Archive for May, 2008
With Bali once again booming, Garuda will be looking to reopen the Bali–Nagoya route which was closed more than a year ago, a spokesperson said earlier this week.
It is expected that the reinstated service will start from the 2nd of June and operate three times a week. To be flown in an Airbus 293-seat A330-300, it will fly on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, according to reports by AFP.
The relaunch of the route is set to happen due to new market research which shows that Indonesia, and especially Bali, was once again seeing strong demand from Japan.
Currently Garuda flies to Tokyo and Osaka.
Source: http://www.etravelblackboardasia.com/
May 29th, 2008
By Lenita Sulthani
JIMBARAN, Indonesia (Reuters Life!) - Call it shark for food lovers with some conscience: an Indonesian chef is making soup and other dishes from the flesh of the big fish whose survival is under threat because its fin is prized in Asia.
Shark fin soup is considered a delicacy in this region, while the meat of the fish often seen as a ferocious sea predator is largely shunned because of its strong taste.
Bali-based chef Budi Susilo says he’s come up with a way to make shark more palatable, and less vulnerable to being discarded in the ocean after its lucrative fin has been carved out.
“I came up with the idea while working on a cruise ship in the Caribbean and discovered people there ate shark meat. It was tasteless,” Susilo, who owns “Pak Item Restaurant” in Bali’s Jimbaran resort, told Reuters Television.
“When I returned, I saw none of the restaurants here serve shark meat. So, I opened my restaurant and tried to be creative with shark meat,” said the 42-year-old Susilo, who is better known as Mr Black, because he wears black every day.
Environmentalists say booming demand for shark fin soup, especially in China, is threatening the existence of several species, with fishers all over the world, and especially Spain and Indonesia, catching sharks for their lucrative fin and then discarding the carcasses.
Pak Item does not serve shark fin and Susilo said it took him two months to come up with the right ingredients to marinate the meat to make it taste better — a mix of spices and herbs which he’s not about to reveal.
SHARK FRIED RICE
Pak Item has been going strong since 2005 and serves shark meat in several ways: stewed, barbequed, fried or mixed in with a local favorite, fried rice.
Susilo uses blacktip reef sharks that are less than 4 meters (13 feet) long for his dishes and buys his daily supply from local fishermen in Bali, where most of the sharks caught are too small for restaurants selling fin soup.
Most customers come to Pak Item for the shark, which is considered as a cheap source of protein.
“This is my first visit to this restaurant. It tastes good,” said A. Teng, 46, an Indonesian who was tucking into shark stew.
But not everyone is impressed by Susilo’s efforts.
Indonesian environmentalists have protested against the killing of sharks and are working to draft legislation to protect the big fish.
Indonesia is considered one of the main culprits when it comes to overfishing sharks and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Indonesia official Dewi Satriani said even low-value sharks were being discarded at sea, either whole or with fins removed.
“Indonesia has formally ratified the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) pact, therefore those activities should be limited,” said Satriani.
She added some countries, including Indonesia, did not report volumes of their catch.
“Indonesia is the world leading shark fishing nation. But this country is not on the list of 20 biggest exporters. This is strange, Indonesia catches most sharks but we have never recorded shark as our commodity,” said Satriani.
Sharks, which inhabit all of the world’s oceans, are particularly vulnerable to overfishing because they have long life cycles and reproduce slowly.
(Editing by Ahmad Pathoni and Miral Fahmy)
Source: http://www.reuters.com/
May 28th, 2008
JAKARTA (AFP) — Indonesian flag carrier Garuda will reopen a route linking the resort island of Bali with the Japanese city of Nagoya next month, a spokesman for the airline said on Monday.
The route will be served three times a week using a 293-seater Airbus 330-300 starting on June 2, Pujobroto told AFP. The flights would be on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
The flight to Japan’s fourth-largest city from Bali’s capital city of Denpasar had been closed down by Garuda in mid-January 2007.
New market research showing strong demand for the route convinced the company to reopen the flight, Pujobroto said.
Garuda currently flies a daily Tokyo-Jakarta-Denpasar route and five weekly flights from Osaka to Denpasar.
Source: http://afp.google.com/article/
May 27th, 2008
Denpasar,(ANTARA News) - The number of European tourists who visited Bali in the first quarter of 2008 was recorded at 152,005 or an increase by 27 percent from 119,485 in the same period last year.
The number of European tourists who flew directly to Bali Island was also up from 39,993 in March to 42,035 in April 2008 , according to data of the Bali tourism service here on Saturday.
Some 22,766 British tourists visited Bali during this year`s first quarter, up from 18,420 in the same period last year.
From January to April 2008, some 22,566 German tourists arrived in Bali, an increase from 17,671 in the same period last year.
