OckPopTok

This afternoon I visited a local weaving centre and textile gallery just outside Luang Prabang's city center. OckPopTok means "East meets West" and was started by a local Lao and an English photographer and is spread out through Laung Prabang with two shops in town and the Living Craft Centre by the Mekong. Here they show you how the weaving and dying works around in Laos. When you arrive you are given a guide who show you around, and explain the process of weaving. They also have a little shop, a guest house and a café.

They have their own tuk-tuk in which I believe visitors can use for free, but I went by bicycle. The ride there is no more than 10 minutes on the main road before turing right on a small dirt road. At the end of this road I found OckPopTok beautifully located by the Mekong, the buildings and workshops surrounded by a garden. I am given a guide who shows me around and tell me about the process. I learn that the weaving is a fully natural process, as the products are handmade and the dyes comes from natural sources like rose tree and lemon grass. My guide tells me that weaving is women's work, the knowledge passed down from mother to daughter. He showed me the silk worms and the finished cocoons. I also saw several silk moths in the middle of mating. We end the mini tour at the shop, I decide not to by anything but promise to drop by the shops in town.

I then bike back home, but before I get out in the main road I see the tiniest little kitty. Luang Prabang is filled with cats, big and small, but this one was the smallest so far. My heart breaks as I get on my bike, I cannot possibly take it with me even though every cell in my body just want to take it home and let it sleep in my warm, safe bed.