My A*M*a*Z*i*N*G Team at BTNO!

The craft team has been so amazing welcoming me into their team and being incredibly dedicated and flexible. None of us can communicate with each other very well…I mean hardly at all. But, it has been a pleasure being around them and I'm am so honored I can give something back to them. They now are learning how to create more marketable products for the US.

Sometime in the next few days, I'm going to interview them and ask how being apart of the craft group has affected their life, what fair trade means to them, what was life like before the craft group, etc… Rotjana is going to help me translate. I don't have a picture on my camera of her, however she has been my life savor. Allison is only other English speaking person at the orphanage and she has been gone since Sunday. Therefore, I have been struggling communicating with just about everyone. Well…besides Rotjana. She's Thai and who has learned to speak English quite fluently!

Some good news came my way early this morning. Anne has placed an order for the products I have developed! We are ordering 25 of the zip id holders in pink, blue, green and red. And, she has ordered 32 pieces of the clutches, 8 of each color. I'm going to keep the colors a secret until we get some made. I'm really excited about these!! We also are making another zip id holder sample in satin with a patterned trim. If Anne likes the sample, than we will order another 25. It's just been an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment having the products ordered. Now, I just have to get a really good sample of the robe and the other clutch.

I heard the news the morning and soon after we went to the fabric store. This first picture is us on the motor bike. I'll have to take a better picture so you can really see what we took. So basically it a motor bike with a cart attached for people to ride in. It's quite funny. It doesn't go as fast as the tuk-tuks, but kind of the same deal. We first picked up some of the plastic for the ids, then headed to the first fabric store. At this fabric store, we were buying the fabric for the zip ids. The worst part about the trip is that I am trying to buy fabric and no one around me speaks English. We spent about 10 minutes on colors. Nobody could understand when I said red, purple, pink, blue, etc…I had to point to a color on a different fabric, say the color then point to the fabric I wanted…over and over and over again. When we were finally all on the same page, we had to move on to the next fabric store which is just around the corner. The other fabric store is where I needed to buy the silk for the clutches. Let me just say the clutches are not 100% thai silk, as I was previously informed. Even though the fabric was in the "thai silk" section it is not indeed "thai silk". This would be considered an obstacle when working in fair trade. I have to say it was both fun and nerve racking picking out the colors for the clutches. I brought the forecasted trend board colors for the Fall and made my decision off of them and some advice from Anne. Some of the colors I wanted, they did not carry. There were lots of colors, just not the ones I was looking for. This would be listed as another obstacle, not always having an abundance of resources. We only bought 32 of the clutches, so we will see how the colors sell. For the Spring, we can source out the exact colors we want if needed. The rest of the day was spent sending emails and trying to come up with a quality assurance form.

Product Samples

100% Cotton

This is a very popular pattern/fabric from Thailand.

The i.d. belongs to Yo, the designer for the craft women. He's actually a fisherman, but has a keen sense of design. lol!

100% Thai Silk

Small Clutch

I'm still waiting on the sample of the other style of clutch and the robe.

Kiddies

Thai Silk

Yesterday, we started developing the products. The craft group already had an idea of what we wanted, because Anne had previously sent emails explaining what we hoped to accomplished. They had a jump start on the id card holders and robes, however both were in need of some tweaking.

The first step was to go to the fabric store in Tacua Pa to see what materials were available. We were looking for some thai silk for the robes and a thai patterned fabric for the id card holders. After searching through the bolts of fabric we managed to have some luck with the id card holders. The fabric is similar to the fabric we are using for the wine totes and makeup bags. We only bought enough for a sample. Once the sample is finished, I will inspect it to make sure it meets our standards and will then place the order.

Wen choosing the fabric for the robes, we didn't have as good of luck. All the "thai" silk was course and stiff, not the ideal fabric to use for a robe. The store did not have any other silk to choose from. The craft women had previously mentioned that to batik on silk would be more expensive and difficult. Since we could not find the fabric and will not be able to batik on actual silk, we had a meeting this morning to figure out what the next step.

