Bali celebrated its 55th anniversary on Wednesday in a solemn ceremony at Puputan Margarana field in Renon, Denpasar.
At the age of 55, the province, despite being wildly popular across the country, still faces many challenges.
"We have at least 10 major challenges we are facing nowadays. We have to work hard to deal with those challenges," Governor Made Mangku Pastika admitted.
The first, and hardest, challenge is the booming population, particularly in south Bali. With a total land area of 5,780 square kilometers, or only 0.29 percent of the total area of Indonesia, Bali is now home to around 4.2 million people.
The population has risen significantly in recent years; in 2008, the island's population was only 3.6 million. Bali's strong economy has resulted in an influx of migrants from off the island searching for work.
Unfortunately for the local people, their competitiveness in the labor market tends to be weak. "This is another challenge for Bali. Local people should improve their skills to be able to compete with those from outside Bali," Pastika stressed.
The population boom has also caused severe congestion, with an increasing number of cars and motorcycles on the roads. "With population growth of 400,000 in four years, imagine if around 50,000 of them by new cars and 200,000 buy new motorcycles. Congestion has become a problem now," Pastika said.
Another challenge for Bali's development is the low qualifications of educators in the school system, with a number of teachers in the province yet to hold bachelor or master's degrees.
The increasing HIV/AIDS epidemic, including infections passed from mother to baby, is yet another problem. As of April this year, as many as 7,291 people were reported infected with HIV/AIDS, around 76 percent of whom were aged between 20 and 39 years old. Around 76.55 percent of HIV/AIDS infections on the island were due to sexual intercourse, with 11 percent due to intravenous drug use.
Yet another challenge is the wide development gap between regions, especially rural and urban areas. To date, development projects have been mostly centered in southern Bali, covering the regencies of Badung, Gianyar and Tabanan, as well as Denpasar municipality. Sparkling five-star hotels, entertainment centers and business sites have mushroomed in Kuta, Jimbaran, Nusa Dua, Sanur and Denpasar. Meanwhile, thousands of residents in more underdeveloped villages do not have access to roads, clean water, healthcare, schools and economic resources.
Unequal development makes attempts to eradicate poverty more difficult. However, good progress has been made with the number of people living in poverty decreasing since 2008, when Pastika started his Bali Mandara initiative, which placed poverty alleviation as a top priority.
In 2008, the number of people living below the poverty line in the province amounted to 6.17 percent of the population. This had dropped to 4.18 percent in 2009. By 2012, the percentage had decreased to 3.95 percent, placing Bali after Jakarta as the province with the second lowest number of poor people in the nation.
This year, the administration is targeting reducing poverty to 3.28 percent of the population. Pastika, who was re-elected in May, is eager to decrease poverty to 1 percent by the end of his leadership in 2018.
Implementation of the spatial planning bylaw also remains poor, another challenge for Bali, with uncontrollable development evident on the island.
Other challenges are the rising amount of agricultural land being converted into housing or tourism facilities; improved implementation of the Bali Clean and Green environmental program; security system standards are not yet of international standard; and economic development remains extremely sensitive to security issues.
via bali - Google News www.thejakartapost. com/bali-daily/2013-08-15/ten-challenges-55-yo-bali.htmlEat, dive, love: 4 days in Bali
by Rachel Alejandro
Posted on 08/15/2013 9:52 AM | Updated 08/15/2013 11:13 AM
MANILA, Philippines - I admit I'm not very original.
Count me in as one of thousands of people from all over the world inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert's novel-turned-Hollywood-film "Eat Pray Love" to take a trip to Ubud, Bali, Indonesia. It took me a few years since the movie but finally, early this August, my husband and I took time off our busy schedules and flew to the romantic island.
The impact of Gilbert's book on this formerly quiet, little town was palpable the minute we arrived. Seriously, at times I felt like the only brown girl lost in a sea of white people. Curiously, the tourists there were not the usual backpackers but mostly families and single women "of a certain age" hoping to find love just like in the book.
Many of the quaint shops and cafes that lined the streets were so Westernized that they evoked the vibe of chic beach towns in the US like the Hamptons, more than Southeast Asia. Yet the smattering of Hindu temples and traditional Balinese architecture gave it just the right amount of authenticity. No other place blended different cultures so effortlessly and tastefully.
