Bali

I know what your thinking. Have you been in Bali for the last five months? Well no. However I think I could live there quite easily. Only a few things to get used to really, like the 6 inch long "garden spiders". Heat that makes you feel like your swimming in an over heated pool without the hassle of putting on a swim suit or the swimming part, the annoyance of getting to dry off or that part where it's refreshing. Oh, lets not forget that you must do everything mouth related with bottled water. Brushing your teeth, washing your vegetables and all drinking water must be purchased. I drink 120oz of water a day. I could see my Bali house now. I would have to build a special room just for the bottled water. I still loved it however.

The Balinese are warm hearted, (without the humidity) the fruit is some of the freshest most tasty I have ever had and the art is plentiful. Each "village" (we would call them towns) specializes in a different art. The painters, the wood carvers, the stone carvers, the metal smiths, the weavers and dyers of the Balinese fabrics. There really was too much art for our own good. We had to buy a new suitcase to get it all home and still ended up having to ship two pieces home that were just too big. The good for us / bad for them part of it is that it's all so affordable when compared to US prices. Say what you like about the US and our ability to over price a can of soup on a canvas, but these folks deserve more for their time than they are getting. Wood carvings that take 1 - 2 weeks to finish and it's yours for $150 U.S. Keep in mind I'm talking about actual work time. The Balinese artist takes longer to finish something because they don't work if they don't "feel the groove baby". One of the wood carvers told me the mask I had in my hand took him 7 weeks to finish. I don't know the actual work time for the piece, but he said if he came in and couldn't get in he mood to carve, rather than ruin it or make it lower quality he would go fishing for half the day. The quality in the shop showed it. Everything had a high note of finish to it. Super detail and a quality of life. Obviously the way I am blabbing about the wood carving I was rather taken by it. It, to me, said the most about Bali. Wood carving is used in so much of Bali's culture. So is stone carving, but I couldn't bring home the 8 ft tall Ganesha so it will remains respected and admired in my head. Woodcarving, however, is used in every ceremony that has a costume. All masks are carved from wood and painted in bright colors. Like this "Monkey King" mask for instance. Others are huge. One mask I had in my hand was an unfinished Barong. (roll the r when you say it) The king of spirits. It was around two and a half feet in each direction with a jointed mouth for smacking as it danced. You can imagine the weight. The other art form we enjoyed quite a bit was the weaving and dying. It was hard to find what we were looking for. Much of the cloth has been made for the tourist and you have to be careful and look closely. Some of the fake is easy to spot. Printed patterns rather than hand dyed, or the same pattern (exactly) in 5 different shops showing a more produced quality. We finally found a shop that had truly hand made, one of a kind textiles. Threads of Life. They specialize in artists who are learning there grandparents craft and bringing it back to life. When we get them back from the framer I will post photos of the Ikat and Batik. Ikat is the weaving and Batik is the dying. Both very different in feel and beautiful in their own ways. Batik is done in layers of wax with a dying process between each new added layer. The piece we have is so detailed that I can only wonder at how long it took to create.

Bali scenery is a lush green that is not photoshopped but you would swear it is. I am used to Pacific North West green. That deep evergreen tree green. Bali green is bright and tropical lime flavored. It smacks you with it's tangyness. I think the thing I liked most about Bali's version of nature is the lack of soaked, muddy, over rained brush. Now I understand that it is under rained, as in they need more of it. I'm just comparing it to walking in a Northwest forest where everything just feels drenched, muddy and dripping. Perhaps it's my genetics, but I would rather swim in humidity than walk in a pool. Bali has it's rainy season too. It's just that there it has the good sense to stop for a while and let the other season have a shot.