A recent report in the Telegraph out of the United Kingdom says that Thailand, Bali and Malaysia ranked highest as "best value" destinations for Winter holidays, offering "significantly better" value than the traditional U.K. Winter getaway of the Caribbean.
Based on a survey of holiday destinations conducted by the U.K. Postal Service, the Holiday Costs Barometers indexed the price of nine "essential" holiday purchases ranging from cup of coffee, suncream, a postcard and stamp, and a three-course evening meal.
The cost of the nine items in Thailand totaled £38.13 (US$60.80); in Penang, Malaysia £ 50.25 (US$80.13) and in Bali just £46.89 (US$74.77). Nearby Australia proved to be considerably more expensive at £104.95 (US$167.35).
Sarah Munro, Head of travel at the U.K. Post Office said: "When it comes to both cost and value for money, Thailand, Bali and Malaysia are the top three hotspots this winter. Not only are they the cheapest in our survey of living costs but great deals on package holidays are on offer, too."
Destinations, such as Bali, which are generally priced in U.S. dollars also benefited from a strong U.K. Poung against the dollar. In the past six months, sterling gained 21% against the dollar.
To read the entire article: [Far East Provides Best Value for Winter Sun]

One of the aims of the Global Citizenship Program at Bali International School is to challenge students to participate in new activities that bring benefit to both the general community and provide a personally broadening experience to the students themselves. The BIS Habitat Project is a glowing example of these principles at work.
Members of the Bali International School Habitat Group recently completed a house building project in northwest Bali. The group, formed in 2009, has as its ongoing mission the aim of supporting Habitat for Humanity goals of providing quality, affordable housing to low-income families. To this end, the group raised nearly Rp. 10 million (US$1,000) by holding raffles, evening gathering, donations, and cookie and doughnut sales.
With funds raised, 11 students, grades 11 and 12, joined two of their teachers in a hands-on home-building project. Joining Habitat for Humanity Indonesia and with support the Bali-based charity Dinari, the group undertook two projects in the village of Melaya, located between Negara and Gilimanuk in west Bali.
Kawangi Forsyth, Natasha Berting, Kelly Bencheghib, Josh Collins, Eugene Bioleau and Darwin Smith joined efforts to work on the home of I Komang Dendra, a village blacksmith, and his wife Ni Made Rini, a farmer. The couple, who share their home with a large group of children and grandchildren, joined the construction effort to replace their crumbling wooded structure with a brick house. Three month's work have resulted in the construction of foundations and structural pillars. An additional four months will see the home completed and the Balinese family moved into their new house.
Also in the same village, the project has help a local laborer, I Komang Sidiya Yasa, and his family add a septic system to their small house built with the help of Habitat for Humanity.
Shiori Harada, Nakita Haritos, Alizee Barth, Pico Muenzesheimer, Cosmo Cochrane, Nyima Casellini, and Tamara Czaban packed brick, cut rebar, bent constructed supports, mixed concrete and dug earth creating a 1.7 meter deep hole for a concrete septic system.
The BIS Habitat team is interested in building more homes for Balinese residents and is seeking contributions from the community to achieve that goal.

Bali's Governor, Made Mangku Pastika, is calling on Bali hotels to begin converting salt water into fresh water as a means of alleviating the growing water crisis on the island.
As reported by beritabali.com, the governor said Bali must exploit new technologies as hotels need to begin desalinating water in order to avoid further depletion of precious ground water reserves. Pastika cautioned that ground water stocks are needed to preserve Bali's delicate eco-system.
Pastika said: "The proof is that other countries can do it. We must slowly have large seaside hotels (in Bali) allocate funds to convert sea water to fresh water."
As a means to discourage the rampant use of ground water reserves, the government of Bali recently increased dramatically the tax charged to residences and businesses sinking their own water wells.
Certain areas of Bali, such as Kuta and Sanur, are showing alarming levels of sea water intrusion into ground water supplies due to the over-exploitation of fresh water wells.
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[Bali's Coming Clean Water Crisis]

Beritabali.com reports that 44 "Melati" or "tourist class" recently failed to earn security and safety certificates issued by the government of Bali. The certificates are issued after visits and review by a team of officials from various departments of the island's government.
From a total of 60 Melati Class hotels examined, only 16 hotels earned certification. Moreover, from the 16 hotels none qualified for the highest "gold" level of certification, while 2 earned "silver" certificates and the remaining 14 "bronze."
According to the Chief of Tours for Denpasar, Putu Budiasa, the main cause for the failure among the 44 hotels who failed to earn certification was a non-professional "family style" management and minimum levels of security personnel and equipment in place at the subject hotels.
Budiasa told the press that 179 Melati class hotels have been reviewed, of which 91 have earned certification.
Budiasa said that those Melati class hotels failing to meet safety and security standards will be given training and education to allow them to eventually embrace and meet established standards.
The review and certification of safety and security at Melati Class hotels took place during the months of August and September 2009 and involved a combined team from the Denpasar police headquarters, community action agencies, disaster relief specialists, health officials, tourism officials and representatives from the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI).

