Weaving in Takeo

As part of my volunteering with CFI, I took a trip to the Takeo Province in southeast Cambodia to visit the weavers who make all of the fabric. Takeo is a poor province south of Phnom Penh. It’s a flat, tan countryside, with strokes of green from rice paddies and coconut trees. Driving along the bumpy, dirt roads you are welcomed by Cambodians waving hello from under their bamboo stilted homes. As you look closer at each home you’ll notice that there is at least one loom, many times two or three.

Takeons are famous for their Ikat weaving. Every little girl and sometimes the boys know how to weave. While I was there I went from house to house to visit many of the weavers and dyers who make the fabric for our project. They are truly artists! They don’t use electrical machines at all—everything is done by wooden looms, the old fashioned way.

The process of making Ikat is very labor intensive. It’s not until you actually see it being made that you truly appreciate the skill and love that goes into each piece of fabric. You quickly realize too that these women are undercutting their profits in the market! They put many days and hours into the fabric and barely sell their work for anything. That’s where CFI comes in.

CFI is working with the weavers in Takeo to create cotton Ikat fabric (versus silk that they usually make) to be sold into the western fashion and home décor market. The goal is to sell modern, quality fabric, where the profits are fed back into the community—the weavers themselves will make a fair profit that actually accounts for all the hours they put into their work, as well, monies will be used for community projects around the village. We also want to train them in simple business practices that will allow them to understand how to account for their expenses and make a profit from what they sell. These are skills that many did not learn as they stopped going to school around age 13.

We are very lucky to be working with the AMAZING and INSPIRING Elizabeth Keister, owner and fashion designer for Wanderlust. She designs her apparel and has it all made here in Cambodia by various NGOs. She is the creative director for our project, helping CFI to create the fresh, bold designs. (Read more about her inspirational story…)

Here’s a little about the process, but it doesn’t BEGIN to capture the full scope.
- Buy cotton
- Dye cotton with natural or chemical free dye

- Weavers tie the cotton with the Ikat design (think tie-dying)

- Dye cotton again
- Sometimes the cotton goes back for another round of tying and then back for dying
- Set up the warp on the loom (about 3 days)


- Spin cotton


- Begin weaving on the loom—depending on the design and length it can take anywhere from 1 day to weeks/months to finish a piece of fabric.

VW Mania in Laos

Spotted in Vientienne... Vintage Bugs and other snazzy VW's.

Ancient wisdom discovered thru Tug-of-War

Kids on a field trip at the Temple of Literature in Hanoi. Ancient wisdom says that Tug-of-War is essential in learning the ancient Chinese script.

Hanoi Frogger

I had heard about the infamous Hanoi traffic even before arriving on the bus. The words of advice bestowed on me were, “Never look back, only move forward, then they won’t hit you.” When I first saw the millions of motorbikes, all whizzing by our bus, beep, beep, beeping their horns I thought, there is no way I’m NOT going to get hit here. It was chaos like I’d never seen before. Traffic lights meant nothing as moving objects moved at free will and drove on either side of the road. Pedestrian crossings were rare—all were advised to cross the street at their own risk.

I realized when I got off the bus that I was going to have to brave this traffic as a biped. So I held my breath, looked forward, and took my first step into oncoming motorbikes… Moto bike 1 passed , phew, pause, EEKS!, almost hit, keep MOVING, phew , OH NO, bike coming from other way, hurry forward, deep breath, only 5 more bikes to clear, the sidewalk is in view… REJOICE! I made it across! The feeling was exhilarating. I conquered Hanoi traffic—I was a real-life “Frogger”.

After my virgin street crossing I felt confident. I had an instant high, knowing that I could defeat any traffic coming my way!

What double-white lines?

The adventure began after we passed through no man’s land, paid our $1 border entry fee (a.k.a. bribe), and headed down the Ho Chi Minh Trail. We were now in Vietnam, a mysterious and unexplored place to me. The bus wound down the lush green mountain road. All was normal until we hit flat land…

In one turn of a switch the ever present beep-beep of the car, truck, and motorbike horns began. It was used as the constant reminder to their fellow drivers that I am passing you from behind or driving head on to you in your lane of traffic. I quickly realized traffic laws were non-existent.

Motorbikes whizzed by the bus, weaving in and out of cars and fellow moto riders. Buses and cars would pass the motorbikes, other cars, buses and trucks even with oncoming cars within 3 cars lengths, never minding the double-white lines. As a driver I thought these lines universally meant “do not pass”. Obviously, I was wrong… it means pass whenever you feel into oncoming traffic, with a bus-load of passengers.

The bus ride adventure lasted 13 hours as we drove to Hanoi. Eventually I had to succumb to the craziness of the ride—I had a false sense of security, I thought I was safe and invincible from all other cars. (this is the same feeling I had when I started to think New York cab rides were “safe”.) I was briefly jostled from this “safe haven” when our driver took a wrong detour in a construction zone, and literally was driving down the wrong side of the road. He realized 30 seconds in and then proceeded to stop, put the bus in reverse, and navigate backwards to the other side of the road. All I could do is cover my eyes and look out the side window.

We finally made it safely to Hanoi. I quickly realized though, my overland bus trip was only the beginning…