Archive for October 18th, 2007
Bali Alive brings a new dimension to delivering entertaining and dynamic video clips on Bali Indonesia.
Watch the latest up to date stories on villas, resorts, activities, restaurant reviews, cultural experiences, property and more.
The Indonesian island archipelago of Bali is receiving added exposure with the debut of the first Internet-based television station (ITV) to broadcast from the area. Bali Alive is introducing Bali’s customs, tourism and businesses to the world via professionally produced television programming via the Internet.
According to Chris Abbott, Head of Production of Bali Alive, he & Jason Michael Head f sales & marketing decide to create Bali Alive after frequenting this tropical paradise for over 20 years. ‘We found plenty of Bali information on sites featuring lots of inactive words and pictures. Having spent over eight years developing TV programs for the Internet, we decided to use our skills to showcase Bali, Chris Abbott stated.
Now, with a simple mouse click at the www.balialive.tv site, visitors have all of Bali at their fingertips. Visitors and tourists can find out where to eat, stay, play, visit or invest in Bali before arriving. Bali Alive has dedicated television programs featuring Bali tour activities, accommodation, restaurants, business and real estate, all produced by experienced television professionals with lively and animated presenters. Bali Alive is a win-win for anyone involved in the Bali tourism industry.
Bali Businesses
Bali tourism operators can show off their businesses to the world in an exciting, new and state-of-the-art format.
Bali Travel Retailers
Bali Alive provides the travel retailer with something different - a unique and exciting ITV site they can direct clients to so they can see first hand where to stay, play and eat. ‘A picture may tell a thousand words but a TV program tells and sells the whole story,- said Jason Michael.
Bali Travel Wholesalers
Bali Alive provides wholesalers with a multi-media support tool with more impact than travel brochures to showcase their Bali travel offerings.
Bali Visitors
They can plan their holiday and more importantly, get excited about coming to Bali, experiencing the culture, adventure and exciting offerings around the archipelago.
Bali Alive will be continually producing new segments, including stories on villas, restaurants, night life, tours, surfing and honeymoons along with refreshing those currently on the site on a regular basis.
Source: http://www.pr-inside.com/
October 18th, 2007
Wasti Atmodjo, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar
The Denpasar administration has announced plans to include more destinations in the city tour that it has been running since 1999.
There are currently 10 destinations on the tour, which is managed by Denpasar’s tourism office, including the Art Center, Bali Museum, Le Mayeur Museum, Maospahit Temple, Badung-Kumbasari market and Sanur beach.
The tourism office is hoping to add the Jaganatha, Penambangan Badung and Pamecutan temples, Satrya bird market, Benoa Harbor, the Monument of the Balinese People’s Struggle and the fingerprint museum.
Denpasar Tourism Office chief Putu Budiasa said the number of people who had taken the tour reached 12,273 in August, falling from 17,225 the previous month.
He said museums and traditional markets were the most popular tourist attractions in Denpasar, adding that Kumbasari market, a handicraft center that is currently under renovation after being damaged in a recent fire, continues to draw crowds.
The sites included in the tour are easy to access: “Visitors can go there by car, motorcycle, bicycle, horse-driven cart or even by foot,” Putu said.
To support the tour program, the Denpasar administration is currently building pedestrian walkways along Jl. Gadjah Mada and around Puputan Badung Square where the Bali Museum and Jaganatha Temple are located, as well in a number of other locations. “We want Denpasar to be a pedestrian-friendly city,” he said.
The entrance fee at most of the museums is relatively cheap at Rp 2,000 (22 US cents) for adults and Rp 1,000 for children. The museums are open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Monday to Friday and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Kumbasari, which offers a range of souvenirs like bracelets, bags, clothes, wall ornaments and statues, stays open until 6 p.m., while the Badung traditional market is open 24/7.
In the old days, Budiasa said, the Balinese had defended the island — known as the island of 1,000 temples — against the Dutch colonial army. A number of big wars took place in Bali, including the Jagaraga War in Buleleng in 1849 and the Puputan Klungkung War two years later. The last armed conflict — the Margarana Puputan War — started in Tabanan in 1946.
The Monument of the Balinese People’s Struggle was built to honor Bali’s war heroes. Located in front of the Bali governor’s office in Nitimandala, Renon, the monument was inaugurated on June 14, 2003. The 45-meter bowl-shaped monument was built by adopting various Balinese concepts like Tri Mandala, Tri Angga, Lingga and Yoni.
