Well, we started off with an overnight train trip to get to the Isaan region. Gotta say, the train isn't really my thing, but there is always a light at the end of the tunnel! In this case, lots of beautiful silk! After a little sleep and relaxation at the hotel, the fun began! Our first stop was a silk producing co-op known to be much more developed than others. We met with the organizer who set-up this co-op to help local women from various villages earn good wages and supplement their family's income. It was really amazing to see how textile products get made. Seriously. Who knew that a woman actually weaved each strand of silk together? Like, EACH strand. It's really crazy. Check this out:
After this visit (and the shopping that ensued) we traveled to another, less developed village nearby. I was excited about this one because I had seen their products before and was absolutely in love with them!This group uses two different parts of the silk cocoon to weave their scarves. One is the regular part that most weavers use; it's very fine and smooth. But they also use a thicker, more coarse part of the cocoon that ends up as a beautiful, thick, cozy type of fabric! Love. It. Clearly I bought one even though it will be of absolutely no use to me until I'm back to -20 degree temperatures.
The coolest part of this place was just walking around the village. These people have the most exotic fruit just growing all over the place! In the yards, along the streets! It's really amazing. We had mango's, star fruit and a whole bunch of other things I don't know the names of. But they were all really good. We also got to see how silk worms are grown and how they pull the thread from the cocoons! We even got to try! I'm an expert now...
And here are all the yummy scarves! Should have mentioned the Ikat dyeing...so much to tell! To get the pattern you see on the blue wrap in the foreground the women basically use a very complicated form of tie-dying. They dye all the silk one color and then wrap plastic around certain parts of it (before it's woven!) and dye it all again. They do this as many times as there are colors in the design and then basically fit the pieces together like a puzzle when they weave it. I couldn't believe it! Who knew that this stuff was literally HAND done, start to finish.
The second day was spent in the silver-making village of Surin province. This is where the very last master craftsman of a specific style of Khmer silver jewelry lives and works. He's literally the very last person who can do this particular type of craft and is just now working to pass his knowledge on through a program endorsed by the Royal Family. We got a chance to see the groups melt the silver, form it into hundreds of tiny beads, hand-carve the beads and eventually string them together to make gorgeous jewelry. Then I got to make my own earrings to match the necklace I picked out! They also served us the most incredible vegetarian lunch - Tui had been raving about the food all week prior to the trip and I was NOT disappointed! :)
We took a break from visiting villages for a couple of hours so that we could see the ruins of a famous Hindu temple called Phnom Peng. At the height of the site you can actually see the mountains of Cambodia! Wild! Here's me posing for the camera :)
Finally, on our third and final day, we ventured into yet another weaving village. This one, like all the others, had something really unique to teach us. This particular group uses only natural dye for their silk products. Which means the amazing colors come from various leaves, tree bark, flowers, etc. We actually watched them boil a whole bunch of tree bark and then dye a TONNE of silk an amazing bright orange! After the demonstration they walked through the village with us to show where each color comes from. Here's a green that I liked a lot along with the leaf they use to get the color:
So basically this trip consisted of me saying "Seriously?!?!" a whole lot. I also bought a lot ;) I mean, how could I not?! After seeing the women stitch and weave and dye and design all by hand in the backyards of their little bamboo homes practically in the middle of nowhere. I was basically in awe. Hopefully I'll get to go on another trip really soon! There are so many places and groups to see! Not to mention silk products to buy...Here's all the rest of my pics...you'll be able to see all the stuff I just rambled on about ;)
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