As told by a Visual Storyteller Unknown stories from Asia.

THAILAND | Tuesday, 4 June 2013 | Views [770] | View Smaller Image

Nuan Jaohmaoh, age 77, is sitting next to the cocoons she cultivated herself. The silk produced by the family in summer, once a source of pride and entertainment, is in the hands of the passing generation. Sadly and probably, they will die alongside.

Tags: silk, thailand, surin, silkworm, village, eco-tourism, culture, traditions, craft, off beat

A housewife contemplates dying caterpillars on their way to forming cocoons. Recent summers have been way hotter than usual and that has killed thousands of silkworms, dealing a big blow to the meager earnings of the poor villagers.
The villages around Surin in eastern Thailand were once a hub of silk production. The women in the household used to take care of each step of the silk making process, from rearing the worms to weaving the fabric.

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Cocoons are boiled to ease the silk threads out. Pimnipa Pasakanon squints in the acrid smoke from her small wood-burning stove while performing the process. Doing it for the upteenth time, she's skilled and swift. If not for the irritating fumes and the fierce heat, she would have finished in time to serve the boiled silkworms for breakfast.

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As told by a Visual Storyteller Unknown stories from Asia.

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