As for the nationality of Bayao people, this is a group of people who have no nationality and no hukou. There are several theories about the origin of Ba Yao nationality. Interested friends can ask Du Niang, so I won't go into details here.
Once the Ba Yao people get sick, going to the hospital is a luxury for them. It takes several hours to row from their residence to the shore, and the treatment fee is also a big burden. Because there is no nationality and household registration, the children of Bayao people have no school to attend.
Ba Yao people make a living by fishing and selling seafood. They also exchange the caught seafood for food, such as flour, candy and drinks. Some young people sometimes go to the shore to work as coolies to earn money. Because their home is far from the land, whenever tourists or divers come near their living areas, men, women and children in the village will paddle boats and beg for food.
It was lunch time when the speedboat approached these floating houses. The sharp-eyed children in the village have already found us, left their jobs and jumped on their own boats. The little girl dressed in a hurry, and the little boy had no time to wipe off the rice grains on his face and climbed down the stairs as quickly as possible. Maybe they think I have a lot of food on board.
A boat coming towards me suddenly leaked water. The little boy had no choice but to scoop water from the container and watch other ships slowly approach my speedboat. Many Ba Yao people have pierced their eardrums since childhood, so that they won't feel ear pain when diving deeply. They exchanged their lifelong disabilities for food sources, and they also developed their vision beyond ordinary people.
Cumulonimbus clouds are getting closer. Judging from that posture, it should be raining heavily. Parents hurry to take their children home.
The little girl was sitting alone in the boat, and her eyes were sad. It seems that she can't row alone and beg food from tourists, so she can only wait on the boat. Maybe her brothers will give her some food.
A woman is surrounded by three children. She winked at my camera while making a mask, showing her optimistic nature. Many Ba Yao people will paint this kind of white material on their faces. At first I thought it was a mask, but later I saw that many people would put this substance on their faces. I looked up a lot of information, but there was no answer. So I can only guess that this kind of thing may be used for sun protection. After all, everyone loves beauty.
These sea cottages have no doors, and more cultured people will hang curtains here. There are two adults and four children living in this room of 20 square meters in total, so they make full use of the space, and almost everything is placed or hung on the wall. The hut is clean, and all kinds of daily necessities and household items are simple, but they are neatly arranged. The room where I stand is their living room and bedroom, and the other room should be the storage room and kitchen.
There is also a baby sleeping with a pillow in the hut. I shook the cradle gently and didn't disturb his dream at all. These people who go to sea, from birth to old age, all the major events in their lives are completed at sea.
Bayao people live by the sea all the year round and have close ties with the sea all their lives. Their means of transportation is a wooden boat named "lepa-lepa" in the picture. They live a nomadic life in China, but they drift on the sea, so the Ba Yao people are also called "Gypsies on the Sea". They grew up in these waters and finally returned there. The Ba Yao people who live in fixed wooden houses are lucky, and some people can only live in wooden boats. In recent years, the Philippine government has closed several settlements of Bayao people, so they have to move to islands off the coast of Malaysia.