Gods, monkeys and beguiling Bali

This is the 2nd half of 2009, with the worldwide recession supposedly slowly running out of steam. Why many countries' economies crashed too, after the disaster that was and will be again, Corporate America, is a mystery to me. International institutions are hit,but why? I understand that Bankers, Economists and politicians are highly paid liars and thieves, but worldwide?
Anyway my business is quiet,just ticking over. I have stopped paying Google money for advertising.
I'm including a text link from the BBC correspondent Hamilton Wende who has written a short piece on Bali:

Gods, monkeys and beguiling Bali
Visitors to Bali cannot fail to be delighted by its warm, clear sea and white beaches, writes Hamilton Wende - but the island's special charms also include its cheeky wildlife.

Hindus believe monkeys are descendents of the God Hanoman
It was in Bali that I punched my first monkey. A cute, furry beast it was, grey and white with a long tail and an old man's face hidden in a fluffy mane.
It leapt out of a tree on to my wife's shoulder and grabbed at her shiny earring.
She screamed. I was a few steps behind, so I rushed forward and punched ineffectually at the hairy pest.
I am only 5ft 7in (1.70m) tall but the monkey was only about a foot high.
The size differential counted in my favour and the monkey tumbled over a nearby temple wall overlooking a steep slope leading down to the sea.
The monkey's fate remains unknown, but I would put money on his survival and recidivist criminal tendencies.
Unforgettable
The monkeys in the temple gardens of Pura Luhur Uluwatu are famous for their annoying and often aggressive behaviour towards the tourists who flock there.
But they are an integral part of the island's Hindu and Buddhist beliefs and are, ultimately, part of the temple's charm.
The temple itself is famously one of Bali's holiest sites. It is a beautiful place, standing on a series of rocky cliffs nearly 328ft (100m) above the white surf of the Indian Ocean.

The kecak dance is accompanied only by men chanting
Uluwatu is a guardian temple, dedicated to the spirits of the sea and keeping the island safe from any demons that might inhabit the south-west.
Going to Uluwatu in the late afternoon is an unforgettable experience. The sunset is exquisite and as dusk gathers you can watch a Kecak dance.
The men sit cross-legged in concentric circles, naked from the waist up around an ornate oil lamp carved with dragons.
They begin a rhythmic chant of "Chak, chak, chak," which induces a trance-like state, while their arms move in unison like flames, or the wind blowing.
Two young women wearing dresses of silk and gold weave their way through the chanting men as they perform a complex dance telling the story of Prince Rama and Princess Sita.
Exquisite food
Princess Sita is kidnapped by an evil king and Rama engages Hanoman, the magic white monkey god, to rescue her.
The final scene, well after the sun has finally set, where Hanoman breaks out of a ring of fire and destroys the evildoers is pure dance magic.
Gods and monkeys aside, there is plenty to beguile and fascinate any visitor to Bali.
The seas are warm, the beaches white, or charcoal black. The gardens and fields are a riot of emerald and scarlet and bright yellow.
One of the most beautiful sights in Asia, I think, are the green and silver contours of the Jati Luwih rice terraces. Rice, the Balinese people believe, is a gift of the gods.

Many of the island's rice terraces are run as co-operatives or "subaks"
In keeping with this, their food is exquisite.
Whether it is the simple delights like nasi goreng - fried rice done with many seasonings - grilled satay or a variety of noodle dishes served by street vendors, coconut, garlic, ginger, pepper, coriander, tamarind, lemon grass are just some of the spices used, and the results are spectacular.
More exotic dishes such as bebek betutu, duck steamed and roasted in banana leaf, or guling celeng, roast suckling pig, are like nothing you have ever tasted before.
The seafood grills at Jimbaran Bay are prepared on open charcoal fires and you sit at a table on the beach with the surf gleaming in the darkness just behind you while the lights of planes taking off and landing at Denpasar Airport float through the distant night sky.
Meeting place
Food is a blessing never taken for granted by the Balinese. All over the island one sees little woven baskets called banten jotan containing tiny colourful offerings of rice, fruit and flowers to the gods.
A taxi driver even had one on his dashboard.
"Every six months we have a ceremony," he said.
"For a car, for a knife, for anything metal. Also for a building, a house, animals.
"Everything has a ceremony. That is our tradition."
Perhaps the most peaceful place on the whole island is the temple of Pura Taman Ayun, built in the 17th Century.
The name means Garden Temple in the Water and it is built on an island in a peaceful river.

