Who Buys this Crap?

I want to know WHO buys hand-carved penis-shaped accessories. Really. Who? I'm pretty sure it isn't women tourists. And I can't picture any guys I know picking up a penis bottle-opener and saying, "This is nice. I can use one of these." Gay tourists? Are there that many of them? The wood-carvers and souvenir stands have a LOT of these things. Today I saw a display of 5-packs of penis key rings. You'd need bus-loads of people buying these to make a dent in the local supply. I guess this isn't an important question, but I can't help wondering. If you know the answer, please leave a comment to let the rest of us know.

The non-penis carving part of the trip is going very well. Yesterday, we visited the Hoffman batik factory that produces a lot of the stuff sold in the US. I will never complain about the high price of fabric again. This stuff is all hand made. Men hand-dyed the fabric, then laid it out in open, grassy fields, scrunched it and added soda powder to impact the dye, and let it dry. This process is repeated several times to achieve the right combination of colors. Then another worker takes a large, stencil-like object called a chop, dips it in melted wax, and presses it on the 15-yard piece of fabric repeatedly, never making a mistake. The cloth is dyed again, waxed again, dyed again until the desired product is obtained. It's boiled, checked for flaws, and only then is is shipped to California for packaging. These workers are independent contractors, and don't get paid until the company checks and approves of the quality of the work. This is truly amazing to me. Ask me sometime to see these fabrics when you're over. They are way cool.

Today we visited one of the most famous temples in Bali, the Tanah Lot Temple. It was build about 400 years ago on tall rocks on the west coast of the island by a Hindu priest. Holy black and white poisonous water snakes swim around the base at high tide, protecting the temple. For a few rupiah we could have taken a close-up photo of one of these holy snakes, but didn't bother. Instead, we walked for free on the holy sand, took pictures of the holy rocks, then shopped at the holy shops for holy crap. Quite successfully, I might add.

Tomorrow is our bird-watching day. We meet the group in the morning and will finish up early in the afternoon. That night, we will see a Balinese dance program. A full report will follow.