This is my second Friday in Bali, and I still can't get over how strange it feels. Am I the only Engishman in Ubud? 

No sign of Halloween here.. in years past when I have been here - all the bars and restaurants would embrace our odd festival and entertain the visitors.. today almost no visitors so Halloween is redundant.

It's scary, peaceful and quiet. Ubud used to be a creative hub of energy and activity has now regressed into a sleepy backwater village where everybody knows your name.

It's hotter than normal even for Bali and that makes everything a bit slow, if I take a morning walk along the lane outside my hotel, old ladies wave and say "Salamat pagi pak" - Good morning Mr.. The young girl in the laundry shack smiles brighter than the sun when I give her a tip of 15k Rp - less than £1.. My laundry all neatly ironed and carefully packed and scented with frangipane only costs the same. Fresh healthy local food from the warung costs about £2 or less a dish - and they will deliver it to my room. 

I was locked down in Bali in the early part of the pandemic, and it was peaceful and quiet then.. but now it seems that Bali has slipped further back to another earlier simpler kinder age..Ringo told me people have forgotten about money these days and now value friends and family and good community relations as what is most important.

Last week I was telling you about my arrival in Bali, and how immediately the spiritual side of Bali makes itself known. If you missed it you can read about it here.

Meanwhile of course I have been busy, all our old suppliers want to show me the product developments they have been working on. And plenty of new ones too.  So I've been really busy.. not at all sleepy.

A while back at a trade show in India I was chatting to an American buyer, who had a very big business (not very different in scope to AW) based in California. He asked me where else we were sourcing from and I mentioned Indonesia, "Oh really" he said, "musical instruments right?" - I said no, not at all.. after chatting I learned that they had done really well with everything musical from Bali including Hapi Drums, Healing Drums, Kambela, bamboo flutes and allsorts of tribal instruments. I took a look at their website and was inspired.

On my next trip to Bali I went to the music wholesaler area.. and immediately came unstuck, because I'm about as musical as a sausage sandwich. And since I clearly didn't know foggest about music.. the vendors lost interest in me.

While I was locked down in Bali early last year.. trapped indoors.. for something to occupy my free time I thought I might try guitar lessons.. So I hired a teacher.. or as they call them here a Guru.  So I met Bondan, a very cool guy who worked at a local music store and in his off time taught guitar. This time.. thinking about those musical instruments.. I had a bright idea.. let's hire a Music Guru to help us, I whatapped him and arranged a meeting  with Ringo and myself. Bondan and Ringo immediately bonded and Bondan readily agreed to spend a couple of days helping us tell fake gongs and rattles from the real stuff.

Here is Bondan doing his stuff.