Regional Textiles

The northeast region of Thailand is known for it hand woven cotton fabrics, and the area around KhamKuenKaew is famous for triangle pillows. Supijit’s mother has a cottage industry making the pillows. Her mother was out of town, so S. took us to another pillow workshop nearby. The colors of the fabrics are bright and the pillows come in many shapes and sizes.

Fabric has become a theme of our trip that we hadn’t expected. After leaving KKK we took a bus to Nong Khai in the extreme northeast edge of Thailand on the Mekong River. Here we found a rich variety of cottons and silks in the colors of traditional Thai and Laotian designs. Textiles, like food, come from the land and are reflective of the culture and industry of the people of the area.

A bridge over the Mekong now connects Laos and Thailand. The lure of “the other side” draws us—we will set out tomorrow to cross the bridge and see what we learn from Thailand’s neighbor. Someone told us that Vientiane has many French people living there again and consequently has French bakeries. We just can’t resist—those illusive pastry shops are beguiling us again.