Archive for December 14th, 2006
One of Bali’s famous expats was Adrien Jean Le Mayeur de Merpes, a Belgian painter, who came to Bali in 1932. His story is that after travelling the world, and painting scenes of places such as Benares in india, he came too Bali, living first close to Denpasar. There he met a 15 year old Balinese dancer, Ni Pollok who was considered the best legong dancer in the whole of Bali. Le Mayeur indended only to stay in Bali for 8 months, but after painting Ni Pollok, and getting romantically involved, he decided to stay in Bali for good. Le Mayeur built a small house on Sanur Beach, which is now a museam. Admission is 2,000rp and the hours are Sun-Fri 8am-4pm. Inside the bungalow, Mike and I viewed some of Le Mayeur’s oil paintings, many of which feature the semi-clad Ni Pollok, or other Balinese ladies in the process of some activity, such as weaving.
Â
Le Mayeur’s style, oil on canvas, with heavy almost impressionist dobs of paint, create a great picture of his world back then. The interior of the bungalow we visited, had plentiful Balinese wall and door carvings, the chunky stuff, with flower patterns painted in red and gold. At the back of the bungalow was the small roon Le Mayeur and Ni Pollok used as their bedroom. The posted description says its was their favourite room, which they never changed since moving in, and that many happy days were spent there. Le Mayeur lived in the house with Ni Pollok, until his death in 1958. She died in 1985 and the house was passed to the Indonesian government, becoming a museum. You can view the Le Mayeur museum in 30 minutes if you are in a hurry. Access in via Jl. Hang Tuah, go to the beach path and turn right.
Source : www.baliblog.com
December 14th, 2006
Sanur is home to a sizeable expat community. Reasons for this are the International Schools that are located there, and the fact that Sanur offers a lower key type of scene, as regarding the beach, street, nightlife etc., than Kuta / Seminyak. Today Mike and I hit one of the expats favourite spots, Cafe Batujimber, on Jl. Danau Tamblingan. Pulling up outside, one will notice the shady outdoor dining area and the bread shop next door. Mike said the bread shop is a mini-Bali Deli. We sat inside as all the outside seating was taken, and I checked out the menu.
Â
The menu is broken down as follows:
•Starter, Salad & Tapas - including Classic Ceaser Salad with grilled chicken / salmon / prawns - 35,000rp/45,000rp
•Soup - including Minted Leek and Pea Soup, with crispy pancetta, bread and sour cream - 25,000rp
•Toasties - including Smoked Turkey Breast and Cheese, with grilled vegetables - 38,000rp
•Mains - including Pad Thai Rice Noodles, with prawn lightly done in sesame oil, garlic shallots, ginger, soy sauce - 35,000rp
•From the Lava Stone - including Minted New Zealand Lamb Medallions, - 150,000rp
There is a tremendous selection of Juices, Smoothies, Coffee, Tea, Chocolate, Mineral Water, Soft Drinks, Beer, Wine.
My nasi campur contained beef, chicken, fish vegetable and was good (30,000rp).
Cafe Batujimber
Jl. Danau Tamblingan
Sanur
Bali
(0361) 287374
source : www.baliblog.com
December 14th, 2006
Bali is a great deal all round, for a holiday. As much tropical weather as you can take, all the sunshine you can handle, all the waves you can catch. That’s just the free stuff! For the stuff that isn’t free, you’ll need to change some of that money you brought with you. Here’s the latest exchange rates. Here are the latest currency exchange rates.
      Â
1 Euro = 12,046.51rp
1 US$ = 9,107.96rp
1 GBP = 17,910.31rp
1 AU$ = 7,169.99rp
1 Yen = 77.6142rp
1 NZ$ = 6,289.13rp
1 Swiss Franc = 7,550.90rp
1 Brasil Reais = 4,247.33rp
1 China Yuan = 1,164.53rp
1 HK$ = 1,172.48rp
1 S.Korea Won = 9.83521rp
On Poppies Lane in Kuta, you can get a guest house room for 50,000rp, nasi goreng for 8,000rp and a small beer for 8,000rp. Of course if you are staying at the Bulgari, you need a bit more, but then of course at the Bulgari, most things are in US dollars.
Bookmark BootsnAll’s handy currency converter to see how much you need for your travels, and how broke you are when you return.
source : www.baliblog.com
December 14th, 2006
Australian senator Chris Ellison, has said that a prisoner exchange deal between Australia and Indonesia, could be online in early 2007. Since Schapelle Corby was arrested a couple of years ago, and the likelihood of young Aussies spending a long amount of time in jail, became a possibility, the 2 governments have worked towards an agreement.
      Â
The plight of the Bali Nine is still up in the air, with 6 member currently on death row. That may change in future, allowing them to serve their sentence closer to their relatives. I did some reading up on extradition treaties and found that its a complicated business. Some countries sign solo treaties with one other country, others join a block of countries to sign an agreement. Certain local sticking points of often get in the way, for example Japan is willing to extradite foreign citizens, but not its own citizens. Othe countires have a problem, with the possibility of the death penalty. The prisoner exchange has its compications too, with the length of sentence / remissions / parole proceedure etc. having to agreed upon by both sides.
source : www.baliblog.com
December 14th, 2006