A Tale of Two Cities

Over the years a water village, known locally as Kampong Ayer, has grown up on the banks of the Miri River. These houses squat precariously over the water while a multistorey hotel is being built with much more solid foundations nearer the city centre.

To me Kampong Ayer is much more colourful (please don't say its because of the rusty tin roofs!), with boats moored to the houses and washing drying in the sun.

As a teenager I used to waterski further up river and now I've learnt that crocodiles now hang out in there (and sadly they do take the occassional human life). Actually there were rumours of crocs where we used to ski but we'd always dismiss the idea and I was always comforted by the thought that the noise of the boat engine would scare them away! Well, I've survived to tell the tale!