Also called Taman Werdi Budaya, the Art Center is on Jl. Nusa Indah in Abiankapas, a suburb of Denpasar in the direction of Sanur, only a 15-minute walk east of Kereneng station. Set in a restful garden with lotus ponds amid richly carved baroque Balinese buildings, the Taman Werdi Budaya houses exhibits of modern painting, masks, and woodcarving. Both Balinese and Indonesian artists are featured. You'll find a car park, museum, and small, fixed-price handicraft shops.
Visitors can view dance and music rehearsals in two open-air amphitheaters with modern lighting. Dances are also regularly staged for the public, including works incorporating modern Balinese choreography. In the kecak performance, staged each night 1830-1930 (Rp5000), traditional flickering oil lamps are still used. Eerie and powerful.
The Art Center also hosts a summer art festival each year from mid-June to mid-July, with competitions for costumes, dance, drama, sendratari performances, music, woodcarving, metalworking, and food. Every year is different, with each of Bali's regencies sending its best teams. Also see art events, crafts exhibits, and an extravagant production of the Ramayana Ballet. If it's the high season, be sure to book your hotel in advance. These entertaining and exciting cultural shows draw tens of thousands of visitors from around the world.
The Balinese Art Development Center Program, Jl. Bayusuta (in the Art Center), is open 0800-1700 daily except Monday. This tertiary-level institute offers work on the undergraduate through master's degree levels. Besides staging dances, plays, and pop concerts, it houses permanent exhibits offering handicrafts, paintings, carvings, and silver. Student discounts available.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
The Art Center
Jagatnatha Temple
Just east of the big alun-alun on Jl. Mayor Wishnu, next to the museum, is a Hindu temple, Jagatnatha Temple, built in 1953. In the afternoon, people from the surrounding kampung come here to pray; the temple's especially busy during the full moon. On a towered throne of white coral sits a bright, gold statue of Ida Batara Sanghyang Widhi in his typical pose. This is the supreme god of Balinese Hinduism. The padmasana rests on the back of the sacred turtle, clasped by two naga on plinths carved with scenes from the Mahabharata and Ramayana. The central courtyard is surrounded by a moat containing gigantic carp.
Bus Ticket Information
Ubung Station
Jl. Cokroaminoto Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 427172
Bus AKAS
Jl. Narakusuma Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 232251
Gunung Harta
Jl. Diponogoro No. 53 Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 232302
Kramat Jati
Jl. Diponogoro No. 1 Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 235383
Lorena
Jl. Diponogoro Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 235010
Safari Dharma Raya
Jl. Diponogoro no. 1 Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 236901
Simpatik Bus
Jl. Diponogoro Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 229187
Post Offices
Central Post Office
Jl. Raya Puputan Renon Denpasar 80235
Phone: (0361) 223565
Sanur Post Office
Br. Taman Sanur Denpasar 80227
Kuta Post Office
Jl. Raya Tuban, Kuta-Badung 80361
Branchers
Jl. Kamboja (front of Kreneng- Market) Denpasar
Jl. Teuku Umar denpasar (front of Kimia Farma Chemist)
Monday, March 5, 2007
Public Phone Services
General Information
Phone:108
Interlocal Information
Phone:106
International Connection
Phone:101
Interlocal Connection
Phone:100
Post Service Information
Phone:161
Imigration Office
Niti Mandala Renon Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 227828
Airport Ngurah Rai Tuban
Phone: (0361) 751038, 751011 Ext: 1212, 2184
General Information Service Department
Jl. Melati No. 23 Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 226781
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Police Stations
Polres Badung
Jl. Gunung Sanghyang Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 424245
Polsek Kota Denpasar
Jl. Ahmad Yani Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 225456
Sector Sanur
Jl. By Pass Ngurah Rai Sanur
Phone: (0361) 288597
Polda Bali
Jl. Seruni No. 6 Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 227711
Friday, March 2, 2007
Hospitals and Clinics in Bali
Ambulances
Phone: (0361)227911
Army Hospital
Jl. Sudirman Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 228003
Dharma Usada Clinic
Jl. Sudirman 50 Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 227560
Dharma Yadnya Hospital
Jl. WR. Supratman Tohpati Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 224729
