Bali

On June 7 2008, Hindu Balinese celebrate Saraswati Day, a day when the knowledge was coming down to the earth. This holiday was celebrated on every school in Denpasar.

For celebrating Saraswati, Balinese were not only doing traditional dancing, but also clean up the soul of schools and books from the bad effects. By cleaning them, they hope the students and all civilian society can study easily.

I think the coming down of knowledge must be celebrate by all humankind, not only by Hindunese, since without it humankind will be in ‘dark’ situation and there is no progress in living.
*the pic was taken from here*

On July 7 - August 28 2008, in Beijing, some painters from Bali will participate in the exhibition,”The 3rd Beijing International Art Biennale 2008″. Those paintings was created by 6 best Bali painters which were selected before.

One of the artis that his painting contribute on the event, I Wayan Sujana SSN, said the event will be participated by 70 artists, came from any countries. I Wayan Sujana SSN’s painting has name “penembus lapirit” (Penetrating Lapirit), was created on 2003. The size is about 2×1.5 metre.

The event has theme “Colors and Olympism” since China will held Olympic Games on August 2008.

Other five artists are Agus Cahaya (3 paintings), Ida Bagus Indra (3 paintings), Polenk Redisa, Putu Edy Asmara Putra, and Grace Tjondronimpuno (1 painting each).

Government water institution (Ind: PDAM, Perusahaan Daerah Air Minum) Gianyar is preparing to produce drinking water which is targeted for tourism area and high society housing (such in Ubud). By providing this facility, not only domestic tourists and aboard tourists can use it, but also for the community that can reach it.

Drinking water zone is the program for PDAM until the end of 2008. This zone can be expanded, as many area will need the feature. Read the rest of this entry »

Even EU Commission hadn’t revoke the traveling ban to Indonesia (using Indonesia airways), the number of europe tourist, who come to Bali, is increasing. This data based on first quarter in 2008. From Bali Tourism Agency, European tourists number for first quarter is about 109.970 people. It means 28.9% higher than last year (85.303 tourists).

During Pebruary 2008, 33.930 tourists came and next month, March, the increment is quite significant, become 39.993 tourists. Read the rest of this entry »

Bali government had a plan to socialize and use smart card as a tool in order to control gas buying. Since gas is getting hard to be found, government thinks smart card is a best solution.

But, this plan is rejected by Asosiasi Indonesia Tour dan Travel (ASITA) Bali (En: Indonesia Tours and Travel Association). The association thinks, using smart card will be constrained the travel biros to run their business.  Bad image will be rise up, and this is a bad thing for tourism prospect.

We hope Bali government (or maybe Pertamina?) can handle this situation and find out the best solution.

To increase tourist come to Bali, finally Indonesia government is increasing flight to Bali. The flight here is abroad flight. So, Indonesia government did a collaboration with abroad flight, especially from Europe, since Indonesian flight is still forbide to across and landing in Europe.

Until today, just Singapore Airlines (SQ) has interest to collaborate. But, government is still to invite other airlines to participate in the collaboration.

Hope this policy will increase the tourists as expected.

Long week end made Kuta, especially the beach, was very crowded. Hundred people densed almost every streets in Kuta. Many vehicles, motor cycles and cars, took a long line before they can reach the beach.

I think majority tourists came from domestic since they want to spent long week end. But the aboard tourists could be seen as well. Read the rest of this entry »

Ubud village is one of the favourite destination for aboard tourists. More than 3,000 aboard tourists visited this village in a month, or in average about 100 tourists/day.

In Ubud village, there are many museums that provide many art heritage and the uniqueness art of Bali.

In Bali, it’s about more than 20 museums, most of them are managed by private company. Read the rest of this entry »

This is not a threat, just a warning. Some arts from Bali are predicted will be extinct since the youth generation choose to play or develop art from outside of Bali.

Institut Seni Indonesia/ISI (Indonesia Art Institution) lecture, I Nyoman Carita SST, MFA said gambuh is one sample. The artist gambuh is quite hard to be found beside the performance stage of gambuh can’t attract the youth generation to attend. Read the rest of this entry »

In Bali, there are many unique traditions that we find only in Bali. Omed-omedan is an example.

What is omed-omedan?

Omed-omedan is hug and activities tradition that to be done a day after Balinese (especially Hindunese) celebrate Nyepi. In omed-omedan, there will be 2 groups, male and female, sometimes they came from different village. Read the rest of this entry »