So, Bali… I don’t quite know where to start. Bali is overwhelming in every sense. To the ear, Bali is a symphony of bells, birds, gongs and frogs (not a bad combination!) To the eye, Bali is rice paddies, coconut palms, tall mountains and crafts everywhere. Even I, someone who deals in the buying and selling of crafts, was overwhelmed by the shear amount of carved, woven, printed, cast, painted, drawn, sewn, etc. crafts that lined the roads in and out of our base in Ubud. My family and I didn’t do beaches in Bali - I’ll get to those on the island of Lombok - we did culture and art. And what culture and art! Bali is primarily Hindu. That translates into constant ceremonies and festivals, over-the-top ornamentation and design and amazing music and dance. (Above photo: author on balcony in Bali)

The landscape of Bali is one of the things that struck me the most. You hear about the rice terraces of Bali but it is quite amazing to actually see them! Our beautiful, two-level cottage was set amid the rice fields so we went to sleep with a chorus of frogs and awoke to birds and the chattering of ducks in the flooded paddies. We attended music and dance performances - sometimes by firelight only. And we visited temples around Ubud that were so unlike any place of worship - Jewish, Christian or Muslim - that I’ve ever seen.

Wood worker at Tropical Salvage production facility on the island of Java, hand carving a door made out of re-purposed wood.

The shopping in Ubud (shown at right) is totally overwhelming. Literally miles of wall to wall stone carvings. Followed by miles of wall-to-wall wood carvings. Followed by paintings, followed by batiks, etc. etc. You get the picture. I couldn’t help but think, where is all of this going? And indeed, we have read and witnessed that tourism and the craft export business is down in Indonesia. We worry about high fuel and food prices, well the same thing is happening here and it’s affected tourism on an island that relies on it in so many ways. It’s affecting the price of their crafts as well and their competitiveness in a market often dominated by cheap imitations. So, Bali needs all of us I think. To visit, to learn and to appreciate and buy their crafts. In thinking about it I can’t help but feel that we need Bali too. It is a truly amazing place that adds immeasurably to the fabric of our world - art, culture, religion. If Bali becomes poorer and less able to thrive - so do we all.

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–Karen LeAnn McKay