We had the meeting around 11:ooam. We first topic of discussion was the id card holders. I showed the craft women pictures of the product and the exact size measurements. Yo, the designer, said we will have a sample tomorrow. Both Allison and Rotjana had to help translate to the women what I wanted. It's a lot more difficult than I thought it would be to relay what the product needs to look like. As of now, I think we are all on the same page as to what I am expecting!

We then moved on to the robes. The craft women informed me that there is a batik factory close by. Since we cannot batik in house, we are going to try and source it from the factory. If we cannot source the fabric from there, we will have to find another fabric store and see what they have to offer.

I then showed the craft women samples of the clutches. Kelly and I picked up two different clutches while in Thailand. Our hopes are that they can replicate the clutches, but use the beautiful thai silk we have seen all over. Once we see a sample, we will choose which is the best product for our store. At the fabric shop I bought some fabric for the clutches. They didn't have all the beautiful patterns we saw in the northeast. (We may be able to purchase the silk from the northeast, then have the women at the orphanage construct the actual product. That way we will be supporting to groups.) Instead, I bought the silk in a solid color. I chose the colors based on the forecasting we did during the summer.

After our fabric run, we came back and Yo and the craft women started on the products. Some were finishing up our makeup bags, and Yo began on the id card holders. I'm praying we find the fabric tomorrow for the robes. It will be much easier, then having to source it from Phuket or Bangkok.

Chicken Feet and Lil' Babes

Yesterday, I had another day of traveling. My driver picked me up from the hotel, took me to airport to fly to Phuket. The flight was fairly short. I then had another driver pick me up and drive me to the orphanage, which was about an hour away. I arrived to the orphanage about 3pm. Allison showed me the room where I will be staying and around the entire facility. My room is a pretty good size with a living area, two bedrooms, a bathroom and small kitchen. I'm the only the volunteer for the week so I have the place to myself. Shortly after I had arrived, Allison took me to the market to get some groceries. I was mainly picking up breakfast type food. They serve breakfast roughly around 6:3am and it consists of rice and some sort of meat. I knew that wasn't my cup of tea.

There were some visitors later in the day. The children performed their cultural dances, which was the cutest thing. After the dance, two little girls grabbed my hands and showed me their garden and bedroom. I kept asking them questions, but they speak very little english. The communication factor continues to be an obstacle. There are 67 kids here and I probably only have met 15. They were all running around, doing homework and taking showers that it's hard to meet all of them. I'm having a hard time remembering all their names. They have put up a board with all of their names and photos, which has become a useful resource for me.

I was more emotional today than I thought. The atmosphere of the orphanage is welcoming, happy and full of laughter. I on the other hand, continued to think of how difficult it has been for them. The orphanage was built after the tsunami in 2004. They only started with 17 kids and now they are at 67 and have expanded into another building. All the children have a different story, most of which are all heart wrenching. I try to keep a smile on my face and think how lucky they are to have this place to grow up. There are two small children I am already drawn to. They came to the orphanage about 2 months ago. One of the girls in 5 years old and weighs only 25 lbs. She is the smallest 5 year old I have ever met and severely malnourished. Her sister is 2 1/2 years old and since coming to the orphanage has gained a good amount of weight. They both are so loving and happy. I definitely post some pics of them as well as the other children soon.

I sat in with the children during dinner and helped feed two of the younger ones. When it was my turn to eat, I went to try the soup and saw that their were chicken feet in the soup. I about vommed right on the spot. I am not a picky eater by any means, but that seriously grossed me out. I opted for a different dish, of course with rice. The rest of my night was spent sending emails.

Gotta love Photo Booth!

Second Week

Tuesday the 14^th

This morning Kelly and I had breakfast down at the hotel. I’m starting to get a little sick of the Thai food. Therefore, I had a couple bowls of cereal. After breakfast, Kelly and I sat in the lobby and worked on our computers. I was finally able to Gchat with my mom and dad. It was nice to see them. Around 1pm we met Rebecca at Night Light. Night Light is a women’s group here in Bangkok that saves women from the sex trafficking. It was started by Annie Dieselberg, an American missionary who has lived in Bangkok for 16 years, and 4 other women. Most of the women at the facility come from the Issan area, Northeastern Thailand. They move to Bangkok in hopes of finding a job. The problem stems from the fact that there are limited jobs they are qualified for and most result to prostitution to make ends meet. Night Light now employs over 80 women and plans on expanding into a fair trade store. They will sell all of the products made by the women including necklaces, bracelets, earrings, bags, and ornaments.

