Bali's glittering gems

Balinese craftsmanship surpasses many key players in the jewelry industry because of the high quality development techniques used by the artisans that have been passed on for generations.

Indonesians - the Balinese in particular - have been adorning themselves with jewels for hundreds of years now. They have been known to wear crowns, rings, bracelets, upper arm bands, foot bands, subang earrings, necklaces and combs and hairpieces at historic traditional and cultural ceremonies.

The Balinese - who prefer gold to silver - create each piece individually - preferring intricacies and hand-made jewels to the mass produced machine made products that are sold all over the world. Jewelry experts believe Balinese jewels are luxurious enough to be exported and sold at high-end luxury retailers including Neiman Marcus in the US and Harrods in the UK.

So, the next time you're in Bali make sure you stop to check out the high quality jewelry pieces created by these local artisans.

For more information about Bali, view the Irhal city guide here.