Day 6 takes us back to Sudaji and the Bamboo cottage...seems like forever now, as I sit in the airport waiting for the plane to take us away from this beautiful place.
That morning we got up to our usual delicious breakfast and Zanzan told us he would like to show us the biogas project in the village and a gong maker. As usual we were interested...
The biogas operation is small yet, with about 10 head of cattle providing the raw material for the biogas. The plan, I believe, is to prove the viability of the operation before investing in the much more expensive infrastructure to transport the biogas over a distance. At present the operation provides gas on site.
The operation has a number of purposes: calves are produced for farmers who wish to have a cow or two at the rice paddies; manure is collected and aged for fertilizer for the rice fields and to biogas is collected.
Biowaste collection tank.
Manure aging area
Biogas used for cooking onsite
Curious calf...who can resist?
Along the road Zanzan showed us an unusual plant. When the leaves are touched, or even blown on, they close up and stay closed for a period of time. He said that if it was "touched with love" the leaves did not close, but we were unable to touch it lovingly enough. Even the small branches drooped when touched.
Leaves before...
Leaves after.
Our next stop was a gong maker. In the village where we stopped we met a father and son who represented one of the oldest and most well-known gong makers in the area. The craftsmen worked with brass and made gongs and gamalans, a traditional musical instrument.
Mini gongs.
The son's shop.
The father's shop.
From the gong maker Zanzan took us to see several other craftsmen. He told us that the village we were in (name forgotten) was known for a wide variety of trades. Our next stop was a blacksmith who make knives for cutting rice. Zanzan told us that each blacksmith would specialize in a certain type of tool so that people would go to different blacksmiths depending on their need. The blacksmith "team" that we observed worked like a well-oiled machine. It was obvious that they had worked together for awhile. The blacksmith told us they could produce 30 pieces a day.
The fire.
Working together. Note the absence of any safety equipment, or even shoes...
After the blacksmith we made one more stop at another craftsman. This family made containers out of aluminum, punching a design into metal. They fashioned a variety of containers, boxes with and without lids, and also containers for holding pencils, and other decorative items. They showed us some Christmas decorations they had made and we asked to buy one. They then gave us the gift of one as well. As I am writing this long after the fact I will also add that we saw the aluminum containers in every tourist shop we went into in Sanur and Kuta.
Some of the finished product.
Creating aluminum split rings. They wrapped aluminum wire tightly around a large nail, then cut it.
The small children in the family thought we were pretty neat, and wanted to show off. They were all happy to swing for us.
After our craftsman tour we went back to the cottages. It was our last dinner, and they decorated the table in our honour with leaves and flower petals.
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