Just being there made even dorky me feel like I'm super cool!
But that's jumping ahead in this short travel log.
Day 1:
We took the red eye flight to Denpasar and arrived in time for breakfast. We deliberately made no plans for the day; we just slept and lounged around the pool of our beachfront hotel in Sanur.
Dinner that night was a delectable Indonesian buffet that starred the one dish friends told us not to miss: Babi Guling or suckling pig. What gave it a distinct flavor was the infusion of herbs and spices like turmeric, lemongrass, garlic and coriander seeds before roasting. Yum!
Day 2:
It took us less than an hour by boat to one of the world's best dive spots, Nusa Penida, but the water was so choppy I had a mini panic attack. [I occasionally get so horribly seasick, a huge inconvenience for someone married to Mr. Ocean Adventure himself.]
The star of Nusa Penida diving is the Mola-Mola or ocean sunfish, a huge fish that can easily weigh more than 2,000 pounds. I guess the Mola-Mola didn't get their call slip that day that's why they didn't show up. We weren't super disappointed because, at Manta Point, we spotted close to 10 manta rays!
Day 3:
It was a rainy morning, so we just hung out at our small boutique resort located amidst the serenity of rice fields, 15 minutes outside of Ubud town. Again, it was one of those places where I imagined only cool people stayed.
We walked around the town, looked at art galleries and ate more local food like Nasi Goreng, a rice dish with chicken, veggies and egg; and Mie Kari, a curry seafood noodle soup.
Day 4:
It was another day of cloudy skies and a cool temperature similar to what we Pinoys like call "Baguio weather." We strolled around the temples and took pictures of the monkeys that inhabited the Sacred Monkey Forest.
For me, this was truly the highlight of our trip. I was just in awe of the sculptures of Balinese Hindu deities and demons all around the place. I felt a tinge of envy, too, that we Filipinos did not manage to preserve the culture of our ancestors like the Indonesians did.
At sunset, we had drinks at a café in the middle of the rice fields, something very Ubud, post-"Eat Pray Love." I captured my favorite shot of the trip — a farmer tending to his field with the water surrounding him reflecting the darkening sky.
Before heading to the airport, I sent a quick email to my family in New York with the subject: "Loved Bali!" With so much love and gratitude in my heart for a truly magical 4 days, I told them that we have to visit the place as a family. - Rappler.com
Rachel Alejandro is a singer-actress and co-owner of The Sexy Chef, OBC 5 Star Inc (@SexyChefRachelA on Twitter), a health food delivery company. Her upcoming projects include a yoga and weight loss retreat, Eat Clean Love Detox Weekend, on Oct 4 to 6 at Hamilo Coast, Batangas.
via bali - Google News www.rappler. com/life-and-style/travel/36474-4-days-in-bali
What are the odds? You go to Bali to discover how Australians are transforming the island with their fine food, energetic hospitality and hip bars, and you're match-fit for the big nosh-up when you're felled by the band of pain across the top of the stomach known to generations of Australians as Bali belly.
This is what Alanis Morissette would call ironic but the rest of us call unfortunate coincidence. Anyway, you know it when it comes. You find yourself engaged in urgent perusal of the menus of restaurants where you have no intention of dining. Luckily, in 24 visits here since 1988 it's only the second time this little charmer has touched my life, and it's not going to slow me down in checking out how a band of Aussie chefs and entrepreneurs are doing their bit to confirm Bali's growing reputation as a food destination.
We've come to Bali to see what Australians have brought to the hospitality business here, and our first stop is the hot new diner and hang-out joint Motel Mexicola, a technicolour riot in the heart of the cool Seminyak area.
Mama San.
It's bordering on audience participation and the crowd love it. After two weeks in Bali having done the daily dodge of touts offering Viagra on Jelan Oberoi, it comes as a refreshing change to be offered something you actually want - a heart-starting tequila shot - without fussing with a glass, and all free.
With its candle-dripped shrines, crucifixes regaled with rosaries, eye-catching icons and hilariously kitsch soundtrack (Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass always sound better with tequila), the place brings a slice of Mexico to Bali. Reed, who co-owns the Mexican Rojo Rocket in Avoca, NSW, is an energetic part of the Australian invasion of the island's restaurants and bars.
A Thai Thai cocktail in the making.