Rebecca took us around the facility to see where the inventory is stored, where the women are actually creating the product, where the products are designed and where the products are inspected for quality assurance. The facility was much more developed than I had imagined. We also were able to see the brand new products created for the Fall.

It was fulfilling to meet the women and to see them working at Night Light, instead of on the streets. Walking into Night Light I felt an overwhelming sensation of sadness and hurt just knowing the struggles and misfortunate these young women have been through. However, the feeling quickly went away after we met with Rebecca and saw how happy the women were working there.

After our meeting at Night Light, Penny and Isador picked us up from the Ibis. We traveled over 4 hours until we arrived in Naan Rong. They drive was not smooth by any means. Our driver was going about 80 the entire time dodging and passing traffic. I literally thought I was going to die (even worse than the TukTuks!) We stayed at the Cabbages and Condoms Restaurant/Resort. The resort was not great, very cabin like. There were a ton of ants that kept swarming around our bathroom. The restaurant was not at all what I thought, just average to say the least. Kelly says the resort in Bangkok is much nicer. If we get a chance, we are going to go and visit.

Wednesday the 15^th

This morning was hard to get up to. I slept all through the night, but woke up extremely exhausted. We had breakfast at Cabbages and Condoms that only consisted of toast, fried rice or porridge. After breakfast, we hopped in the van and made our way to the first village. Everyone within the village was at the meeting. The village has laid out all of the products and merchandised them on several tables. They also set up a loom for us to see. The village is part of PDA’s VDP camp. VDP stands for Village Development Partnership. They all welcomed us warmly into their village and were so excited to meet Kelly and I.

Each artisan talked about their products and each was constructed. The products that stuck out the most were the wool scarves and raw silk. Most of the products were quite chintzy and would never sell in the Western market. The color and fabric choice was completely off compared to anything we would ever buy. The artisans are incredible skilled and hard working that all they need to know is how to create a good product. We are going to sit down and write out a list of improvements they could make to the existing products.

We then went to one of the Mechai schools (can’t remember the exact name right now). It is a secondary school with only 7^th and 8t graders. Roughly 62 kids attend. Each year they will build a new building for the new grade. Meaning once the 8^th graders finish, they will construct another building so they can begin 9^th grade. All of the rooms were made out of bamboo. They just received second hand computers. This is even beneficial to the surrounding access as they have been granted access to use them. The Mechai school is completely different than the surrounding schools. The curriculum has the students become more involved rather than just memorization. The kids that attend were chosen based on a lottery drawing. We actually ate lunch at the school with the students. We sat ate separate tables, but ate when they did. After lunch we traveled to the second village. Again, all the people from the village attended. They were so welcoming and thoughtful. The Vice President of the VDP bank began the meeting by talking about there village and how far they come since the beginning of the project. Afterwards, the artisans revealed their products. At this village they were making air freshners, herbal oil, dish detergent, silver (we think it was silver plated, not real silver), black rice, banana chips, silk and plastic wind chimes. The silk was beautiful and the silver looked nice. But, nothing was ready to buy everything has to be tweaked. I did buy some of the banana chips that were super yummy.

The last village we visited was my favorite. It was much bigger and they even brought in the children’s band and dancers. I guess it seemed more of a celebration to them. It’s not ever day they get a couple of young American girls wanting to come visit their village. I’m guessing over 100 people were there. It literally brought tears to my eyes because the village was so generous. Kelly bought a silk scarf and some other raw fabric for us to experiment with. They had an abundance of products and even brought the tools they use to create them. We saw the entire silk weaving process from the actual silk worms, to the burning of the worms, to pulling the silk out of the worms, and then to weaving and dying the silk itself to create the fabric. The process was an incredible sight and I was able to experience all steps. The women kept laughing at me and urging me to try another step in the process. It probably was more of entertainment than anything! Haha

