Tuesday the 14th
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 15th
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 7th and 8t graders. Roughly 62 kids attend. Each year they will build a new building for the new grade. Meaning once the 8th graders finish, they will construct another building so they can begin 9th 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 16th
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 17th
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 4th 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 18th
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 19th
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 20th
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment