"I am a Bisean."

I got so much respect for the nomadic peoples of the world. There is no single place they call home and roam around as if the whole world is their “proverbial” home. The Bedouins of the Middle East, the Mongols and of course, the Gypsies of Europe whom I share part of my blood.

My friends and I were talking the other day about our life being nomads. I have been doing it for the past 10 years and some of them have been doing it for 5 -- Living in Southeast Asia as if it is just one single country.

So how do you call the nomads of Southeast Asia?

The closest are our Sea Gypsies. The Badjaos of Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Indonesia are the largest group. The Mokens of Thailand (Chao Ley) and Burma are the 2nd biggest group. But we can’t call ourselves Badjaos or Mokens, can we? Because it is obviously ethnicity-based.

If we use the term SEA Gypsies, which obviously stands for South East Asia, we might be confused with the Badjaos, Orang Laut or the Mokens – we certainly don’t look like ‘em! Thank you very much.

So we came up with a solution: Let it be known from this day forth, that we are coining the word “Bisean” as the modern day nomadic peoples of Southeast Asia.

There. Take that!

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