Shadowing Practice: I Spent 3 Days with the SEA GYPSIES 🇮🇩 (Bajau Tribe) - Learn English Speaking with Video

13 minutes is how long these people can hold their breath underwater.

They spend their entire lives in the middle of the ocean in villages built on stilts

that you can't even see on Google Maps.

This is the Bajo tribe, a community of sea nomads spread between Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

After generations of living at sea, they've developed what might seem to be superhuman abilities underwater.

For the next three days, we'll be living alongside the Bajo people in Palau Papan, Indonesia.

To get to the Sea Nomad Village, we've got to take a five-hour ferry, and it's pretty interesting actually.

So I had to walk this plank to get onto the ferry, and I pretty much almost fell into the sea with all my equipment.

People bring cargo and a lot of the things that they can't find on the island.

Somebody even brought a scooter.

Yeah, this was kind of cool.

If you show it from this angle, it almost looks like you're riding on the sea.

They're bringing all kinds of things, even eggs.

And inside the hull here, you'll notice that most of these boxes are actually water

because this is the only way that the locals can bring water to their islands.

For most of us, having access to fresh water is something we don't even think about.

But for these guys, it's kind of a luxury

and something they have to be very conscious about Maybe even

take trips back to the mainland regularly to ensure they have enough of.

Let me take you inside the boat here.

Gotta be careful not to fall.

The staircase is super steep.

Besides water, they've also got things like cigarettes, diapers.

Everybody's got their names on the things that they're bringing.

These are our seats.

Very comfortable.

Pretty comfortable, not bad, I would say.

We've got a toilet in the back.

We've got a little fan blowing cold air on us over here.

We're gonna have a few stops along the way here.

Different villages.

It's gonna take most of the day.

But it's gonna be an adventure.

We've got a boat heading straight on at us.

Are they pirates?

I don't know what's happening.

I think we might be having an exchange with them, yeah.

I think we're meant to meet.

It looks like they're the ferry going the other way.

Hello!

We come in peace!

What's happening?

They attached.

They attached?

They mounted?

Are we towing them?

No. No, no, no. Everyone's come up to see the action.

I don't know what they exchanged.

Did you see anything come off their boat onto ours?

I don't know.

I think they gave them a jug of fuel.

Oh!

That's interesting.

I saw them transfer it to their, I don't know, downstairs.

Oh, the hull of the boat?

The hull, yeah.

They didn't go in and go out.

They just...

...through the window or whatever.

They just quickly passed it through.

Hi!

Hi, are you Leon?

Nice to meet you Emily and Razi.

Oh Thank you so much.

We finally made it.

It was a long journey They've got lots of goats to welcome us Hello Chickens I'm from the US

Nice to meet you too.

What's your name?

Refli.

Nice to meet you both

Thank you for welcoming us to your village Thank you So we're walking through the neighborhood now Getting to the homestay Wow,

looks like it's gonna be beautiful Follow the locals Okay Okay,

so the bridge isn't that steady Alright,

we're just gonna step wherever Leon steps then then yeah i will be careful oh my gosh okay all right thank you

oh my gosh i love coconut we brought fruit for

you guys no no we it's a gift oh you get me yeah thank you you're welcome okay we made it

okay let's take our shoes off i think that's what they do Hello.

Hello.

You okay?

I'm okay, I'm okay.

Hello.

Hi.

Tomorrow, I mean, tomorrow for people, tourist for fans, check out.

You can change the room, yeah?

Okay.

You can change the room there.

For the better view.

The bigger one, yes.

Oh, the bigger ones.

Okay.

Thank you.

That's so nice.

Maybe you like tea or coffee?

100

Yeah, coffee would be great.

101

Yeah.

102

We didn't eat anything all day, so I think it's time to find some coffee and some food.

103

Leon just came out and brought us these beautiful freshly cut coconuts for us to try.

104

Terima kasih.

105

Alright.

106

This is going to be my first ever time trying fresh coconut.

107

Mmmmm!

108

Wow, it's super good!

109

Tastes different than coconut water out of a container.

110

Kinda more sour I would say.

111

Really good.

112

And look where we are right now.

113

This is the view from the front deck.

114

Wow.

115

And now it's time to have dinner.

116

Look at everything they prepared.

117

It's a huge spread.

118

Oh my gosh, there's so many different things.

119

And they just prepared all of this fresh for us right now, right?

120

Yeah.

121

Wow, that's really nice.

122

Let's dig in.

123

This morning, we've joined our new friend Nasran, who's Bajo, on his traditional fishing boat to go spearfishing in the middle of the sea somewhere.

