Wholesale Moonshine & Mystics - Ancient Wisdom - Giftware and Aromatherapy Supplier

Greetings from Ubud, Bali

We are back in ultra busy Ubud. Last week I was telling you about the peaceful town of Amed and the Gates of Heaven. If you missed it, you can catch up here.

From Amed on the way back to Ubud we spent one night in a small town high in the mountains called Sideman. I'd read about this place, described as Ubud 30 years ago, a town nestled in the rice terrace with a mountain river rushing by and spectacular views of Mount Agung nearby. It's pretty undiscovered, only a few hotels and restaurants.. but the locals couldn't be more friendly.. walking round the village down little gangways along the edge of rice terrace you were practically inside the homes of the villagers. Local crafts include textile weaving and brewing the best moonshine in Bali. Not quite the level of handicrafts found in and around Ubud, but first grade Coconut Arak seemed like a good idea.

Sideman

Sideman was evacuated in 2017 when Mount Agung started erupting, because it lies in the danger zone and thus not many hotel chains have risked investment there.. so the place is peacefully underdeveloped with most people stay in homestays or guest houses. We booked a taxi to take us back to Ubud, and I asked our young driver a local guy where we could by Arak. "My aunty makes the best in the village" he said proudly and he took us a detour to visit. Follow me he said and we followed him up some steps into a Balinese family compound, on an open balcony an old lady was busy working on a loom making Sideman textile for temple wear. When she learned we wanted to buy her moonshine she smiled and got up.. we averted our eyes because she was topless, (old ladies in Bali often don't bother to dress and don't see why they should change their ways). She pulled on a tee-shirt and went to get her wares. She poured some of the crystal clear liquid into a shot glass for us to try.. Some call it Balinese whiskey and it has quite a kick. The nephew explained to us how to tell the best stuff.. shake the bottle and see if small bubble appear on the surface if they do that's the good stuff. I bought three bottles one each for Ringo and Bondan and one for spare. About £3 a bottle seems good value.

The 17th August is Indonesia Independence day, and usually the streets are filled with a sea of massive red and white flags. I remember before the pandemic the enthusiasm. This time not many huge flags, and on closer inspection some crumpled flags (not new) and many businesses and homes not even bothering. There was a free concert in the evening in Ubud to celebrate, we could hear it from our hotel.. and they kicked off with patriotic Indonesian songs.. but soon reverted to Eric Clapton and all the rock classics that Indonesians all love. I don't know why, but maybe because there is a popular president here and a robust democracy they don't feel the need to stoke nationalistic pride by flag hugging all the time.

Big news here.. but under reported in Europe is that Xi Jinping and Putin will after all be attending the G20 meeting in Bali in November. People here think Volodymyr Zelensky might be persuaded to come.

In other news, the first of our products from Turkey arrived.. Kilim Cushions & Rugs.. (I can see selling fast) readers will remember our trips there.. and my friends there is quite a bit afoot in the pipeline.

Here in Ubud area I have been busy since we came back.. yesterday went to visit a father and son team - both mystics who have produced a range of plant based incense made with over 30 herbal ingredients that they claim detox your aurora and connect you to the spiritual world. Before our meeting they made offerings and and conducted a small ceremony. They don't speak English - just a few words, and even Indonesian is poor. Ringo spoke to them in Balinese, they have a unique incense product I have never seen before.. not a cone, or stick or coil.. now is sold almost exclusively for the temple market. Whist we were there a steady stream of jolly holy men popped in, helped themselves to a carton of stock and left money on the side.

I'm quite excited, I told them if we can make this work they will need a bigger factory and more workers.. but a lot of obstacles to overcome, we are going to need export papers and product analysis and of course packaging suitable for the EU market.. right now only in Balinese and very bad English.

Whist I'm working Coco (between calls to China suppliers) is learning Yoga.

Because we need to understand this market.. and Ubud is the number one place to do this.

Lots of other products on the way also..

And in the UK - stock arriving.. it's all go!

Hope you are finding trade improving..

Have a great weekend

More news next week.

David