The Pura taman Ayun temple has been nominated as a world heritage site
The gardens of frangipani, hibiscus and bougainvillea tumble over the canals and ancient stones while birds and butterflies float through the courtyards and a large fountain dedicated to the gods of the underworld sprays cool water through the humid air.
Pagoda-like towers called meru rise into the blue sky. The number of tiered roofs is always an odd number, from three to 11.
The tallest represent the mountains in Bali above which the gods are said to live.
Strolling through its beautiful gardens, it is easy to see how so many have come to believe this island is the meeting place for gods and humans, and of course, monkeys too.

Early 2009 at Bali Art Sales

2009 Bali ArtSales Experience
The new adventures of our reckless webnut.

Mid to late 2008 saw me with my new Mark 3 website (www.baliartsales.com). It's not enough to sit back with a sigh and a long ice-cool drink, and wait for your new customers to make their orders.
Even so, it was tempting to just watch the hits on the website as nature intended. After a while, and a few grumbles, it was Google Adwords and Adsense,the additional headaches of attempting to penetrate into the spin of the licence to print money that is Google. All the arcane terminology or skewed, deliberate mis-use of the English language to camouflage real intent, or the use of obscure explanations that only made things worse. Keyword choices, Placements, Ad Variations, CPC, CTR, CPM etc etc.
Anyway, that was one track to pursue clients.
The second one is to provide added value on the web-site by having items of interest like articles about art, culture, history.
This article is partially a plug for my site so here are the links:
Art: www.baliartsales.com/category/short-art-history/
Religion: www.baliartsales.com/category/religion/
About Bali: www.baliartsales.com/category/about-bali/
European Influence: www.baliartsales.com/category/european-influence/
History: www.baliartsales.com/category/history/
People: www.baliartsales.com/category/people/

Late 2008 to early 2009 has seen a quieting in orders (although one or two clients continue to order paintings in multiple dozens). I'm investigating international links for expanding the ranges of styles available, and introducing people to art they may not have been familiar with.
The worldwide credit disaster has not been kind to anyone, so we have to wait and see what develops.
Watch this space..

Maurice

PS: it would be great to hear from people reading these posts.

Baby Blogging Steps

This is my first blog, so I guess if there's anyone out there, I'll be forgiven. I'm Maurice Gold, originally from Edinburgh, in Scotland. I'm 56 years old, just recently married (!), and living in Bali, Indonesia. In summer 2005, my then girlfriend and I had a wonderful holiday in Bali. Later that year, she was still so impressed, (and so fed up with life in England), that she talked me into thinking seriously about having a life together out there. In late 2005, I threw in my IT job of 16 years, in a print firm in London, got married and made plans to move out.
It wasn't done quite like that really, because the "thinking seriously" bit required considering that living on air wasn't a good idea. I needed to find some sort of money-making venture. And that was how Bali Art Sales was born.

