Bali-Bangkok diaries. Part – 4

Silverware, art and wood carvings in Bali.

Much before I reached Bali I’d been advised to definitely pick up their silver jewellery, paintings and wood carvings. I personally added a rattan handbag to that list.

Celuk is the silversmith capital of Bali. It consists of a mile-long street, lined with silver jewellery factories and shops. We stopped at Artika’s, an imposing building facing the main street with a beautiful stone archway at its entrance and intricately carved doors covered with gold foil leading to the main showroom. The sterling silver jewellery design’s are fantastic, very different from ours and one can always bargain down the price by at least 20%. Customisation is totally possible as the silversmiths are available in the shop itself, sitting in a separate room and working away their magic. All three of us women in our group picked up earings and finger rings from the shop.

The splendidly carved guilded entrance to the silver jewellery showroom is behind me.

We next visited a family-run art gallery. The Balinese are skilled painters. A traditional painting is done in several steps — first, drawing and outlining, then adding detail with pen and ink, and finishing with watercolor. I wasn’t in a position to buy original artwork, but if you are, I highly recommend taking the time to visit these art galleries. As the third generation young owner simply said, ‘We live our life with art. We do everything with art. My great-grandfather built this house. Grandfather added the gold leaf to the doors and corniches. Every generation adds their own style’. I think he summed up for me the Balinese way of life they surround themselves with art. Beyond the rooms which displayed art was the traditional courtyard, the family rooms and their own temple which is always located in the direction of the active volcano Mt Agung. There were flowing water fountains everwhere and fat golden and orange coloured fish swam happily in the fountain tanks. Completely idyllic surroundings for artistic juices to flow.

Happy souls. The beautiful Mother with her son. They surround themselves with art. Behind them is their bedroom.

Behind the rooms serving as the art gallery lies the family compound.

The grandfather who added the gold leaf to the carved wooden doors.

Next visit was to Sila, a wood carving factory cum showroom in Mas village. Spread over two floors, the variety in the products available was mind boggling. From singlepiece eight seater, intricately carved ebony dining tables to a life sized Jesus and Buddha statues, to horses, to small masks to literally everything. Here again after a lot of hard bargaining, our friends bought a beautiful pair of wooden carved heads of Buddha.

Carvings were often made from this type of wood called ‘crocodile wood”because of it’s knobbly bark.

A veritable treasure house of wood carvings.

My daughter in front of the store’s entrance.

Recognise the person behind the mask?

We headed north and up the hills to Kintamani village, from where we’d be able to sight the active Mt Batur volcano. But it started to rain. Bali lies 8 degrees south of the Equator and it was nearly the end of their rainy season. We experienced rains nearly every day. But luckily it didn’t hamper our sightseeing much. So we climbed into our extremely comfortable mini-van and watched the rain drenched scenic villages pass by for over an hour as we acsended in altitude.

Mt Batur.

Mt Batur in the background.

We’re waiting for lunch.

Mt Batur was covered in low clouds. We had a typical Balinese lunch while gazing out on the volcano and hoping all the while that the clouds would disperse and we’d get a good photo-op. But it was not to be. However since it was our first sighting of an active volcano our excitement levels remained high. And we did manage to get some shots as the rains ceased.