The Bajau - Sea Gypsy (Semporna Trip 2010 - Part V)

When we were doing our island tour on Mabul. we did meet with this beautiful kids. They are the Bajau kids also known as Sea Gypsy. what was that?

Playing around... doing some stunt...

Sun bathing... everyday huh?

The most hyperactive one

some me the 'gun' hehehe

simple smile..

The Bajau, (also written as Badjao, Badjaw or Badjau) are an indigenous ethnic group of the southern Philippines. Due to escalated conflicts in their native Sulu Archipelago of the southern Philippines, many of the Bajau have migrated to neighboring Malaysia over the course of 50 years. Currently they are the second largest ethnic group in the state of Sabah, making up 13.4%^[1] of the total population. Groups of Bajau have also migrated to Sulawesi and Kalimantan in Indonesia, although figures of their exact population are unknown. They were sometimes referred to as the Sea Gypsies, although the term has been used to encompass a number of non-related ethnic groups with similar traditional lifestyles, such as the Moken of the Burmese-Thai Mergui Archipelago and the Orang Laut of southeastern Sumatra and the Riau Islands of Indonesia. The modern outward spread of the Bajau from older inhabited areas seems to have been associated with the development of sea trade in trepang.

*wikipedia (-__-)

so normally they are nomad. but i think these Bajaus are from Mabul island and already settled down for a quite long time already.Here in the island village,they got school and mosque.

One thing about these Bajau kids they are very friendly and easy to approach. But once you too close with them, they usually asking you for money. This could be maybe their parents already thought them to do so since lot of tourists, divers coming into the island.

2 + 1 = ???

Friendly Bajau kids

asking for money.. poor kid..

So when you come to Mabul Island, don't forget to mingle around with these kids.

Till then

see ya.

TQ