I've been throught the Straits of Malacca a few times...lots of pirates there, even today.
Until about 7,000 years ago, the ocean levels were so low (ice from the Ice Age was still melting) that water craft/ships could not pass through there. Once the passage was open, The Wise Men From The East were able to travel through.
And, nearby:
Taman Negara: The 130-Million-Year-Old Rainforest
Remember that the Himalayas are only 55 million years old.
thanks for the map, Blam!
what also drew my eye to the article was the existence of another people living on the water’s surface.
“ Srivijaya was a “waterworld”, its people living on the river like modern boat people”
From modern Iraqis:
https://www.messynessychic.com/2014/11/12/the-floating-basket-homes-of-iraq-a-paradise-almost-lost-to-saddam/
and Vietnamese:
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2012/02/floating-villages-near-cat-ba-island.html
To the pre-Incans of Lake Titicaca who terraced and farmed the islands and lived on reed islands
https://www.goworldtravel.com/uros-floating-islands-lake-titicaca/
to the reed islands of Sirvijaya:
“The 13th century Chinese account confirmed this; in his Zhu Fan Zhi, Zhao Rukuo mentioned, “The residents of Sanfo-tsi (Srivijaya) live scattered outside the city on the water, within rafts lined with reeds.”
Living ‘on’ floating islands seems to have been a common historical practice. Possibly to conserve land for farming like may have occurred at Lake Titicaca? Protection from land animals? Protection from roving hostile tribes on land? First line of defense of a land-based administrative center against attack from the water? Or was it a form of social stratification - king and court get to live on land, and peasants on the water?