Ko Panyi: Thailand’s Floating Village
In a
sheltered bay in southern Thailand, under the shadow of an immense, almost
vertical limestone cliff, hundreds of huts, shacks, restaurants and houses
cluster together to form the village of Ko Panyi. The sea here is shallow and
calm allowing fishermen to build houses raised safely above the water level on
stilts. More than 300 families and nearly 1,500 people live permanently on Ko
Panyi—all of them are the descendants of Toh Baboo and his family and friends,
who sailed all the way from Indonesia and settled here some 200 years ago.
In those days, foreigners were not allowed to own land in Thailand, and so Toh
Baboo and two other families built houses on stilts in the bay. Over the
centuries the village grew in size and wealth. Now there is a school, a mosque,
a health center, lots of small souvenir shops, a handful of large restaurants
and even a floating football pitch.
Life
in Ko Panyi revolves around fishing, but since the past few years tourism has
been providing residents with an additional source of income. These days, half
the locals service the tourism industry, but forty percent of the population
are still fisherman.
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