After a massive nationwide manhunt lasting one week, Bali police have arrested a man suspected of murdering a 33-year-old Japanese female Rika Sano.
Sano's decomposing and battered remains were found on Monday, September 28, 2009, in an empty field on Jalan Mertanadi in Kuta, near the Oleh Oleh Kampoeng Bali store.
The man arrested for the murder, identified by police as David Goltar Wicaksono, was apprehended at a hideaway in Malang, East Java. Police traced the crime to the 26-year-old man, a native of Bandung, West Java, via a MP4 player found at the same location of the dead woman's body. Authorities say the electronic device was owned by the accused and purportedly dropped in a struggle with the Japanese woman. With the help of the cyber-crime unit a picture of the man was found that matched descriptions provided by witnesses of a man with whom Sano left her Kuta hotel.
The information initially led police to a local boarding house in the Pemogan sub-district of Denpasar where the landlord confirmed that Wicaksono had not been seen for several days. Similar efforts to trace the man to his place of employment, a cigarette distributor in Denpasar, were unsuccessful. Based on leads received at his place of residence and employment, police eventually located the man in Malang.
Wicaksono has been flown back to Bali under police escort.
The Crime
The ill-fated Rika Sano was reported missing by her traveling companion, Mayumi Someya, on Friday, September 25, 2009. Sano's body was discovered in tall grass at the vacant lot in Kuta three days later with indications that she had been brutalized and raped prior to her death.
Sano was last seen on the Friday, leaving her hotel with a man, now believed to be Wicaksono, who told hotel staff that he was a plain-clothes officer assigned to the Bali Police.

The Bali Chapter of the Indonesian Association of Travel Agents (ASITA) has expressed it doubts that the targeted 1.8 million foreign visitors to Bali will be achieve in the current year, citing the global financial crisis and the series of natural disasters plaguing the Asia-Pacific as major impediments.
The Chairman of Bali's ASITA Chapter, Al Purwa, told beritabali.com that the recent killing of Malaysian terrorist Noordin M. Top will have little positive impact on Bali tourism. He said that many tourists still fear a visit to Bali, given the island's continuing status as a prime target for terrorist acts.
Explained Purwa: "The impact (of his shooting) will not be very significant because Noordin should have been shot five years ago, allowing him the time to train others. What's more, Bali remains a main (terrorism) target."
The ASITA Chairman predicts that tourism totals to Bali will return to normal in the first quarter or 2010. He also said that data from his organization showed Bali hotels averaging occupancies of 60% during what is now entering a "low" season for the island.
In contrast to ASITA's dour predictions and based on tourism arrivals through the end of July, balidiscovery.com recently extrapolated that total foreign arrivals to Bali might exceed 2.2 million for the year 2010. Through the end of July 2009, Bali foreign tourist arrivals had already hit 1.242 million, an increase of 11.5% over the first seven months of 2007. In order to Purwa's negative prediction of less than 1.8 million visitors for 2009 to occur, arrivals to Bali would have to plummet by a very significant degree and begin averaging around 111,000 visitors each month through the end of the year; a drop of 54% in arrivals for the remaining 5 months of 2009.
Related Article
[Bali to Exceed 2 Million Foreign Visitors in 2009?]

Bali Hai Cruises in cooperation with Kurmah Asih's Turtle Adoption and Conservation Program recently released more than 1,000 turtle hatchlings on Pranjak Beach in west Bali.
Turtle eggs collected by fishermen from beaches where they would not have survived left unattended were brought to Kurmah Asih's turtle hatchery where the fishermen were rewarded for their efforts. At the hatchery careful care of the incubating turtles and neo-natal care for the hatchlings is provided by a group of workers and scientists.
Funded by Bali Hai Cruises, the operators of a number of popular day-cruise products, and from contributions from guests - the money is used to pay fishermen who gather the eggs and provide salaries for workers at the turtle hatchery. All data concerning collections, hatchings and re-release into the oceans is carefully recorded for analysis by Conservation International.
Once the baby turtles are released back into the sea, they face a challenging journey of 20 years before they return to the shore to lay their first batch of eggs.
Encouraging signs have been found in the form of modest increases in the number of turtles returning to shore to lay their eggs. This is especially heartening given the threats of fishing nets, climate change and the pollution of our oceans with which the turtles must contend.
If you would like to learn more about the turtle release program or participate in a "turtle release cruise" contact Bali Hai Cruises at telephone +62-(0)361-720 331.
Book a [Bali Hai Lembongan Island Beach Club Cruise]

