That's was a dumb idea.. because it's not just water rushing down the hill.. sticks and stones, coconuts and I even spotted a rather large snake. I escaped with just a minor scrape. You live and learn.

Some of the showrooms were getting flooded and it occured to me that our warehouse about 40 minutes drive away might be suffering damage.. I called Bondan who keeps making himself useful and was photographing a new range of Molten Glass Bowls at the office.. no Boss he said.. here is blue sky and sunshine.

I have been here in Bali for three weeks and it's never been so productive. Partly because I have the almost undivided attention of suppliers, and partly because Ringo is mega organised and plans every minute of every day to the max. Also Bondan the music Guru, decided that he wanted to work for AW even if it was for free.. he took time off from his job at the music store in Denpasar just to offer his help to Ringo and me. He is a quick learner, has very good English and like many Indonesians a very talented artist.

Of course we are paying for his time.. but let's see how things pan out. I was kind of worried that after ten years Ringo might feel as if some young upstart would steal his job.. But Ringo, at first reserved, is now very keen to take on an assistant.

So we made a plan to increase the amount shipped from Indonesia fourfold.. it can be done. We just need to up our game, beef up management and bring our warehouse into the modern age with a forklift truck, racking and an organised packing and QC area.

In Bali none of the artisans actually pack the products in boxes.. barcodes and cartons are all beyond them. So (I have explained before) most exporters use what they call cargo companies.. who do that job for you and then stuff the containers, sort the paperwork and send it to the port.. we do all that ourselves in our AW Frangipani warehouse near Sukawatti. Maybe with Bondan on board I can see it happening.

In recent days I have spotted a few more foriegn faces around Ubud.. Maybe I'm not the only Englishman in town anymore.. the ones I have spoken to are all American but I have overheard French speaking.  In the coffee shop we eye each other like Squid Games contestants because this is the competition for sure. The only visas available are business visas.. and most of the people I have seen are solo carrying a laptop. So a few buyers like me are here.. but not many.. the other occupant of Ubud is the blogger, or instagrammer. The social media influencers can get business visas and Bali is a lucrative territory. Yesterday outside the pretty much abandoned Monkey Forest I noticed a pink spiky haired young lady being filmed by her boyfriend with all the tech to hand, including a fluffy mike and a drone. Japanese was my guess. 

Enjoy the weekend, stay safe and I'll update you next week.