indo adventure - day 5: silver and Canggu
Snake fruit & bathing birds
I found this neat-looking fruit in my room and brought it to breakfast to inquire what it was. It is a Salak fruit, but commonly called the snake fruit due to its reddish-brown scaly-looking skin.
You peel off the skin, which is quite thin and brittle. Then you peel apart the fruit following the natural partitions and eat it, careful of the pit. Not the most visually appealing sans skin, however it is good! The taste reminds me of a granny smith apple, just slightly more bitter.
I saw this gaggle of cute Eurasian Tree Sparrows taking a group bath on the edge of the pool.
Then this solo White-rumped Munia having a drink.
Silver workshop
Another great workshop at Arma! This one on traditional Balinese silver work with the great artisan, Madé.
The goal:
step 1: inscription
Madé gave me a set of steel letters to use a mallet to inscribe something on the inside. I chose the word ‘cantik’ (pronounced chant-eek) - an Indonesian word for beautiful.
step 2: make the spiral designs from silver wire
Madé etched out the ring width and length and showed me how to make the spiral designs, then told me to make 15 and lay them out.
step 3: solder the ring to size
step 4: solder the edge wire pieces
Madé did this. I think I was taking too long attempting to perfect the damn spirals.
step 5: place the spirals on ring with glue and deep breaths
Madé made the glue (green bowl in upper right of photo) from a local plant I can’t remember the name of. You have to carefully pick up the wire spiral, hope it fits in the ring, adjust if it doesn't, then bend it slightly so it follows the curvature of the ring, then dip it in the glue and place it on the ring. The glue holds them nicely, but stays flexible so you can adjust or move things even after placement.
step 6: more fire.
No photos here because I was actively trying not to burn Madé or myself. Madé applied some soldering solution then we torched the thing.
step 7: sand and polish and sand and shine
We used a rotary machine Madé had to sand and polish all the surfaces and edges.
step 8: a ring is born!
Madé, ever-patient and extremely talented and me and THE RING.
LUNCH
I ate lunch today at the hotel, Uma Kalai, prior to departing for Canggu and I had Nasi goreng - a traditional Indonesian dish of stir fried rice with red sambal, vegetables, egg and chicken satay. Mmm
Canang sari
These are beautiful little palm-leaf offerings that seem to be everywhere, on the ground, on steps, on walls — and are considered sacred. They are placed out daily to express gratitude.
Driving to Canggu
After lunch, Rana and I headed out for my next stop -- Canggu. On the way, we stopped at Karya Mas, an artisan wood carving shop that Rana recommended. A man gave me a brief tour of artisans working and showed me one of the types of wood they use called crocodile wood because of its crocodile-skin-like bark.
I found a couple of goodies, then we were back on the road.
Canggu....I miss Ubud.
Rana dropped me off at the Kirana Canggu and I checked in. Everyone was very nice, however when I got to my room, I quickly realized this would not work. The door didn’t close unless you bolted it and it looked like it had been knocked in a few times as the door frame was splintering on the inside. It looked like someone had punched the closet door, then they taped over it. There was a little balcony and the sliding doors didn’t lock nor were they airtight, and the neighbors’ balconies were 2-3 inches on either side, the bathroom was gross, and the AC was dripping water. So I quickly did a search of nearby hotels and found another one, called a car and moved hotels. The new digs are nice, and most importantly: the door closes and locks.
I've only been here a few hours, but Canggu strikes me as a very different place from Ubud. More to come tomorrow.