Down a steep hill heading towards a small Ghat, or entry to the waters of Udaipur's Lake Pichola, a man paints the exterior of a home in a more modern motif. Usually, you see paintings of old, such as elephants with decorated howdahs (saddles) or Mewar horses with colourful moustachioed riders.

Meeting puppetry expert Khin Maung Htwe was something I had planned for years. Finding him at Htwe Oo Myanmar, a small theatre based out of a first-floor apartment in Yangon’s Ahlone township, we talked about the past and future of puppetry in today’s world. We planned to travel together the next day to see his puppet maker. I watched as he carved a small puppet head from a block of wood. I promised him I would come back in one month and purchase a puppet if he began production right away? He agreed and true to his word, I picked up a full sized Garuda character and Mr. Htwe also added a white horse that he had been using in his productions! I was thrilled to meet, and spend time with these masters of an art that is incredibly difficult to maintain in today’s computerized world.

Walking through a small weaving factory making exclusive materials of silk, cotton and lotus stem I meet a women that strikes me as beautiful, so I ask and then take her picture in the soft light of a rainy day. In Burmese, she tells someone something as I depart. It is translated for me roughly as "I am not the beauty I once was".

This style of basket lacquerware is exceedingly rare to find, especially when the artist has only one leg and a foot to use. His focus was entirely on the object while he continued with perfect red banding on shiny black natural lacquer. Like many citizens of Myanmar he sports the red flag of Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD Party. I pick up a piece to bring home with me so with one swift motion he drops his brush and opens up a plastic bag using only a toe. Using that same toe he grabs the object and places it in a bag and hands the bag to me by its handles. He then gets back to work. I remember trying hard to use all my sense to add this moment to my memory so that I can recall this today as if i was just there. 

You can actually feel the concentration being put into the hand embroidery that is going into this wedding jacket. Muslim men, in particular, are the keepers of this incredible skillset. They sit on the floor and work long hours through tired eyes to complete these works of art.

A small backstreet of Udaipur fills with smoke from the coal fires of the local blacksmith. He works in a crouched position keeping the coals hot. Water and tongs are at the ready. Stray cloth and a radio are piled in a decrepit box. His hands and toes burnt and charred from the hot metal he shapes. I am really not sure why, but this man looks like the CEO of a powerful multi-national somehow and it is only circumstance that finds him here in front of me in this beautiful place - Udaipur

Weavers everywhere are picky about their lighting and their temperature they like to work in. Here in Varanasi where the famous Benares silk is made, Weavers work massive looms through intricate patterns. This is a skill that is dying off gradually with machines now taking the place of man. It is important to capture and collect this skill before it disappears like sea coral, never to be seen again.

Many of the carpets made in Jodhpur, India are produced on vertical weaving mechanisms. A fan pushes around hot air as the craftsman’s hands make fast motions to complete another row.

A small group of young mostly Muslim girls are being asked to help resurrect the old art of songket. This is a difficult to find art where gold or silver is threaded between threads of silk or sometimes cotton. The effect is immense detail and intricate designs that are used mostly for momentous occasions such as weddings. The cloth is extremely expensive. The piece of cloth this girl is inspecting and perfecting with a needle might be worth as much as $12,000 USD right from this location, not to mention if it were to be found in the market itself.

The girls here are young and diligent in their learning of this fine art form found in Indonesia, Brunei and here in Borneo, Malaysia just outside of Kuching.

Women of the Iban people on Borneo maintain the communal longhouse where dozens of families live. When there is not cooking to do, they sit on the floor in the cool of the morning and weave thin strips of bamboo into mats and other materials that they can either use or they can sell to the occasional visitor such as us.