124

So, let's go.

125

Let's check out how they do it traditionally.

126

His comfort in the water was obvious from the very beginning.

127

When he swam, it almost looked like he was walking.

128

And when he came up for air, it was only in short gasps before he went back down again.

129

Over thousands of years, the Bajo tribe has developed a slightly larger spleen to be able to hold their breath longer underwater.

130

It helps them store and release more oxygenated blood into their bloodstream while they're holding their breath.

131

Some older members of the tribe can even hold their breath for up to 13 minutes.

132

It was amazing to see his skills and cool to hear how he cried out every time he missed a fish.

133

And he stays attached to his boat the entire time by a rope that's tied around him.

134

Spending three days with the Bajo people was unlike anything I've ever experienced.

135

It pushed me way out of my comfort zone.

136

Living in a house built on stilts over the water, wooden boardwalks that were falling apart were the sidewalk.

137

There was zero cell service, limited electricity, and only a couple generator hours a day to charge everything.

138

I often felt completely disconnected from the outside world.

139

I had to completely rely on our hosts for everything.

140

It was a massive mental challenge.

141

But being pushed so far outside my comfort zone reminded me of a pattern I've noticed in my life.

142

Every time I'm pushed into uncomfortable or unpredictable situations, it ends up being the reason for my biggest personal growth.

143

Navigating that kind of growth isn't always easy, and that's where regular sessions with my therapist on BetterHelp, the paid partner of this video, come in.

144

My therapist helps me process that pressure instead of letting it turn into anxiety.

145

A piece of advice from therapy that always sticks with me when things get overwhelming is that diamonds are made under pressure.

146

It's a simple reminder that the moments causing us the most discomfort are often the ones actively shaping us into stronger, more resilient versions of ourselves.

147

Whether I'm navigating stress at home or a remote part of the world, BetterHelp makes it easy to get mental health support over video, phone, or text whenever I have a connection.

148

If you're going through change or feeling pushed out of your comfort zone, you don't have to navigate it alone.

149

You can get 10% off your first month on BetterHelp by clicking the link in the description

150

or going to betterhelp.com slash 20camels.

151

Let me give you guys a little tour of the homestay because it's definitely not like any place I've ever stayed before.

152

The houses here are built on stilts.

153

Some of them are wooden and some of them are concrete like these.

154

But in any case, they're built right on top of the water, literally in the reef.

155

So you can see all kinds of colorful coral, fish, and clams pretty much everywhere you look.

156

So instead of having a lawn, these guys have reefs.

157

This is the front deck.

158

You can see the Wi-Fi up here.

159

But it's a little quirky because they give you a little voucher that only lasts 24 hours

160

and it's for each individual device that wants to connect to the Wi-Fi.

161

And then this is their power.

162

It's actually not generator hours right now.

163

So generator hours are only between like 6 p.m and midnight.

164

Other than that, we're pretty much without electricity here.

165

So this is the inside of the house.

166

We have to take off our shoes like in a lot of places in Indonesia.

167

And it's huge.

168

They've got about four rooms.

169

So this is our room, the biggest one.

170

We've got a big mattress right here on the floor, Asian style.

171

And the whole room is made out of wood.

172

And actually, if you look through the cracks in the floorboards on the ground, you can see the water.

173

And I don't know if this is how all of the houses in this village are built, but in this one, you have no complete privacy in this room because the roof is open.

174

There's no ceiling.

175

It gives the phrase living under one roof quite a literal meaning.

176

We even found Nemo outside of our room.

177

This is the living room and the whole house creaks when you walk on the floorboards.

178

Like they're not all 100% set equally

179

and it really leads me to wonder like do crabs ever like crawl into the house from between the floorboards?

180

Like if I lived here that's what I would be worried about.

181

That would be my anxiety.

182

And this is the kitchen.

183

We have Aja who's been helping us take care of all of the meals

184

and the cleanup and everything so and then this is the water

185

which is something they have to import all the way from Ampana

186

which is the mainland the place we started at yesterday

187

when we took the boat so it's a six-hour journey to get water here

188

and pretty much everything building materials anything they want to bring to this town all comes from So as you would imagine,

189

it takes a long time to build anything.

190

And this is kind of just a chill area.

191

You can sit down, look at the reef, hang your clothes to dry.

192

And this guy is working on expanding the place.

193

They're building a new room.

194

So that's good.

195

That means business has been good for them.

196

You ready, Riefli?

197

Let's go.

198

All right, so Riefli is going to take us into the village right behind us here.

