In one of my articles, I mentioned that the 'commercial centre' of the Kampong Ayer was Kampung Pekan Lama. Pekan Lama obviously being Old Town denoted that the place was the old commercial centre. However it was not known as Kampung Pekan Lama in its heydays. It was known as Kampung Bakut China.
Bakut is the Brunei word for sandbank. China is obviously Chinese. Kampung Bukit China is where the Chinese settlement is on a sandbank on the Brunei River. This photograph shows how the place looked like with its shophouses and everyone converging here. This is the beginning of the end of the padians on water. Even though they still existed but the Chinese shops with its many supplies and soon when they moved on to dry land would become to formidable for any padian.
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