Thursday, April 3, 2008

Tourism of Bali Privacy Statement

Tourism of Bali Privacy Statement
What follows is the Privacy Statement for all Tourism of Bali including all the blogs run under the http://tourismofbali.blogspot.com/ domain. Please read this statement regarding our blogs. If you have questions please ask us via our email address : my.super.media[at]gmail.com

Email Addresses
You may choose to add your email address to our contact list via email on our blogs. We agree that we will never share you email with any third party and that we will remove your email at your request. We don’t currently send advertising via email, but in the future our email may contain advertisements and we may send dedicated email messages from our advertisers without revealing your email addresses to them. If you have any problem removing your email address please contact us via our email.

Ownership of Information
Tourism of Bali is the sole owner of any information collected on our websites.

Comments/Message Boards
Most Tourism of Bali Blogs contain comment sections. We do not actively monitor these comments and the information on them is for entertainment purposes only. If we are alerted to something we deem inappropriate in any way, we may delete it at our discretion. We use email validation on most of our comment sections in order to reduce “comment spam.” These email addresses will not be shared with any third party.

Cookies
Currently we assign cookies to our readers in order to save their preferences. This data is not shared with any third party. Accessing our websites is not dependent on accepting cookies and all major browsers allow you to disable cookies if you wish.

Third Party Cookies
Many of our advertisers use cookies in order to determine the number of times you have seen an advertisement. This is done to limit the number times you are shown the same advertisement. Tourism of Bali does not have access to this data.

Traffic Reports
Our industry-standard traffic reporting records IP addresses, Internet service provider information, referrer strings, browser types and the date and time pages are loaded. We use this information in the aggregate only to provide traffic statistics to advertisers and to figure out which features and editorials are most popular.

Legal proceedings
We will make every effort to preserve user privacy but Tourism of Bali may need to disclose information when required by law.

Business Transitions
If Tourism of Bali is acquired by or merges with another firm, the assets of our websites, including personal information, will likely be transferred to the new firm.

Links
Tourism of Bali blogs frequently link to other websites. We are not responsible for the content or business practices of these blogs. When you leave our blogs we encourage you to read the destination site’s privacy policy. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by Tourism of Bali.

Notification of Changes
When Tourism of Bali makes changes to this privacy policy we will post those changes here.

Contact Information
If you have any questions regarding our privacy policy, please contact us.

Best regards,
Tourism of Bali

Monday, March 26, 2007

Bali Turism Info - March 2007

Do You Know Bali Turism Info - March 2007 ?



INTERESTING PLACE

PEMECUTAN PALACE

The palace is located about 200 metres towards the west of Taman Puputan Square at Thamrin street and has become one of the palace attractions . It’s also closed to the main traditional market of Pasar Badung/Kumbasari. The Palace has a unique Balinese traditional architechture which was construsted in the 16th century. The current head of the Puri or Palace is Ida Cokorda Pemecutan. The facilities provided by the Palace as a part of the city tour programs are with traditional style, a set of traditional musical instruments (gamelan). Visits by domestic and foreign tourist are made to this Puri due to it’s the the entrance. The beautiful royal family shrines are also the attraction.

SATRIA PALACE

The palace of Satria, located about 300 metres towards the north of the Taman Puputan Square at veteran street, is one of the palace attraction of the city tour program. The large and beautiful royal family temple is used not by the members of the royal families but also by members of the community in the beighbourhood. The areas in front of the royal temple is location of the bird market (also part of the city tour program). The buildings within the palace are unique, and there is an open hall, pendopo which was formally used for meeting of the king trough out Bali.

JERO KUTA PALACE

As part from the palace of Satria and Pemecutan, the palace of Jero Kuta is planned to be a destination of city tour. It is about 300 metres from the main traditional market of Badung/Kumbasari. This place is a unique complex buildings, namely Ancak Saji, Semanggen, Ranggi, Pewaregan, Saren Raja, Saren Kangin, Paseban, Pemerajan Agung and ‘Pekandelan’ is a kind of fortress to protect the main part of the area. Jero Kuta is located at Kumbakarna street, about 100 metres from the temple of Maospahit.