Thursday the 16^th

We had another full day with PDA. They took us to another Cabbages and Condoms Resort/Restaurant. We had lunch their and they took us around the facility. We were able to see a Lacoste Factory and a Nike Factory, Having the factories their provides over 2000 jobs for the Thai people. We couldn’t take any pictures; I guess it is part of their privacy. When we saw on the iternary we were going to the Cabbages and Condoms group that was making wax candles. Kelly and I thought this could be really good! Little did we know, those candles would be in the shape of a penis---oooohhh, Cabbages and Condoms! Haha Not exactly TVE material. Later in the day, we went to a local market. There we found a group that was making beautiful hand made silk scarves! This was the first product we felt confident about. Kelly bought 11 in an array of colors. Hopefully, they sell through so we can buy some more! Most of the market was selling food. I tried a few new “thai” things! It turned out to be a pretty successful day.

Friday the 17^th

Today, we start the trek back to Bangkok from Naan Rang. First, we made a stop at another village. This village was solely making hand woven mats. All were beautifully constructed and designed. We knew we couldn’t sell mats, however we talked with them to see if they could create placemats and coasters. They said they have experimented with a few before. I then measured out the sizes of the placemats and coasters. She had a sample of a placemat. I only tweaked it a little to get the size we wanted. Kelly and I picked out the colors and the trim. They will ship them to my hotel on the 4^th and I will bring them back with me to the states. Kelly and I were both ecstatic with our find! Of course, the women were just as ecstatic as our order is their very first wholesale order! This was my first real experience interacting with local women in developing a product. I think the main struggle is the language barrier. Fortunately, we had Ki with us who can speak both English and Thai fluently. She helped Kelly and I translate. We also told the women that if the product sells well, we could help them build a better facility. Where they are now, there is not an actual floor. We said that is a project we could help with. The woman in charge went to an absolute high after we told her, although we made it clear we have to see how well their product sells in our store. She gave Kelly and I hug after hug. She was smiling ear to ear. It truly made me feel like I could help change their way of living. After our visit, we traveled back to Bangkok to stay at Lub.d. Lub.d is an up-scale hostile right in Siam Center. It was the coolest hostile! I have never even stayed in a hostile until then. All the walls were cement; the rooms had only two beds and a small desk. Each floor had a community bathroom, just like dorms on campus. The décor had that industrial feel. The rooms had white linens and accents of light blue and orange. Looked like it was straight from IKEA. The entire hostile felt clean and warming.

Saturday the 18^th

I had been looking forward to this day for awhile. Kelly had planned for us to go to the JJ Mall and Chatachuk. Chatachuk is an enormous market with a plethora of vendors. I had no idea how big it truly was until we got there. We spent the entire day their shopping around looking for gifts and potential products. I didn’t end up buying anything though, I was pretty disappointed in myself. I thought this was the place I was going to find all the unique gifts and trinkets for my friends and family! I think it was just too overwhelming and I wanted to see everything is had to offer before I made a purchase. We had made prior arrangements for our ride to pick us up at 5pm. When he picked us up, we knew we weren’t done shopping. We had him take us to Na Na, another neighborhood in Bangkok. We ended up getting a massage to help rejuvenate us for the rest of the night. Kelly started to get sick so we decided we should get in a taxi and head back to our hotel. I actually ended up getting sick that night as well. We stayed in the hotel most of the night to try and recuperate.

Sunday the 19^th

Again, we spent another day traveling! We first took a van to the airport, then a flight to Chiang Mai, then a car 4 hours North, and then took a 4x4 deep into the mountain where we found the Karen Hill Tribe Lodge. We did make a pit stop at a local Orchid Farm. The farm actually creates jewelry out of the orchids. They dry the petals, cover them in a finish and outline the edges in 24k. gold. They make an assortment of earrings, necklaces, hair clips and pins. They are beautiful!

Kelly and I were so excited to finally reach our destination! We both are beyond tired of traveling. We didn't do much when we arrived to the lodge, except look out into one of the most serene environments. The lodge was literally in the middle of the karen hill tribe village. You wouldn't think anything of the lodge from looking at it in the front, however if you walk up the stairs and head to the back where it faces the beautiful Thai jungle. Kelly and I relaxed on some mats, ate french fries, drank rum and cokes, watched the local children perform a dance and enjoyed our anticipated time of peace.

