Having come to southeast Asia from Micronesia some 2000 years ago would seem to suggest the reverse flow of human migrations as most people that have populated Philippine and Indonesian archipelagos as well as the islands of South Pacific is said to have gotten there precisely from South East Asia.

Whatever their ancient origin, Lawa were allegedly in future Siam well before Thai people even arrived. Fact is most Lawa have scattered as far as highlands of Laos though less than 20,000 true Lawa are believed to be left as most have by now been largely assimilated within the mainstream of Thai culture of western and north western Thailand. The remaining traditional Lawa villages are found namely south of Mae Hong Son.

Though present day Lawa have also adopted Thai Buddhism as their religion, most still strongly adhere to animist practices of their past. While they do not possess strong decorative style as some of the other hill tribes do, their textiles are of home spun yarn and coarsely woven on back strap looms. One of the most unique textiles is the Lawa burial shroud.

All in all traditional Lawa textiles as well as dress are similar to Karen textiles and indeed some of Lawa most traditional villages are found in areas populated by Karen in western and northwestern Thailand.

While there were many fascinating arts and crafts to buy in Burma, to hand carry one’s purchases had an obvious physical limit. To import the product from Burma officially was impossible as due to human rights violations by the military junta in power Burma was blacklisted and Burmese products were forbidden from importation into the United States and much of the West.

Although not allowing Burmese product to import, not to mention excluding Burma from receiving the favorable duty treatment under Generalized System of Preferences was aimed to punish the Burmese dictatorship and the government enterprise, who suffered the most were the small manufactures, artisans and cottage industries of all kinds in general, who had no practical market where to sell their products all the while poverty was rampant throughout Burma.

As the human rights abuses in Burma increased and the suffering of the people grew, scores of Burmese craftsmen either themselves or through hiring “runners” looked to the Burmese – Thai border as a viable alternative to doing business with prospective buyers outside of their country.

Burmese artifacts and handicrafts started to appear in shops in Ching Mai and Bangkok already in 1970s. While much of that kind of product was arriving through large border towns of Mae Sai and Mae Sot , on my first journey along the Thai-Burmese border at that time I came across also few Burmese handicrafts in small Thai village markets between Mae Sot and Mae Sariang as far north as Mae Hong Son and Fang.

Later, as Karen resistance movement intensified in 1980s and after the Burmese uprising of 1988, more Burmese product was coming out through the black market villages where the border between Burma and Thailand is formed by the Salween river .

Visiting these border outposts I was fortunate to buy some great textiles and other handicrafts. As I made it a point to pay considerably more than the sellers were offered by Thai dealers who knowing the desperation the Burmese vendors were in squeezed them for the lowest possible price they could get away with.

While Burma, now known as Myanmar, is easier to travel in, it is still very much a military dictatorship and an oppressive regime. Although a lot more of Burmese arts and crafts can be found in Thailand, unfortunately it may be many more years before one will be able to freely travel inside Myanmar and discover the true riches of Burmese decorative arts and crafts.

No matter where one travels in the archipelago, textile production has always been an inherent part of each household’s activities. As cloth has been produced predominantly for one’s personal use, whether to be used as wrap-around, sarong, head cloth, blanket or for ceremonial occasions, each family typically developed its own style. Although many families produced exceptional patterns and their weaving displayed unique signature style designs, most weavers of a specific village area used same dyes and repeated certain patterns by which one could identify their home village when they’d be seen around regional markets traveling away from home.

Nowhere else one can find such a rich variety of textiles clearly identifiable by the village area where the weavers come from than in Timor, the easternmost of the eastern Nusa Tenggara islands of the Indonesian archipelago. Village areas of West Timor and East Timor such as Biboki, Manulea, Haufoo, Maubesi, Subun, Nurobo, Eban and Nikiniki carry each a unique ikat style native to the respective villages where they’ve been produced for generations.

All of the eastern Nusa Tenggara islands, namely Sabu, Flores, Sumba, Timor and Rote, are famous for their outstanding warp ikats, referring to main threads being tied and dyed. To tie-dye weft threads is not as common throughout the archipelago though it is found (mostly in Sumatra and Bali), as is a double ikat where both the warp and the weft threads are tie-dyed before weaving. While classical weft ikat of gold or silver metallic brocading is generally not found in Timor, nor elsewhere in Nusa Tenggara, a supplementary weft thread ikat, a technique where an additional weft thread is woven into the cloth to produce a surface decoration, specifically warp-ikat with sungket style weft-wrapping, is found in Timor.

As diverse as our culture is, made up of peoples from all over the world, we are routinely exposed to different ethnic traditions, confronted by ethnic backgrounds and ideas, and as we process the influences, the outcome is that our perceptions as well as our decorative style becomes more eclectic.

Patterns and decorative styles capture our attention especially when we travel overseas, above all into Third World. Textiles and textile arts, which most individuals do not notice much at home suddenly stand out and even otherwise visually ignorant individual may pick up an ikat when travelling in South East Asia.

While many people may like garish, bright colors, others prefer pastels and earth tones, the traditional Southwestern colors. No matter what the personal preference of an individual may be, when it comes to textile arts, indigo blue can blend with any style and décor.

Among some of the most striking indigo blue textiles are supplementary weft textiles from Sam Neua, the capital city of Houaphan Province in northeastern Laos. Lao textile arts have a long tradition and are undeniably among the most respected textile weavers today, continuing to product wide spectrum of hand-loomed textiles.

There were handful of tourists in Turkey and basically none as I continued East. I hitchhiked down to Antalya, on to Side, up north to Konya, on to Ankara, from there to Erzurum, past Lake Van to Iran. I traversed Iran in about a month, from Tabriz to Teheran, past the Caspian to Mashhad and beyond entered Afghanistan.

By now I traveled slowly, taking my time to learn about the cultures and peoples around me. And I also started to acquire a few local items that caught my eye. In Heart I picked up a shoulder bag, a handmade pocket knife bag, coin pouch, a sash, couple silver bracelets and a scarf. Once in Kabul I went north to Bamyan, then on to Balkh and Mazar-i-Sharif. I admired the rugs, Uzbek textiles and Turkoman jewelry. There was so much to see. At that time Afghanistan was simply amazing, and the feeling as if traveling in time of Marco Polo was not that far-fetched.

I crossed Pakistan fairly quickly as now I was anxious to reach India. From Peshawar to Lahore I traveled by train, 3rd class. At that time the windows were without bars and in each stop large packs were heaved in by local travelers who climbed after them eager to secure any available space to sit.

At the Wagha border India and Pakistan were exchanging prisoners and I had to wait a week for the border to open. Once in the first night in India I spent with pilgrims at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The ambiance mesmerized me and I stayed a week sleeping in pilgrims’ dharamsala.

Welcome to India was astounding. The profusion of color, sounds and shapes, the ambiance was every bit what I imagined. Be it textiles, wooden or bronze artifacts, ceramics, jewelry or apparel, furniture or decorative accessories, I became quickly addicted to handling the exotic arts and crafts.