The Balinese arts and crafts industry is a veritable engine of productivity.
It is roughly divided into art for religion, art for tourists, and art
for export to every corner of the world. Government-supported institutes
work to create new craft products, promote art education, and revive dying
artforms. Bali's primary schools offer pupils the opportunity to study
painting, carving, dancing, etc., at least four hours per week.
With its thousands of art shops and hundreds
of thousands of visiting tourists, Bali is also a major entrepôt
of arts and crafts from all over the Indonesian archipelago—from giant
Sasak water vases and Leti ancestor statues, to Batak magic wands, Sumbawanese
basketware and Rotinese ikat. Imports—can also be found. Thai jackets,
paintings from Europe—can also be found. The sheer glut of goods, in fact,
makes shopping in Bali an overwhelming experience at first. There are so
many handicrafts around that after awhile you may burn out and not even
notice them anymore. You are haggled to buy-buy-buy on the beach, on the
street, in restaurants, in stalls or stores, even seated on the porch of
your lodging.
A woodcarving is one of the best value and
unique purchases you can make, as carving is the Balinese creative art
par excellence. Both wood and stone carvings are imaginative, inventive,
and reflect superb technical skill. But bear in mind if you intend to send
a wood or stone carving home, the cost of packaging and shipping can easily
exceed the cost of the article. If you pack an article in unaccompanied
baggage on the plane, make sure it gets a "fragile" sticker on
it at baggage check-in.
Information
For more information on Balinese crafts, write Impact Publications
(9104-N. Manassas Drive, Manassas Park, VA 22111, tel. 703-361-7300) for
a copy of their Shopping and Traveling in Exotic Indonesia which
outlines the best of the island's shopping. Also on the very handy Pathfinder
Map (Silvio Santosa, 1985), for sale in Ubud bookshops, you can
find the locations of craft villages around Ubud. Lonely Planet's 4th edition
Bali & Lombok: TSK (1992) has a comprehensive photo essay of
Balinese arts and crafts.
Studying Arts and Crafts
Since the Balinese are so dedicated to the arts and making beautiful
things so ingrained in their society, Bali is an ideal place for Western
artists to work and co-exist. Bali has long been considered the perfect
working environment for an artist—a place preeminently conducive to creativity.
The following institutes accept paying Western
students: SESRI (Sekolah Seni Rupa Indonesia), the School for the
Visual Arts in Denpasar; Fakultas Teknik (Jurusan Seni Rupa) under
the Technical Faculty at Udayana University in Denpasar; and Sekolah
Teknik under the department of sculpture (Jurusan Ukir) at the Technical
College in Guwang.
Expect to pay from Rp5000 to Rp10,000 per lesson, depending on the reputation
of your teacher. It also helps to get a letter of recommendation from Wayan
Paksa of Siti Homestay in Peliatan (Br. Kalah, tel. 0361-975599). Wayan
can also help you obtain a cultural/study visa.
Shopping for Crafts
The most important thing to remember when buying crafts is to take
your time. It doesn't take long to learn to distinguish quality. Leisurely
browsing isn't always possible if you take part in guided tours because
the bus stops at preselected showrooms and galleries, but if you're by
yourself, you have all the time in the world.
All art shops accept traveler's checks and
major currencies, most accept credit cards, and some even take American
Express. A surcharge of five percent is added to your bill if you use a
credit card. Rate of exchange offered by shops for traveler's checks is
invariably worse than that given by moneychangers.
Much shopping on Bali still entails bargaining,
a traditional and very acceptable way of doing business. Much to the relief
of many Westerners, you may not bargain in fixed price shops. How can you
tell a fixed-price shop? If it's a hotel gift shop, it's fixed price. And,
generally speaking, if it's an a/c store with glass doors and/or windows
and the wares have price tags, it's fixed price. But even if there's a
sign reading Harga Pasti (fixed price) or "Sorry—Fixed but
very Reasonable Price," and the clerk says all prices are fixed, always
give it a try. Cut the asked price in half, then you may end up with a
25% discount. This technique used to work better but now the Balinese have
responded by quadrupling their prices to ensure adequate profits.
Effective bargaining requires knowledge of
the correct price. For a high-priced purchase like a big wooden statue
or a leather jacket, do your research first and buy in a reputable outlet.
Check out the price first in a fixed-price shop, to give you a good idea
of what you should be paying, then hit the streets to see how well you
can do. Bargaining is not arguing. Executed with good humor, it provides
both buyer and seller with a mutually acceptable price. Prices may seem
absolute, but they may not be. It may take you an hour or even repeated
visits to clinch a sale. A few minutes spent in bargaining will usually
obtain a 20-30%—sometimes 50%—reduction in the price. For more on bargaining,
see the "Money" section of the Introduction.