Monday the 20^th

I woke up in the morning to a gorgeous day in the village. Walking out our room was a picturesque; the sun had risen just perfectly over the mountain. We had a slow start to the morning, but managed to get around to go on an elephant trek. We rode a 45 year old elephant up and down the mountain. It was fun, but could have been nicer if we had walked along the river, instead of trekking up a steep mountain:/ We then had lunch and made our way to a Coffee Plantation. We ate an enormous dinner and ended the night chatting with the local girls. I brought out my computer and used the photo booth application! They absolutely loved it! I'll post some of the pictures. Oh, and I introduced them to some Rhianna. haha

Tuesday the 21st

Headed back to Bangkok today. We did some shopping in Chiang Mai before we left. I mainly bought gifts for friends and family. The best part of the day was when the Director of Sales of the Buddy Hotel Group took us to dinner. We went to a local restaurant owned by the Buddy Group. We literally had a feast! Probably one of the best meals I have had in Thailand. We called it an early night, since we had been traveling all day.

First Week

I finally made it to Thailand! YAY! A total trip of traveling for about 25 hours. Gahhh…it was terrible! This is my first post since I have been here. I haven't had any access to the internet at either of the locations I have been at. I am actually sitting in the lobby at our hotel as I type this post. It's after 8pm and I have been up since 6:3oam, which most of the day has been spent on a bus traveling from our post-tour. I am soooo sick of traveling. Anyways, I wanted to update everyone on what I have been doing since I arrived.

Of course, I didn't bring down my journal that I started to help remind me of the each days events, so I am purely going to go off of memory. As most of you know, my memory does not serve me too well.

Here we go:::::

Tuesday the 7th: Arrived in Bangkok around 11:30pm, went straight to hotel to check-in and to catch up on sleep.

Wednesday the 8th: First day in Bangkok and start of Thailand Travel Mart Conference. The morning was spent at a market close to our hotel. I didn't end up buying anything, but they have the cutest clothes and accessories! Most of which could only fit a small child:) Natives of Asian are just so damn small. The conference was slow and basically pure agony. Not exactly set up well. Kelly and I registered and then had about 4 hours of down-town until we had the buyer/seller introductions. The introductions were held in a big conference room where all the sellers came around to the buyers tables to introduce themselves/company, in hopes of setting up an appointment. We made several appointments for the 9th and 10th, then left the conference to head back to the hotel. The "Welcome Ceremony" at the conference was only serving apps and cocktails, so we decided to scratch that and roam around the Night Market. The Night Market is filled with vendors selling all types of Thai goods. Unfortunately, they are closing down the market to build up commercial real estate. The market is such a cool asset to the city that it is hard to imagine even why they would close it down. We called it an early night after the market. We had to get up the next day at 6 to be at the conference.

Thursday the 9th: The entire morning and afternoon as spent meeting with various sellers from Thailand and the surrounding countries. We actually set up a few site visits with Lub.D hotels, Karen Hill Tribe Lodges and Buddy Hotels. In a site inspection, the hotel provides a comped room for the buyer to stay at and a viewing of the property and services. In other words, we get to stay at 3 hotels for free. I'm definitely starting to see the "perks" of the travel industry! We left the conference a little early and caught a cab with our new friend, Mark. A fun, comical guy from Australia. Kinda cute too. Later in the night, we roamed around Bangkok, shopping the street vendors. We ended up having a bite to eat at a restaurant on the sidewalk. Literally, it was a cart on the street cooking food with several plastic tables and chairs. It was odd, but the food was exceptional. Afterwards, bed.

