Boat on the Andaman Sea, Myanmar, 2005
A Moken fishing boat moves past one of the Sister Islands at sunset in Myanmar's Mergui Archipelago. These boats, called kabangs, are the mainstay of the nomadic Moken culture. Each is roughed out in the forest from a single tree, then hauled to the beach to be fitted with a hull and roof. Some take up to four months to build.
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Sea Gypsies of Myanmar," April 2005, National Geographic magazine)
Cowrie Shells, Myanmar, 2005
A Moken tribesman in Myanmar's Andaman Islands displays two large cowrie shells. The Moken, a nomadic sea people who live among the 800 islands of the Mergui Archipelago, are divers and beachcombers, taking what they need each day from the Andaman Sea. They accumulate little and live on land only during the monsoons.
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Sea Gypsies of Myanmar," April 2005, National Geographic magazine)