Bandar Seri Begawan - The Alai Krathong delegates took a cultural tour around Brunei yesterday, visiting such attractions as the Water Village, the Royal Regalia, the Jame‘ ‘Asr Hassanil Bolkiah mosque, the Brunei Museum, Istana Nurul Iman and the Sultan Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien mosque.
Over 30 Alai Krathong performers even managed to squeeze in a visit to the Sumbangsih Mulia SME complex, one of the newest and largest souvenir and cultural stops that is situated in Beribi.
"The delegates particularly enjoyed Kampung Ayer and the Brunei Museum and the one common souvenir that most of them bought at Sumbangsih Mulia were mostly fabrics such as silk scarves and so on," said a tour agent from Mas Sugara Travel Services Sdn Bhd, the group handlers that was appointed by Brunei Tourism.
Alai Krathong is a joint traditional cultural performance that is held bi-annually, under the Memorandum of Understanding between Brunei Darussalam and Thailand, on cooperation in the field of Information and Broadcasting, which was signed on August 16, 2001.
Brunei Darussalam hosted the first Alai Krathong project in 2003, which was broadcasted live on two Radio Brunei networks, ‘Nasional‘ and ‘Pilihan‘, as well as the World Service of Radio Thailand in that year.
The last Alai Krathong was held in 2005 in Chiangmai, Thailand. This year will be the third Alai Krathong project.
The aim of the show is to promote the love towards tradition and cultural art performances to strengthen the exchange of culture between both countries and to the people of both countries through mass media.
"Cultural exchanges and performances such as this one is good for tourism because it helps to instil more awareness to Brunei and Thailand. It is also for the people of Thailand to get to know Brunei‘s way of life and culture," said Sheikh Jamaluddin Sheikh Mohamad, Chief Executive Officer of Brunei Tourism.
"Music is an important part of tourism, when people travel the first thing they will remember is the food, then the people and thirdly is the music. Music bring memories of the places you visit," he added.
According to the tour agent from Mas Sugara Travel Services, "The delegates thought that Brunei was a very interesting place to visit and most of them said that they would definitely return to Brunei in the future".
Source: www.bruneitimes.com (16 Agustus 2007)
