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Greetings from Bali, A little sad because this is my last day of this Asia trip. But also looking forward to getting back to Europe - later this evening I will catch a Turkish Airways flight to Istanbul, then change there for Malaga, Spain. It's been an epic journey - starting 6 months ago.. and travelling to Bali, Java, Nepal, India, China and back to Bali .. Many new products, sourced, designed, ordered and on the way (hopefully) to your shops and stores. Toni from Spain came for part of the trip, Tomas from Slovakia and Sandra (our talented designer) came for the China and Bali parts of the trip. Thank you to them all for their epic contributions. Also, a special thank you to Bondhan, our Indonesian main man , who has been a big part in the development of travel videos - you can follow on YouTube . Last week I was telling you about Blitar City and drum-making artisans .. if you missed it you can catch up here ..    Or see the YouTube video that Bodhan crafted h...

Greetings from Bali Hope you are doing well! Last week I was telling you about our Java road trip, we went to beautiful Blitar City and I sprinkled petals in a special place.. if you missed it you can catch up here . I was also telling you what product comes from Blitar City and why you should be selling this. (see below) From Blitar we drove three hours to the nearest commercial airport in Surabaya. The route took us through small rural villages on almost dust track roads in real backwater Indonesia's, occasionally catching views of Mount Lima . Eventually getting to the new toll road then arriving in Indonesia's second mega city with modern fly-overs across the city to the beautiful and efficient airport. The contrast between rural and big city was dramatic... Last week I was also telling you about the marble city we visited on the way to Blitar - we made some content for YouTube there that's really interesting.. Watch your feed ! We have another YouTube j...

Greetings from Blitar City, Java I'm on a road trip across the island of Bali with Bondhan again. I arrived the other day on a flight from Bali to Jogjakarta - up at 4am to get a 7am flight, Bondhan was in the midst of loading a container at the Giant Statue supplier.That's such hard work, but it was good to see the statues loaded and all the wasted space around the statues carefully filled with small items. Otherwise, the shipping costs would be too high.  Last week I was in China and telling you about the Ancient Wisdom town, not far from Yiwu - super interesting actually and some brilliant retailing ideas for you.. if you missed it you can catch up here . I got a Grab taxi (like Uber) from Jogya airport direct to the Giant statue supplier - about an hours drive.. beautiful Java morning. Typical Java island view.. Well, it's been a busy week. After loading the container, finishing at 8pm after a 4am start, a bit exhausted, but we stayed overnight in Yogyakarta, a...

Greetings from Bali, Indonesia Yes, back on the island of the Gods. Well, after a couple of hectic weeks in China, Coco dropped us at Yiwu airport, said goodbye, and we took a China Southern flight to Guangzhou, where we transferred to a flight to Bali. It took like 16 hours, with transfer times and somehow we arrived absolutely exhausted in Denpasar. But happy to be here, and it's Sandra's first time. It will be interesting to see Bali fresh through her eyes. Since we just arrived, I'll give you updates later. Last week I was telling you about some Culture Shocks in China, and all about one factory visit.. if you missed it you can catch up here . Yiwu Update - strangely quiet. Yiwu was great, our suppliers were happy to see us and full of new ideas. But it's not normal - the hotel that Tomas and Sandra stayed in, a nice 5-star attached to a shopping mall, and usually fully booked with a high proportion of western foreigners, was almost empty, in the breakfa...

Greetings from Yiwu, China. Every day is a wild adventure here, far too much to report in an update you will want to read quickly. Tomas and Sandra are here. Sandra is our talented designer from the UK the genius behind our best-selling Hop Hare Brand . So we brought Sandra here to see what possibilities are here and give her a major inspirational boost.  See below. Last week I was telling you about the crazy journey to get here from India and more about that Mad Honey .. if you missed you can catch up here . Sandra and Tomas - in Yiwu! It's hard work! Everyday we are working long hours, seven days a week.. it's full on. Sandra is a little bit in shock - but this is normal in China. People work hard. The other day we went on a factory visit to one of our old suppliers, soap flowers - in the next city. Coco drove us there and we arrived a huge complex, warehouse / factory with seven floors. The boss who we have known a few years met us on the entrance to the complex and directed...

Greetings from Yiwu, China Hope you had a Happy May Day Weekend .. hope you were both busy and enjoying the weather! Wow! I just landed after a crazy journey from Goa to Yiwu.  Feeling a little battered.. not sure why. It's crazy that the two most populous nations on earth, who are also neighbours, have zero direct flights . And to make it worse, there are hardly any convenient connecting flights. So on Tuesday afternoon I took a taxi to Goa Dabolim airport with Mr Chatterjee, he took a flight to Kolcatta me to Bengaluru (Bangalore) - we said our goodbyes - Mr Chatterjee, emotional as usual. I stayed overnight at a local hotel and the next morning caught a flight to Kuala Lumpur.  It's the first time I have flown from Bangalore's newish International terminal, I was very impressed. The city is known as the Garden City, and the terminal is an extraordinary garden with a huge hanging flower bed and what seems like a river running through. Gardeners have to work in the...