Bali Tourism News

Here in Seminyak, I have a friend who designed 10 nuclear power stations in Asia (ya see, weā€™re not all Bintang swilling losers!). He told me that a nuclear power station, will have to be built for Bali at some stage, and laughed at the suggestion that wind / wave / solar power, could do the job. At present, only traditional or nuclear power plants come close to generating the power needed for a modern city.

So where would Bali puts its floating nuclear power plant? First thoughts are Kuta Beach. Its close to the airport, high power demands and the staff wouldnā€™t have to travel far for food and drinks. Second thought, Uluwatu. Can you imagine the excitement of managing a nuclear reactor, when a swell hits! What about Lovina? Those dolphins wouldnā€™t be hard to chase anymore, theyā€™d glow in the dark.

Its all food for thought, and will be interesting to see what happens, when the Sulawesi reactor breaks from its moorings.

1. Go home. Search all likely places.
2. Once I had confirmed it was ā€˜lostā€™, I cancelled it online.
3. After cancelling it online, I immediately ordered a new one.
4. Wait for it to arrive.

My bank said it would take 5-7 working days to issue a new one. Then they had to mail it to my office, which then sent to me in Bali. Not a short process at all. During the time I had no card, I was unable to pay my pembantu, wife (plane ticket, spending money), motorbike, phone, internet connection and other things. Fortunately I had 2 things on my side. Firstly, Indonesians can be money grabbers, but if you can convince them you actually have no money, they leave you alone. I just told everyone who I owed money to, that I had none. Secondly, there are a few people in Bali, who like me enough to lend me money. I hit a couple of them up, and that got me through the drought.

My card arrived by mail from the US, a month later, a week after it was sent! I would never recommend sending anything important, to Indonesia by mail, but miraculously, it got through.

Everyone knows over here, that if you lose your cell phone, someone will grab it and change the SIM card. They also know that at ATM machines, if you lose your card, and it has a VISA or MC sign as mine did, the likelihood is someone will try to use it. Cancel the thing ASAP and call yo momma.

The Dutch colonists used the conflict between the 2 groups to their advantage. In the late 19th Century, the Sasaks sought assistance from the Dutch, who had occupied northern Bali in 1882. In 1894, the Dutch mounted an elaborate military expedition to Lombok and demanded a war indemnity of 1 million guilders, to be paid by the old raja. The raja accepted, but the princes rose up and attacked the main Dutch encampment in Cakrenegara. Afterr 3 days of fierce fighting, the Dutch retreated to the sea, leaving almost 300 wounded and 100 dead.

Large reinforcements of men and heavy artillery were brought from Java. After a bitter month-long campaign of destruction, with the Dutch razing Balinese villages and the Sasaks looting them, the Balinese stronghold at Cakranegara was finally taken. The crown prince, Anak Agung Ketut, a bitter enemey of the Dutch, was murdered; the old raja was captured and sent into exile. Soon after, Lombok formally became part of the Dutch East Indies. Strained feelings still exist between the Sasaks and the Balinese.

Interesting stuff and somewhat surprising to find Balinese communities still living in Lombok.

There are 2 main systems of cultivation used in Indonesia, sawah and ladang.

Sawah is wet rice cultivation, whereby the terrain is terraced into level layers. This technique can be used up to 1,600 meters above sea level. You usually find sawah in monsoon areas of the low-lying plain, where water is abundant. Tabanan in SW Bali is a good example, and water flows 365 days a year.

Sawah is an intense form of farming, it demands rich soil, plentiful rainfall and sunshine, huge amounts of labor, to construct and maintain, and an organized water supply system. In Bali that system is called the subak.

Ladang means a shifting cultivation system. People using this basic system, use simple tools, to cultivate a section of dry land for food. Maybe 40% of Indonesians take part in ladang farming in some way.

The way ladang works, is unirrigated land is prepared by slashing and burning jungle. It is then cleared and planted with a selection of fast growing food crops. Ladang farmers will work in rows, going uphill anf over rough ground and other impediments. Men will poke holes in the ground with sharp sticks, while the women will follow, dropped rice seeds into the hole.

Ladang farming is less productive per hectare, than sawah and needs about 10 times the area to produce the same volume of food. It is practiced on soil that is unsuitable for sawah, such as the non-volcanic and will be exhausted in 2 years. The land is then left to the jungle for 10 years, allowing the farmer to return once more. If the jungle does re-grow and the area is covered by alang alang grass, the soil will be permanently unsuitable for farming.

In Indonesia, ladang farmers tend to live in permanent villages, rather than following a nomdadic lifestlye. Ladang farming is especially popular in the drier eastern islands such as Flores, Timor and parts of Sulawesi.

Here in Bali, if you go to the Bukit peninsula, you will see a vastly different style of farming, basically cattle and a few crops. Also is East Bali, there is a point where the rice belt stops and the corn belt starts. Its dues to the terrain, rainfall and soil.

The SE Asian haze is something that must be addressed, but just how the government, is going to deal with ladang farming remains to be seen. Recently in the news was an article stating that we collectively have reached thep oint where our environment on Earth is in ā€˜debt modeā€™ meaning the amount of resources we use and the amount of pollution we create, cannot be rectified by nature. Maybe Indonesia is a micro version of that, by which I mean that initially, a commnity of people in Sumatra clearing a hectare of land wouldnā€™t make any difference to anyone. Now the population has increased and the areas getting cleared are much larger, weā€™ve reached the point where their actions are affecting the whole region.

I imagine it must of been hard, for the relatives of the victims, knowing there were ceremonies going on in Bali and Australia, but not having their own place, and not being able to travel that far. Now they do and hopefully it will help them.

Men Brayut was a weaver, and so Pan, her husband, had to most of the household chores. Eventually, after their brood has grown up and married, Pan & Men renounce the material world and join a retreat, something that elderly Balinese men sometimes do. Its possible to see the story of Pan & Men Brayut, depicted in Balinese art all over the island.

Here in ali skies are clear. Thankfully the winds blow the smog to the north, which is away from us.