The next village is known as the village for bamboo weaving; as soon as we arrived at the house of the head of the group of bamboo basket makers, a strong smoky smell entered my nostrils! There were all kinds of bamboo items in piles in her courtyard, from small to big, smoked to unsmoked, from sticky rice container to hats.
The lady told us to come and join her for breakfast. A quick note on lao breakfast, Lao people eat pretty much anything for breakfast. This morning we had 3 plates of stir-fried vegetables and some grilled pork with again, sticky rice!
After breakfast, I took a quick tour around the village. I saw houses built with bamboo stems and bamboo leaves. These houses had a very distinctive style— they were all raised around 6 feet above the ground. In the space under the house, there were looms and tables where people can sit around to weave cloths and baskets; there were usually a few beds for occasional naps as well! These raised spaces under the houses provide a very comfortable shade to work under in this hot weather!
Bamboos dominate every aspect of the villagers’ life. The villagers first started weaving baskets because of the abundant supply of bamboos from the bamboo forest in the village. Here is a brief overview of how the villagers use every bamboo to its full capacity! The bamboo skin is spliced into thin strips to be used for weaving. The rest of the bamboo stem is used to make fire for cooking. Bamboo leaves and older bamboos are used to build houses. Bamboo baskets are used as sticky rice containers, containers to catch fish from the river and etc. Fresh bamboo shoots will appear in meals, of course at least once a day.
Bamboo basket weaving is not an easy task! First, bamboo skin is peeled off from the bamboos. The bamboo skins are then trimmed into thinner pieces and spliced into thin strips for weaving. One interesting note is that bamboo baskets that are freshly woven are usually green in color but as time passes, the skin dries up and hardens, and turns into the usual light beige color that we see. Sometimes the bamboo baskets are smoked to give a different color and texture. The baskets are placed into a big metal cylinder and smoked with coconut shells and buffalo excretion for 5 days!
The wisdom of the ancestors of the bamboo village, to use the natural resource available in their community to its full capacity, is very very admirable.
taken from: http://blog.weargianna.com/2010/06/first-village-visit-part-2-bamboo.html
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