Next stop is Mama San (135 Jl Raya Kerobokan , +361 730436, mamasanbali.com). With its red lamps, leather club lounges and ottomans, Mama San is more genteel. The only icon here is Sydney chef Will Meyrick, who in 2007 opened the famous Sarong, the sultry salon with chandeliers and ornate curtains, and in 2011 launched its cheekier little sister.
We find a corner seat upstairs near the pots of elephant grass in Mama San's bar area and marvel at Meyrick's food and the eclectic photographs on the walls.
With its moody elegance and superb food, the place is full every night and no one serious about food or fun should miss it. It's Asian street food in a remarkable setting.
Halfway through the snapper, I was about to announce to my partner this was shaping as the best night out of our three trips to Bali together - but I was speechless because I had eaten a whole chilli by mistake and found myself writhing among the scatter cushions pushing yoghurt and hunks of ice into my mouth. Beware.
Sarong is a different evening. With its lush curtains and ornate chandeliers it's Bali's high-end bling, and you'd better be wearing your designer thongs at least. It almost demands you have an occasion to celebrate.
Next day, dodging the open drains - is that how I got Bali belly? - we made our way to the legendary Ku De Ta, where chef Ben Cross from Byron Bay has cooked for five years, and settle on the grass with our $15 cocktails to look at the surf of Seminyak.
Opened 12 years ago by Melbourne-born Arthur Chondros, the kitchen is co-managed by Cross so the Australian connection is undeniable and therefore, like Neil Finn and Phar Lap, we're claiming Ku De Ta as our own.
Hating paying $15 for a cocktail but loving the chance to be horizontal on a lawn at the beach listening to the chill-out soundtrack, we accept Ku De Ta retains its crown as south-east Asia's best Australian bar.
Cross took some time to show us around the upstairs kitchen, which he says is called "mejekawi" meaning sacred table. Ku De Ta offers diners a seven-course or 11-course degustation menu with wine pairings, all matched with that remarkable view of the ocean.
Cross says the standard of eating in Bali has improved enormously. "Anywhere else in the world that's a tourist destination, the food's rubbish. In Bali it's always been quite good - Japanese, Italian, Indonesian. Now there's a new level coming through."
At Potato Head, a little way down the road, there is another chilled-out beach experience, with a heavy nod to retro evidenced by the Ernest Hemingway novels and Le Specs on sale in the gift shop.
The only Australian connection we noticed at Potato Head was the young woman in charge of the long queue to get in. This is a first for me: a half-hour wait to enter a bar the size of a small football oval. But there are some blue-chip people-watching opportunities, and it's not like we're in a hurry.
Next day we went to what's sometimes called the "Paris end of Seminyak" and stopped in at Petitenget, a French-inspired restaurant opened in 2011 by Melburnian Sean Cosgrove, former owner of the street fashion label Mooks. With its French bistro feel, Cosgrove has brought his undeniable style to this restaurant named after the area. "Petitenget has quickly become an island institution," he says, "having been built around the expat community and the regular Bali visitors."
We join the morning coffee crew working their iPads in the courtyard, just slightly pretending to be expats. Australian chef Simon Blaby says hello. "Australia has no discernible cuisine so you can't sum it up in a sentence," he says of the work Australian chefs are doing in Bali. "That's its strength and its weakness. We're not tied down by anybody's roots."
The next night we travel to Jimbaran Bay to experience one of the island's new star spots, Sundara, located in the Four Seasons Hotel amid flaming torches and with the sound of waves lapping gently on the beach. It's a world away from the craziness and potholes of Seminyak, and well worth the 30-minute drive.
Chef Greg Bunt, 42, who grew up in country NSW, established six restaurants in Brisbane over seven years, which were destroyed in the 2011 floods. "A lot of hot young chefs are coming here now, particularly in the past five years," he says. Why do they come?
"It's nice to be in a summery environment. It's nice to be in an environment where people are travelling and happy."
Back in Seminyak, in the middle of "Eat Street", is Ginger Moon (Jl Oberoi/7 Laksmana, +361 734533, gingermoonbali.com). It serves modern Asian food a step away from the madness of endless streams of cars and motorbikes, sometimes including a family of five with a baby and a chicken!
