The Voyage of the Balangay

The kids and I went to the Yacht Club today while Nathan was at work. We had perfect timing because as we arrived, so did these guys:
The Voyage of the Balangay.



Their three ships had sailed from Labuan today, and the crew are now going to spend a few days here in Brunei before continuing their voyage.
They come from the Philippines, and have set out to retrace the migration of their ancestors across the oceans using only these native Balangay, built exactly like the ones used in ancient times. They also navigate with methods that was used back then - steering by the sun, the stars, the wind etc.

It was beautiful seeing them sail in in all their glory, but unfortunately I only had my iPhone to take pictures. Also they took their sails down before they came close enough to get the photos.

There had been a big welcome committee arranged and they were patiently waiting around quite a while before the crew came ashore:



Finally they crew came and to the music of the drums they could walk through the welcoming party, and receive some gifts.



There must have been some spares, because the kids managed to score some too!