Once in a while you can be lucky enough to discover "diamonds in your own backyard." That's exactly what happened with us a few weeks ago.
We were looking at other possible products we could create from our handmade Thai silk to make available for sale on our village community website. After lots of endless discussions and some really creative suggestions, we came up with the idea of making a range of silk gift items.
Great Ideas But How Can We Do This?
But the question was...what can we make and who will make them?
Well that problem was solved almost immediately as our very well tuned "village telegraph system" got working and to our great surprise, a lovely couple we knew had worked together in Bangkok, came forward with a wonderful surprise.
Our Latest Heroes - Juntar and Somjid
Not only had Juntar and his lovely wife, Somjid, had more than 25 years in the custom made craft industry but they also had awards from both the Thai government as well as regional and local authorities, for the highest quality of handmade craft work.
Juntar and Somjid loved the idea of moving back home from Bangkok as they wanted to bring up their children in a Thai village rather than a big city...so we were all lucky to find each other!
My Fashion Research Experiences
Prior to finalising what our silk gift items would be yours truly went on a "search and almost destroy" mission to find out more about the world of handbags ,neckties etc.
Well what a revelation this was for an Aussie guy with very little fashion sense and even less knowledge of "trends" and "What's Hot right now." Those of you who know me must be really laughing at the thought of me trying to make sense of the fashion world.
I actually ended up in some very active forum discussions where people (who must have had little to do with their time) were heatedly arguing the latest trends and what the differences are between handbags, shoulder bags, tote bags, duffle bags and even purses.
The result of this painfully useless research - we are going to call our items "handbags" - lets keep it simple OK?
Our Silk Gifts Launch...of sorts!
Our wonderful new craftsmen (or craftspeople or whatever the correct term is these days) are now busy creating not only beautiful silk handbags but neckties, cushion covers, sleep pants, boxer shorts and cute little purses.
We launched our first selection of handbags this week with HUGE introductory discounts (maybe way too big actually) and lots of fanfare via press releases (check out this press release for example) and lots of social media mentions.
We really are very proud of the quality work by Juntar and Somjid.
Hopefully people will really love these very high quality creations so we can make even more improvements to the village lifestyles we are so passionate about.
Want to see for yourself? Check out our silk handbag page and enjoy your handbag shopping.
But please direct any qustions you may have to Dao..not me as I am still completely "handbag confused and devastated"
How You Change Lives in Our Community
How Your Investment Helps Our Village Community
Our Thai village has an average household income of less than $90 per month. There is a severe problem with rural debt and lifestyles are at times primitive.
However, our village folks are proud, work hard and determined to provide a better future for their children.
At Thai Silk Magic we are passionate about helping in any way we can to improve village lifestyles and create better educational opportunities for the children.
When you purchase your Thai silk from us ALL THE PROFITS are shared with our village. Here are some actual examples of the things we do to help our village:
Contribute to the rebuilding of our village school - the story here is that the Government knocked down the old school as it was unsafe and leaked badly when it rained. Then the Government changed their mind and told us that their was no funds left to rebuild.
Students were sent out to other villages and some were taught under the shade of trees in the school yard - not the best educational facilities, especially when the monsoon rains arrived.
So we allocated a major proportion of our early sales revenues to this school rebuilding program that we are proud to say was completed in double-quick time.
Improve fresh rainwater collection systems
Provide uniforms and much needed school supplies to children
of the most needy families. We faced a situation in 2009/2010 when we saw tears streaming down the faces of parents as they had to take their children out of school simply because they could not afford the minimal costs involved.
Created our village school's first library
Repaired leaking roofs and power supplies of the homes of our poorest families - many of whom never complained about being completely soaked when it rained and their electrical connections were frail and rarely worked to drive cooling fans and the basic lighting.
Install new cooking, cleaning and washing facilities - we have seen some big changes from the traditional cooking fire to the use of gas and electricity and some of the homes now have washing machines.
Enable families to build safer and more robust homes that will protect them in the monsoon season. We have a long way to go here and just recently when we visited a neighbour my foot went straight through the upstairs floor boards.
Only the most basic building techniques have been used and some of the homes look like animal barns with no windows or glass anywhere.
