Moken Sea Gypsies l Southern Thailand

The Moken sea gypsies got the media attention after the December 2004 tsunami. over 230,000 Thai people and foreigners are believed to have been killed in the tsunami that hit southern Thailand. The sea gypsies ,who predicted the waves, survived with zero casualties.

“we knew the laboon (“the wave who eats people) is coming when we saw the tide receding, the snakes getting out of their holes and the dogs running up to the mountain.

For centuries the Moken sea gypsies in Mergui Archipelago have been haunted by pirates and slave traders. In the last years the Thai Moken, who used to be sea nomads and roam freely between Thailand and Burma, settled permanently their home in southern Thailand,having no Thai passport or any government support.