As part of the 3-day Maha Bandana commemoration of mass ritual suicide (Puputan) before Dutch troops that took place in downtown Denpasar in 1906, the Mekar Bhuana gamelan orchestra has been asked to present a public concert at Puputan Square on Thursday, October 8, 2009 at 5:00 p.m..
The gamelan performance will precede a late afternoon parade marking the sacred Puputan and will showcase two different original styles from Denpasar: Banjar Pagan Kelod and Banjar Titih.
Seldom heard and almost extinct from Bali's cultural memory, the performance has been lovingly reconstructed based upon oldest known recordings of semar pegulingan.
Between Deng, Dung and Dang
Chosen for re-performance is the Tabuh Ginanti first performed by the group from Banjar Titih, a banjar located on Jalan Sumatra in Denpasar. The explosion of the kebyar style from Bali's north, saw the gamelan set used in the 1928 recording melted down in 1952. The vintage recording that inspires the coming performance is taken from is the compilation of Balinese music that originally inspired Colin McPhee to travel to Bali in the 1930s to study Balinese gamelan. The brilliant musician and musicologist was seduced by the scale of the semar pegulingan from Titih, causing McPhee to comment: "It is a scale of indescribably tonal beauty, remarkable for the unusual minor third occurring between deng and dung and the resulting near major second found between dung and dang."
Painstakingly notated from the crackling old recording, the musicians of Mekar Bhuana have worked diligently to present a faithful presentation of a musical form little hear in Bali for nearly 60 years.
The special performance by Mekar Bhuana will be followed by a several dance performances.
Rare Performance of the Tabuh Gianti – a Gamelan Composition in the Banjur Titih Tradition
Performed by the Mekar Bhuana Gamelan Orchestra
Thursday, October 8, 2009 at 5:00 p.m.
Puputan Square, Renon, Denpasar, Bali.

A virtual national holiday each year in Australia, The Melbourne Cup watches that entire nation come to a standstill for the historic horse race held at Flemington Racecourse.
Run over a course of 3,200 meters for three-year-olds the annual event ranks as the most popular event in an already "sports mad" country with prize money qualify the run as one of the richest turf races in the world.
The race starts at 3 p.m. Melbourne time on the first Tuesday in November, with pre-race coverage focusing on the outlandish headgear worn to the race by its female race enthusiasts.
This Australian tradition held since 1861 will be broadcast live to the Denpasar Room of the Sanur Paradise Plaza Hotel in Bali. Gates open locally in Bali at 10:00 a.m. local time to facilitate the numerous sweeps, lucky door prizes, silent auctions and door prizes leading up to the actual race.
Admission to the event coats Rp. 450,000 (US$45) which covers the race, door prizes, a lavish buffet lunch, bubbles and/or beer on arrival. Discounts are available to those booking a table of ten.
Funds raised from the event will be given to support worthy local charitable causes.
For more information or to make an essential booking telephone ++62-(0)85935212880, ++62-(0)8123874136 or the Hotel at ++62-(0)361-281781.

Despite growing tourist arrivals to Bali, recent information released by Bank Indonesia show that the amount being spent by tourist visitors to Bali is on the decline.
Ida Bagus Viraguna Bagoes Oka who heads the Bali branch of Bank Indonesia, pointed to the changing composition of Bali visitors now dominated by Asians who stay for shorter periods and spend less on a per diem basis while holidaying in Bali.
Preliminary foreign arrival totals to Bali for August 2009 show 222,384 visitors, an increase of 18.53% over the same month in 2008 (187,584). However, more than 70% of all Bali arrivals now hail from the Asia-Pacific region that, according to Bank Indonesia, "take shorter holidays, spend less and stay in cheaper hotels."
Oka predicts that Bali's economic growth for Q3 2009 would slow to 5.6%, a decline of 0.3% from Q3 2008.
Shorter stays by oftentimes less-culturally inclined Asian visitors also results in reduced visits to the culturally-rich but more remote areas of Bali outside the island's busy south.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will recommence service between Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport and Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport, effective December 6, 2009.
KLM ceased flying to Bali on October 15, 1997, representing a service gap of more than 11 years to the popular holiday island.
The new KLM service connecting Amsterdam and Denpasar will fly three times each week. Flight KL835 will depart Amsterdam at 21:00 on Sunday arriving in Bali the following day at 20:10. The return flight, KL836, will depart from Denpasar at 21:30 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, arriving at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol at 08:00.
Flights in both direction will have an intermediate stop in Singapore and be operated with Boeing 777-300aircraft configured to carry 390 Economy and 35 Business Class passengers.