The best time to go shopping is in the evening
when it's considerably cooler. In some hotel gift shops, prices are given
in rupiah; in others prices are quoted in U.S. dollars. Always pay in rupiah,
which almost always works out cheaper (if you're getting a good rate of
exchange). Also, Legian is cheaper than Kuta. In fact, the further north
you travel on Jl. Legian (if starting from Bemo Corner), the cheaper it
gets.
During certain seasons, prices are more favorable.
French tourists start raining down on Bali in July and August, and Aussies
overrun the island during the Christmas holidays and January school break.
But from March to June, crafts can be one-fourth to one-half the usual
price. During these four months, a small Garuda carving, which goes for
Rp45,000 in the high season, is down to Rp10,000; full-length dresses in
Ubud sell for only Rp15,000 (other months: Rp35,000); Rp75,000 paintings
are only Rp25,000; small wall-hangings just Rp5000.
To cut down on costs, avoid taking your guide
and/or driver or agent into a gallery or art shop. Why? They'll almost
always expect the gallery owner to give them a commission. The majority
have made arrangements with the owner beforehand and will always steer
you into only those shops paying them commissions. This is why guides are
always so eager to take you shopping. Visit the home of the artist instead,
saving yourself the percentage (10-50%) of the cost which must go toward
the commission. Often paintings that sell for US$2500 in the art shops
on Ubud's main road the artist sells himself for US$300-400 in his home
studio just down the path in the kampung behind the art shops.
You can find the artist's home through persistent inquiry, or in the phone
book or by using directory assistance (tel. 108).
Don't buy big-ticket items from street peddlers
and hawkers. You're just fresh meat to these shrewd professionals, and
if the item is shoddy, misrepresented, or if you want to trade it for another
you have no guarantees and no recourse. Just tell them you already have
it. Stick to shops your friends have recommended. You have to trust the
seller.
Where to Buy
Most of the big art shops are found on the main tourist corridor
between Denpasar and Ubud. This crowded road, for a stretch of 25 km, is
dotted with hundreds of boutiques and art shops selling every type and
quality of souvenir, painting, carving, antique, jewelry, handicraft, ready-to-wear
clothing, and woven cloth. The bigger the gravel parking lot, the more
likely it is the shop caters to tour groups and the prices will be ridiculous.
Tour buses tend to visit only those places
which can accommodate the large a/c buses. If a shop doesn't pay to get
the buses to stop, it is destined to pine away into oblivion. These showrooms
are increasingly located behind or beyond the craft villages. Vendors on
motorcycles, offering carvings and paintings in US dollars, follow and
descend upon the buses everywhere they stop.
In price, quality, and variety, the Ubud
area offers some of the island's best shopping. Shops lie close together
and you can wander up and down Monkey Forest Road in a leisurely fashion.
Another extremely dense concentration is Jl. Legian in Kuta/Legian, and
the roads running from Jl. Legian to the beach. In the traditional village
of Tenganan on the eastern part of the island, arts and crafts products
are possibly the best that Bali has to offer. The crafts are not expensive,
and it's a great six-kilometer walk through thick forests to get there
from Candidasa.
Hotel gift shops usually carry a good selection
of the island's crafts but at high prices. The cheapest and most hassle-free
tourist shops are in Candidasa on the east coast. Here you can buy a sarung,
for example, for as little as Rp6000. Other places for the same sarung
you'll hear "Rp20,000 but for you I make special price Rp15,000."
The Sanggraha Kriya Asta (Government
Handicraft Center, P.O. Box 254, Denpasar, tel. 0351-222942) in Tohpati,
is just 10 minutes by bemo from Denpasar on the road to Ubud. This
fixed-price art cooperative is made up of five roomy buildings, each containing
an important craft—silver and goldwork, paintings, stone- and woodcarvings,
textiles, and clothing. The center has always been a good place to visit
to determine a fair price for bargaining purposes, but lately their prices
have gone up. Though they have a large selection and the quality of the
goods are high, the silver, woodcarving, and clothing are now more than
double what you would pay in Ubud. Kriya Asta doesn't give commissions
to guides and their mobiles are still cheap. Open daily 0830-1700, Saturday
0830-1630, closed Sunday. Free transportation provided.
Don't forget the supermarkets/department
stores, where you can come across surprisingly reasonable items: In Kuta,
visit Gelael Dewata, Jl. Raya Kuta next to the gas station on the
way to Denpasar, and Alas Arum, Seminyak, close to Jl. Dhyana Pura;
in Sanur, head to Gelael Dewata on Jl. Bypass; in Denpasar
you'll find Tiara Dewata, Jl. M.J. Soetoyo, and Hero, Jl.