Bali also received 20,022 French tourists in 2008`s first quarter, up from 15,665 in the same period last year.(*)
COPYRIGHT © 2008
Source: ANTARA News
May 26th, 2008
The Guinness 9 Ball Tour in Aug 31-Sep 2 last year saw a fitting finale in Indonesia.
Indonesia has historically been known as an exotic land where the people are as warm as the yearlong sunshine, and nowhere is this more apparent than on the island of Bali.
Located just off the Eastern tip of the major island of Java, this exotic crown jewel of the Indonesian archipelago was the venue of the Grand Finals of the Guinness 9 Ball Tour 2007, welcoming to its sandy shores a host of 10 of Asia’s best 9-ball pool players.
Held from Aug 31-Sept 2 at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Nusa Dua, Bali, the final and most eagerly anticipated leg of Asia’s most prestigious pool tournament was played out in emphatic fashion by Asia’s top cue-masters. Having picked up the most qualifying points over the first five legs of this tournament, which were held in diverse locales like Jakarta, Kaohsiung, Genting Highlands, Singapore and Shanghai before arriving here, these 10 players were the best from an already elite pool of champions.
Featuring the likes of former World Pool Association (WPA) Champions Wu Chia-Ching from Chinese Taipei, Ronato “Ronnie” Alcano from the Phillipines, upcoming Taiwanese cueist Chang Jung-Lin, Malaysian pool stalwart Ibrahim Amir, and newcomer Dharminder Singh Lilly from India, the finalists came with impressive credentials.
It all came down to a nail-biting finale, which saw Chang Jung-Lin of Taiwan going head-to-head against Lee Vann Corteza of the Philippines to determine who would walk away with the title, as well as the prize money of US$36,000.
Both played exceedingly well, but in the end, Chang Jung-Lin triumphed over his worthy competitor 11-8. Jung-Lin was ecstatic over his win.
“Now that I’ve won my first international title, it gives me immense relief and joy because it means that all my years of training has finally come to fruition. It’s more than just the monetary reward – it’s about being recognised as an international player that makes this victory mean so much to me,” he said.
To spread the excitement before this grand finale, the organisers had four other cities in Indonesia – Medan, Bandung, Surabaya and Jakarta – host a speed pool tournament for amateur pool players. Known as the Guinness Black Challenge, these initiatives gave pool aficionados the chance to participate in a unique test of their skill, speed and strategy, as well as get the opportunity to go to the Grand Finals in Bali and hang out with all the professional players there.
Certainly it was a prize worth savouring for any pool fan!
The Guinness 9 Ball Tour is the ultimate stage for world-class pool professionals and offers a unique opportunity as a development ground for Asia’s top pool players to compete against each other.
The top 10 players who participated in 2007’s inaugural Grand Final in Bali not only stood the chance to win their share of US$70,000, but also earned an automatic berth in the World Pool Association Championships to make their mark on a truly global stage.
With so much having happened at last year’s grand final, you can surely expect the bar to be raised for this year. Guinness, the number one international premium black beer in the world, is proud to continue its position as the title sponsor of the 9 Ball Tour.
The Guinness 9 Ball Tour is sanctioned by the Asian Pocket Billiard Union (APBU) and organised by ESPN STAR Sports’ Event Management Group (EMG). This year, the tour will bring all the skills, tactics and prestige of Asia’s most prestigious 9-Ball Tour to Malaysia with the third leg of the tournament taking place in Genting Highlands Resort from 30 May to 1 June.
With a convergence of 24 of Asia’s best pool players in one venue, where they will showcase all their skills and accuracy as they vie to win this leg, while racking up more points to qualify for the finals to be held in Jakarta this year, there isn’t anywhere else that any self-respecting pool fan should be at than in Genting.
Be sure to find out more details on how to get tickets for this can’t miss leg of the tournament, as well as other information on Asia’s most prestigious pool tournament at www.guinness.com.my.
Source: http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle
May 26th, 2008
Trisha Sertori, Contributor, Gianyar, Bali
Linda Buller’s story in Bali, along with her empathy for the province’s most wretched inhabitants, goes back to her childhood in Australia; a childhood she says of abuse that set her, for a while, on the path to self destruction.
Buller, today an internationally recognized painter — and also known as Ubud’s “Lady of the Street Dogs” –, is up front about her former alcoholism; cracking self-effacing jokes about her misspent youth.
These days Buller wants “women to understand that when they are abused as children they can come out as great ‘thrivers’ — they can move out of the victim stage”.
“In Australia I was a victim. When I moved here in 1998 I had no money and had to become a thriver if I wanted to exist,” says Buller of her reformation as a human being.
