rediscover some Sukawati treasures

The art market of Sukawati Bali is one of my favorite haunts. Practically every handicraft sold in Bali can be found there in cheap prices. Quality could be suspect but if you know where to look for, a deal is always there to be had. Here is a selection of some novelties that were begging to be photographed.


a miniature 3-layer pajeng umbrella set



frangipani flowers being dried



some kitchen or ceremonial straw items that I cannot identify



some Balinese altars



traditional Balinese offerings in front of a shrine at the market



wooden buddhas for sale

the Cacing Diaries #37

at the Sukawati Art Market, Bali, Indonesia

There’s a certain window of time that Cacing will be in her full element, animated, alive and sparkling. It can’t be early in the morning as she is still gathering her bearing. Rule out lunchtime as she’d probably be sleepy, with 11AM her typical hour for a nap. You’ll also see her get cranky just before hitting the sack near 8PM.


Cacing being enamored with the bamboo chandelier. Here, she is with my friend Ketut


Looking like a gangster moll on a bike


In our travels like the recent one in Bali, her biological rhythms were all thrown in a jumble. Lucky then that in Bali, our points of destinations were at least an hour apart by car and as is her wont, she quickly fell asleep from the white noise and the rocking motion of a moving vehicle as if they were lullabies.


This pose looks as if she’s in a shampoo commercial!

We have lots of pictures of Cacing in Bali. Here are a few that I took at the Sukawati Art Market. I tried to capture Bali - the wildness of the colors and the call of the exotic.


with Dia, while shopping for Balinese housewares


surveying the stalls of Sukawati


Without a doubt though, the gem for me will always be Cacing’s smile.


Cacing classical scrunched smile is never far away


Smiling for my camera again, while being carried by Mama Pingping (my wife’s mom)

The Meped Parade (Ngusabe Sukawati, part 2)

continued from Portraits in the Temple of Ngusabe Sukawati.

The meped is the ceremonial procession in Bali. To the public, it often is the highlight of temple anniversaries, religious observances and other rites. As in a parade of any other culture, it is a showcase. Of course there is meaning and reason to the parade, from the spiritual to the social, but it is an occasion to be see and to be seen.

As I’ve described in the first part, there is a unique attribute to the meped of the Ngusabe celebration in Pura Dalem Gede Sukawati that I was excited to watch: the fabulous formal costumes.

After having my fill of portrait shots in the temple (part 1), I decided it was time to find a good spot for the procession. I wanted to shoot from an elevated vantage point and I was not in any mood knocking on somebody else’s door (not that homeowners would likely let strangers in either). There was only one obvious place: the Sukawati public market. Of the 4 buildings of the market complex spread at the highway intersection, the best vantage point would be second floor balcony of the food market building as it directly looks over the road.

We were just in time. Shortly after we settled in a spot, we could already hear percussive sound of the drums and cymbals approaching. The temple is only about 4 blocks away. Like in most parades, music plays an integral role, beckoning and ushering the mass of humanity forward. Music, in this case was the traditional gamelan orchestra. Preceded by ceremonial penjor banners and pajeng umbrellas, the gamelan must be more than 20-man strong. Immediately following the gamelan were women dressed in uniform orange kebayas and sarung, which is standard temple wear.


phototip: An elevated vantage point always provides you a more comprehensive view of any parade.
Canon EOS 350D, 0.004s, f/6.3, 35mm, ISO 100, +2/3EV
the front end of the meped parade, Sukawati, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia

The first specially dressed participants were the young boys. Persuading boys to wear the formal attire must be difficult as there weren’t a lot of then. Probably they were less than 20 in all.


phototip: Tilting the frame can be interesting.
Canon EOS 350D, 0.002s, f/6.3, 90mm, ISO 100
young boys joining the meped parade, Sukawati, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia


Next came the young girls of prepubescent age. They literally looked like walking dolls, sashaying slowly in their tightly wound skirts. Being not older than twelve, they, like their boy counterparts were exempted from walking barefoot, as dictated by the strict adat rule associated with the formal costume they wear.