199

And we're going to check out what's going on on a random Thursday.

200

Okay.

201

Briefly told us yesterday that he built this bridge leading to the guest house, and that's why it's nice compared to the government built bridge.

202

This one, where it's basically like a roll of the dice on any given day, whether you're going to fall in or not.

203

I mean, this is dangerous, especially for old people.

204

Whoa.

205

You okay?

206

Yeah.

207

I mean, you can literally feel some of these giving way underneath you.

208

And you don't know if today's going to be the day that they decide to just snap or not.

209

You all right back there?

210

Yeah, I'm just taking it slow.

211

Okay.

212

Don't want to fall.

213

Alright.

214

Who's laughing at us?

215

Who's laughing at us?

216

Reefly.

217

Reefly?

218

Is it funny how we passed the bridge?

219

Yeah.

220

Yeah?

221

Yeah, we're not locals yet.

222

Yeah.

223

They know exactly where to walk.

224

They've been here for each plank becoming less and less stable over time.

225

Some goats here.

226

Oh yeah, we got the village goats.

227

Hello.

228

Making their rounds.

229

Hello.

230

We've got some kids.

231

Hello!

232

Hello!

233

Hello!

234

We met some of these guys last night.

235

So if they come running over to us, acting like they know us, they do know us.

236

We've got some village market over here.

237

Looks like they're selling some hot chocolate, some coffee, some nuts, and water.

238

This is the village mosque.

239

And this is the village mosque.

240

It's really beautiful.

241

I think it's the one place at night when everyone else loses electricity that still has a light.

242

Oh, you can see why.

243

Oh, yeah.

244

That's why.

245

Because it's like one of the only places that has a solar panel here.

246

That's really nice.

247

They must have pooled their money to be able to afford that solar panel for the mosque.

248

So now we're heading up this rock because this is the only way

249

that you can get back to the mainland from the village.

250

And they built a huge long boardwalk connecting the village to the mainland.

251

So we're going to go check it out.

252

I think Riefly is going to get us water.

253

Oh, Riefly is going to get us water.

254

Yeah.

255

That's nice.

256

Hello.

257

Hello.

258

Hello.

259

Hello.

260

Hello.

261

Hello.

262

Hello.

263

Hello.

264

Oh, thank you so much, Riefly.

265

Thank you, Riefly.

266

That's so nice.

267

let's go okay let's go bye bye bye bye let me

268

look at this oh wow they have a whole rock retaining wall on the side of this house

269

and the house itself looks like it's made out of woven reeds wow it's got to be

270

so old and you can see that house is built on wooden stilts

271

so that just further indicates

272

that it's a very traditional house back before they built them on You can see the mask and traditional Oh yeah?

273

Assalamualaikum Assalamualaikum Oh Traditional masks These are the traditional masks that the Bajo wear to go underwater,

274

to go diving, spearfishing Have you ever wore these?

275

Yeah Did you ever try?

276

Yeah Yeah?

277

Yeah You don't like?

278

I like them You like?

279

Yeah Snorkel it better or this?

280

It's better.

281

Snorkel.

282

Yeah.

283

Makes sense.

284

But they're really well made.

285

That's really cool to see though.

286

And they look new.

287

Like somebody's keeping up the tradition of making these goggles.

288

Yeah, making them.

289

That's really cool.

290

Okay, so apparently this is a resort that the government built.

291

But the tourists, I guess, didn't like to stay here or they never finished it or something.

292

So it just sits now, abandoned.

293

Little dining room area over here.

294

And then out here you can see the houses where people were supposed to stay.

295

Your place looks better, Riefli.

296

This looks boring.

297

Not traditional.

298

That's why tourists don't like it.

299

Maybe expensive.

300

Maybe.

301

Maybe they charge too much, yeah.

302

We made it to land!

303

So these are the land dwellers.

304

But barely, because I still do see some stilted houses in the distance there.

305

This is your friend's house?

306

Yes.

307

Oh nice.

308

My friend.

309

Oh hello!

310

Hello!

311

What is this?

312

Cake.

313

want one guys thank you all right oh they're in the shape of hearts yeah that's

314

so cute oh how's the cake super good what does it

315

taste like i don't know you even yeah yeah it's spiced

316

smells like peanut butter yeah kinda no it's not peanut butter maybe i'm just craving peanut butter cookies.

317

Mmm.

318

Now that I bite into it, it kind of tastes like cinnamon.

319

Mm-hmm.

320

It's really good.

321

Not overly sweet, delicious.

322

Oh!

323

He's bringing them with him.