The Bali Art Sales Experience: Baby blogging steps

The Bali Art Sales Experience: Baby blogging steps

The Road to Bali part 2

continued
In the last blog, I was discussing the many arts and crafts found in Bali. In case you get bored, you could skip this, but you would be missing the whole point of the serial blog: The conception, gestation, birth and toddlerhood of Bali Art Sales, so if you haven't nodded off, please bear with me.
I had figured that along with probably all the expats on Bali, and others, that I could sell Balinese arts and crafts online. I would need a website, and a means of selling the items, together with transportation (containers, couriers and the good old Post Office).
Balinese crafts also involve ceramics: pottery ranging from the small to huge Ali Baba urns easily hiding a thief.
Bali is world famous for its jewellery: its Silversmiths and Goldsmiths are extremely talented. The silver used is almost invariably 92.5% Sterling Silver. I recently visited one place, watching as the silver and copper were mixed in a crucible and heated till the metals both melted then were poured into a ceramic open mould to form a bar about 5mm square. These are ten rolled to form sheets, then cut, then extruded to form wire. Some is chopped and reheated to form tiny 1mm balls for decoration. Balinese cultured pearls, Australian Opal, Natural semi-transparent shells, and all manner of gemstones are used. This comes together with some incredibly talented designers. In the village of Celuk, you will find Silver and Goldsmiths at every turn. Some even have courses in jewellery manufacture. There is some amazing filigree work, some of horse-drawn carriages or sailing ships made from fine silver wire polished to a lustre. I don't have a picture here yet.
Furniture is made in large amounts from teak, mahogany, bamboo and rattan and a new material: polyrattan for all year outdoor use. There are some items at the top.
Well, that about wraps it up for this blog.

http://www.baliartsales.com

(to be continued)

The Road to Bali

This is my first and second combined blog, so I hope if there's anyone out there, I'll be forgiven. I'm Maurice Gold, originally from Edinburgh, in Scotland. I'm 56 years old, just recently married (!), and living in Bali, Indonesia. In summer 2005, my then girlfriend and I had a wonderful holiday in Bali. Later that year, she was still so impressed, (and so fed up with life in England), that she talked me into thinking seriously about having a life together out there. In late 2005, I threw in my IT job of 16 years, in a print firm in London, got married and made plans to move out.
It wasn't done quite like that really, because the "thinking seriously" bit required considering that living on air wasn't a good idea. I needed to find some sort of money-making venture. And that was how Bali Art Sales was born.

Bali, for those who don't already know is an island in the South Pacific, one of around 15,000 islands that make up what is now Indonesia. (Indonesia is home to over 200 million people and is considered by some to be the world's 3rd largest democracy.
Indonesia as a whole, is mainly Muslim, in general more moderate and peaceful than their counterparts elsewhere).
Bali is a small island, stretching approximately 140 Km from east to west, and 80Km from north to south.
The people there are naturally creative; many artists and artisans, and indeed whole villages earn their living from the manufacture and sale of arts and crafts.
These items range through; painting (religious themes from Hindu and Buddhist mythology, abstract, representational, realistic, etc etc).
A fascinating variation of this is egg-painting: this is incredibly detailed painting on (emptied) egg-shells of all types, large and small, depicting just about anything imaginable. As you can imagine the eggs are incredibly fragile, so great care must be exercised by the artist, and the buyer. Luckily, there is an alternative egg-material: wood). Thin-shelled hollow perfect eggs are made in wood and then painted. This makes for a much less nail-biting experience for transportation:
sculpture: in stone, wood, metal, combinations , subject matter again religious and spiritual.
(to be continued)

Baby blogging steps

This is my first blog, so I guess if there's anyone out there, I'll be forgiven. I'm Maurice Gold, originally from Edinburgh, in Scotland. I'm 56 years old, just recently married (!), and living in Bali, Indonesia. In summer 2005, my then girlfriend and I had a wonderful holiday in Bali. Later that year, she was still so impressed, (and so fed up with life in England), that she talked me into thinking seriously about having a life together out there. In late 2005, I threw in my IT job of 16 years, in a print firm in London, got married and made plans to move out.
It wasn't done quite like that really, because the "thinking seriously" bit required considering that living on air wasn't a good idea. I needed to find some sort of money-making venture. And that was how Bali Art Sales was born.