phototip: A diagonal can be a pleasing composition.
Canon EOS 350D, 0.005s, f/6.3, 135mm, ISO 100, +2/3EV
prepubuscent girls joining meped parade, Sukawati, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia


Older participants had little choice however. When the teeners came – they came next after the girls – practically all of them were barefoot. Walking on hard asphalt certainly entailed stoic sacrifice. Even at 4PM, the temperature of the road should still be scalding in hot and humid Bali. Some did wear sandals but they were few and far between. Going barefoot must be like a badge of courage.


phototip: The backside can be as interesting as the front.
Canon EOS 350D, 0.008s, f/6.3, 75mm, ISO 200, +2/3EV
teenage girls joining meped parade, Sukawati, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia

The order of the meped seems to be arranged according to age. As befitting their maturity, the older participants got to wear more elaborate the costumes.


phototip: Incorporate long shadows in the composition.
Canon EOS 350D, 0.001s, f/6.3, 210mm, ISO 400
teenage girls joining meped parade, Sukawati, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia


Among the more ornate attire that afternoon was the young lady below. From the heavily gilded songket skirt to the heavy 2-feet gold foil headdress, she was a vision of magnificence. Her bangles are definitely real gold as are her traditional waist band, arm bracelet and bib.

Canon EOS 350D, 0.001s, f/6.3, 300mm, ISO 400
Sukawati, Bali, Indonesia
a young lady in the meped parade, Sukawati, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia


Unquestionably, the parade was well attended. Traffic literally was stopped as the major roads around the temple and market were halved. Also note the mermaid tail of the kamben sarung skirts. Walking gracefully while dragging the long end of the skirt on the ground takes skill and practice. And if the the tail got in the way, the girls just easily aligned it by a swift flip of a foot.

Canon EOS 350D, 0.003s, f/6.3, 120mm, ISO 400, +1/3EV
young ladies in the meped parade, Sukawati, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia


There were also groups within the parade. I am assuming that they were certain clans who wanted to parade in uniform. One of the most striking was this group of ladies of various ages in gold kamben sarung brocade and matching gold and fuschia anteng tops. With them in the picture below are two male elder regents, called patih.

Canon EOS 350D, 0.002s, f/6.3, 75mm, ISO 400, -1/3EV
the meped parade, Sukawati, Gianyar, Bali, Indonesia


The final file before the general public was a batch of women wearing white. I think they belong to the brahamana caste, as the color is reserved only for priests who dispense religious duties inside the temple during religious ceremonies. Closing the procession is another gamelan, although the musicians look like a junior bank composed mostly of teeners. They must be the orchestra in training.


Canon EOS 350D, 0.004s, f/5.6, 55mm, ISO 200
Sukawati, Bali, Indonesia


The parade route was around 3 kilometers long. Starting from the temple, it wound around the art market and stopped at a juncture near a river bank. The parade was just midway.

Part 3: Closing the Ngusabe

Portraits in the Temple (Ngusabe Sukawati, part 1)

I travel to Bali at least four times a year. It’s work but going back to Bali is warm comfort. My close friends there are almost family, the places are mighty familiar and the language, at least the nationally spoken Bahasa Indonesia, is easy to speak (I only have a smidgen of Balinese).

So one hot and humid August afternoon, I found myself in Sukawati. I had one warehouse to inspect. That day also coincidentally happened to be the Ngusabe ceremony of the nearby big temple of Pura Dalem Gede Sukawati. My friend Komang told me that unlike other temple anniversary parades, the meped of Sukawati has a unique feature: the womenfolk actually would dress up in finery more grand than I would expect. I had to see it then. To most, women’s regular temple wear of kamben sarung (sheath or cloth wrapped or tied around the waist) and kebaya (long-sleeved top, often made of lacy, sheer or light material) is already not your typical Western Sunday dress. How more splendid can these costumes be?


