Bali - hidden treasures of Lebih Beach

A dozen colorful jukung, traditional outriggers, were parked on Lebih Beach in Gianyar as the weather was so unfriendly and the waves were so high they prevented local fishermen from taking their boats out to sea.

The bad weather, though, did not deter a group of male and female stone collectors from finding as many pebbles as possible. An unusual profession for many, collecting and scrubbing the pebbles has become the main livelihood for these people. The men were busy collecting the stones along the beach and putting them into several plastic buckets, while the women meticulously scrubbed the stones one by one to smooth-en the sometimes rough surfaces. This was an eight-to-five working session, a full-time job, for the men and the women. Lebih Beach is a shingle beach, one composed chiefly of pebbles, and the pebbles found here come in various forms, colors and textures.

These pebbles are shipped to several cities in Bali, Java and to Lombok, where they are popular for paving, natural landscapes and garden decorations, as well as to decorate buildings. A stone collectors could gather five buckets of pebbles every day. One bucket of pebbles can be sold for Rp 10,000. This means that people can earn Rp 50,000 per day, enough to feed the family.

Tweet