Hello ,
Greetings from the Island of Bali. It seems a long time since I was here.
Last week I was in China for Chinese New Year and a wedding, you can read about it here.
The wedding was.. well I could write a book about it really, but needless to say there was lots of fireworks, food and fun.
What I didn't expect was a brass band and an accountant.
The other interesting thing was that no invitations were sent folk just turn up, quite literally uninvited. The whole village came, relatives obviously, school friends and even a celebrated blind guy who somehow manages to crash every wedding ever held in the area.
So the brass band is playing and this accountant guy sets up a table with a large red scroll laid out divided into narrow columns. All the guest visit the accountant handing over a red envelope (stuffed with cash), he opens the envelopes, counts the cash, enquires the guests good name, then writes it in a column with the amount below the name. For prosperity, for everyone at the wedding to see, and for future reference we can see just how mean or generous you are. People give surprisingly large amounts of money, like a months wages is not uncommon, who want's to lose face?
Call me old fashioned, but I just can't see this system working at a British wedding. But I guess it saves a hell of a time buying gifts and the bride and groom don't end up with six toasters.
But the red envelope culture is more complex than it seems.. that cash is rapidly recycled - stuffed back in red envelopes and often handed right back to the givers, or close relatives. I witnessed genuine fights with tears as people manoeuvred to be the one giving more than receiving. The accountants list is a useful reference. OMG it's a battleground.
As I arrive in Indonesia, a container from Indonesia arrives in Sheffield.
So lots of interesting things - not least some artisan carved panels. It was back last September when Ringo (our man in Indonesia) and I found the village where they make the swar wood panels. We wandered from house to house surrounded by children and chickens checking out the amazing artistry. One panel can take two months to make, different artists work on different elements of the picture, but one guy will "own" gradually producing a serious work of art. You can hardly believe they do it for the money, it really is just something they do between other jobs, farming or caring for the compound and family.
We were lucky enough to secure the supply output from a couple of the artisan guys, one of which is quite celebrated.
So you can see how a product like this is not going to be in stock for long. This is an extreme example, but much of what comes from India, Indonesia and a lot from China is of an artisanal nature, not factory produced, some things are genuinely rare like gemstone items where certain times certain gemstones are in short supply (another issue with rare essential oils) - so it is not unusual for us to be out of stock sometimes.
We work very hard to try and keep in stock, somethings are easier than others to achieve this.
Next week I'll give you a Bali update.. only here a short while as I need to be in India shortly.
Take care
