Sea Gypsies

"Sea gypsy" is a term that refers to several groups of peoples living near the sea in various parts of South East Asia. I have run across sea gypsies before in Indonesia. The main group of sea gypsies in Sabah are the Bajau who originated in the Philipines. Many Bajau have spread south to Malaysia during the last 50 years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Gypsies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bajau

Sea Gypsies of Sibuan Island

One of the best parts of spending a little time on Sibuan Island between dives was that I got to spend some time wandering around the small sea gypsy village located there. What a beautiful place to live, but what a primitive life style! The goal of the Malaysian government is for Malaysia to be a "high income nation" by 2020. They still have a long way to go on Sibuan!!









The man in the blue shirt is "digging out" his dugout canoe.




Because we were there during the middle of the day, most of the sensible adults were either out fishing or were resting in the shade of their homes. One interesting thing was that some of the women appeared to have white or green paint on their faces. You can almost see that in this photo.


Kids of Sibuan

Although Sibuan Island is the classic tropical paradise and I enjoyed seeing the local village, a visit to Sibuan was pretty depressing. We were met on the beach by q bunch of local kids who apparently knew only three words of English- Hello, money. and ringgit (the Malaysian currency). Every kid on the island came up to all of us, held out their hands, and said "hello, money". Eventually, I had to show them that I had no money by showing them what was in the empty pockets of my bathing suit. I worry about the apparently bleak future facing these kids.

"Hello, money"


"Money, money, ringitt, money"


The kids all liked seeing their photos on my digital camera. They also liked taking photos of me. Here is a picture with all of us.


Water Villages

Some people, who I assume are Bajau, live in houses built on stilts in the middle of the bay.

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Note added February 24, 2011. I just ran across some more information about the Bajau Laut http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/text?people=Bajau. I have scheduled another visit to south east Sabah next during the end of March. I look forward to learning more about these interesting people.