What I found at the End of the Rainbow

About a year ago I was meandering around some blogs and I came across a post from a woman who had recently traveled to Bangkok. Now, this is quite a crafty lady, so while she was in the city she bought some awesome printed ribbons. They were beautiful, printed in jewel tones with golden designs. But where did she get them? I left a comment, but no reply. Oh well. So I began to do some research on my own and found out that THE area to buy fabric and all other crafty trinkets is Little India. Since then I've tried on several occasions to visit Little India but some event or commitment had always gotten in the way. With only 2 more weekends left for me here in Thailand (since I'll be traveling around in April), I had to visit Little India now or never. So I talked to me friend Ruth and easily convinced her to come along with me. This morning, along with our friend Jenelle, we took a Tuk Tuk down to the pier and took a water Taxi (my favorite mode of transportation in the city) downtown to Little India.
Having been to India before, as well as Nepal and Bangladesh I had my expectations, the good and the bad, for what this area would be like. I was wrong on all accounts. First of all, the market area was as much Thai as it was Indian. We wandered through aisles of lacy Thai style blouses and sequined fabrics, and wondered where the heck we had managed to get ourselves because this place didn't look Indian at all. Finally we stumbled across a little shop whose windows were filled with mannequins dressed in traditional Indian Sari's and Punjabi's (a shirt, pant, scarf set). So this WAS Little India then? As we continued on we passed more and more Indian clothing shops, or should I say visited the clothing shops. Ruth was on a mission to buy a Punjabi and being the picky girl she is we had to visit every store before she finally decided. I had yet to find my ribbon though. We passed shops selling bangles, others selling statues and posters of Hindu dieites and even more Punjabi/Sari shops, but no place that sold ribbon.
After Ruth decided on her Punjabi, it needed to be altered. It would only take "half hour" the man told us. In our minds we were done, I felt defeated for not finding the ribbon and I just wanted to go home, so what would we do for another half hour? We walked past the Siekh Temple, looked at a few street-side shops, and before we knew it we had crossed the street and were wandering down an alleyway market. I let my mind wander and I began to notice the bright, intense colors and patterns that were everywhere. In racks of clothing, a display of zippers, stacks of bangles, and the funny thing is, you can focus on finding something all day long but usually, it's when you loose that focus that you find what you were looking for. When I paused to take a photo of some buttons I happened to glance up and see some ribbon, and not just any ribbon, THE ribbon, in all it's glory. There were blues, purples, reds, oranges, greens, so many to choose from. I nearly jumped out of my flip flops I was so excited. I quickly got a clerks attention, asked the price and proceeded to buy 6 meters of it in different colors. I'm not quite sure what I'll make with it yet, but I'm sure it, like the ribbon, will be amazing.