Cowbright: A Drive Through the Kampung

eat drop of paint carefully applied by hand

With Ferry’s persistence, we finally found a place where people were painting various wooden objects, all of which would fall into the souvenir category. Some were quite nice; all were very reasonable if not downright cheap. We browsed until I felt obligated to buy something, so I settled on a karimba, a musical instrument (of sorts) made from half of a coconut shell.

detailed painting on wooden pieces

karimba - made from coconut shell

owner (L) manager (R)

A while later after even more asking, Ferry found the place he originally had in mind. There, miniature musical instruments were being made for export, some of which were really quite nice. Prices again were cheap but sadly, one can only fit so much in 2 suitcases! The thing that most stood out to me at this second place was the age of the employees, most of whom were probably between 12-16 years old. They obviously were not in school and I hate to even think about how little they are getting paid for their long hours of tedious labor.

Ferry, our driver

We were all impressed with the detail and craftsmanship of each tiny instrument. These are not mass produced by machines, rather each person has a specific job in the crafting of every piece.