KESIMAN PALACE

Puri Kesiman located is closed to Pengerebongan temple on WR. Supratman street, east of Denpasar. Like others palace, it’s has a unique Balinese building and architecture, as the place where the royal families live.

TEMPLE CEREMONIES


March 3rd 2007
“PURNAMA/FULL MOON”
Focused at Jagatnatha temple in Denpasar
Time : 07.00 pm
Lively by puppet show in front of Jagatnatha temple

  1. Pura Nataran Sasih, Pejeng – Gianyar
  2. Pura Bukit Mentik, Gunung Lebah, Batur – Kintamani

March 14th 2007

  1. Pura Dalem Tarukan, Peninjoan, Tembuku – Bangli
  2. Pura Pasek Gelgel Boading, Kaba – Kaba – Tabanan
  3. Pura Pemayun Banyuning Tengah – Buleleng
  4. Pura Desa Kahyangan Tiga, Bubunan Seririt – Buleleng
  5. Pura Agung Gunung Raung, North of Taro, Tegalalang – Gianyar
  6. Merajan Agung Tabu Salah, Patemon Seririt - Buleleng

March 16th 2007
“MELASTI”
The day of Hindhus people to do the procession of purifactory rites for the temple paraphernalia, including the pratima or holy effigy to the beach, lake, spring water or river in Balinese costumes and accompanied by gamelan.The philosophy of this particular 'Melasti' rite to Balinese is to cleanse all impure things of human as well as the universe and to take the essences of life from the ocean. Ocean is the symbol of life itself that consistently consist of happiness and sadness. Within those happiness and sadness, we can find the essence of life.

March 18th 2007
“TILEM/NEW MOON”
Focused at Jagatnatha temple in Denpasar
Time : 07.00 pm

“TAWUR AGUNG KESANGA”
Tawur Kesanga and Caru are sacrifice rituals that hold one day before the Nyepi Day. Different levels of sacrifice are held for village, district, regency and provinces by sacrificing chickens, duck, dog, goat to the biggest one cow or bull. Many kind of plants are also use as part of the offerings. By using those animal and plants on the ritual, Balinese are motivated to preserve the existence of those animal and plants.
The ceremony itself usually held in crossroad of village or village around noon. For the house compound a smaller rites also held in family temple and series of offering will be offered in the front gate of each house. The whole member of family will perform a prayer called 'mabyakala prayascita' to neutralize to bad force (bhutha) within themselves. On the same day on sunset time around 5 or 6 PM there will an event called ‘Pengrupukan’. Family member will walking around their compound bringing fire torch and make a lot of noise by kulkul (traditional bamboo bell). For village level, villagers will also held a procession with the fire torch, kulkul and at each village they made ogoh ogoh as a symbol of evil carrying around the village to neutralize the bad force / spirit (bhuta) become positive force for good of human and universe.

March 19th 2007
“NYEPI”
On the first day of the New Year after the noisy night a silence and quite day is perform. Nyepi derive from 'sepi' means silence. The activities in all over the Bali island is stopped for 24 hours. There are four mandatory religious prohibitions called Catur Brata Penyepian that should be followed by common Hindu people in Bali. The prohibitions include amati geni or no fire, amati karya or no work, amati lelanguan or no entertainment and pleasure, and amati lelungan or no travelling. These prohibitions help people to control their five earthy senses by mind and wisdom in order to increase the quality of life for the upcoming year. For people with higher spiritual ability or willing to have higher spiritual life are expected to perform further prohibitions include fasting by not eating or drinking (upawasa), stay still by not talking (monabrata), meditating by focusing the mind to the God and praying.

  1. Pura Puseh, Pura Desa - downtown Gianyar
  2. Pura Luhur Dalem Sagening, Kediri – Tabanan
  3. Merajan Pasek Gelgel, Tegal Gede – Badung
  4. Pura Sanghyang Tegal, Taro village – Tegalalang

March 20th 2007
“NGEMBAK GENI”
The anti-climax of the Nyepi day is on the following day, which is called Ngembak Geni where people share happiness by visiting their relatives and friend. The new year is started by forgiving each other and forget the hate in the past year and work together to face the challenge of the New Year. Only a simple ritual rite is performed within the house compound for this day. However, various cakes will be made to welcome the visit of relatives and friends. Other free time is sometimes filled out with leisurely walk to tourist object nearby with family or friends.