Her journey from victim to, in her terms “thriver”, started back in 1985. From Buller’s accounts she was a rough and ready customer holding up several bars, but with the wisdom to invest in property.
“I sold my house at the time and had promised my girlfriend I would take her on a holiday. She wanted to come to Bali, which was not on my list at all,” says Buller of her unexpected foray into Asia.
“I had thought of Bali as commercial and built up. When I arrived my breath was taken away by the culture, the people, the landscape. I feel in love with the place,”
She had begun, unconsciously, writing her wish list. Buller, a fine arts graduate from the Bendigo Institute of Technology in Victoria, went on to study acupuncture and with these two skills and A$10,000 in the bank, took the leap of faith and moved to Indonesia.
In the act of building a new life for herself, Buller also wanted to build a new future for Bali’s fetid, mange-infected starving street dogs; those most wretched inhabitants scratching a living from the detritus of the Gods’ glorious island.
“My dream when I first came to Bali in 1985 and saw the dogs was to build a rehabilitation and adoption shelter. Today my dream has come true,” says Buller of the Bali Adoption Rehabilitation Center (BARC) dog shelter in Ubud that currently houses 86 dogs.
Gathering these dogs, often broken, battered and bleeding off the streets and rehabilitating them is no walk in the park. As Buller says, “I can bend down and pick up a dog with a gaping wound riddled with maggots and put it in my car and take it to the vet to get fixed up. Everyone else in the car walks home because they can’t stand the smell of the dog.”
One of her most beloved broken doggies is Kangaroo, found walking on her hind legs with a trail of desperate puppies in her wake.
“She had to walk on her hind legs like a kangaroo because she had been hit by a car or something and her stomach was open and infected. She was feeding her puppies on the street with this terrible wound. I brought them here and she is so loving,” says Buller of Kangaroo, who is not yet out of the woods, but now in good hands.
Pulling together the dog shelter has been a long and difficult journey, but like other journeys in Bullers life, taken on the chin.
“Some days have been very rough and I have wondered if I could keep going. But Kangaroo will walk over and put her paws on my knees and it is so obvious she is saying `you made a difference to me’ and that’s when I thought I can keep going,” says Buller of the early days of the refuge.
At the same time as Buller was attempting to establish the dog refuge she was also painting and exhibiting around the world. She had returned to painting after her successful acupuncture business, which had been the backbone of her early “thriving” in Bali, had like so many other businesses, collapsed with the first Bali bombing.
“Before the bomb I had got a tiny little shop in Jalan Hanoman and later moved to Jalan Gotama. I set up my acupuncture and herbalists and was doing very well. Then the bomb, and no money; I had to close. I was terribly depressed.
“A friend from Seminyak came to visit and saw my paintings. She wanted to hold an exhibition but I was too depressed to even think about it. She did it all and sold very well. Within two weeks my life had turned around,” says Buller of another dark period in her life.
She believes Bali, or Indonesia for that matter, chooses who stays and who goes; that any decision to live here is at the will of the Gods, not man.
“I think it was meant to be. In Bali the Gods will support you if you are supposed to be here. If not there’s no way anything will work.
“People end up in mental homes over their visas, get put in jail, whatever. Not that they are doing anything wrong, I believe it’s that they are just not meant to be here. For me, Bali is like an animal that breathes. It’s like I am an acceptable parasite.”
As a symbiotic element in the whorl of today’s Bali, Buller is doing well. She is living by her painting and the dog refuge has gathered followers and supporters around the world.
Buller’s art agent, however, suggests that she needs to decide whether she wants to be known as a painter or as the “Lady of the Dogs”. But Buller wants both — and to go fishing.
“I would really like a holiday — to go fishing. I might go fishing for my dad.”
Source: The Jakarta Post
May 23rd, 2008
Denpasar (ANTARA News) - Denpasar-based Indonesian Arts Institute (ISI) will send a team to India, to take part in an international festival of Ramayana. The visit to India would be at the invitation of the Indian Council For Cultural Relations (ICCR) of the Indian External Affairs Ministry.
“The festival will be held in June,” ISI Rector Prof Dr I Wayan Rai S said on Thursday.
He said the institute was still discussing the number of delegates who would take part in the event.
The institute had participated in the event in 2004 by sending a 15-member team, he said. (*)
COPYRIGHT © 2008
Source: ANTARA News
May 23rd, 2008
The National News Agency Antara reports that the Ministry of Transportation is disbursing another Rp. 20 billion (US$2.2 million) towards the construction of a new port facility at Amuk in Karangasem, East Bali.
The Rp. 20 billion follows a Rp. 10 billion (US$1.1 million) contribution made in 2007 toward a total project cost of Rp. 70 billion (US$7.6 million).