Aside from its unique structure, the monument presents 33 dioramas measuring two by three meters each, depicting the lives of Balinese people from the pre-historic period to the freedom struggle era.
The Bali Museum, which is located about one kilometer away from the monument, provides further insight into the lives of the Balinese. Next to the Bali Museum is Jagantha Temple, a Hindu place of worship that can accommodate thousands of people.
Le Mayeur Museum, named after Belgian painter Jean Le Mayeur de Merpres, is located next to the Bali Beach Hotel.
At least 15 masterpieces on hard board are displayed there aside from six pieces of work on plywood, seven on paper and 22 others on plastic bags.
Budiasa said if visitors wanted to take in the natural scenery of the area they could go to Serangan Island, Sanur Beach or the mangrove forest.
Ahead of the 2008 Tourism Visit Year, the Denpasar Tourism Office is also organizing major attractions like the Puputan Badung Carnival and the Gajah Mada Festival. “The first emphasizes the history of Denpasar and the latter trade. The Gajah Mada area has become the center of Bali’s trade activities, particularly Denpasar,” Budiasa said.
Source: The Jakarta Post
October 18th, 2007
Trisha Sertori, Contributor, Gianyar
If longtime orangutan expert and animal behaviorist Francine Neago gets her wish, Bali is set to become a world leader in orangutan and endangered species research.
Neago has been passionate about the protection of orangutans for decades, even before she stepped onto Indonesian soil back in 1965.
“I met and married my husband, Biroum Noerjasin, a doctor and pianist from Surabaya, after we met in New York. I was already very interested in orangutans. I had wanted to be a vet as a child, but my father wanted me to do medicine,” says Neago of a meeting that was to thrust her into the heart of a revolution rather than orangutan rich jungles.
Neago and her new husband returned to Surabaya; Neago with plans to head to Bali, “but within two weeks of arriving the revolution broke out. When I opened the door of our home there were tanks to the left and the right and in front a lot of dead people and some living ones too.
“I thought what do I do. Go to the French Embassy and try to get out? But I am a doctor so I started bringing people in first to our garden then into our home. When the house was full of patients I went out into the street, at the risk of my life. There was no one in the streets, just tanks and the soldiers who were shooting anything that moved. There I was the only European in Surabaya in the streets looking for help for my patients,” says Neago.
Gathering her courage, Neago, a tiny women now in her seventh decade, stormed up to a tank and demanded the young officer take her to his commander. “He was so startled he did,” remembers Neago.
With the commandant’s help and volunteers pooled from Airlangga University medical students, Irzat school was requisitioned and a hospital started, “it’s still there today,” says Neago.
The determination that drove Neago into the streets of revolution more than 40 years ago is with her still. Today her will is directed at establishing the Bali Endangered Animal Rescue (BEAR) habitat in central Bali.
Funding and land has been secured through Italy’s Veterinary Association and the “immense support”, of Balinese animal protector and government official Swastika. Swastika heads up the nonprofit organization BEAR, overseeing the center.
The center will not be open to the public, says Neago, but rather a research center where international vets and biologists and zoologists doing their doctorate thesis can study highly endangered species; and hopefully through their work improve their chances against threatened extinction.
Neago has a long history of working with orangutans. Her main focus is on language development and animal behavior studies. She worked for many years through the University of California, Los Angeles.
“These types of studies take many years. I had one male orangutan, Bulan. He came to me as a baby and by the time he was four years old he could spell words on a computer. People underestimate their intelligence,” Neago says.
A memorandum of understanding with Surabaya Zoo for the transfer of a baby orangutan to Bali has been prepared, says Neago. The year old is expected to arrive next week and will be the first of many.
“The rate of jungle destruction in Sumatra and Kalimantan means these animals have nowhere to go. I was in Kalimantan six months ago and cried for three days; the jungle is gone, the animals are being smothered with smoke. It’s hard to breathe there.
“This is why I have chosen Bali as the showcase of this center. The trees are not being chopped down at the same rate. I have asked the Indonesian government to give BEAR an island where we can establish an open range habitat, again not open to the public. I feel positive this will be granted,” says Neago who was a friend of Ibu Tien Soeharto.
“The day I arrived back in Indonesia, at the request of Ibu Tien to begin orangutan preservation work, was the day Ibu died. It was then impossible to continue without her patronage,” says Neago who despite repeated setbacks and her advancing age, will not rest until the BEAR center is complete and the orangutans have their haven. “If here in Bali we can save 200 to 300 orangutans a year that will be a start,” she says.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/
October 18th, 2007