Emergency Dental Treatment
Jl. Patimura 19 Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 222445, 226445
Emergency Unit Ambulances Service
Sanglah Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 227911, 226035
Graha Usada Surgery Special Hospital
Jl. Cokroaminoto 30 Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 423467, 426492
Manuaba Clinics
Jl. HOS. Cokroaminoto 28 Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 226393
Red Cross Ambulance
Jl. Imam Bonjol Denpasar
Phone: 118
Sanglah Public Hospital
Jl. Kesehatan Selatan 1 Sanglah - Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 227911
Surya Husada Clinical
Jl. Pulau Serangan 1-3 Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 233786, 233787
Wangaya Hospital
Jl. Kartini Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 222141
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Consulates in Bali
Consulates Office in Bali
Australia, Canada, New Zaeland, Britain
Jl. Prof. Moh. Yamin No. 1 Renon Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 235092, 235093, Fax: (0361) 231990
France
Jl. By Pass Ngurah Rai No. 35 Sanur
Phone: (0361) 285485 Fax. (0361) 285485
Germany
Jl. Pantai Karang 17 Sanur
Phone: 288535 Fax. (0361) 2888826
Italy
Jl. By Pass Ngurah Rai 126 G
Phone: (0361) 227628 Fax: (0361) 289743
Japan
Jl. Raya Puputan Renon Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 227628 Fax. (0361) 231038
Mexico
Jl. Moh. Yamin No. 1 Renon- Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 223266
Netherlands
Jl. Imam Bonjol No 599 Kuta
Norway and Denmark
Jl. Jaya Giri Block VIII/No. 10 Denpasar
Phone: (0361) 235098, 233053 Fax. 234834,238013
Spain
Hotel Melia Bali, Nusa Dua
Phone: 771510, Ext: 88078
Sweden And Finland
Hotel Segara Village Sanur
Jl. Segara Ayu Sanur
Phone: (0361) 288407
Switzerland Et Austria
Jl. Pura Bagus Taruna Legian Kaja P.O. Box 2035 Kuta
Phone: (0361) 751735 Fax. (0361) 754457
USA
Jl. Hayam Wuruk No. 188
Phone: (0361) 223605, 222462
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Immigration
The Department of Justice and Human Rights has officially determined that as of 1 February 2004:
1.The Free Visa Facility (length of stay max. 30 days) will be issued to citizens of the following countries: Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Macao, Morocco, Chile, Peru.
2.The Visa-on-Arrival Facility (length of stay max. 30 days) will be issued to citizens of the following countries: Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, United States.
3.Citizens of countries not stated above are required to apply for a visa at the Indonesian Embassy/Consulate in their country of domicile.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
How To Access bali
Flights
Bali can easily be reached by air and now there are eleven International Airlines running scheduled direct flights from Europe, America, Australia, and most Asian Countries to Ngurah Rai Airport. Destination to Bali will be Denpasar (DPS) instead of Bali. Domestic flights are also available to and from major cities within Indonesia.
Sea
Regular passenger ferries from Java and Lombok.
International Cruise ship anchored in Benoa--south of Denpasar--and for larger and luxury cruiseship used to stop of at PadangBai.
Overland
Overland trip to Bali can be done by car from Java. Regular ferry service connecting Gilimanuk and Java for 24 hours.
Passports and Visas
The Department of Justice and Human Rights has officially determined that as of 1 February 2004 :
1. The Free Visa Facility (length of stay max 30 days) will be issued to citizens of the following countries: Brunei, Malaysia,Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Macao, Morocco, Chile, and Peru.
2. The Visa-on-Arrival Facility (length of stay max. 30 days) will be issued to citizens of the
following countries: Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, and the United States.
3. Citizens of countries not stated above are required to apply for a visa at the Indonesian Embassy/Consulate in their country of domicile.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Smart Tips
Here are several simple but useful tips that can make your holiday in Bali goes smooth and more enjoyable. It is simple but if you failed to adhere it may ruin your exciting holiday.
Do :
- Reconfirm your outbound flight.
- Drink a lot of bottled water as you may dehydrated easily.
- Leave your important documents in your hotel safe and wandering around with the copies.
- Shop around when intending to change money as the rate may vary, check whether the commission added or not.
- Show your respect by wearing sarong when entering temple.