According to Antara, the port is expected to be completed and in operation by September 2009.
Tourism Ministry spokesmen are confident that improved port facilities will allow large cruise ships to dock and disembark passengers in Bali, luring an increasing number of cruise ships to Indonesia.
Source: www.balidiscovery.com
May 22nd, 2008
The Westin Resort Nusa Dua, Bali is planning to obtain Green Globe certification with the hope to lessen its impact on the environment.
Still in the first stages of the Green Globe Program, called Benchmarking, The Westin Resort Bali has been measuring its usage of energy, paper, cleaning products and the amount of solid waste the Resort produces each year.
There is a Sustainability Policy outlining the Resort’s environmental and social objectives and together with Green Globe and an environmental consultant Westin Bali hopes to achieve certification by December 2009.
Associates were introduced to the program this week with reusable eco-friendly shopping bags with the words ‘reduce, reuse, recycle, recover and renew’on it to increase the awareness of environmental impact.
“It’s crucial to have our Associates understand and support this program. Without their support we will never be able to achieve our goals. We want them to have a deep understanding of how essential this program is and hopefully they will not only implement it at work but will also apply this knowledge at home,” said Jan Bundgaard, General Manager of The Westin Resort Bali.
He added, “This is to celebrate the hotel’s commitment to Green Globe 21 and to be an active part of the solution. We all need to act with more responsibility for our one and only earth ensuring a livable environment for future generations.”
Source: http://www.etravelblackboard.com/
May 21st, 2008
By STEVE SPINKS
JOCK BARNES was woken by a stranger running a sharp instrument along the inside of his foot.
Terrified, he started shouting and struggled to free himself, but men held the Lennox Head surfer down grimly.
The men were Indonesian doctors who were treating Mr Barnes at a hospital in the Balinese capital of Denpasar after he had fallen head-first off the third storey of the Okie House Hotel at Kuta.
Mr Barnes fell while he was sleepwalking, and his last memory before waking battered and bruised in the hospital was going to sleep in his comfortable hotel room.
Incredibly, the 26-year-old survived the 10-metre drop, however, he fractured his C7 and T1 vertebrae, needed 17 staples in a gaping head wound, and suffered some minor bruising and scratching to the rest of his body.
As reported in The Northern Star last week, Mr Barnes was airlifted from Bali to the Royal Perth Hospital on May 10, one day after the fall.
He returned home to Lennox Head on Saturday and is expected to make a full recovery.
But the whole experience remains confusing for the former World Qualifying Series competition surfer, because he can’t remember how it happened.
Mr Barnes was on assignment for Australia Surfing Life magazine.
“I left at 9am from Brisbane to Singapore and then to Bali, and I got to the hotel about 9pm,” he said.
“I remember getting comfortable, laying down and going to sleep, and then waking when there was a sharp pain at the bottom of my foot.
“I started yelling ‘Who are you and why are you in my room’, but the doctors held me down and said I’ve got a big laceration on my head and to stay still.”
As Mr Barnes lay in the Bali hospital his parents, Susan and Steven, called on former Lennox resident Karne Faint, who now lives in Bali, to check how their son was and how the accident occurred.
“It wasn’t until he came to see me that I realised how serious things were,” Mr Barnes said.
“He told me what happened as he had gone to the hotel to pick up my stuff and looked down from the%balcony.
“It looks like I hit two pergolas on the way down.
“I actually ended up in the neighbouring property on someone’s doorstep.
“It was loud enough that the neighbours came out and found me.
“They told the hotel, who then bundled me into the back of a taxi to hospital.”
After some initial tests at Denpasar doctors feared Mr Barnes would never walk again, even though the part-time surfing journalist had movement and feeling in his limbs.
His travel insurance company then flew in two doctors from Singapore, and their prognosis differed from the Indonesians. They then arranged for him to be airlifted to Perth.
For three days Mr Barnes underwent further testing in Perth and there were thoughts he might need surgery.
But finally the good news arrived, along with his first meal in days, that he would just be in a neck brace for six to 12 weeks and should make a full recovery.
“I was absolutely ecstatic to hear that,” Mr Barnes said.
“Because everything had happened so quickly, and I didn’t have a single memory of what happened, it was hard to digest such a life-altering thing.”
Since his return to Lennox Head, family and friends have told Mr Barnes stories of his sleepwalking past.
He believes his episodes are brought on by stress, or by sleeping in unfamiliar places.
He hopes to manage the condition better in the future.
Until he does, some friends have joked that he should tie himself to his bed with a leg rope.
“My mother is adamant that I’m not sleeping any higher than on the first floor of any building from now on,” Mr Barnes chuckled.
Source: http://www.northernstar.com.au/
May 21st, 2008
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