March 24st 2007
“TUMPEK WAYANG”
Tumpek wayang, a special day devoted to Sang Hyang Sangkara, the Lord of Puppeteers, when blessing ceremony is given to shadow puppet play set. In other any families have inherited puppets from an ancestor who performed them, a dalang. Of course, all dalangs have sets of them. The puppets are taken from their box, placed in position just as if an actual performance were being given and blessed by the owner. A dalang will remove all his puppets from storage - as many as 100 of them - and set them all up to receive the offerings.

  1. Pura Majapahit – Jembrana
  2. Bhatara Ratu Gede Celuk village, Sukawati – Gianyar
  3. Bhatara Ratu Widyadari at Cemenggaon, Sukawati – Gianyar
  4. Pura Panti Gelgel Pengembungan, Sesetan – South of Denpasar
  5. Bhatara Ratu Alit and Ratu Lingsir, Singakerta Ubud – Gianyar
  6. Pura Pedarman Dalem Sukawati, Pura Pedarman Mengwi, Pedarman Kaba-Kaba, Pedarman Dalem Bakas, Pura Pedarman Dinasti Dalem Sri Aji Kresna Kepakisan Besakih – Karangasem
  7. Pura Dadya Agung Pasek Gelgel, Gelgel – Klungkung
  8. Pura Pemerajan Agung Sulang, Dawan – Klungkung

March 28th 2007

  1. Pura Penataran agung Teluk Padang – Karangasem
  2. Pura Melanting, Cemenggaon Sukawati – Gianyar
  3. Pura Penataran Ped, Nusa Penida – Klungkung
  4. Pura Pasek Gelgel Pengembungan Bongkasa, Abiansemal – Badung
  5. Pura Gaduhan Jagat Singakerta village, Ubud – Gianyar
  6. Pura Masceti Tegeh Mancawarna Sanding, Tampaksiring – Gianyar
  7. Pura Penataran Batulepang, Kamasan – Klungkung
  8. Pura Paibon Pasek Gelgel Gobleg, Kedonganan village Kuta – Badung
  9. Pura Guwa, Pura Besukian, Odalan Ida Ratu Pucak Pameneh/Bukit Kiwa Tengen Penataran Agung, Besakih – Karangasem
  10. Merajan Pasek Gelgel, Pejeng – Gianyar
  11. Merajan Pasek Gelgel, Songan Kintamani – Bangli
  12. Merajan Pasek Prateka Pekandelan, Sidemen – Karangasem
  13. Merajan Pasek Prateka Taman Sari Sukasada – Buleleng
  14. Pura Dadia Pasek Gelgel, Dukuh village, Sidemen – Karangasem
  15. Merajan Kawitan Jero Wanayu, Bedulu Blahbatuh – Gianyar
  16. Pura Jati, Ubud – Gianyar
  17. Pura Melanting, Ubud – Gianyar
  18. Pura Dalem Peed, Nusa Penida – Klungkung

March 31st 2007

  1. Pura Jati, Batur Kintamani – Bangli

SPECIAL EVENTS

OGOH OGOH PARADE
Ogoh-Ogoh, has a form of a giant monster doll, in the form of demon characters as symbol of evil (bhuta). The doll mainly made of bamboo and cement sacks. Before the procession, a ceremony is perform to invite spirits occupy the Ogoh-Ogoh and after the procession another ceremony is held to neutralize the spirits by symbolically burn or actually burn the Ogoh-ogoh. This spirit is believed as spirit of evil (bhuta) that may become the disturbance for human and the universe and they will be always part of human and universe. The purpose of the overall ceremony that held on this day are to neutralize the bad force / spirit (bhuta) so it is not any longer becomes disturbance but instead become positive force for the good of human and universe. In some case or depend on thecondition and regent decision Ogoh-Ogoh may not be made, but based on religious point of view, the priests ensure that the non-existing of Ogoh-Ogoh will not decrease the essential meaning of the Nyepi celebration.

