Weaving

Earlier this week we got to meet up with a new friend (Rebecca) from Canada who is currently volunteering with a place called Agape House in Chiang Mai. She happened to be in Vientiane, Laos the same time as us because she needed to do a 'visa run'. Many foreigners live longer term in Thailand, but only are able to have three month visas, thus they need to leave the country and cross a border once every three months to get the visa renewed. It can be a bit of an inconvenience, but also a good excuse to see the region.

Anyway, Rebecca and I (Mary) decided to take a dyeing and weaving course for the day. Weaving silk is a common way for women in Laos to earn money, and we thought we would try our hand at it. The day started as we chose a design to dye a scarf...similar to tye dying. Then we dunked our scarved in the natural dye vats. Mine was in a mixture made from the indigo plant. Then we moved on to weaving on a loom. Ours were preset with the pattern all ready to go. Even with this done, I worked for nearly five hours for an end product no larger than a mouse pad (plus sore muscles)! I have a whole new level of respect for Lao weavers!