Australian chef Dean Keddell explains the challenges. "Bali in some instances is a million miles away from home," he says. "Consistent and varied produce is difficult to find. A reliance on imported items by restaurants and hotels and the local government rulings are at odds with each other - this can make things very difficult and in some cases very expensive.
"There are no apprenticeships in Bali for cooks, so the only real way to have good staff is to train them yourself, which is a very slow but rewarding process."
And the rewards have never been better for the gastro-traveller. "Why this sudden proliferation of Australian operators in Bali?" asks George Muskens, who is making a television series about the best restaurants in various countries for the Australia Network. "Maybe the annual intake of nearly 10 million hungry and thirsty tourists landing on the island might help explain the attraction."
And the surf.
"I'm a surfer, so I'm always out in the waves," Greg Bunt says. "That's a big draw for me."
And Ben Cross at Ku De Ta on the attractions of cooking in Bali? "It's the endless summer, for starters," he says.
After all this fine dining we were now looking for simple local food, which we found at a cafe in Uluwatu, about a 90-minute drive from Seminyak. The only Australian connection we found was Mark Richards, the four-time world surfing champion from Newcastle, here to compete in a veterans' event at this world-famous surfing mecca.
Uluwatu is something to behold, especially if you enjoy watching the world's greatest surfers in action.
I ordered a tuna salad, which was almost inedible. I say almost, because watching surfing in the sunshine makes you hungry, and it was a long ride home.
It was our worst meal but our best day. And all those other meals more than made up for it.
ABOUT THE WRITER
Peter Wilmoth fell in love with travelling when, age 21, he first saw the Eiffel Tower and laughed out loud because of its sheer familiarity. He has since discovered many other heart-stopping sights around the world.
GETTING THERE
Jetstar flies to Denpasar, Bali, from Sydney and Melbourne five times a week, starting at $399 economy one way.
STAYING THERE
The W Resort and Spa, Jl Petitenget, Seminyak. +361 4 738 106, wretreatbali. com. It's expensive but it's worth saving up and splashing some cash for a couple of nights here — it's stylish and cool with a great pool.
The Royal Beach Seminyak Bali, Jl Camplung Tanduk, Seminyak. +361 4 730 730, accorhotels. com. Excellently located; choose a villa on the beach, or a room, and enjoy the view of the ocean from the pool.
GETTING AROUND
If you don't want to hire a motorbike or a car, taxis are cheap and the best way to get around. Make sure you pick a taxi driver happy to use the meter. For day trips to Ubud or the Bukit Peninsula (Uluwatu, Padang Padang), hire a driver for the day. Costs about $40, but this is negotiable.
TRIP NOTES
More information: indonesia.travel/en
FIVE BEST BALI BARS
Ku De Ta9 Jl Laksmana, +62 361 736 969, kudeta.net.
Hot place to watch the sunset, preferably while half-lying on the lawn.
Potato Head
51 Jl Petitenget, Seminyak, +62 361 479 7373.
Lounge on the day beds at this retro beach club. ptthead.com.
Motel Mexicola
9 Jl Kayu Jati, Petitenget, +62 361 736 688, motelmexicolabali.com.
Cool Latin design meets quirky retro tunes.
Woo Bar at the W Retreat and Spa Bali
Jl Petitenget, +62 361 473 8106,
wretreatbali.com.
Stylish outdoor lounge area overlooking the ocean.
Rock Bar at Ayana Resort and Spa
Jimabaran, +62 361 702 222,
ayanaresort.com/rockbarbali.
This famous spectacularly located bar features "grass-roots Australian" acts.
via bali - Google News www.smh. com.au/travel/activity/food-and-wine/balis-new-wave-chefs-20130808-2rj5w.html
Great French Designer Shifts His Focus to Bali
The Stairs Villa Hotel in Seminyak is set to open next year. (Photo courtesy of The Stairs Villa Hotel)
Philippe Starck ranks as one of the most famous product and interior designers in the world.
Yet the Frenchman is also known for his consumer goods and architectural creations around the world, including the Peninsula Hotel restaurant in Hong Kong, the Teatron in Mexico, the Hotel Delano in Miami and the Mondrian in Los Angeles.
For his latest labor of love the 64-year-old went to Bali, where he designed The Stairs Villa Hotel, in the ever-popular Petitenget neighborhood of Seminyak.
