the bead market in jakarta

One of my favorite outings from my Indonesian adventure was my day spent at the bead market. I ventured out to East Jakarta with my assistants for the day (aka my mom and my cousin), not sure what we were getting ourselves into. We ended up at the Gem Centre, which is a giant building filled with stalls like this.

This place has everything imaginable. Glass beads, natural stones, gemstones, silver... I could go on forever. It was also a completely local place, and my nonexistent Indonesian language skills made communication a challenge. Thank goodness for calculators! I was able to barter back and forth using a small handheld calculator along with gestures. Not as graceful as one would hope, but it got the job done.

We spent most of the day bouncing from stall to stall. My "assistants" were so patient while I perused every booth and scoured the strands to find the best beads.

 I came home with some amazing finds, and I am dying to start making a new collection!

xx K