Wholesale More behind the scenes. - AW Gifts Europe - Giftware & Aromatherapy Supplier

Greetings from the Island of the Gods.

It's not a good time to be a tourist in Bali... it's raining every day and sometimes huge electric storms with crackling thunder so loud the windows shake.

It was Chinese New Year this week, and the locals like to celebrate this, as they do across all of Southeast Asia, with fireworks and dancing dragons. But the stormy weather put a bit of a dampener on it.. at least three locals told me that wet weather at Chinese New Year is normal, every year like this.. I said how can that be? Because CNY changes dates quite a lot can be up to 14 days different. This year is very early. I'm reliably informed (by several locals) that the more it rains in CNY, the better and more prosperous the coming year will be.

I was in central Denpasar with Ringo yesterday and the whole town around the market area was decorated with red lanterns...

Happy Year of the Snake Guys.. whatever that might mean.. let's hope it's good.

Last week I was telling you about our very dedicated admin department here in the AW warehouse, I'm amazed at the level of detail and control our two young girls have - never a question they can't answer in minutes with a spreadsheet and backup file of papers.. if you missed it you can catch up here.

Actually, the admin team is very important to the success of AW Indonesian operation. By keeping things under control and with tight efficiency we can I believe export from Indonesia at least 10% cheaper than our competitors and still pay our artisans a good and fair price... So yesterday as a token of appreciation I suggested the admin team should have a team lunch. Where would they like to go?

There is no shortage of high-class dining in Bali.. but they wanted to go to a local restaurant.. about 20 minutes from here. It's unmarked from the road in a small village. Actually a fish farm with lots of lakes descending in pools down a hillside. The gimmick is if you want to come and catch your own lunch with a rod and line you can get 10% off your meal. Very rustic, no tourists here. Fresh fish served with rice salad and super sweet and spicy sauce, it was finger-licking good!

All Bali is abuzz it seems.. well at our suppliers are. Mr David is here... and they are all keen to present the latest creations. So this week I have been inundated with new products to evaluate.. not an easy job - because not everything is suitable for the UK & Europe, and many items were basically more of the same... but, I think we found some good ideas..

Anyway as promised more behind the scenes. Last week you met our Admin accounts team.

Right now we have an ace packing team, three containers packed and dispatched this year already. Delaku (a local lady) is our veteran super skilled and knowledgeable lady who teaches the team. Always hard working and reliable she has been with us for years. And the rest of them working well.

Here is the whole team, many from Nusa - Timur islands. And after loading the last container.

I hope you find this interesting! Next week I will show you some artisan suppliers at work in the villages of Bali.

Well, it's only two weeks until Valentine's Day and now is the time to stock up. We are giving away soap flower boxes as a gift for you, so don't miss out.

A container actually arrived from Bali this week.. with long-awaited stock of Molten Glass Bowls - lots more fast-selling lines back in stock.. also something new... see below.

Year of the Snake - let's hope it's good! .. Greetings and best wishes.

Take care.. more news next week.

David