The project, initiated by French development and management firm DeCiazini Group and spearheaded by cofounders Nicolas Panzani, Noel Ciabrini and Hugo Revuelta along with Starck, broke ground earlier this year and is scheduled for completion in 2014.
The luxurious Stairs Villa Hotel — taking its name from the monolithic 20-meter-wide stairway on the property — is the first development in Indonesia to be fully designed by Starck. It consists of 12 villas as well as public areas that include a patisserie, a restaurant, a bar, a boutique, a library and spa and workout facilities.
Starck told the Jakarta Globe about his vision for the Stairs, his motivation in becoming part of the project and his special connection to Bali.
World-renowned designer Philippe Starck. (Photo courtesy of The Stairs Villa Hotel)
How did the collaboration with Panzani, Ciabrini and Revuelta come about?
Perhaps because of a rigorous life, I am in the comfortable position to choose my clients and partners. My parameters are very simple: first, we do not work for weapon, hard alcohol, tobacco or oil companies … and anything that may come from strange money.
My other parameter is to understand if the developer works for himself, in sometimes a cynical way, or if he wishes to bring a better life to his society.
That is the most important parameter. The third is if I can have a 'sentimental affair' with these partners, if we can fall enough in love to have a beautiful story together — to have beautiful children, which is the project.
When I met Nicholas, Noel and Hugo — vibrant people who arrived with energy, enthusiasm and honesty — I was immediately convinced they will be the ideal partners to bring a new vision into the tourism [industry], especially in Bali.
Where did you find the inspiration to create Stairs?
Bali is a continuum between a respectful and a modern beginning.
I spent a lot of time in very small, lost Balinese villages, and these villages were very interesting as they are an intimate mix of daily human life [in the] countryside with all the richness of human relations, and the monumental scales of the ever-present temples.
In the Occident [Western world], these two scales are separated: you have the streets and monuments. In Bali, all is deeply mixed in a very natural and sophisticated cocktail. It is what I have tried to translate into this project.
What is the concept behind the villas?
The Stairs has in the public spaces a monumental ambition that [aims to make] people higher smarter, more creative, more lively, more in love. The Stairs are stairs like a theater stage; everything is magic, everything is surprising, but everything is human.
The magic also comes from the paradoxical mix of materials: poor and rich, concrete and refined wood, but it is always honest, it is always the truth; there is no fake, no decoration, just simple needs at their best.
The Stairs without doubt shall become a boiling bucket of energy, creativity and intelligence of Bali, and perhaps more.
Could you tell us more about the interior design of the villas?
Like always in my work, it is not about architecture or decoration but more about an angle of view and perhaps a philosophy. The Stairs shall be a place for intelligent, creative, sensitive, open people who have an idea of quality and truth.
The result is a place different from anywhere, a mix of emotional art and human scale, of rough-cast concrete and the finest contemporary local and international design. It is a place where Balinese style plays with the [19]40s, the '60s, the '70s, today and the most futuristic pieces of design. Colors come directly from Bali with its magic mix of earthy colors and fluoro [fluorescent] colors.
Stairs is called an 'urban village.' How so?
The Stairs Villa Hotel in Seminyak is set to open next year. (Photo courtesy of The Stairs Villa Hotel)
The village of villas is really a village with narrow streets, intimate, a little mysterious. I have interpreted the iconic local architecture in a monolithic cast concrete piece of art.
The icon is reinforced by the schematic. If the villas are charming, comfortable, deeply human, with some nice beautiful surprises, they are also a cross, the confrontation of past, present and future, local and international art.
Some people will be surprised to see an evocation of a typical Balinese house covered by street graffiti, engraved in stone, in glass, filled with silver or even gold. To make Balinese traditional artists work together with the new generation of Balinese street artists is explosive and fertile.
The Stairs does not follow any type of trend in decoration and architecture; it is self-designed, just following the beauty of the Balinese soul and the future of the next center of the world.
What is your connection to Bali?
Bali is very sentimental to me. I stayed in Bali during my very hard and long trip around the world when I was 23. It was not very easy; it was a very deep experience, with myself and with the world.
Some countries were harder than others, but Bali appeared to me like a paradise. An Eden where you can find culture, quality, respect, talent, honesty with the most divine people I ever met.