Set up an educational support fund to assist the further education opportunities of the more needy families. A recent great example was the funding of one of our students to study law at a university about 100 kms away - this was a very proud moment for all of us.
Provide food and basic household supplies to elderly folks that have no land or immediate family support. People without land (often the result of past rural debt problems resulting in the land being reclaimed) have no rice crop which is the basic food staple.
This is a major challenge for us as there is a need to change the way people go about their farm working life. Currently people with land have adequate supplis of rice but there is really no profit to be made from this farming as most of their crop sales go to repay existing loans.
Help with the construction of safer play areas for children and 
sponsored children's shows. These shows are great fun and there is more time spent on make-up than the actual performance. But everyone in the village attends and we have shared some very funny experiences. By covering the costs Thai Silk Magic helps in a small way for kids to "live out their stage dreams".
Encouraged, supported and initially stocked a general store in our village - we even have ice cream!
Assisted in the purchase of improved rice farm equipment, especially with the purchase of small multi-purpose tractors. The days of the buffalo doing all the grunt work in ploughing are over but these animals are still kept as revered members of the family.
Educated and helped people to set up their first bank accounts with a focus on saving rather than spending. Amnuai has helped every single weaver to do this as we wanted to make sure their income from their silk weaving was not just spent on things like new motor bikes or better TV sets etc.
Our weavers enjoy our fair-pay principles plus we also pay a bonus. The results so far are that these families are now earning more than double what they did prior to Thai Silk Magic and this will increase as we get more customers to invest in our Thai silk.
Every day we continue to build confidence in the concept that "Thai Silk Magic will help you to help yourself and your family"
A Recent Vistor's Perspective:
A recent visitor to Thai Silk Magic, Elisabeth Prantl, a highly regarded Austrian textile consultant, says it all:
"I discovered Thai Silk Magic and their little village of Ban Dong Yang on my recent country-wide tour of Thailand's textile suppliers. Not only is their handmade silk of the highest quality but I saw for myself just what a positive impact this community project is having on their village.
People were so proud to show me their new kitchen area or their children's new home study area and I was even invited to drive a new tractor - all the result of this community project.
Thai Silk Magic is proud of its early success but there are many challenges ahead in their mission to improve lifestyles. I have not seen this completely unselfish sharing of benefits anywhere else before and I am determined to return to this village to help them in any way I can to achieve their wonderful objectives"
Living in a remote Thai village I have discovered interesting, and often confusing, language issues that more often than not results in a huge ripple of laughter from my village neighbours
Testing My Boy Scouts Motto
As our village is located near both the Cambodian and Laos borders, the dialects used in our village are a complete mash of 3 countries plus a huge smattering of local slang. Was I prepared for this? Well very naively I thought so.
After all before moving up here from Bangkok I had graduated from a reputable Thai language school and then even learnt to ask and answer about 500 questions in the Laos language and a smaller amount of Kemer (Cambodian language). A potential UN negotiator!
It's Not What You Say But..
Well that perception was very quickly destroyed. Even the way people grunt sounds like "ugh" when answering a question can have so many connotations. For people who have had for the part very little formal schooling, I am always amazed at their linguistic ability. To understand not just the mish-mash of our local village dialect, but also the separate languages of all 3 countries...and now even some English with my arrival 7 years ago. I am impressed!
In conversation you have to be very careful that you use the right tones - the Thai language alone has at least 5 different tones as well as an alphabet of 46 letters.
What Did I Just Say?
Instead of thoughtfully complimenting someone on their son's 
excellent school report recently apparently said that I was disgusted with the way that their son treated his teachers. Or when invited to speak at a village wedding function I mistakenly implied that the proud mother-of-the-bride was "jealous as hell" of her daughter getting such a good-looking husband. Or when a neighbour recently invited us all over to watch his prize pig giving birth to 14 cute little piglets I somehow was understood to say that the farmer's new piglets were far more intelligent than him. Oops
Who You Belong to...
It's also cute to see how people refer to each other.
Students at our local school always refer to each other by their nick-names...yes plural. Some have 3 or 4 nick-names and even the teachers have trouble keeping up with the latest salutation and class roll call is often a source of great laughter.