Don't :
- Stepping on offerings in the street.
- Honking if a caught behind the slow pace of processions.
- Attempt to swim outside designated areas on the beach.
- Deal in or do drugs. The death penalty is await.
- Touch people's heads even children as it considers offensive.
- Enter temple during menstruation.
- Use your left hand in sacking or handing over something to someone as it is consider impolite. If there is no other option then express your apology.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Bali community
The Village
The capitals of the princes' districts, the seats of the regencies, are commercialized half-European, half-Chinese towns like Denpasar and Buleleng; but the true life of Bali is concentrated in thousands of villages and hamlets. With their thatched roofs they lie buried under awnings of tropical vegetation, the groves and gardens that provide for the needs of the villagers. Out of the chartreuse sea of ricefields they surge like dark green islands of tall palms, breadfruit, mango, papaya, and banana trees.
Underneath the cool darkness, pierced only by the shafts of sunlight that sift through the mesh of leaves, are the houses hidden from view by interminable mud walls that are broken at regular intervals by long narrow gates. All the gates are alike: two mud pillars supporting a small roof of thick thatch, giving access to each household by a raised doorstep of rough stones. In front of every gate is a stone bridge, or, simpler still, a section of coconut tree trunk to ford the deep irrigation ditch that runs invariably along both sides of the road.
A simple village consists of family compounds, each completely surrounded by walls, lined on each side of a wide well built avenue that runs in the direction of the cardinal points; from the mountain to the sea, the Balinese equivalent to our " north and " south." The villages grew as they spread in these directions, and the Dutch bad only to pave the main streets and extend them through the rice fields to obtain the five hundred mile net of automobile roads that covers this small island.
The Balinese, being still essentially pedestrians, took good care to shade the roads with large trees, and every morning and every evening one sees the people in the streets, men going to work, nonchalantly beating rhythms on their agricultural implements, or returning from the fields overloaded with sheaves of rice heavy with grain. Poised women come and go with great loads or shin black clay pots on their beads. If it happens to be market day in the village, at dawn the roads are crowded with husky people from the nearby villages who come to sell their produce - piles of coconuts, bananas, or vegetables, pottery, mats, baskets, and forth - carrying on their beads even the table that serves as stand. If there is a feast in the village temple, the people parade in yellow, green, and magenta silks with fantastic pyramids fruit and flowers, offerings to the gods, in a pageant that you have made Diaghilev turn green with envy.
Naked children play at the gates by the bell-shaped bask where the fighting cocks are kept. Each morning the baskets a', lined out on the street so that the roosters may enjoy the spectacle of people passing by. Small boys wearing only oversize sun-hat drive the enormous water-buffaloes, which in Bali appear in colours, a dark muddy grey, and a pale, almost transparent pink albino variety. A water-buffalo will not hesitate to attack tiger; their ponderous calm and their gigantic horns are awe inspiring to Europeans, who have been told that their evening bath. the buffaloes. They have often charged white people for no apparent reason, although the smallest Balinese boy can man handle the great beasts. They love to lie in the water and be scrubbed by their little guardians, who climb all over them and bang from their horns when they take them for their evening bath. The buffalo tolerates the children perhaps as a rhinoceros tolerates the birds that eat the ticks on its back.
The Balinese raise a fine breed of cattle, a beautiful variety of cow, with delicate legs and a long neck, that resembles overgrown deer more than ordinary cows. Ducks are driven in flocks to the rice fields, where they feed on all sorts of small water animals. Their guardian is a boy or an old man who leads them with a little banner of white cloth on the end of a bamboo pole topped by a bunch of white feathers. This he plants on the ground and be can then go away for the rest of the day, sure that his ducks will not wander away. At sundown the trained ducks gather around the flag waiting to be taken home. When the duck guardian arrives, the flock is all together, and at a signal from the flag, they march home, straight as penguins and in perfect military formation.
All Balinese domestic animals are rather extraordinary; chickens are killed constantly by rushing automobiles, but their owners make no provision to keep them from the road except the low bamboo fence that bars the house gate, and that is intended, perhaps, more for the pigs, which in Bali belong to a monstrous variety that surely exists nowhere else. The Balinese pig, an untamed descendant of the wild bog, has an absurd sagging back and a fat stomach that drags on the ground like a heavy bag suspended loosely from its bony hips and shoulders.
