3.31.08 Ubud
After 5 nights at the Aston in Nusa Dua we are moving to Ubud. It should take us 1 1/2 hours to go 40 km. The roads here are tight and crowded with cabs trucks and motorcycles and there are no real rules, people kinda just drift between lanes and use their horns if someone is too close... Our driver asks if we want to stop at some of the artisans along the way and I say sure, he asks which ones and I say all of them!!
First stop is at the Batik place, we get to see the long process up close as the artisans are working on the pieces, the little pen like devices that hold the hot wax are primitive and yet very effective, all the designs are dotted on with hot wax and after that dries the 1st dye happens then more wax, more dyeing and that repeats until they achieve the desired product with many colors, really beautiful and so much work. Then on to where they are weaving the sarongs, the weaving thread that makes the pattern is first run thru a wax design which creates the pattern of colors in the thread, then the main color is put on the loom and the design thread is woven thru piece by piece, it takes weeks to make 1 sarong or scarf. We get to go into the gallery next and see all the batik paintings and the gorgeous clothes sarongs , bags and shoes.
Next stop is the silver makers. Once again we are shown the process from the making of the silver into 925 weight which is the weight that is best to work with for jewelry, they melt down pure silver and add copper and then form the shapes they want, then they form little tiny beads which they hand glue onto the larger pieces in designs,so intricate. We then go into a HUGE showroom, I was like a kid in a candy store, but when it comes to price I am lost about how cheap I can get stuff for and of course they want the most they can get so I found bartering a real pain, I managed to get a ring, a pendant and some nice earrings for $55 US, I had wanted a bunch of beads and nice silver for beading but put them back, probably should have gotten them too for that price but who really knows!!
Now we are on to the Painters. A huge gallery, museum like with paintings of all types. Lots of Balinese culture and the Hindu gods,really beautiful, rooms and rooms of stuff at the 1 place we stopped, and the whole road was just painting shops and artisans, lots of egg painters as well..the artisans tend to group so you go down 1 road and its all wood carvers, the next stone carvers, silver smiths and so on....really an amazing amount of talent here!!!
ok last stop today are the woodcarvers. The process is long, about 3 weeks for a piece and the craftsman have a hierarchy of skill. They carve in Bali wood also called crocodile wood cause the bark looks like a croc, mahogany imported from Java and ebony imported from Borea, the work is so intricate and beautiful. I find many things I want at the shop but I am so tired of bartering and not knowing how much to pay I leave with nothing. bummer..
on to Ubud and the Tjampuhan Hotel and Spa. We are close to town yet set on a hillside overlooking a sacred river and there is a temple on the hill across from the hotel, it looks a bit unreal, kinda like a movie scene or something you might imagine...and the grounds are equally unreal...the spa made my mouth drop open and I was walking around saying whoa....it is tunnels of stone carvings and dim lights and passageways and pools and temples..crazy...
