And Vatsaloo returns from Baan Borang this month and will soon be planning his next trip.
She is only one of the benefactors who signed on to help Baan Borang.
Today you reach Baan Borang over a paved road instead of taking your chances on a winding, rutted 12-kilometer jeep track.
Now the silks of Baan Borang are no longer the somewhat old-fashioned bright colors and designs of the area.
But the slight, soft-spoken Vatsaloo credits the people of Baan Borang most.
After the presentation a young woman began asking him about Baan Borang.
By 1987 he was bringing clothing and medicine to Baan Borang and then hand-packing a few silk items on each trip to sell door-to-door back in Singapore.
Vatsaloo has now been to Baan Borang almost 60 times, each time bringing something of value, from school supplies and health care information to energetic friends wanting to help.
Looking for what to do with himself, he stumbled across the people of Baan Borang in his own back yard, befriending a group of workers in his neighborhood.
Now Vatsaloo, 52, is the proprietor of a small gallery outside Singapore's Little India, Isan, where he sells the shimmering silks of Baan Borang as shawls, table runners, slipcovers and purses.
It also included a house for Srithap and his family, a central decorative pond and a guest house for the increasing number of visitors enchanted by Vatsaloo's stories of life in Baan Borang.
In the process he has become Baan Borang's impresario, tour leader and economic development agency, collecting donations and rounding up professionals from around the world to take part in his vision by contributing their time and expertise.
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