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Greetings from Spain, Hope you guys are doing well and enjoying the weather. For once, it's HOTTER in the UK than Spain. Enjoy! Last week I was telling you about my journey from Indonesia to Spain, Father's day and our summer BBQ in the UK.. If you missed it, you can catch up here. Sadly I don't have much time in Spain. Shortly, I'm travelling again.. I'll miss the sunrise in Spain. As I sit down to type this, it's 7am and this is the view.. I love my house in Spain, but never get much time to stay here.. June here is a time of long, warm days (not as warm as the UK) and some lively local festivals. Last weekend I went along to the Marbella feria and had a wander around.. It didn't seem so busy. Spain seems to be getting its knickers in a twist about over-tourism with demonstrations everywhere.. So, yes there is a delicate balance between visitors and community. But it's more complicated than blaming tourists for everything. I did get time to t...

Greetings from Spain, Hope you had a great Father's Day weekend! Hi guys, hope you are doing well. Yes, I'm back in Europe after 6 months of travelling. At my home in La Cala de Mijas. It's kind of strange because it doesn't seem that long ago I was here, and also so much has happened that it simultaneously seems like years. Last week I was telling you about our updates that are coming from the IT development in Bali and my thoughts on AI.. If you missed it you can catch up here . I took a Turkish Airways flight from Bali to Istanbul business class, but I already experienced culture shock with grumpy staff who snatched my ticket, no eye contact, and no real human interaction. Even on the most budget Indian or Indonesian Airlines nothing but friendly, gracious contact. But the food is nice and they give you a romantic (fake) candle when you are served food. Then a short change over in Istanbul to Malaga Spain.. 4 hours later, in the airport we landed with a...

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...