When people talk together they nearly always refer to themselves in the third person like me saying "Peter worked hard today and he is so tired." Or when referring to a parent they do not use their first name but instead say "father or mother of the eldest child". This happens when talking about or directly to the person concerned or even when a husband is talking with his wife.
The Quiet Shy Thai..What a Joke
Why people in our village buy mobile phones is beyond me. After all the majority or people marry someone within this village or perhaps the nearest one about 2 kms away. They nearly always use this "new technology" to talk with their neighbours and families. They love to perform in singing and dancing at the ealiest opportunity and give them a microphone and you will need complicated surgery to get them to pass it on to someone else. On top of all that our village folks have the loudest voices I have ever heard. They can easily talk to each other when they are nearly 1km apart in the rice fields.
So the telephone is not a communication necessity at all but simply a status symbol. But why not. They work hard, weave fantastic silk and really enjoy being able to purchase items that previously they have never had the opportunity to do.
So I think it's great but be careful if they call you as they still speak in the same loud volumes they always have...
Yes I'm Thai but Not for Speaking
To cap things off, our village folks understand Thai perfectly well but refuse to communicate in Thai. Sure they watch, understand and enjoy their Thai TV programs. And they understand me perfectly when I speak in Thai. But they will never talk in Thai simply because they are afraid to make even a small language mistake and lose face. This did frustrate me at first but over time i realised it was not with just me but ANYONE. Losing even a "little bit of face" here is something that people will do anything to avoid.
How to Communicate?
How do I manage to communicate with all these little challenges?
Well it's amazing what a smile, sincerity and the very fact you are making the effort to commuicate means to these village folks. By using a mixture of Thai, hand signals, lots of smiles (or growls) plus an increasing understanding of the basic nasal tones used in expression here, I manage to get by...except when it comes to anything technical like problems with our computer or internet connections. Then I may as well be talking in Latin!
But life is good here and despite the language challenges, we all seem to get on really well and I treasure the fact that I am referred to throughout the village as "loong Peter"..uncle Peter.
Young Monks Day
This week was another milestone event for me.
I had the absolute pleasure to be involved with some very proud parents.
The reason behind these comments was the decision by some young men in our village to become monks! Whether they stay for 3 months or 30 years the very decision is a highly proud moment for the parents. Monks are held in the highest possible esteem and this decision by these young men brings so much honour to their families.
At Thai silk magic we had 2 of our weavers being the very proud mums of their sons.
So we were delighted to be able to provide the Thai silk fabric for the occasion.
The whole day was a mixture of solemnity and fun - our village love to celebrate whenever they get the chance.
So we saw lots of pride and singing, loud Isaan Mor Lum (Thai country music) and dancing.
Below I have placed some videos that I hope capture for you some of the excitement and pride that was seen on this very special day for our little village.
Remember these folks do not have many of the things we may take for granted in a western society.Things such as refrigerators, air conditioning, bank accounts, credit cards and high divorce rates are rare!
They work long, physically hard hours, they are extremely proud of their heritage and their Thai silk creation skills!
And they are always willing to give up what ever they are doing to help another.
As a lone foreigner in this village for the last 6 years I have never, ever seen such a sharing and caring society. They may well be financially poor and this really hurts when it concerns the future of their children but I have never heard a complaint or signs of jealousy with folks who may have more "worldly possessions" than them.
They have some thing much more important. A real spirit of "village family" and "no strings atached" cooperation.This is why our community is uniting with Thai Silk Magic.
They can see by once again working together and in this case using their magnificent handmade silk skills, they not only help each other but the whole village. It's truly a privilege to be accepted here as Lung (uncle) Peter
Just recently we had a very special day in our village of Ban Dong Yang.
Our entire village came to the official opening and blessing ceremony of Thai Silk Magic.
This blog post shows a video of part of the ceremony and I have also added some photos taken on the day.
Our village has about 300 people and even though they are financially very poor, they are extremely proud and absolutely fantastic weavers of Thai silk fabric.
