Myanmar, Myeik-Mergui Archipelago and Moken village

Myeik or Mergui is a peninsula near to the Andaman Sea. It used to be a busy and substantial port for over 500 years. There are a number of colonial buildings, local markets and nice seafood restaurants. In the port, you can see many fishing boats that arrive after spending their day in fish hunting.

The islands in Myeik Archipelago can be accessed by foreigners only on organized daily tours, and this was allowed only a couple of years ago. Hundreds of beautiful islands with white sand beaches 2 hours far from the Myeik harbour where you have only a few chances to meet the Moken people (sea gypsies) who live on the islands and surrounding waters.

The Moken People are Sea Nomads who are rapidly diminishing due to the industrial fishing and their techniques that result in emptying the sea. Moken people used to live a semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle heavily based on the sea but now the majority of the population has been “civilized” into villages or moved to near countries as workers and their unique and admirable skills are threatened with extinction.