Bali
Where to stay in Kuta Bali
The village of Kuta has changed dramatically since the first modern age travelers drifted in in the early 1970’s. Back then the small gangs running between Jl. Legian and the beach were just sandy tracks, complete with palm trees, cattle and crater sized potholes. Getting to Legian meant going to a completely different village. Nowadays [...] Read more…
Nusa Lembongan, Nusa Ceningan & Nusa Penida
The 3 islands that sits across the Badung Strait on the SE coast of Bali are Nusa Lembongan, Nusa Ceningan & Nusa Penida. These islands are part of the district of Klungkung and the population are Balinese Hindus. These 3 islands are somewhat impoverished, relying on seaweed farming, cattle and other low-return activities, with tourism [...] Read more…
Bali weather: Sept 5th 2007
Weather in Seminyak today was sunny for the most part, with 1 or 2 dark clouds drifting over to remind us us that the wet season will show up again someday. Hopefully we will have a couple more months of lovely sunny weather with cool mornings and evenings. In the last week the night time humidity [...] Read more…
Kuta Karnival in full swing
Kuta Karnival 2007 is in full swing, with beach activities including sand castle building and plenty of contests. At Kuta Halfway one of the stages was hosting some music acts featuring Indonesian pop songs, while companies put on display booths. One young lady representing the Jakarta Post handed me a flyer saying ‘TRAVEL WARNING! INDONESIA: [...] Read more…
Bali surfing: Sept 4th 2007
The surfing season in Bali continues with its highs and lows. Right now the swell is average, slackening off over the next few days and looking good for Sunday & Monday. MagicSeaweed is a pretty good site for the raw data, with easy to read charts. As BaliWaves informs us, the best places to surf today [...] Read more…
Nokia Navigator: Genuine article or rip off?
My last trip to Singapore included picking up a Nokia Navigator at one of the many phone shops in Toa Payoh. Here’s an update on how things are going with that device here in Bali. The staff at the camera shop in Singapore added tax to calculate the total cost of the phone, assuring me I [...] Read more…
Indonesian Web 2.0: Social networking sites
The internet is popular here in Indonesia, with features such as IM, email, and photo sharing widely used. As with other countries, the homegrown websites have graduated from the early days of the WWW, to be what is called Web 2.0. Here’s more from the Jakarta Post. Indonesia joins Web 2.0 services crowd Features - September [...] Read more…
Foreign currency in Bali
A quick look at how the Indonesian rupiah is doing against other currencies reveals the US dollar is climbing rapidly. Here’s a list of other popular foreign currencies on Tuesday Sept. 4th 2007 1 US Dollar = 9,469.70 Indonesian Rupiah 1 Australian Dollar = 7,773.96 Indonesian Rupiah 1 Brazilian Real = 4,841.63 Indonesian Rupiah 1 British Pound = 19,107.4 [...] Read more…
Bali government take steps to eradicate bird-flu
The Bali government has taken steps to monitor and control the resurgence of bird flu. News of bird flu, just like terror warnings and SARS, do not help the tourist industry, even though your chances of being directly affected by any of them are slim. Great to see the governor leading the fight against bird [...] Read more…
Tabanan Bali
Tabanan is the name of a district in west Bali and also the largest town in the district. The town is located next to the main east-west road leading to Java. A bypass means you do not have to crawl through town and can maintain a decent speed, the traffic lights being the only hinderance. Tabanan [...] Read more…