Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Mail should be addressed to you with your
surname underlined and in capital letters,
then 'Kantor Pos', the name of the town, and
then 'Bali, Indonesia'. You can also have mail
sent to your hotel.
Express companies offer reliable, fast and
expensive service.
FedEx
(Map p128
The clothing industry has enjoyed spec-
tacular growth from making beachwear for
tourists - it now accounts for around half
the value of Balinese exports. Furniture is a
growth industry, with contemporary furniture
and reproduction antiques being popular.
For details of where to buy arts and crafts,
see p55 .
The best buys on Lombok are handicrafts,
such as boxes, basketware, pottery and hand-
woven textiles.
SHIPPING LARGE ITEMS
It might just be feasible to carry home a few folding chairs or artworks, but generally, if you buy
large or heavy items you'll need to have them shipped home. For items that are shipped, you'll
pay a 40% or 50% deposit and the balance (plus any taxes or import duties) when you collect
the items at home. If possible, arrange for delivery to your door - if you have to pick the items
up from the nearest port or freight depot you may be up for extra port charges.
Most places selling furniture or heavy artworks can arrange packing, shipping and insurance.
Shipping costs for volumes less than a full container load vary greatly according to the company,
destination and quantity - think in terms of around US$130 plus per cubic metre. Be aware that
packing costs, insurance, fumigation and so on are included in some companies' prices but are
charged as extras by others.
To get things home quickly and at great expense, see the express freight companies listed
under Post, p341.
0361-701 727; Jl Bypass Nusa Dua
100X, Jimbaran) Located south of the airport.
UPS
(Map p100;
;
%
0361-766 676; Jl Bypass Ngurah Rai
2005) Has a location near the Bali Galleria.
%
Ceramics
Nearly all local pottery is made from low-
fired terracotta. Most styles are very ornate,
even for functional items such as vases, flasks,
ashtrays and lamp bases. Pejaten (p276) near
Tabanan also has a number of pottery work-
shops producing small ceramic figures and
glazed ornamental roof tiles. For details of
where to buy ceramics, see p54.
See opposite for how to ship large items.
SHOPPING
For some people Bali is a destination for shop-
ping, for others it becomes their destiny. You
will find a plethora of shops and stalls across the
island. You can find everything from a cheap
T-shirt and silly wooden carvings of penises
to exquisite boutiques with alluring ranges of
housewares and fashions by local designers.
Look in Kuta, Legian, Seminyak and Ubud
for the widest range of goods, including what
seems like millions of bead and necklace
shops. Generally, Kuta is the place for huge,
chain surf shops and Bintang T-shirts. To-
wards Legian things get more creative and
as you go north through Seminyak shops
become more exclusive and air-conditioned.
Western-style department stores and shop-
ping centres in Denpasar and the Kuta area
sell a large variety of clothing, shoes, leather
goods, toys and scores of bead and necklace
shops. Prices are mostly very good because of
the low value of the rupiah.
is produced by dyeing the individual threads
before weaving) sarongs being woven on a
hand-and-foot-powered loom. Any market
will have a good range of textiles.
The village of Tenganan (p225) uses a dou-
ble ikat process called
gringsing,
in which both
the warp and weft are predyed - this is time-
consuming and expensive. Belayu (p274), a
small village in southwestern Bali is a centre
for
songket
(silver- or gold-threaded cloth)
weaving. Ubud (p174) is another good place
for traditional weaving.
The village of Sukarara (p322) on Lombok
is a good place for fabrics.
places will offer to make furniture to order,
but if you're a one-off buyer on a short visit
it's best to stick to items that are in stock, so
you can see what you're getting.
Gamelan
If you are interested in seeing gamelan (Bali-
nese orchestra) instruments being made, visit
the village of Blahbatuh (p173) near Ubud.
In northern Bali, Sawan (p261), a small
village southeast of Singaraja, is also a centre
for the manufacture of gamelan instruments.
Jembrana (p277), in western Bali, makes giant
gamelan instruments.
Clothing
A variety of clothing is made locally, and
sold in hundreds of small shops in all tourist
centres, especially Kuta, Legian and Semin-
yak. It's mostly pretty casual, but it's not just
beachwear - you can get just about anything
you want, including tailor-made clothing, and
there are many designer shops in Seminyak.
Leatherwear is quite cheap and popular.
Furniture
Wood furniture is a big industry, though
much of it is actually made in Java and sent
to Bali for finishing and sale. Tourists are
tempted by contemporary designs and re-
production antiques at much lower prices
than they'd find at home. Some of the most
attractive pieces are tropical-style interior
furnishings. Outdoor furniture made from
teak, mahogany and other rainforest timbers
is often spectacular and better than you'd get
at home for 10 times the price.
Harvesting timber for the local furniture
industry and furniture manufacturing in-
volves a high local value-added content and
probably has a lesser impact on rainforests
than large-scale clearing for export of logs and
wood chips, which are much more significant
causes of deforestation, and generate a lot less
local employment.
Jewellery
Celuk (p205) has always been the village as-
sociated with silversmithing. The large shops
that line the road into Celuk have imposing,
bus-sized driveways and slick facilities. If you
want to see the 'real' Celuk, go about 1km east
of the road to visit family workshops. Other
silverwork centres include Kamasan (p215),
near Semarapura in eastern Bali.
Jewellery can be purchased ready-made
or made-to-order - there's a wide range of
earrings, bracelets and rings available, some
using gemstones, which are imported from
all over the world. Different design influences
can be detected, from African patterning to
the New Age preoccupation with dolphins
and healing crystals.
Fabrics & Weaving
Gianyar (p209), in eastern Bali, is a major
textile centre with a number of factories where
you can watch ikat (cloth in which a pattern
THE ART OF BARGAINING
Many everyday purchases in Bali require bargaining. This particularly applies to clothing, arts and
crafts. Accommodation has a set price, but this is usually negotiable in the low season, or if you
are staying at the hotel for several days.
In an everyday bargaining situation the first step is to establish a starting price - it's usually
better to ask the seller for their price rather than make an initial offer. It also helps if you have
some idea what the item is worth.
Generally, your first price could be anything from one-third to two-thirds of the asking price -
assuming that the asking price is not completely over the top. Then, with offer and counteroffer,
you'll move closer to an acceptable price. For example, the seller asks 60,000Rp for the handicraft,
you offer 30,000Rp and so on, until eventually you both agree at somewhere around 45,000Rp.
If you don't get to an acceptable price you're quite entitled to walk away - the vendor may even
call you back with a lower price.
Music & Video
Piracy is a major industry in Bali. CDs and
DVDs featuring popular artists and enter-
