Tiny Ko Sireh, 4km east of Phuket Town and connected to the main island by a bridge, is known for its chow lair (sea gypsies; also spelled chao leh ) village.
Thailand's largest settlement of chow lair is little more than a poverty-stricken cluster of tin shacks on stilts. The Urak Lawoi, the most sedentary of the three chow lair groups, live only between here and the Tarutao-Langkawi archipelago, and speak a mixture of Malay and Mon-Khmer.