Dewi Sartika; and Tragia right in the middle of Nusa Dua in the
Galleria.
Matahari Dept. Store, in the eastern
part of Denpasar (ask directions, everybody knows where it is), consists
of three amazing floors selling everything under the Balinese sun—fashion
clothes, cheap well-made nonethnic Western clothes, stationery, household
furnishings, sporting goods, untold racks of T-shirts. It even has a supermarket
and a KFC in the basement.
Mega is a six-shop art shop chain.
The main one is at Jl. Gajah Mada 36 (tel. 0361-224592) with branches in
the outskirts of Denpasar on the road to Gianyar (Jl. Gianyar, Km 5.7,
tel. 0361-228855); in Kuta at Jl. Raya Kuta 137 (tel. 0361-751626) and
at the Pertamina Cottages Arcade (tel. 0361-751161); in Sanur in the Bali
Hyatt Hotel arcade (tel. 0361-288271); in Nusa Dua in the Bali Hilton International
Arcade No. 15 (tel. 0361-71102). Mega stores have a great variety of items,
and prices aren't too outrageous. Depending on the location (Bali Hilton
being much more expensive than the one in Denpasar), silver bracelets cost
US$12, three sorts of wayang puppets US$10-20; also textiles, kris,
etc. The branch at the Km 5.7 mark in Denpasar's outskirts is a huge
emporium of arts and crafts.
Art Markets
If you have only two or three days on Bali, you may not have time to
batter your way down Kuta's Jl. Legian in the heat and traffic going into
all the shops. In this case, the art markets of Bali offer an excellent
overview of all the available crafts and souvenirs.
Every major tourist center and medium-size
town has an art market. One of the best is Pasar Badung by the river
in the center of Denpasar. Different commodities—cookware, batik,
bamboo basketry, fabrics—are all offered in the market. Bargaining is an
absolute must at this huge multistoried market; it helps to have a working
knowledge of Indonesian.
More tourist-oriented Kumbasari Shopping
Center, a giant market just west of Pasar Badung across the river,
is choked with hundreds of small shops selling ready-to-wear, house furnishings,
knickknacks, woodcarvings, textiles, jewelry, and other crafts. Prices
are unbeatable. Sanur also has an art market on Jl. Segara on the beach,
but prices are substantially higher.
The mother of all art markets on Bali is
the Pasar Seni, in Sukawati on the main road from Denpasar to Ubud.
A big two-story building with shops and stalls inside and out, this is
one-stop shopping at its best. Very comprehensive and diverse range of
basketware, place mats, sarongs, local fabrics, ikat, woodcarvings
including carved fruit, the usual barong T-shirts, and lots of ethnic
kitsch—all at the lowest possible prices. Offer no more than one-third
of the opening bid. Two roadside shops here sell authentic dancers' costumes
and hats, rhinestone-studded gold leather angel wings, and other paraphrenalia,
but not cheap.
In addition, small village markets usually
have small stalls that sell traditional implements to the Balinese; English
is not spoken. Souvenir stalls have also sprouted up around all the most
popular tourist sites: Tanah Lot, Tampaksiring, Goa Gadjah, Goa Lawah,
Besakih, Tirtagangga, etc.
Don't miss the fascinating, one-of-a-kind,
old-style Asian market in Klungkung, just past the stoplight (coming from
Denpasar) in the middle of the block on your right. Different sections—to
the left is bamboo, ready-made clothing, sarung, and more. Good
prices. One of Bali's best kept secrets.
Shipping Crafts
If you have bought quite a bit of stuff and want to ship it back home,
sea mail (surface post) via the Indonesian postal service is the cheapest
way to go. It will take a trip into Denpasar, Kuta, Singaraja, or Ubud
to the paket pos office, an hour of your time, and will cost around
Rp4500 per kilo. Overseas-bound packages may be posted, insured, and registered
(tercatat).
For a large quantity of goods, use one of
the numerous air and sea freight forwarding services, concentrated in all
the major tourist centers. These professionals assure secure packing and
can arrange all the paperwork and permits to ensure your shipment's safe
arrival. They also provide pick up service. Cost depends on the weight
of the goods and the destination. Beware of all the ludicrous add-on costs
like the "Archaeology Certificate" and the "Container Freight
Station" charge which could double a US$300 ocean freight bill (150
kg). For more on shipping parcels overseas, refer to "Information
and Services" in the On the Road chapter.