The has been great excitement, enthusiasm and interest in our project. Our Thai Silk Magic home has already had lots of visitors who are interested to see how a group of weavers from a small, isolated Thai village, are about to launch an online website store to market to the world their products. 
We have even had quite a few visits from university student groups from Bangkok.
This venture is a VERY BIG thing for our village and it's great to see the wonderful support we have received already from around the
world, and our online store is not even open yet! Many kind folks have showed their support of our key mission (to improve our village lifestyles and ensure all the village children get the chance for a better education)
We are planning to go live online with our shop before the end of October 2010 so right now there's lots of activity cataloging, photographing and stacks of other jobs to complete before we "go live"
Today I want to share with you some more of my experiences of living in our Thai village.
In particular, the hectic, demanding and at times challenging impacts of funerals and marriages.
5 Day Events!
I mean absoluely no disrespect to anyone, especially to those families who have lost a loved one. We have experienced this tragic loss as well but my Aussie background sometimes makes it difficult for me to appreciate that these occasions have to take at least 3 nights and 4 days to conclude.
The very idea of sitting around for 4 or 5 days at a funeral or a wedding seems like an eternity sometimes, especially when its hot, humid and you feel that you have so many things that need doing. I guess thats my impatience or ignorance showing.
Patience Really is a Virtue
It's amazing how our village people can put everything else on hold for roughly a week to attend these functions. These people work physically very hard and for many the food they eat that day is what they can catch or snare. More on food in a later post - some of the menu items may be quite a surprise!
So despite their need to work hard every day just to survive, our village people will always stop whatever they are doing to share in the sorrow or excitement of every familys' life. My god I truly admire their capacity to do this and I must learn to appreciate this aspect of Thai life more. Maybe it will give me more tolerance and understanding of just what really is important in your life. I guess that not finishing mowing the grass is not the end of the world!
How Much Did They Give?
The amazing thing is that when people contribute their very limited finances at these ceremonies, it is publically announced to all and sundry - no hiding any "stingy" donations. Usually people want to donate the same amount as the particular family concerned with the marriage or funeral, had given them at some earlier function. So this requires some pretty good book-keeping or a bloody good memory, to ensure there is no loss of face!
Weddings are really a great experience despite their longevity, with lots of tradition and fun involved.
This includes the groom arriving at the bride-to-be's village in great fan-fare
with a entourage of pick-ups (utes for you guys in Australia), accompanied by lots of the local Thai country music played loudly on speakers mounted on some of the trucks. At the same time there is a long line of people spread all across the road singing and dancing with the music, even if its 40+ degrees.
You cannot help but be infected by the enthusiasm ahd happiness of people at these occasions as they dance along behind the trucks and pick-ups only to be stopped at the village entrance with a ribbon across the road. This is where the groom requests to be given special permission to enter the village in order to marry his bride-to-be. Pretty cute really!.
The bride and groom have to carry out quite a few duties as part of this celebration and I guess the only downside of all this is the sideline ratbags who get themselves full of 40% Thai whiskey and then disrupt proceedings accordingly. Even then our village people do not react strongly, as they may in Australia if some idiot was rudely interrupting the church or wedding breakfast proceedings. The Thais may give a nasty glance and speak quietly amongst themselves but never raise their voice in disapproval - unless the drunk goes over the top and even then he will just be quickly and quietly herded away.
A Catering Nightmare!
The other interesting point is that rarely are their invitations/RSVP send out for weddings and one never knows if 200 or 500 people will come along - and remember this maybe for 4 days AND they have to be fed!
More often than not people come and go many times during the 4 or 5 days and they always leave with a bucket full of food to take back to their families. Now wouldn't that create a budgeting and catering nightmare in Australia.
Actually I really should not complain as it's my wife Amnuai who has to get up well before the sun rises to organise and prepare food; tents and canopies; cooking equipment and coordinate with the monks, at most of these ceremonies. She is the village organiser and knows just how to get things done - in her own Thai way of course.
Time is "definitely not of the essence" in our village life - I just have to learn to somehow appreciate this more. Will share some more thoughts and experiences with you again soon.
Hello and a very big welcome to the world of Thai Silk Magic.
My name is Peter and I am an Aussie and very happily married to Amnuai, the founder of Thai Silk Magic. 