travel tip: For the foreigner, wear Balinese attire to get inside the temples.
Canon PowerShot S40, 0.025s, f/5, 14.7mm
women in traditional temple kebaya and kamben wear, Pura Gelgel, Klungkung, Bali, Indonesia


Just before 3PM, with the car parked by the warehouse, we walked to the temple, an easy 3 block distance. I already changed to Balinese getup – I always have one handy when in Bali – so I was able to go inside the temple with the templegoers who were filing in. I know the routine: people progressively enter a series of enclosed courtyards until they finally get ushered in the innermost square. The whole temple could barely accommodate a thousand worshippers at one time so the tens of thousands of people visit the temple at different times of the day on their own convenient time. Just like Catholic mass during Sundays in the Philippines, temple blessing rites are repeated in cycles the whole day.


phototip: Ask permission to take photographs. Balinese live under the periscope of tourism so often, they would be friendly to photographers and tourists.
Canon EOS 350D, 0.006s, f/5.0, 180mm, ISO 400
Sukawati, Bali, Indonesia


However, I was more excited about the late afternoon meped parade. After taking pictures of the rituals inside the temple, I waited outside the gate. My excitement was building up. Slowly, women of all ages started arriving and as my friend Komang warned me, in severely formal garments that I normally associate with wedding or tooth-filing ceremonies.


phototip: Crouch low to shoot girls at or below the kids’ eye level. The angle prevents distortion.
Canon EOS 350D, 0.025s, f/5.6, 18mm, ISO 100, uncropped
Sukawati, Bali, Indonesia


From girls as young as six to seniors in their seventies, the women were resplendent. Instead of a baju or kebaya, women wore the anteng, a long strip of stiff gilded prada/perada cloth bound around their torso like a tube. Some had part of the anteng fabric draped over the left shoulder and some wore a selendang shawl. Their kamben sarung skirts were long, punctuated with a mermaid’s tail that literally had to be dragged mercilessly on the ground. Some women even wore an underskirt tapih which only shows when walking. Their sabuk sash also had the same gold leaf pattern. Aside from traditional jewelry and makeup, they also wore gold or silver leaf hairpins arranged around bouffant beehive hairdos like a crown and I know that they are heavy.


phototip: I find most Balinese to have difficulty in smiling freely in front of the camera. It could be restraint, formality or just shyness. Coax and coach your subject.
Canon EOS 350D, 0.008s, f/5, 135mm, ISO 400, uncropped
Sukawati, Bali, Indonesia

Balinese ceremonial wear is not a dictate of fashion but is a prescription of function and symbolism. Temple attire in Hindu Bali is strictly prescribed and followed. The belief is that there are body parts that should be exposed, harnessed, or covered up and the proper dress helps fulfill these conventional codes. Which makes me realize how meanings evolve over time as I’ve been told that up to the early 1900s, Balinese women went topless until the Dutch decreed them to go “moral” and cover up.


phototip: A pretty subject never hurts. This girl happens to be the granddaughter of a lady storeowner from whom I ordered wooden invitation boxes and souvenir gift chests for my wedding last April.
Canon EOS 350D, 0.008s, f/5.6, 45mm, ISO 100
at Pura Delem Gede Sukawati, Bali, Indonesia


But how much does this getup cost? A lot. There are those who can afford and invest on their own garments. Nowadays however, families mostly rent the costumes and headdresses from local providers. Makeup often come with the package which can run from $15 to $25/day depending on the ostentation. One thing that needs to be said though is that the Balinese have adapted to the times. In the past I’ve read that perada fabrics really use real gold which means that they cannot be washed nor laundered. Nowadays, gold or silver paint is applied unto the stiff cotton so I am not sure about “no wash” part.


phototip: Switching to black and white eliminates the distraction of color and evokes timelessness.
Canon EOS 350D, 0.33s, f/5.6, 52mm, ISO 100, +1/3EV, uncropped
Sukawati, Bali, Indonesia

Part 2: The Meped Parade