A small, dignified ceremony was held at the Australian Consulate in Denpasar on October 1 2009, to commemorate those who perished in terrorists attacks on that date at several locations in Bali in 2005.
Officiating was the Australian Consul-General in Bali, Lex Bartlem, with attendees including victim's families, the Regent of Badung Anak Agung Gde Agung, Bali's Governor Made Mangku Pastika and the Deputy Chief of Police for Bali Brig. General Ketut Adria.
20 people died and scores were seriously injured in the 2005 bombings at restaurants Jimbaran Beach and Kuta.
Quoted in the Jakarta Post, Bali's Governor said: "We are often reminded about the victims of the Bali bombings. I believe their spirits are still among us." Adding: "We should support every effort to fight terrorism. Any act of terrorism should be fought by people around the globe."
Governor Pastika also told those in attendance of the recent establishment of a Bali Crisis Center to confront any incidents in the future, including natural disaster.
The Center, together with an entire range of other steps put in place, have created a security situation in Bali determined to prevent or limit any future terrorists attacks and ensure the safety of island visitors.

A group of concerned Australians continue efforts to convert the location of the former Sari Club, destroyed by a terrorist attack on October 12, 2002, into a memorial Peace Park.
The Bali Peace Park Association was formed on September 2, 2008, with a announced goals of creating a park for spiritual reflection that will contribute to tolerance, understanding and freedom among future generation without reference to race, religion, culture or nationality.
Nick Way, one of the founders of The Bali Peace Park Association, told Beritabali.com that his group is raising funds from Australian diplomats, Australians citizens around the world and international companies in order to purchase the land and construct the proposed park.
Efforts to create the park have earned widespread support among groups in Bali, including Bali's Governor Made Mangku Pastika and one of the "local heroes" of the Bali Bombing, Haji Bambang Priyanto. Priyanto won numerous awards for organizing humantarian assistance to the dead and injured in the wake of the 2002 attack.
Priyanto told beritabali.com that the park would be a fitting tribute to the 202 who died in the terrorist attack and, over time, would become an important tourist destination within the island.
Price of Land
In a separate report carried in NusaBali, Nick Way complained that the asking price form the land present owner of Rp. 24 billion (US$240,000) for a plot of land measuring only 800 square meters was proving a significant obstacle to fund-raisers. Independent property valuation surveys conducted on the lot in 2005 suggested a price of around Rp. 8 billion (US$800,000) was more appropriate to the lot's commercial value.

Community enforcement officers have finally begun to take decisive action against Badung regency accommodation and night entertainment venues who have failed to secure required licenses and permits in support of their operations.
On Monday, September 29, 2009, authorities formally sealed and closed the 11 unit Sari Residence on Jalan Nakula in Legian, refusing to accept the owner's excuse that the property was operating for almost an entire year on a training basis pending issuance of the needed operating licenses.
The closure of the hotel, the first in a series of a number of similar shutdowns to come, was ordered by Badung's Regent A.A. Gde Agung who had reportedly wearied of numerous news reports depicting his administration as incapable of administering local zoning laws.
According to NusaBali, a number of local businesses were summoned to meetings with Badung officials and reminded that leniency was at an end and businesses without permits would be closed. The Head of the enforcement division (Satpol PP Badung), Adi Arnawa, told the press: "Not only the Sara Residence, but we have also called on the VI Ai Pi, Lanai Restaurant, Best Western Sapta Petala Hotel and Dee Jay Café."
Arnawa explained further: "The government is often forced into a corner. When, in fact, the business owners build first, operate and only then begin to organize permits. The result is that many buildings do not conform to the principle permits. This is a situation which must be addressed."
True to Their Words
A follow up report in Radar Bali confirmed that the crackdown is continuing, following the closure of the Sara Residence, the Vi Ai Pi Bar in Legian closed it doors "for maintenance" on Friday, October 2nd just hours before enforcement officers were due to close and seal the premises. Badung enforcement official Arnawa depicted the self-closure in the following terms: "They (Vi Ai Pi) already have many customers, so they decided to protect their image by closing of their own accord before they were forced to close by officials."
Radar Bali reports that the Vi Ai Pi Bar located near ground zero had posted a "Temporarily Closed for Maintenance on its entry door.
Similarly, the Lanai Restaurant, which has also been cited for not having the required licenses, voluntarily closed its doors on Saturday, October 3, 2009. Arnawa also said another bar in Legian, whose name he had forgotten, but was close to the Vi Ai Pi, had also closed.
Separate reports in NusaBali confirm the unnamed bar as Crusoes.
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[ Sara Residence in Bali - Where Rules Don't Apply]
[ Making Up the Rules as They Go Along]
[Best Western Opens in a No Hotel Zone]
[ Does the Sheriff Always Win at the Best Westerns?]