People who know the values of life, people who respect other people, people who clearly think that good is better than bad. Time has passed, and Bali is perhaps not exactly like I saw it at that time, but for me, [the] Balinese are still the most human people I ever met. It is enough reason to make a project in Bali.
A country is not a landscape, a country is the addition of all the souls of its inhabitants. The last time I came to Bali, I was so pleased to feel the same respect, excitement, respect and connection.
via bali - Google News http:// www. thejakartaglobe. com/features/great-french-designer-shifts-his-focus-to-bali/
Bali-Indonesia: After being pipped at the buzzer by American Chris Ward in the final seconds of last year's Rip Curl Cup, Bali's Mega Semadhi finally reaped the rewards of a Rip Curl Cup victory today, locking into a classic late afternoon Padang-Padang barrel with one minute and 40 seconds remaining to leapfrog from third place into the lead and win the 10th annual Rip Curl Cup Padang Padang.
Semadhi, a Pecatu (Bukit Peninsula) local, was absolutely ecstatic with his win in his 10th Rip Curl Cup appearance, as he was so close to tasting victory last year just to have it snatched away from him in the final seconds by California's Chris Ward.
"This win means so much to me, here at my home and in front of my family, and because of last year too", said Semadhi. "In those final minutes I was trying to be patient, thinking that if I could lose in the final minutes like last year, I could also be the one to win in the last minute too. When that last set came in I said not this one, not this one, I gotta pick the right one. And then it was like a fairly tale come true when I heard the score and that I won."
Semahdi is currently studying to be a Hindu priest, and perhaps part of his studies is about patience as today it certainly paid off for the young man. Just a couple of weeks ago he was runner up in another ASC competition at Balangan Beach, and was bested by fellow Balinese goofyfooter Raditya Rondi, who held the lead in the final today until the final minutes.
Putting on a very impressive performance today in his first trip to Bali and his first ever surf at Padang-Padang was runner-up, 16-year old Jacob Willcox from Margaret River in West Australia. Willcox looked very comfortable in the often intimidating lineup, winning his first round heat by taking down locals Garut Widiarta and Marlon Gerber, besting Rizal Tandjung and Dede Suryana in the quarterfinals, and then Laurie Towner and Sean Peggs in the semifinals to get his Finals berth.
"This is my first time in Bali and first time to surf Padang-Padang, so I'm super stoked to come in second and happy for Mega, because he really deserved the win," said Willcox.
When asked what he thought of the wave at Padang Padang, he replied, "It's a great wave, similar to some of our barreling waves back home, so I felt at home out there. It was great to be out there with the Bali boys, they were all ripping, and it was such a close final and they were all chatting with each other and stuff. This is definitely one of my best experiences ever at a contest!"
Rip Curl SEA CEO Jeff Anderson was all smiles after the trophy presentation, saying, "We had to get tough some heats during round one, but from there it just got better and better. Mega has been in every contest...every single contest we've had at Padang-Padang. I talked to him after he won his semifinal heat and told him 'Mega, this is your year, you're going to win it this year,' I just had the feeling he could do it. He did have a bit of a struggle in the final, but that last wave came and it was magic. The whole crowd was behind him, it was just perfect! I couldn't be happier!"
The Rip Curl Cup has a longstanding tradition of running in only the best waves with the best tuberiders in the world, which at a wave like Padang Padang requires a lot of patience. Today was day 42 of the 45-day waiting period, and though there were lots of nay-sayers at the start of today's event, by the end of the day Padang Padang proved on again that it could deliver the goods and retain its stature as Bali's most sought after barrel riding experience.
A quality field of 32 barrel-riding specialist invitees from Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, USA, Hawaii, Brazil and Indonesia arrived at Padang Padang beach this morning at daybreak to vie for the honor and privilege of hoisting the coveted Rip Curl Cup and having their name inscribed on it with the previous event champions.
2013 Rip Curl Cup Championship Final Results
1. Mega Semadhi (IND) 16.45 points
2. Jacob Willcox (AUS) 14.90 points
3. Raditya Rondi (IND) 14.90 points
4. Alik Rudiarta (IND) 11.90 points
via bali - Google News http:// www.surf. co . nz/news/world-news/2013/8/3398-balis-mega-semadhi-wins-10th-annual-rip-curl-cup-c