The roads are particularly infested with miserable dogs, the scavengers of the island. Most dogs are attached to the house they protect and keep clean of garbage, but they reproduce unchecked and there are thousands of homeless living skeletons, covered with ulcers and mange, that bark and wail all night in great choruses. The Balinese are not disturbed by them and peacefully through the hideous noise. The curs are suppose frighten away witches and evil spirits, but I could never disco bow our neighbours knew when it was an ordinary mortal not a devil that the dogs barked at; they always awoke when stranger came into the house at night. Such dogs were undoubtedly provided by the gods to keep Bali from perfection.
The Balinese make a clear differentiation e dwelling-grounds and the " unlived " parts of the village, for public use such as the temples, assembly halls, market, cemeteries, public baths. The village is a unified organism in every individual is a corpuscle and every institution and organ. The heart of the village is the central square, invariably located in the " center " of the village, the intersection of the two-A avenues: the big road that runs from the Balinese " , South " and a street that cuts it at right angles from " east west " Consequently the crossroads are the center of a Rose Winds formed by the entire village; the cardinal dir mean a great deal to the Balinese and the crossroads are a spot of great importance.
All around and in the square are the important public. places of the village; the town temple (pura desa) , with its assembly (bale agung) , the palace Of the local feudal prince , the market, the large shed for cockfights (wantilan) , and the tall and often elaborate tower where hang the alarm tomtoms (kulkul) to call to meetings, announce events, or warn of dangers. Also important to the village life is the ever present waringin , a giant banyan, the sacred tree of the Hindus, planted in the square. Under its shadow take place the shows and dances given in connection with the frequent festivals; market is also held there in villages that do not have a special market enclosure. In ancient villages the waringin grows to a giant size, shading the entire square and dripping aerial roots that, unless clipped before they reached the ground, would grow into trunks that unchecked might swallow up a village. A beautiful village waringin is an enormous rounded dome of shiny leaves supported by a mossy, gnarled single trunk hung with a curtain of tentacles that are cut evenly at the height of a man; but in the waringins that have grown freely outside the village, the tree spreads in every direction in fantastic shapes. The aerial filaments dig into the earth and grow into whitish trunks and branches emerging at illogical angles and filled with parasite ferns, a dreamlike forest that is in reality a single tree.
Somewhere in the outskirts of the village are the public bath and the cemetery, a neglected field overgrown with weeds and decaying bamboo altars, with its temple of the Dead and its mournful kepuh tree, a sad and eerie place. The bathing-place is generally a cool spot shaded by clusters of bamboo in the river that runs near the village, where all day long men and women bathe in the brown water in separate modest groups. Some villages have special bathing-places with fancy water-spouts and low walls of carved stone, with separate compartments for men and women. Tedjakula in North Bali is famous for its horse bath, a special compartment that is larger and even more elaborate than the baths for the people.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Bali Airlines
Bali's International Airport is actually located in Tuban - Kuta but is listed with the airlines under the islands capital city's name Denpasar or DPS. There are a number of major airlines that service Bali.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Kelungkung City
Geographically, the Province of Bali is located 80-30'-40" to 80-50'-48" south of the Equator and 1140-25'-53" to 1150-42'-40" east longitude.
The relief and topography of Bali have their main features of a mountain range that transverse the island from West to East. Among those mountains are two of significant sizes: the volcanoes of Gunung Agung ( 3.140 m ) and Gunung Batur (1.717 m).
As well as these features, Bali also has four lakes: Lake Beratan (375,6 Ha), Lake Buyan (336 Ha), Lake Tamblingan (11 Ha) and Lake Batur (1.607,5). Rivers, which have their sources on these lakes as well as forests, flow to the southern side of the island. Such rivers are; Unda, Petanu, Ayung, Pulukan, Loloan and many others.
