Mark Abadi
Kampung Ayer, or "Water Village," houses about half the population of Brunei's capital city.
- Brunei is a tiny country in Southeast Asia that's home to one of the most interesting communities in the world - Kampung Ayer, or "Water Village."
- Nearly half of the capital city's population lives in Kampung Ayer, where thousands of houses stand on stilts, as do schools, mosques, restaurants, and police stations.
- The village stands in stark contrast to the rest of Brunei's capital city, which has glimmering architecture and pristine streets.
The tiny nation of Brunei is incredibly wealthy. Its oil-based economy has propelled the Southeast Asian country to a higher GDP per capita than the United States, Japan, and Switzerland.
That wealth is on full display in Brunei's capital, Bandar Seri Begawan, where opulent buildings and majestic mosques line the pristine streets.
But that extravagance isn't reality for many of the residents of Bandar Seri Begawan. Nearly half of the city's entire population lives just outside the capital's downtown in a "floating village" on the Brunei River, where thousands of houses stand on tall stilts and residents drive water taxis to get around.
Besides housing 13,000 people, Kampung Ayer, or "water village," also has mosques, schools, restaurants, police stations, and a fire department - all on stilts.
Here's what it looks inside Kampung Ayer, one of the most interesting villages in the world.