MED - MEDAN CEREMONY

It was tradition a day after Nyepi, it’s call Ngembak Geni when a member of this Banjar took place special ritual called Med Medan. It’s place at Banjar Kaja, Desa Adat Sesetan, located in Jalan Raya Sesetan after Jalan Diponegoro about 03.00 pm in the afternoon. The ritual commences by dividing the youths by gender into two opposing lines, where the boys eagerly wait on the northern, and the girls timidly line up in the southern, parts of the street. A referee will signal the start the game where each group gets close to pull each other, until the boys kiss the girls on the cheek. A traditional baleganjur orchestra, with harsh but melodious sounds, will accompany the ritual to encourage the spirit of each of the participants. Other members of the crowd pour water onto the ‘kissers’ to make the ‘war’ come alive. If the kissing continues, more water is poured, supposedly to discourage them, before starting with another round. Hundreds of people as well as tourists usually watch this interesting ritual. Based on eastern culture, kissing in public is considered taboo, but in Banjar Kaja Sesetan, Southern part of Denpasar it becomes a festival, called med-medan, that is held annually and can be seen by the public.
What is behind this festival? Based on the people in this banjar, the aim is to protect the village from any unexpected thing. Arya Jimbaran, banjar's figure, say that one year they did not perform the festival resulting in two big pigs fighting one another to the death in the place where the festival was normally held. Nobody can separate them. Since that day, the festival is always held annually in this village. It is now famous, as many people want to see it. Only if you are a member of the Banjar Kaja Sesetan you can join the festival.

TERUNA TERUNI DENPASAR 2007 BEAUTY PEAGENT

Denpasar is the city wit a cultural-based consept. To maintain the features as such cultural city, it annual organizes the selection of Teruna Teruni Denpasar 2007Beauty Pageant. They are youngsters of Denpasar who have mastered on good personality, modest, friendly, easy going, the aspirant should also have a special skill in the domaint of Balinese art and culture for instance majejahitan (making various oblations), presenting Balinese dance, chanting the Hindu hymn, singing and while perspective on tourism in Bali and Denpasar for especially, should be capable of speaking Balinese language correctly, other than Bahasa Indonesia and English. All of this reqirements will neededbecouse they become the tourist ambassadors of Denpasar and frequently receive invitations from their counter parts outside Bali, and invite them come to visits Denpasar, hopelly can spread out the information on the tourist object in Denpasar. The Grandfinal election of Teruna Teruni Denpasar 2007 Beauty Pageant will be hold on March 30’ 2007.

Further information :
Denpasar Government Tourism Office
Jl. Surapati No.7 Denpasar
Phone : (0361) 234569, 231422; fax : (0361) 223602

History of Bali

Bali is an Indonesian island located at 8°25′23″S, 115°14′55″ECoordinates: 8°25′23″S, 115°14′55″E, the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. It is one of the country's 33 provinces with the provincial capital at Denpasar towards the south of the island. The island is home to the vast majority of Indonesia's small Hindu minority. It is also the largest tourist destination in the country and is renowned for its highly developed arts, including dance, sculpture, painting, leather, metalworking and music.


Bali has been inhabited since early prehistoric times firstly by descendants of a prehistoric race who migrated through mainland Asia to the Indonesian archipelago, thought to have first settled in Bali around 3000 BC. Stone tools dating from this time have been found near the village of Cekik in the island's west.

The end of the prehistoric period in Indonesia was marked by the arrival of Hindu people from India around 100 BC as determined by Brahmi inscriptions on potsherds. The name Balidwipa has been discovered from various inscriptions, including the Blanjong charter issued by Sri Kesari Warmadewa in 913 AD and mentioning Walidwipa. It was during this time that the complex irrigation system subak was developed to grow rice. Some religious and cultural traditions still in existence today can be traced back to this period. The Hindu Majapahit Empire (1293–1520 AD) on eastern Java founded a Balinese colony in 1343. When the empire declined, there was an exodus of intellectuals, artists, priests and musicians from Java to Bali in the 15th century.

