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| Lotus reed fibers used to weave a type of silk fabric |
Thursday, March 1 Inle Lake, Myanmar
After our lunch at the Indein Market, you could either chose to
go back to the hotel, or could take an afternoon boat ride to the Paw Khon
Village to see silk weaving from lotus fibers – only done in this region. Mike headed back to the hotel to bike and
swim, and I went to learn about lotus silk textiles.
Our
guide explained that the lotus fibers are pulled when the lotus reed is cut,
and then lined up on a wet wooden board and rolled together, like spagetti, to
make silk cord. The fibers are way
thinner than human hair, and it takes 3000 lotus reeds to make a scarf. A monk’s robe can be made with 300,000
lotus reeds and would be very expensive - $3000 or so. (The number 3 must be lucky in lotus silk weaving!)
I
bought a pretty turquoise silk and lotus silk mixed fiber scarf for $55 and now
have something that only comes from the Inle Lake region of Burma. The ride back took another hour – and
along the way saw many interesting birds –cranes, herons, cormorants, diving
water birds that look like grebes or loons, and swallows. A refreshing way to spend a hot afternoon.
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| Spinning fibers in Paw Khon floating village on Inle Lake |
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| Lovely smile |
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| Photographer Jay Dickson and Expedition Leader Eszter Foldvary |
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| Dye pots for the silk weaving |
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| Obtaining the fibers from lotus reed by first cutting them |
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| Stretching the cut fibers on a wet wooden board - done 3 or 4 times to get enough to work with |
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| Stretched fibers are rolled into a string, like pasta only much thinner! |
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| Weaving a length of silk fiber cloth |
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| Fabric made from pure lotus fiber silk |
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| Mixed fiber fabric - lotus fiber thread as well as traditional silk fibers |
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| Paw Khon floating village has a large concentration of lotus fiber weavers |
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| Ken and Marji's color coordinated hats |
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| Demonstrations of cheroot cigar crafting back at our hotel's night market |
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| Banana leaves hold the "tobacco" filling |
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| Goodnight again Myanmar (and fishermen) |
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