Issue link: http://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25248
CAN'T BUY ME LOVE Not having encountered any Moken for days, we sit down to a bowl of rice after snorkeling from beaches wedged between canyons. I sense we are falling into an incredibly satisfying situation. The only time I thought about Manhattan while in Mergui I was snorkeling against a fierce tide, playing bumper pool with stinging dinosaur jellyfish: traffic. Then, a kabang approached, smoke rising from the stove. The nose of the boat pulled up to my kayak and a wiry man emerged from beneath the thatched roof with a curious glance-a quiet exchange ending with a smile. Tham looked at me but said nothing. This seagoing tribe granted a simple interaction that shows there is more binding us than separating us. We were, after all, floating. And even in western culture, disrespect for the earth stirs spirits that bring sickness, strife and dismay. A gesture is made. Tham translates it as a beckoning for peace. The man invited me to board the kabang. The one-room interior resembled a liveaboard vessel belonging to a boat mechanic-basic but prepared. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of their birthplace. Most Moken live right on it. The kabang features a canoelike carved hull, wood and bamboo pegs, rattan rope, and thatched palm leaves for roof and sails. Resembling a cartoon depiction of Noah's ark, the boat is as versatile as a studio apartment, with many items like tables doing double duty. A hammock and fishing nets blend in with cooking utensils. I point to various items-stove, bed, fishing spear-and mime their uses. Each guess receives nods and smiles. There is a sturdy feel to the boat, warmth emanates from wood and family. Open on both ends, enough light streams in to see a grin. The ingenious rigs, balanced and light for their 20- to 40-foot length, are designed to safely carry a family of up to eight through vicious Indian Ocean storms. Though they look rustic, the naval technology of traditional kabangs has mystified sea traders, pirates and anthropologists through the centuries. Their gypsy creed explains how a detached nomadic tribe mastered boat building using techniques that metaphorically link culture and design: They travel by the stars. Moken philosophy focuses on pride in the face of scarcity. Kabangs symbolize the ownership of nothing-a formalized "Ietting go." Identical scroll designs on the bow and stern illustrate the mouth-to-exit digestive process that holds onto nothing permanently. In another era, this sapient design announced to pirates, "We have nothing to steal." .Freedom dictated by the whims of the sea. Pete and I reflect on how possessions often enslave people- but this dilemma must be easier to manage when you spend so much time at sea on a small craft with eight relatives. When the man (who is both father and son in this room) showing us around cottoned on to our conversation, he chimed in: "Sometimes you have $10 and something's waiting for you that costs $20 ... sometimes you have $1 and you can do whatever you want." WATER WORLD Some anthropologists think the Moken are descended from peoples who migrated from Mongolia, later moving down Burma's northeastern Shan states. Although their origins remain obscure, the Moken may be the last link to the indigenous Southeast Asians who survived the Ice Age by taking to boats 10,000 years ago, when the region was submerged in 300 feet of water. Why did they stay offshore? One theory is, they didn't want to convert to Islam, which spread into the region in the 14th century. In the last 200 years, these Moken's "country" has changed hands several times-been ruled by different governments and different religions, been closed to outsiders and opened and closed again. Through it all, the Moken culture has hung on by a thread. However, the Moken are by no means a people that time forgot. Moken songs and folk tales recall how they became sea cucumber and pearl divers. When the Chinese began sailing through, these sea nomads quickly learned to dive for pearls and sea cucumbers to trade with the foreigners. Today the Moken swim deep into submerged caves harvesting sea cucumbers for export to China and Japan. Not having modern scuba gear, they dive up to 20 meters equipped with only a mask, fins and a hosepipe acting as a super long snorkel. Today, the pull toward commercial fishing and Buddhism is taking hold. They prefer an insular life but many Moken are settling in permanent villages built by the government. Whether the Moken want to live on land is a difficult question to answer. A "Iand village" on the southern tip of Lampi Island is allegedly a Moken resettlement project developed to homogenize them with the rest of Burma. A few mainland fishing families have also moved in. Hopefully the Moken who still live traditionally off the coast of Burma won't go the way of their cousins in neighboring Thailand. For them, the modern world means living a life of poverty (by land standards) eked out by selling souvenirs to tourists. Maintaining their way of life and creeds has been and seemingly always will be a matter of alien arrival and their flight to the sea. The Moken's strong cultural identity developed on the water is