Secrets of the Sea Gypsies of Thailand

As the first anniversary of the most devastating tsunami in modern times approached, our thoughts turned to those in Southeast Asia whose lives were forever changed by the tragedy — to those who, somehow, managed to survive. Even today the numbers are staggering: the day after Christmas 2004, an earthquake off the coast of Sumatra triggered a natural disaster in which nearly 200,000 people lost lives and several million their homes.

But in the midst of this catastrophe, on a small archipelago in the Andaman Sea off Thailand's west coast, a tribe of several hundred villagers escaped almost certain extinction by a simple precaution: they listened to voices of their ancestors, and to the prophetic dreams of their elders. Finding the Moken, known in the literature as the "sea gypsies," and talking to them about their survival is the focus of our next adventure, Expedition Thailand: Secrets of the Sea Gypsies.

The Morning the World Changed
For John Gray, the day began like any other. The pony-tailed ex-pat runs sea kayak tours in Thailand, generally an enviable life course — but as soon as he realized an earthquake had struck, at 7:58 a.m., he sensed that a tsunami might be roaring right behind. He took it upon himself to spread the warning, and evacuated his kayak customers to higher ground. When the tsunami hit an hour and a half later, he was prepared — though many were not. Begin the expedition...

Tales of the Tsunami
The sudden tsunami wrought devastation on Thailand's beach resorts and villages. Cruise boat captains, hotel workers, vacationing couples and local teachers share their memories, tragedies, and tears. And we meet the orphans from the families of "mainland Moken" who traded  the traditional tribal customs for the promises of a better life in the modern world — a promise that turned false, and bitter. Read the stories...

Forging a Post-Tsunami Thailand
Over a thousand mainland Moken refugees retreated in the wake of the tsunami to Wat Pasan, a Buddhist temple in Kura Buri. We spend the day with the 300 who still live there, trying to piece together lives and learn new skills for the future. Then we make the overnight journey across the Indian Ocean to Koh Surin, the island home of the traditional Moken sea gypsies whom we have come to visit, and to learn from. Continue the journey...

Where Gypsies Call Home
John Gray, something of a sea gypsy himself, is greeted like long-lost family by the village children of Koh Surin as we visit the simple island village. Only one inhabitant of this island in the middle of the tsunami's path was drowned, while hundreds more escaped to higher ground. Some things inevitably remain the same, however: the Moken love of the sea, and their almost preternatural ability to swim underwater from an early age, as if they are a breed apart from the land-bound race of the rest humanity. Visit the village...

The Moken Headman Tells All
On our last day we meet Salama Glatalay, village elder of the sea gypsies, and learn first-hand how the islanders managed to survive virtually unscathed the devastation of the tsunami. His story proves even more intriguing than we had anticipated: he reveals that he had several dreams over the days preceding the tsunami of a coming catastrophe, the Laboon, a mythic sea monster that periodically attacks the Moken. More about the dreams...

Visiting with the sea gypsies of Thailand put our readers in touch with the deeper mysteries of life on earth, the interconnection between its environments and its people. It was a theme that carried us closer to more global concerns on our following journeys with Richard Bangs Adventures for Yahoo!