A few hours later, checked google on the off-chance that it had gone into the index and was delighted to find that it was already there and respectably listed (fourth or fifth)… not the super dooper top listing but more [...]]]> …annoyed with google again… put up a new page at Indonesia Export for Wholesale Balinese Umbrellas.

A few hours later, checked google on the off-chance that it had gone into the index and was delighted to find that it was already there and respectably listed (fourth or fifth)… not the super dooper top listing but more than adequate. Monday morning, it’s gone and I can’t imagine why.

We’re on the page (down in eighth position or so) but not the actual umbrellas page that was there on Friday night – now it’s just our homepage.

Even stranger, a search of “wholesale bali umbrellas” (without the quotes) turns us up the correct page in about fifth position while “bali wholesale umbrellas” (again, without the quotes) has us in second place.

Cannot figure it out and not sure I would ever have the energy to bother. Just an odd, annoying result.

Sean

[taken from http://www.beads-bali.com/wordpress/who-are-you-re...]

Who are you really?

We’re Beads Bali (well, you already know that).

The company, at this time, is made up of myself (Sean), my wife Athina and a group of local [...]]]> In case you missed the announcement, Beads-Bali.com is now live — here’s one of the introductory FAQ articles, let me know what you think.

[taken from http://www.beads-bali.com/wordpress/who-are-you-re...]

Who are you really?

We’re Beads Bali (well, you already know that).

The company, at this time, is made up of myself (Sean), my wife Athina and a group of local silver smiths and bead makers. There is also my wife’s puppy, Jolie, and my black lab, Mojo.

We live here in Bali, fairly close to the beach (I can see it from my window as I type this).

I’m fairly new to the beading business but I’ve been working professionally in Bali for the last ten years (or more) exporting handicrafts and furniture around the world with Indonesia Export.

My background is London-Irish (ethnic, not the rugby team although I did manage a short stint there while I was a kid).

Athina is originally from Solo on the island of Java – that’s very close to the recent earthquake and volcano if you caught any of that on the news.

The idea for making a specialist department to handle bead supplies and exports out of Bali was Athina’s – she believes that although the market is very competitive, there are actually only a few decent, ethical suppliers out there doing business and even less of those are based here on Bali with the resources that we have.

Athina is the one to talk to about new designs, sourcing beads and all of the creative, hard work. She is also the only member on the team with any concept of taste or fashion. Really.

I deal mostly with communication, logistics and being mean to people when they show up at our warehouse with lousy products. I do this very well.

You could say that Athina walks softly while I carry the big stick.

If you want to know any personal information about us, you can check out are blogs:

http://www.katakoe.com — Athina’s website — partly in English.

http://www.bali-belly.com — my website.

Or, you could email us at info@beads-bali.com

… I was wrong (sigh).

I had thought, silly me… SOOOO naive… that a Bali bead was a bead made in Bali. Apparently not.

According to one article:

“Bali beads originated in India. The Indians taught the Balinese how to make the beads. [...]]]> Up until about five minutes ago, I thought I understood the meaning of “Bali Bead”…

… I was wrong (sigh).

I had thought, silly me… SOOOO naive… that a Bali bead was a bead made in Bali. Apparently not.

According to one article:

“Bali beads originated in India. The Indians taught the Balinese how to make the beads. The majority of Bali beads today are still made in India. Some people differentiate between Bali and Bali Style beads. Bali style beads are made the same way as Bali beads, but do not come from Bali – instead they come from India.”

It’s the overall tone of the article that bugs me – The Indians taught the Balinese how to make the beads… you’d figure “the Indians” might have called them Indian beads, wouldn’t ya?

More importantly, for me (and I admit, I’m a little funny about stuff like this) the article seems to miss the point somewhat:

It’s true, of course, that Indian culture and religion has played a very large role in the development of this little island culture.

The Hindu religion and culture arrived in Indonesia about 2,000 years ago – probably by Indian traders from Gujerati who were attracted to the islands by their riches in gold, spices, and sandalwood. And why not? That’s exactly the way Islam & Christianity also arrived here… trade.

Indian script has been found in Indonesia dating back to the 5th Century and shows that there were several Indian-style Kingdoms in West Java and Borneo.

Today, you can still see the remains of ancient monasteries and temples in Bali. In these places, the Balinese prices were consecrated into the Indic family tree as god-kings. Balinese script, which many Balinese kids still have to learn, is derived from the Palava script of South India.

Now, I’m no expert on Bali or Balinese history – I’m just reading from other (hopefully more learned sources) but it seems to me that a person saying, “the Indians” taught the Balinese to make beads is kind of like saying the Romans taught Americans how to make bridges and buildings. So, really, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Empire State are Italian but we call it American… maybe they’re Greek.

Let me put it this way: the Balinese have been working stone, wood and metal since the Early Metal and Bronze eras… BC, in other words. Between then and now, they’ve had just about every foreign influence you can point to or shake a stick at: Indian, Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, Japanese, Malay. In other words, just like America, England or Ireland, many foreign feet have left impressions in the sand.

In no way at all does that mean that a Bali bead is really an Indian bead (or vice versa).

For our Bali beads, which are all made in Bali (natch), wood, glass and .925 sterling silver are the most common materials.

Like any handicraft in Bali, the beads are really made by hand… really. There’s no industrial process, no huge factory spitting out beads by the million.

The handicraft industry as I know it has always been a cottage industry.

