Bali - Part 3 - Official tour now begins

Our first stop was to the batik factory. I wasn't impressed with the end products simply because they are being sold in USD and it is very expensive. So I decided to walk out of the selling area and went over to a group of people who were working on the batiks.

The wax which is always kept hot with low fire so that it remains liquidified.

A woman waxing the batik. This process is done so that in the later part when ink is applied onto the material, the wax will prevent the ink from smearing unnecessarily to other parts of the cloth.

Hand painting the batik once waxing process is completed.

Halfway waxing, this lady stopped and did something else. She was kind of weaving the coconut leave.
And the outcome is this. I soon found out that this is like a bowl for offerings to their gods. They would usually place flowers, tiny biscuits, some fine leaves and then a joss stick. They would pray at the entrance of their houses or shops. After that they place it on the floor. Practically everywhere I went, I see these. Some has got more simple design. This is the best design I have seen so far.

Next, to the silver factory. Almost all the places has statues like this at the door front. It is also some kind of dewa which they pray to. In Bali everyone is fond of using flowers.

Even the dewas...the Balinese placed fresh flowers on them. And a lot of these dewas has a cloth wrapped around them. Like a sarong. But what does it symbolise...I do not know.

A woman at the silver factory working on a pendant. I must admit it is a very, very tedious job. You sit long hours and uses much of your eyesight. Mind you, no machines seen at the factory, not even a single one. We were told the accessories or jewelleries sold are all handmade.

I saw some nice earrings but it was too expensive. After that we moved on to the art gallery.

Before a painting is being put up for sale, it is initially sketched like this.

Followed by painting.
We left the gallery and headed for the wood carving factory. Along the way, we saw some shops selling wood products by the road side and requested for the driver to stop.

Upon visiting one of the shops, I was caught by surprised. Huh...?? Ku-ku bird for sale? I was really, really curious on why they needed to carve this. for DIY purposes? Curious but didn't have the guts to ask.

Our next stop at the wood carving factory. This man carving a sculpture. All are hand carved.

Do you think the mermaid managed to achieve orgasm through our massage?