As we walked down the steps after coming back from taking a look at Danu village, I took a snap of our kayaks parked alongside the traditional wooden boats as they make such an interesting contrasts. Much as I enjoyed the convenience and comfort of the modern sit-on-tops kayaks, I am very fond of and admire the time-proven design and qualities of the traditional wooden crafts that the local villagers used; simple, honest, functional and yet elegant and river worthy.
I hope our riverine villagers would continue to build such fine crafts for a very long time. It would be a very sad day and we would have lost something very special the day they no longer do. There are always new and even newer things everyday but sometimes I just prefer the old.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
then i wanna see unker in 1 of those old sampan 1 day!
that’s a beautiful picture!
wuching - you will! one day …
sharon - wait till u see it in real life!
Hmmm, I love these wooden boats…they just seem to move so well in water… too bad they are not foldable.
fullmoon - dream on!
Those were the days when I used to row in one of my grandma’s sampans to her fruit orchards across the river…durians, mangosteens, dabais!! Spending the nite in the makeshift hut during the fruit season, swimming in the river!!! Gosh! Those were the days! Pity the kids today! Study! Study! Study! Their idea of fun is playing PS or computer games!!!
Those were also the days when STP and I could still fit into those wooden boats or sampan hahahahahahahahha..nowadays..even if we both given a boat each..sure still tengelam..I’m sure mind would lah..dnt know bout STP’s..he might say otherwise….