324

You're bringing them.

325

Yay, we get more.

326

Terima kasih!

327

Thank you, my friend!

328

Thank you!

329

Oh, they've got a lake back there.

330

Yeah.

331

Wow.

332

That's cool.

333

And what I thought were more stilted houses are actually stilted convenience stores.

334

That's kind of cool.

335

We're going to walk the plank yet again to get into the convenience store.

336

And here it is.

337

They're selling all different kinds of like dried juices and sodas and milks.

338

And they've also got baby wipes inside here.

339

Some medication.

340

You like octopus?

341

Yeah, for the dinner.

342

Oh, we're having octopus for dinner?

343

Yeah, the...

344

The captain caught octopus?

345

The captain sell the octopus.

346

Oh!

347

We love octopus.

348

I've got the captain is gonna take us back to the main village

349

So we don't have to walk across all of those dicey boards anymore

350

And we're gonna take the traditional boat to get there, so I'm super excited.

351

This is gonna be really cool All right, let's see this thing.

352

He keeps asking if I'm like scared to ride in it

353

It's not that small it's pretty decently sized I would say oh The octopus Wow,

354

oh my gosh He looks delicious.

355

Look at that.

356

Yeah.

357

Wow, beautiful.

358

I guess we're going to be bringing this back with us.

359

How much does it weigh?

360

How much?

361

35. Good price?

362

Yes.

363

Nice catch, Captain.

364

Good.

365

Good octopus.

366

Alright, I guess we're going to the boat from here.

367

Okay, yeah.

368

Oh, okay.

369

Okay, whoa!

370

Oh, oh, oh, oh, okay.

371

Yeah.

372

Okay.

373

I almost flipped this.

374

Yeah.

375

Okay.

376

So this boat does not have as much give as some other boats I've ridden in before.

377

Gotta be extra careful.

378

Noted.

379

Oh!

380

What's up, Amy?

381

Now I understand why he said we should be afraid.

382

I'm scared now, I'm scared now.

383

Here we are.

384

Home sweet home.

385

Just came back a different way Hello guys Hello This is Pulau Papan

386

Okay As it seems with everything in this village That was not easy

387

And a little nerve-wracking I feel like with everything in this

388

village Like you're just one wrong step away from like falling in the ocean right? yeah

389

and now the moment we've all been waiting for

390

electricity time! why am I always crossing some kind of precarious plank over water? okay thank you

391

so this is the generator he's got a fixed amount of gasoline

392

that should last us more or less five or six hours and now all we have to do is start it Good!

393

Electricity, guys!

394

Alright, now we have to make the most of it for the next five hours.

395

So this is our beautiful octopus, prepared for dinner.

396

Looks so good.

397

Smells delicious.

398

I love whatever kind of spice they added to it.

399

Smells really good.

400

Let's give it a try.

401

It's spicy.

402

Well, good.

403

Kind of really spicy, though.

404

This is spicy, Lian.

405

Octopus.

406

Chili.

407

Chili.

408

One.

409

Sulawesi chili.

410

Oh, the fact that she didn't think this was spicy and it almost killed me and they only put one chili in, I think they eat spicy.

411

So the storm from earlier intensified right as we were going to bed

412

and now it just sounds like our room is being pelted with rain and the wind is so intense.

413

It's just like you can feel it through the walls.

414

Even with the windows closed, you can still see the curtains moving.

415

On the one hand, I like that it's cooler than it was last night.

416

But on the other hand, it's kind of creepy and kind of scary.

417

I think it might be hard getting to bed tonight.

418

Before we end this video, I'd like to give a huge thank you to Refli and Leon from Leon Homestay.

419

They really made being in such a foreign and faraway place feel like home, which isn't an easy thing to do.

420

If you guys would like to book with them, you can go to their website, leonhomestay.com.

421

They could use all the support they can get.

422

Thanks for watching, guys.

423

I really hope you enjoyed this video.

424

This was not an easy place to get to, but it was super rewarding.

425

All the people, all the experiences we had.

426

This was one of the most epic videos we've made yet.

427

So thank you for being a part of it.

428

If you did like this video, don't forget to like, subscribe to the channel for more adventures.

429

And if you'd like to support this channel, You can join our Patreon up here or YouTube memberships in the description below.

430

And we'll see you guys in the next one.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing Practice: I Spent 3 Days with the SEA GYPSIES 🇮🇩 (Bajau Tribe) - Learn English Speaking with Video

What You'll Learn from This Adventure

Listen For These Sounds

Say It Like a Native

What is the Shadowing Technique?