The Surin Moken have, for centuries, spent the majority of their lives travelling together in family groups between the bays and islands of the Andaman Sea. These days, approximately 300 Surin and Burmese Moken live as a tight-knit community in an 80-hut village on Ao Bon Yai, on the Thai island of Koh Surin. But with their nomadic lifestyle increasingly under threat, the once-seafaring Moken people are now hoping tourism can safeguard their future.
Browse Scott’s SilkAir Silkwinds cover feature and learn more about how the once-seafaring “sea gypsies” of Thailand’s Surin Islands are steering a new course.