Across the island on Kamala Beach, Imam Salim would no doubt have something to say about that. With their strong community ties and spiritual discipline. Phuket s Muslims exhibit a sense of social cohesion and unhurried friendship perhaps missing in other villages. On the other side of the island adult sea nomads, like Native Americans and Australian Aboriginals, sit ill at ease with acquisitive, materialistic society. Headman Tang notes that village children speak Thai now and young men prefer to enter employment than live off the sea.
New problems abound.
There are still fish, but the volume is low and it s difficult to get cooperation from landowners. Villagers, abandoning their boats for terrestrial life in elevated shacks with corrugated iron roofs, are reluctant to donate land for fresh water wells, pipelines, electricity cables, or road improvements, says Tang. Despite modern uncertainties, old traditions linger on. Twice a year on specific moon nights, the Sea Gypsies perform a loi rua floating boat ceremony. Symbolic human relics such as strands of hair and fingernail cuttings are placed on a replica wooden boat about six feet long.