Friday the 10th: Instead of attending the last day of the conference, Kelly and I decided it wasn't worth going to. We had already met with the sellers that we wanted to see and thought it would be more worth while to shop the streets for products. Over half of the sellers at the conference was selling products/services that didn't exactly fit into our market. Most were selling high-end gorgeous hotel rooms or services around Thailand. Our market is definitely more budget conscious looking for that off the beaten path trip, not a luxury honeymoon sweet. Although, we are attracting more of that market. Nonetheless, we had a adventure of our own trekking through the side streets of Bangkok. We opted for Koh Son Road to shop. Kelly had been there before and knew it was a good place to go. We found a great little shop selling wood jewelry. We bought several earrings and hair accessories for the store. All made by Thai artisans. It was so fun to walk through the streets, not knowing where your going and come upon a little hidden treasure amongst the chaos. We had to wait for the receipt to be written up, so we went and had a oil massage and 9 step facial. Each service was an hour and a total of 400 baht. This literally equaled to about 12 US dollars. It is crazy how inexpensive everything is here. I remember getting dinner that night for 30 baht. That's not even a dollar. It was starting to get late by this time. We took a tuk-tuk home and called it a night. FYI: My favorite part about Thailand has been riding a Tuk-Tuk. I mean I think I'm going to die every time we switch lanes or turn a corner, because the drivers look about 10 and are just absolutely crazy. But, goooossshhh I love the thrill.

Saturday the 11th: We had to wake up at 4am to get to the airport. Not exactly what I would like to do on my first Saturday in Bangkok, however I didn't complain since we were traveling to the Eastern most part of Thailand. This was the start to our post-tour. The post-tour was free put on by a travel company called, Holiday Images. We arrived to the airport about 2 1/2 hours before our flight. No good reason as to why we had to be there soooo early. Torture I guess. We flew into Trat, then took a van, then a ferry to the small island of Koh Chang. It's considered the second largest island in Thailand next to Phuket. Upon our arrival, we had a wonderful, extravagant seafood lunch. It was phenomenal! We then had a little boat ride and visited a local village creating handicrafts out of coconut. The tour guide did a poor job of explaining the purpose and benefits of the sites. It could have gone much better if we knew why they chose those particular sites to visit. This is only one of the many problems we had on our post-tour. We ended the day with a site inspection and dinner hosted by one of the local hotels. Actually, I should mention the hotel we stayed at. They put us up at The Dewa. Right on Koh Chang island. Not kidding….it was probably one of the best hotels I have ever stayed in. As it ended up, it was the only thing I liked about the post-tour. Kelly has even agreed!

Sunday the 12th: Woke up and had no desire to leave the hotel. It was that beautiful! Despite my desire to stay, I couldn't be that upset since we were going Zip ling on the island. An activity I had previously done in Colorado, but was dying to try again. Zip ling was crazy fun, except being bitten by Thai mosquitos several times. After zip lining, we rode in the vans back to the port to catch the ferry. Just a little tid bit, "Chang" in Thai means "elephant". The island was named Koh Chang because part of the island looks like a elephant half immersed into water. Arriving back to Trat, we took a charter bus to Chantaburi. Let me tell you what, I had never seen a charter bus look like the ones we took. Seriously, atrocious. The worst decorating I have ever seen, haha! I have some footage of the inside on the camcorder. It's good stuff. We had lunch at this shady looking place where Kelly and I almost got attacked by 5 dogs. We hate seafood that came from a tank that appeared as if it hadn't been cleaned in 2 years. It was not good, but I went with it. We watched a show at the Oasis aquarium that had pink dolphins. Something I have never seen before. We then drove to the hotel and had a nice dinner.

Monday the 13th: Today could have been much better. Kelly and several others from our tour group had gotten sick throughout the night. Not sure how or why, but all could hardly move. We toured around Chantaburi all morning and learned about their "gem world". I bought a beautiful yellow saffaire ring. Thailand is supposebly known for their yellow saffaires. We had lunch and made the trek back to Bangkok. I have to end this post before my computer dies. Tomorrow we are heading to Isan, to see the various projects and handicrafts established by PDA. I can't wait!! I'll post again as soon as I get internet access.

Today's the day!

It's finally here…woot, woot!! I'm leaving for Thailand. I can hardly believe it. The past week has just been crazy trying to get all around. I've been visiting with close friends and family and saying good-bye to some of my besties Meg and Laura. I wish them luck on their new journey!

I have almost everything packed up and ready to go. I have a suitcase filled with toys for the orphanage and a suitcase filled with all my clothes and necessities. Hopefully, I will have internet access at the hotel. I will post as soon as I get there! Peace out USA. xxxoo