Balinese

After watched our little Balinese friend get ready for her dance (see last post), we needed to move back to our car to get on to an appointment. 

But being very schedule-conscience in Bali is not always very useful.

Last time I blogged about Mr. Weda, the world-renowned Balinese fan painter of Indonesia.  While visiting his cottage studio we had an extra treat!

As Mr. Weda was showing us his stunning traditionally painted fans, I noticed another beautiful subject emerging in the background.  His little daughter—getting ready to participate in a traditional Hindu Balinese dance.

First she emerges in her white dress accented by a yellow shawl.

 Ubud in central Bali is the art Mecca of the Hindu Balinese of Indonesia.  Painters, wood carvers, stone cutters all congregate around Ubud.  In the past you could find them making their masterpieces in cottages along the streets of Ubud.  But with the huge influx of tourists in recent decades, few of those places still exist with nearly all of them supplanted by shops selling mostly generic handcraft wares, but without the artists on site.

NW Bali is a mostly undiscovered treasure.  Where the southern third of Bali is sinking under the weight of Australian tourists & all the bars & souvenir shops catering to them, NW Bali has only recently emerged on the tourist radar.