To Market, to Market

Saturday, February 09, 2013
Kuta, Bali, Indonesia
Yesterday began early with a 7 am walk to the local market. Even at that early hour it was very hot and humid, the market was crowded with local shoppers buying their food for the day, or stopping on their way to work for a quick breakfast. Before returning to the hotel for our own breakfasts, we walked to the beach where some fishermen were selling their catch. We must have been a little late, or maybe the catch wasn't very good because there were only a couple of boats with a few fish and some very small lobsters.

It was only a short walk back to our hotel, and the restaurant was beachside, so it was convenient to stop before returning to the hotel . Although the remainder of the day was free, we also decided to hire the van to visit some more artisan shops. So it was a drive back through Denpasar to a village specializing in Batik. First we watched some of the women draw and hand paint wax on fabric. Then they volunteered to draw wax flowers on our clothes. Their skill was quite impressive. Depending on the complexity of the design and the number of colors involved there are multiple wax, dying, and washing cycles.

When we left the workshop and entered the showroom, the first room was batik paintings. The next room had other batik items, including batik on wood, finally we came to the third showroom featuring batik clothing, table linens, and fabric accessories. Everything was beautiful and very tempting. Just when I thought we had seen it all, someone said that there was another showroom upstairs. This one was also filled with batik artwork. It was so tempting, but then I remembered the cost of framing the last artwork that I bought on my travels, and reason prevailed .

Maybe I survived temptation because I knew that the next stop was in the village of Celuk, which is famous for its gold and silver jewelry. We made two stops at the shops of silversmiths. The first was a large scale, fancy place with elaborate jewel encrusted items that were well above what I intended to spend. Next we stopped at a much smaller and simpler place that sold jewelry that I might actually wear. It is interesting, but not surprising to see that many of the shops that were selling gold 4 years ago are now exclusively selling silver, but the designs and workmanship are still impressive.

Hungry from all of the shopping we stopped in a local warung that featured fish. Murta ordered two different fish dishes for us to try. The first, was a whole grilled fresh water fish served with a sweet and sour sauce, and then the same fish served like Chinese crispy fish but with two Balinese sauces, one mildly spicy and the other even hotter . Both fish were vey good. The open air warung was either home to a larger number of begging cats, or all of the local cats knew where to come for a handout. There are several cat owners in the group and lots of scraps went to the kitties.

Because we still had a little time and it was nearby, we were invited to visit Murta's home in a nearby village. His wife was at work and his middle daughter was at school, but met his oldest daughter, Indra, and his youngest, and see how an average, middle class family lives in Bali.

Finally, it was time to go home for a brief rest before our evening at Ukuwatu, a monkey temple at the south end of the island and also where we would watch a Kecut dance performance. I think it was either clearer or earlier than the last time I was here and the views were good. Also, the usually very naughty monkeys were not around. Although we had been warned not to wear earrings, to hide our water bottles, and be very careful with hats and glasses, we only saw a few monkey near the entrance and then there were none. The dance performance was good, but the crowd was so large that many were sitting on the floor and there was not much room for the dancers.

After we got back to the hotel, we had a light supper at a nearby warung and then off to bed. It was a late night for me and I didn't turn the lights out until. 10 pm.

Comments

2025-02-15

Comment code: Ask author if the code is blank