for those of you who have spent time in bali, can you enlighten us as to the things that you have purchased there...we know there are lots of paintings and wood carving and stone carving and silver work, but what are the favorite things that you brought home????....also what did you not purchase that you now wish that you had purchased??....
what unusual things did you buy?

what if anything did you buy that you wish that you had not bought??

ubud and kuta are meccas for shopping and browsing...where else did you enjoy?

in advance , thanks for your thoughts...

B&K

Sarongs - dozens of them, but that's because I live in a similar climate and wear them a lot. also make great gifts as easy to pack. Cushion covers, place mats, table runners and ikat and batik fabric are good too.

Fake designer handbags and shoulder bags are my favourite.

Two identical pretty sarongs which I sew vertically and make very useful "dressing gowns" or muu-muu things to wear over cosies at the hotel pools.

Don't bother getting shoes made - mine were uncomfortable.
My grown sons liked the soft black leather jackets I had made for them

We bought a stunning Batik in Bali at a reasonable price, after some bargaining. It cost almost as much to frame it as it did to buy, but it gives us a great deal of pleasure.

Bob - as you have read my trip report you know what we bought, however the most satisfying thing for me has been the paintings. We have all kinds of artwork around the house - mostly French Impressionist-inspired stuff but I find myself spending more time looking at the two large Balinese works hanging in our bedroom and dining room and thinking back on our trip... Also whole spices like vanilla bean and nutmeg are a great buy in Bali compared to Stop & Shop at home (bargain hard). My wife bought a silver necklace that is exquisite - she also purchased lots of fabric in the form of sarongs that she had made into other things. She asked me the other day if we could stop in Bali on the way home from India so she could shop some more. Hope this helps.
Craig

Bob, my wife just woke up - she says that you should measure every empty wall space in your home and take those measurements with you to Bali so you can fill those spaces with paintings. She also says that she regrets not buying casual necklace that was $200 because of the cost - she found out later that it cost $1000 here. She also would have liked to purchase one of the woven hand bags that are everywhere in Bali. Keep in mind that Bali pricing is not like Thailand pricing - things cost a lot but still way cheaper than USA.

we apreciate all of your comments and look forward to addtional ones...

CRAIG--have you seen my posting to you located down on the forum further??

where did you find the widest selection of fabric, sarongs, etc, especially fabric by the yard?? this is of great interest to us...

We did not find fabric by the yard. My wife would buy 2 identical sarongs to get enough fabric to make a dress - the sarongs are about 1 yard x 2 yards. The sarongs are mostly silk and cotton. The best places to look for these are in the Ubud Market and in the stores along the main road in Ubud. There is another market in Denpasar and one outside of Ubud amongst the crafts villages in Sukawati. They all sell pretty much the same thing. If you are going north there is yet another market near the Bali Botanical Garden on the way to Munduk waterfall.

I also forgot to mention the kite place - Putu will know where it is. If you have any children in your life, these kites make great gifts. If you go there, my wife has asked that you obtain their e-mail address - she thinks that they do have one.

Bob, I don't know of any reason to go to Kuta for shopping.

You are best off to go to the specific town that makes the particular craft you are interested in. Ubud is famous for paintings, Batubulan for stone carving, Celek for silver work, etc. One other option is that the Bali Hyatt has a "night market" once or twice a week. I have made purchases there for lower prices than in the villages!

Also note that some of the finest crafts are from Java (especially puppets). I found that the small craft shop in the Bali Hyatt (NOT the Grand Hyatt at Nusa Dua - their prices were very high) had the best selection and best prices on such items (from Java) of anyplace I saw on Bali.

thanks kathie...we are at the bali hyatt for five nites so i will send off an e-mail to see if the night market still exists there....

bob

the hyatt just answered me and said that the market is every thursday nite in conjunction with their BBQ nite...it will be on our last nite...we look forward to it...thanks again for this tip...
i have just settled the routes for our driver, on bali, so this is a very productive nite...