Actually no one calls my wife Amnuai except any Thai government officials. Nicknames are very common in Thailand and her nickname is Dao - this means "star" in the Thai language. And she really is.
We have 2 beautiful teenage daughters and 2 huge dogs! I say huge as they are over 65 kilos each and are a cross between a German Shepherd and a Rottie. Sounds dangerous? Well they are just fantastic family dogs who have even killed snakes in their "security patrol" role.
Nothing and nobody comes into our yard without their approval. And when I say snakes I include a bloody cobra - I must admit that I am scared of snakes and even though our pups (as they were then) removed the potential menace, it took me a few days to relax. I never considered our home could be a possible location for such vipers.
We operate our hand made Thai silks business from our very small village. If you have ever been to Thailand then for sure, you would not have come any where near our village.
We are located in the far north-east of Thailand about 30 kilometers from both the Laos and Cambodian borders - not exactly a hot tourist spot!
Our village is called Ban Dong Yang. We built our very nice home here about
6 years ago after moving here from Bangkok so Dao could be closer to her aging mum and dad. Our postal address sounds like something from another planet but at least we do get 1 or 2 mail deliveries a week and usually the postie comes looking for us so he can hand any mail to us personally.
And very nice guys they are at our district post office. Well you did not think we had our own village Post Office! We are lucky to have 2 little shops that sell mainly washing soap, ice creams and whisky and thats only if they remembered to stock up.
Life here is very laid back - sure people work hard with their rice farming and silk weaving, but no one really concerns themselves about what may happen tomorrow let alone next month. Planning is not a strength people here consider to be important. That's both good and bad. It can drive me bonkers trying to organise things behind the scenes for our Thai Silk Magic business, but it also gives me a stack of surprises as somehow things just seem to happen. See a quick video and few other bits and pieces about our World of Thai Silk Magic here
I think our village folk have got things right. They never seem to stress about anything and I know I can learn a thing or two about a more relaxed approach to life and things in general. So many times I seem to be concerned or worried about business matters relating to our Thai silk fabrics business that just seem to disappear as deadlines approach! It must be in the water!
For those who are geographically driven here is a link to a map of our area. If you click on the map it will zoom in; then look for highway 220 (yes we have some sealed roads). If you drive about 16 kms from Si Sa Ket and turn off to the right for 4 kms just before Wang Hin, then you would be pretty close to our village. See I told you its no tourist haven but its our home and I love it!
By the way, although this blog post shows a time of 2.56am, I am not that dedicated. Just forgot to adjust the time schedules provided by the blog host. Talk to you again soon, especially about births, weddings and funerals in our village. For starters they are usually 4 or 5 day events - more next time.
My Village - A Video By Amnuai
Today I want to share with you a video created by my wife Amnuai (actually everyone calls her Dao)
It's all about our village, both her families (Thai and Aussie) and some more glimpses of our rather unique lifestyle here in the remote Thai village of Ban Dong Yang.
We are not exactly located on any major tourist route but we do get lots of visitors as well as the occasional "lost soul". Our small village is not only the home of Thai Silk Magic weavers group but it is also close to both the Cambodian and Laos borders - so we have a wonderful mix of 3 different cultures and languages.
Our Village of Ban Dong Yang
In the video you will see:
Our local village "supermarket" - not exactly your typical store with limited supplies but it's run as a village cooperative and everyone shares the workloadThe butcher's shop - fantastic beef and pork are specialities at prices that would make you cryDao's school where she wishes she could have spent many more years learning - as the eldest daughter, she had to leave school at only 13 years of age to go help work on the family rice farm. The village buddhist temple - Dao's religion is a very important part of her character and lifestyle Some of the village homes - both old and new, big and smallHow people here of all ages love to sing and dance - and yes they love karaoke as well! The recently completed home for our Thai Silk Magic businessEven a glimpse of some of the many buffaloes that roam aroundYou will NOT see the cobra snake our pups quickly disposed of - Peter was way too slow with the camera and too scared to move. The pups did a great security job!
We hope you enjoy our early attempts of video production - not exactly Hollywood just yet but at least it's REAL!