On one level, that means the beads differ very slightly – it could be a bad thing but I find the concept of a unique article to be charming.

We buy our beads at prices that are a combination of silver weight in grams (material) and workmanship – that means certain items are more expensive just because more work goes into them… I’ve been purchasing in Bali on that system with beads, statues and furnishings for such a long time that it makes total sense to me.

Technorati Tags: beads, bali beads, background on Bali Beads, Silver Bali Beads

Technorati Tags: beads, bali beads, background on Bali Beads, Silver Bali Beads

The weekend was a breeze — hot and sunny. Didn’t do much except to sit around and wait for Mount Merapi to blow its top.

Got a call on Sunday evening — a friend [...]]]> Monday morning at Indonesia Export and we’re still working on getting one of the offices painted right… still looks less than perfect to me.

The weekend was a breeze — hot and sunny. Didn’t do much except to sit around and wait for Mount Merapi to blow its top.

Got a call on Sunday evening — a friend of Athina‘s heard a large bang and thought maybe there’d been another terrorist attack so we spent a few hours checking online and watching the news but as far as we can tell, nothing much happened. Most likely a neighbor overdosing on Spermamax.

33 days to go and I’ll be married… so excited about it.

Technorati Tags: sean hynes, indonesia export, life in bali, bali belly, bali blog

At the office, this topic has featured in five or six different lunchtime conversations and everyone does have an opinion.

Last week, we went as far as to get ourselves a copy of [...]]]> I’ve been reading a lot of stuff about the proposed new pornography laws in Indonesia and, yes, I find a great deal of it disquieting.

At the office, this topic has featured in five or six different lunchtime conversations and everyone does have an opinion.

Last week, we went as far as to get ourselves a copy of the bill and I had it translated. Interesting reading to say the least.

But why the broohaha? It’s a law. Indonesia doesn’t enforce them anyway. Pornography’s against the law (meaning the hardcore stuff) but you can get it pretty much anywhere.

Dildoes & vibrators are against the law but if I remember one recent news article correctly, you can buy them and inflatable sex dolls online at a Jakarta website.

Prostitution and drugs are against the law but if you go out to a nightclub and don’t get offered sex for money and a bunch of drugs, it’s a weird night.

So why worry about yet another new law that won’t be enforced?

I guess to one extent, the threat to Bali would be tourism… not that g-string wearing exotic dancers have anything to do with it — the new law proposes a dress code that excludes stuff like bikinis (belly buttons, etc.) from places not designated for sports.

I guess in Bali that would require all the beaches be sports grounds and everyone be forced to carry a surfboard (or at least a tennis ball) into the waves… hmmmn. I wonder what the cops and coast guards will wear? Baywatch it won’t be.

One comment at lunch was that the law was unfair.

But, at the risk of sounding pompous and pretentious (moi?), when was “The Law” ever fair? Representational, possibly. Shaped by public opinion possibly but that doesn’t mean fair.

In fact, on those two points alone, you already know that the law would have a built-in tendency to marginalise. What’s fair for the majority, will most likely be bloody inconvenient for certain minorities. And as for those who argue that the law by definition is impartial… pah!

So, we’re in a Moslem country and the new laws represent that culture. Sounds alright to me.

Anyway, you could easily argue that tourism and Islam are a conflict right from the get-go. I won’t argue that… but just about anyone else could.

Certainly, if you are the type of person who believes in Heaven (of whichever stripe) and you’re hellbent (heheh) on getting there, swanning around half-naked on the beach in Bali seems incompatible with that aim.

All of that said (and I know, I know: I’ve already said too much), I don’t want anyone to get the idea that I believe the law is anything like a good idea but my reasons might be a little different.

Firstly, I think Indonesia, so far, has done a grand job transitioning from dictatorship to democracy. Compared with other large dictatorships (China & USSR spring to mind), in my opinion, I’ve seen relatively little of the fragmentation, ethnic / religious strife and chaos or bloodshed. No, it hasn’t been perfect and hassle-free but what is?

Generally speaking however, from where I’m sitting, the transition has been friendly, peaceful and somewhat elegant. Surprisingly so.

That said, there’s still plenty of work for a new government to do so given what I see in terms of the economic, legal, medical and educational infrastructures… belly buttons and kissing in public seem very, very far down the list.

In other words, I would say the implementation of new laws to control public morality is a distraction from the main body (pun intended… natch) of work that the government would pursue in the best interests of the people.
Then, I also think at these time in Indonesian history, it’s maybe not the best time to focus on new laws, maybe the country might be better served shoring up, pruning and improving the existing legal infrastructure to more effectively enforce the laws we already have.

In other words, there’s plenty of work to be done at the courts and law enforcement centres ahead of making new laws. And that’s just as true about organisation and logistics as it is true about corruption and nepotism

Perhaps, most of all, I’m not a fan of any government at any time, taking steps to control the morals of the citizens… I just don’t see it as part of the government mandate. I also find it to be counter-productive. I prefer governments that walk softly with big sticks; that don’t talk, talk, talk; that take care of the people’s business effectively and efficiently.

Admittedly, it would be a government that I’ve yet to see. As wonderful an organisation as a news media outlet with a lead story of “No News Today… so gone fishing… please check back later.”

Well, that’s enough from me on this topic… I’ll sign off to contemplate my navel… in the privacy of my own home of course.

Sean