Because of its location, Bali has a tropical climate, which is influenced by seasonal wind pattern and alternate every six months. There are two seasons: the dry season from April to October and the rainy season from October to April. With such climate, Bali is in inhibited by variety of tropical flora and fauna.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Bali People & Culture
In religion, the prehistoric influences, especially those of the megalithic periods were still quite strong. Beliefs at that time were focused on worship of the spirit of the ancestors which was symbolized in the form of temples which was called pyramid terraces or terraced buildings. Sometimes at the top of the building a menhir was placed, i.e. a monolith column as the symbol of their ancestor's spirit.
During the Hindu period, menhir could be seen in the construction of the temples which looked similar to the terraced pundan. Belief in the gods of the mountains, the sea etc, originated from the period before the arrival of Hinduism, was still reflected in the lives of people after the Hindu religion came in. At the beginning and during the period of King Sri Wijaya Mahadewi, the religion practiced is not mentioned. We know only the names of the priests who bore the name Siwa, such as Piwakangsita Siwa, biksu Siwanirmala and biksu Siwaprajna.
Based on that, the religion that developed at the time was the Siwa religion. Only during the period of King Udayana and his queen, there were two large religions practiced by the people, i.e. the Siwa religion and the Buddha religion. This information was obtained from the charters which mentioned mpungku Sewasogata (Siwa-Buddha) as the king's assistant.
Rembang, The Master of Bungbang, UNESCO Acknowledges Him
Simple, friendly and not talk too much are the first impression of Mr. I Nyoman Rembang. He is the traditional musician's maestro in Bali and is the maestro of Balinese gamelan (Bali's traditional musicals) and the master of Javanese traditional musical instruments.
In his retirement at his home in Banjar Tengah, Sesetan Village, southern part of Denpasar, he enjoys his life happily with his family. "People never used to think in terms of age," he always says to the young generations. Playing traditional Balinese instruments and often blowing his suling (bamboo flute), are the ways he loves to spend his time, beside receiving guests (his term to people who visit him to learn or discuss about Balinese arts). Sometimes, he writes books about traditional music, too.
Always supporting younger generations to learn and develop Balinese Instruments, he is busy giving advice or teaching Balinese traditional musical groups, not only in his Banjar but also around Denpasar and Bandung. It is this determination that keeps him busy. "Getting old is one thing, but doing nothing is another thing entirely". Rembang was quoted by Bali Echo as saying. "I do not just play wherever I'm asked to. As an artist, we refuse to be considered cheap or easy. It's part of our responsibility to educate people to have respect for artists everywhere, and to pay the accordingly."
I Nyoman Rembang, The Maestro, never had a formal education, simply five years in primary school. But since his earliest memory he had a desire to learn to play the gamelan. For his first lesson, he joined the local Gambuh group in his village. At seven he was already playing gender (melancholy music to follow leather puppet show and tooth filing ceremony). At eight he began to learn to play the gamelan legong from many teachers around Badung.
In his teenage, Rembang was the most accomplished musician in Bali. It made the Bali Government offer him a job to teach the Balinese Gamelan at the Surakarta Conservatorium in Central Java. His talent and hearts desire made it easy to also master the Javanese gamelan under RM Yudoprawiro, a nobleman from Surakarta Palace.
In 1960, with the former Bali's second governor, Ida Bagus Mantra, he pioneered the establishment of the Balinese Conservatorium. Because of his lack of formal education, he refused the position of Head Lecturer at the Conservatorium, and Mantra took the place for a year. In 1963, Rembang resigned from the Surakarta Conservatorium and concentrated in Bali.
After finishing as a teacher at Denpasar's School of Arts, he created The Bungbang gamelan, a traditional instrument made from lengths of bamboo which can produce a certain tone based on it length. To play this gamelan at least 32 musicians are required and harmonises with suling (bambo's flutes).
As Nyoman Rembang explains, "Bungbang can be interpreted as bungbung nembang (singing bungbung), but some friends interpret it as bungbungnya Rembang (Rembang's bungbung)." Rembang explains the meaning of his creation.
"Nowdays, Bungbang is not only played locally, but some countries have already imported it. Recently, I sent one over to the States." Rembang said proudly.
And with this instrument, Rembang has received national awards. Earlier this year he was awarded by UNESCO for his invention of the Bungbang, a kind of bamboo xylophone. And the Bungbang itself, has been played with other percussion instruments from around the world to commemorate the last New Year's Eve in Samuan Tiga, Ubud.
