Despite the fact that there have been more and more tourists visiting the island, the Mokens are truly island childs still. In this blog I have put together a few footage and images of them doing their “Moken things”: building huts, fishing, picking up wild fruits in the woods, and simply chillin’!
After a few days of adjusting-ourselves-to-primitive-island-life, it was time to properly bond with the lovely Moken Sea Gypsies. We came up with games, taught them to sing, and simply hang out with them, trying to learn as much as possible about them and their way of living. Let’s have a look at a video on how we did this:
Last year I had a spontaneous trip to the Surin Island National Park in the South of Thailand, and this trip has and will surely remain my Top 10 favourite trips of all time.
Accompanied by my childhood friend and her freediving instructor, I hopped on a speed boat from Phang-Nga province in the West coast and headed off to our destination. Just like most tour boats, there is a mix of foreign and Thai travellers and some staff from the touring company. I however spotted a small group of young men who didn’t look like visitors from abroad. They didn’t look like guides either.
They all had very similar features, height, big shiny eyes and beautiful dark skin. They spoke some sort of dialogue in which didn’t at all sound familiar to me. My freediving instructor then explained that they were the “Mokens”.
Have you ever wondered how it is like living on an island 60Km, off-shore with no electricity, water supply network or phone reception?
Last year I visited a sea gypsy village near to where my friends and I stayed for our getaway. I never knew a small beach front on an island had been hiding a tribe of hundred with a primitive way of life all along.
And I wonder how their everyday-life was like. To be inhabiting on a piece of heaven like this, it is surely a blessing. However, when it is rainy season the Monsoon storm had no mercy for small long tail boats nor for human.
What is the most out-of-this-world experience you have ever had?
ประสบการณ์ที่ฟินที่สุดในชีวิตของคุณ คืออะไร?
Were you expecting it to be so unforgettable?
How did you feel afterwards?
My last day in Iceland couldn’t have been any better. If you are planning to visit Iceland, I strongly suggest you prioritise this over other excursions.
My good friend Cod Starusayang said to me me “Dude, you HAVE to go diving in Silfra in Thingvellir National Park. I did it and it was just out-of-this-world–nothing like I had experienced before”. To be honest, though knowing Cod is a very well-travelled individual, I still wasn’t convinced when he told me so. Not because I hadn’t done scuba diving before and hence I would only be able to snorkel, but it was because I am from warm sunny Thailand and we have some of the World’s best diving spots visited by thousands and thousands of international travellers each year. Why would I want to go diving or snorkelling in ICELAND in the winter?
The path which led to the “view point” on one of the rock edges was closed due to slippery ground and strong wind, but I noticed some people had ignored the sign and hopped over the little gate and so I followed them.
I had never stood at a place so mighty, intimidating, insanely cold and dangerously windy. I was all wrapped up in layers of body warmers and an oversized water-proof ski jacket but the humidity and the force of the wind somehow managed to penetrate effortlessly through my clothes and sent chills to my every fibre. The icy and slippery ground didn’t help either. I made sure that every single step I took was stable, because if I slipped and fell by any reason there was a possibility the strong wind could push me straight into the angry stream of Gullfoss.
