Last day / Goodbye Bali
Fri Sep 23 2022 19:59:00 GMT+0800 (Malaysia Time)
Greetings from Bali - this is my last day here.
Last week I was telling you about my last day with Coco before her return to China, if you missed it you can read about it here.
Coco's journey back home has taken a ridiculous amount of time and trouble. After being delayed for 22 days in Jakarta she finally got a flight to Hong Kong, where she was obliged to spend 3 days in quarantine before she could fly to mainland China - city of Xaimen , where she was taken from the airport to a government quarantine centre - 7 days. Then she took a train (seven hours) back to Yiwu.. where she was met and taken for 3 days of quarantine. As I write this she is waiting patiently for a knock on the door to say she is free to go.
Despite all this she remains positive, has been working everyday, placing and chasing orders with suppliers and twice a day practicing Yoga. Soon she will see her grandchildren who I know she has missed dearly.
Listening to Putin ranting and raving, you do wonder if we are living in the last days. Ubud is practically Russian, lots of young and not so young Russian runaways settling in here. There are Russian play groups for kids, there is something called the Ubud Club out in the sticks practically a small village for Russians. Are we living in the last days?
Who knows? But I know this is my last day in Indonesia for a while. Living and working with the most gentle, kind and humble people is an honour and pleasure and I really don't want to go.
I think I have told you before one of my favourite things is driving around the rural villages with Ringo, seeking out artisans to produce products for AW (and your customers). As we drive from village to village, we often pass local ceremonies - almost everyday something somewhere is happening. And Ringo will explain to me the particular event and what it all means. I learn quite a bit about the unique Balinese Hindu traditions. Which I feel are the least religious and the most ceremonial. Almost nothing is restrictive, everything is to be in balance, acceptance and tolerance are built-in.
Some ceremonies are little, maybe just locals making offerings for the Full Moon. Others are grand and impressive.. This ceremony in Ubud I wanted to share with you..
Ringo would often explain about the Tri Hita Karana the philology underpinning the daily life and attitudes of Balinese people. In a nutshell: Tri Hita Karana means.. Tri= three, hita=happiness, karana=elements. The elements can be summed up as: God-Humans-Nature. Finding balance between these three leads to happiness and well-being. These ideas of balanced relations between God, Humans and Nature.. is literally woven into the art of Bali.
So it was going to happen.. working with a young local Balinese designer and with help from Bondhan and produced by a family in one of those villages a range of bangles inspired by the Tri Hita Karna. See below.
Made with aromatic wooden beads and elements representing the three elements, each bangle is inspired by a different element of the Tri Hita Karana - with information in each gift box. Lot's of work has gone into making these.. so I hope you can stock and support.
Also just arrived - Coconut Fruit Bowls - sets of three.. How more natural can you get? The same guy and his family who makes the Natural Coconut Lamps, produced these and also a range of Coconut leaf wind chimes.
It's all arriving in the UK - just as I'm leaving. Of course the next wave of products that we have been working on this time will not arrive in Europe until Spring 2023.. It's like the cycle of life.. round and round.
From here I will go to Kuala Lumpur to meet Raul (our IT wizard) then to Spain, where I will see Tomas and Toni, and be reunited with my favourite team (well in Spain).
Then I will go to the UK - where lots of stuff is happening - there will be a lot to report..
Stay tuned.. the journey continues.
Have a wonderful calm and balanced weekend.
David
PS Coco just messaged me - her phone turned green and she is finally free to leave quarantine at the end of her month-long journey back home.Then minutes later she gets the news that there have been cases found in Yiwu and the city is to go into lock-down. When will this madness end?
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