Trivia Question: Where was the very first inaugural ball for U.S. President Barack Obama held?
Answer: In Jakarta Indonesia on the evening of January 20, 2009, a full 12 hours before the "other" ball held in Washington, D.C..
Because of the special attachment felt for the then newly elected Preident who lived for five years as a young boy in Jakarta, the Jakarta Inaugural Ball was a gala affair of fine food and drink, music and fund raising for local charitable causes. Instrumental in organizing the Jakarta event were expatriates hailing from the State of Hawaii, the new President's state of birth.
As a continuance of that celebration, members of the Hawaiian community abroad in Indonesia and others gathered again on Saturday, October 3, 2009, at the Bali Hyatt Resort in Sanur, Bali for an authentic Luau. Under the careful tutelage of a group of "Hawaiians" including Metro TV Anchor Dalton Tanonaka, Jakarta restaurateur Ron Mueller and Hyatt Hotelier Ron Nomura - a large sucking pig and several turkeys were cooked in a hot stone pit and later served with Taro and a number of other Hawaiian island culinary specialties.
Highlights of the Bali Luau, in addition to the food, were a Rp. 10 million (US$1,000) donation given by the group to the Semara Putra Orphanage in Semarapura, East Bali and special delivery letter sent to the group from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C..
That letter, sent by Maya Soetoro-Ng, the Indonesian-born half-sister of President Obama, said the Bali event affirmed the existence of benevolent people who "can and will help to make Indonesia and the world stronger." Sdding, "I am very proud to have my family's name attached to the impressive generosity of all in attendance."
Extending a warm "Aloha" to those gathered on a Bali beach, Maya Soetoro-Ng closed her letter by saying: "I think that we are collectively ushering in a new era of greater giving and service that is wonderful, I send fond regards from the entire family in D.C.."

A 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck just 60 kilometers off the coast of the West Sumatran capital of Padang late on the afternoon of Wednesday, September 30, 2009. The quake's close proximity to Padang, a port city of 900,000 people, caused massive physical destruction and loss of life.
The death toll has now officially passed the 1,000 mark with as many as 3,000 people and, in some cases, entire isolated villages, remaining unaccounted for. One area, only a short distance from Padang, saw an entire hillside collapse, creating a bulldozed construction-site landscape where once was a green jungle-side community. Hospitals, offices, schools and homes were severely damaged with one estimate saying 70% of hotel rooms in Padang have been destroyed. At least one major hjotel ciollapse trapping and killing many guests and workers inside the building.
Indonesia's and the world's response to the disaster was immediate. International rescue teams flew into the affect areas with relief supplies, rescue teams and badly needed rescue dogs.
The National Disaster Management Agency estimates 83,712 homes, 200 public buildings and 285 schools have been destroyed. Over 100,000 more building suffered significant damage, at least five bridges have collapsed and many miles of local roads are destroyed.
Assisting with relief efforts has been the very open and accepting attitude of local and national officials to both domestic and international groups offering assistance.
Bali Physically Unaffected
Indonesia is a nation of tremendous breadth. The time to fly from one end of the country to the other is more than the time required to fly from Los Angeles to New York City. While the considerable size of the archipelago is lost on many people unfamiliar with Indonesia, a massive disaster in any corner of the Country leaves most areas of a nation comprised of more than 17,600 islands unscathed. People in Bali, like most parts of Indonesia, did not feel the Sumatran quake, but were no less shaken by the tragic developments unfolding on the national and international news media. And, like their fellow Indonesians, the people of Bali responded to relief appeals organized by the government, places of worship, the media, non-governmental agencies and banks providing an instant transfer facility for anyone using an ATM.
Balidiscovery.com joins the island of Bali in extending its condolences, prayer and materials support to the people of West Sumatra.
Those wishing to help alleviate the suffering of the people of West Sumatra can send donations to:
Palang Merah Indonesia – The Indonesian Red Cross
BCA KCU Thamrin
Account Number: 206.300668.8,
Account Name: Kantor Pusat PMI.
OR
Bank Mandiri KCU Jakarta Krakatau Steel
Account Number 070-00-0011601-7,
Account Name: Palang Merah Indonesia.