Wayne and I checked out of the Royal Pita Maha and moved a few kilometers up the road to the Kampung Cafe, a restaurant and small hotel operated by his friend Made Doblet.
On our way we stopped at Made Doblet's gallery, a place full of fascinating wood carvings.
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| In Made Doblet's Gallery |
In this rainy region, the spiders grow large; snails abound; and the flowers proliferate.
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| Spider, 4" across | Snail | Tree fruit |
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| Cool red flower | Cool orange flower | Red and Brown leaves | Red job |
Ubud is the art center of Bali, and its streets are crammed with small shops offering everything from carvings to jewelry to kites to lighting fixtures and lamps to textiles to furniture to art work. Ever wanted one of those old western carved wooden indians? You can get one in Bali. Along with more traditional things. We saw a number of foreign business people working the shops, negotiating for wholesale deliveries.
One day we went to a smaller village where Wayne knew a jeweler, Nangah Sukuwata. Wayne had wanted him to make him some pieces, and on a previous trip had brought some mail order catalogs so he could show Nangah some ideas of what he wanted. As they were thumbing through it, Nangah pointed at something and said, "I made that." Unfortunately, he does not get most of the money you pay for the item. If you buy from him in his shop, you can pay him much more than the wholesalers will and it is still a whale of a bargain.
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Fabric Store | Nangah Sukawata, Jeweler |
I was coming down with some dreaded jungle disease. Made Doblet, a jack of all trades, perhaps a master of few, informed us he had what it took to get me well, an herbal remedy passed down through the ages. I figured I had little to lose, so he brewed up the stuff and I drank it. It didn't cure me, but it didn't kill me either.
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Made Doblet and Gary |
A few years ago, Wayne met a young man who was having a tough time. He convinced him to start his own business; to make something, anything, he could sell. When Wayne showed up the next year, Made Wija showed Wayne these wonderful boxes and ornaments he had made out of cloves.
Made Wija now has a thriving business. Up until the bombings south of Denpasar several years ago, he had most of his village working for him. As in the rest of Bali, now that the tourist business has fallen apart, he is down to only a few.
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Made Wija, his wife, and Wayne | Clove boxes and ornaments |
My last night in Bali was spent at Kampung Cafe. The employees were great, friendly as everyone in Bali was. I had bought two large baskets to serve as suitcases for the stuff I had bought, and they packed and wrapped it all up for me.
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| Packing | Wrapping |
The next day, one of the hotel staff took me and Wayne to the airport. Bali, in spite of its charm, has not escaped obnoxious fast food franchises. There was a MacDonalds. We bought Made a hamburger. It was the first time he had been to the airport, and the first time he had eaten at MacDonalds. He saved half of the hamburger to share with his wife. I don't think it was just to be nice; there are many people struggling to just get by in this beautiful island province, of a beautiful island country.
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