serambangun (my first visit! hehe) since everyone was craving to try out the famous Soto in one of the corner stalls. After lunch, we headed back to Jabatan Daerah Tutong and then made our way back to Brunei Muara.

Overall, it was an educational visit and I am glad to be able to visit some of the remote villages in Brunei! Below are some piccies from the trip. Enjoy! :)

The head of villages and Kg Bukit's representatives

Some of the participants

The women participants

My colleague, Dan, videotaping the whole trip

The local experts on weaving

An elderly woman teaching the young on proper weaving technique

Making baskets from raw materials

A local weaver

Observing and mingling around

Demonstration in action

Me, looking at the local handicrafts on sale

Some of the beautiful Bruneian traditional handicrafts

Some of the participants inspecting goods on sale

Displays

Group photo! :)

The scenery outside, on the way from Kg Bukit

Smoke rising.. forest fires?

53km to Bandar

Tutong Town

Tamu Serambangun, where we had our lunch

The basket that I bought as a souvenir. According to mom, this basket looks just like the ones that people used to place placentas on after a baby's birth in the old days! Hahaha, that I do not know. I was actually thinking that it's probably a nice place to put in fruits or something when I bought it, lol. Anyway, I'm using it now to put in my Wii remote and nunchuks instead, hehe

Til the next post!