The First European contact with Bali is thought to have been when Dutch explorer Cornelis de Houtman arrived in 1597, though a Portuguese ship had foundered off the Bukit Peninsula as early as 1585. Dutch rule over Bali came later, was more aggressively fought for, and they were never ultimately able to establish themselves as they had in other parts of Indonesia such as Java and Maluku.

In the 1840s, a presence in Bali was established, firstly in the island's north, by playing off various distrustful Balinese realms against each other. The Dutch mounted large naval and ground assaults first against the Sanur region and then Denpasar. The Balinese were hopelessly overwhelmed in number and armament, but rather than face the humiliation of surrender, they mounted a final defensive but suicidal assault, or puputan. Despite Dutch pleas for surrender, an estimated 4,000 Balinese marched to their death against the invaders. Afterwards the Dutch governors exercised little influence over the island, generally allowing local control over religion and culture to remain intact.

Japan occupied Bali during World War II during which time a Balinese military officer, Gusti Ngurah Rai, formed a Balinese 'freedom army'. Following Japan's Pacific surrender in August 1945, the Dutch promptly returned to Indonesia, including Bali, immediately to reinstate their pre-war colonial administration. This was resisted by the Balinese rebels now using Japanese weapons.

On 20 November 1946, the Battle of Marga was fought in Tabanan in central Bali. Colonel I Gusti Ngurah Rai, 29 years old, finally rallied his forces in east Bali at Marga Rana, where they made a suicide attack on the heavily armed Dutch. The Balinese battalion was entirely wiped out, breaking the last thread of Balinese military resistance. In 1946 the Dutch constituted Bali as one of the 13 administrative districts of the newly-proclaimed Republic of East Indonesia, a rival state to the Republic of Indonesia which was proclaimed and headed by Sukarno and Hatta. Bali was included in the ‘’Republic of the United States of Indonesia’’ when the Netherlands recognised Indonesian independence on Dec. 29, 1949. In 1956 Bali officially renounced the Dutch union and legally became a province within the Republic of Indonesia.

The 1963 eruption of Mount Agung killed thousands, created economic havoc and forced many displaced Balinese to be transmigrated to other parts of Indonesia.

In 1965, after a failed coup d'etat in Jakarta against the national government of Indonesia, Bali, along with other regions of Indonesia most notably Java, was the scene of widespread killings of (often falsely-accused) members and sympathizers of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) by right-wing General Soeharto-sponsored militias. Possibly more than 100,000 Balinese were killed although the exact numbers are unknown to date and the events remain legally unclosed. Many unmarked but well known mass graves of victims are located around the island.

On October 12, 2002, a car bomb attack in the tourist resort of Kuta killed 202 people, largely foreign tourists and injured a further 209. Further bombings occurred three years later in Kuta and nearby Jimbaran Bay.

Geography

Bali lies 3.2 km east of Java and approximately 8 degrees south of the equator. East to west, the island is approximately 153 km wide and 112 km north to south (95 by 69 miles, respectively), with a surface area of 5,632 km². The highest point is Mount Agung at 3,142 m (10,308 feet) high, an active volcano that last erupted in March 1963. Mountains cover centre to the eastern side, with Mount Agung the easternmost peak. Mount Batur (1,717 m) is also still active. About 30,000 years ago it experienced a catastrophic eruption — one of the largest known volcanic events on Earth.

In the south the land descends to form an alluvial plain, watered by shallow rivers, drier in the dry season and overflowing during periods of heavy rain.

The principal cities are the northern port of Singaraja, the former colonial capital of Bali, and the present provincial capital and largest city, Denpasar, near the southern coast. The town of Ubud (north of Denpasar), with its art market, museums and galleries, is arguably the cultural center of Bali.

There are major coastal roads and roads that cross the island mainly north-south. Due to the mountainous terrain in the island's center, the roads tend to follow the crests of the ridges across the mountains. There are no railway lines.

The island is surrounded by coral reefs. Beaches in the south tend to have white sand while those in the north and west black sand. The beach town of Padangbai in the south east has both: the main beach and the secret beach have white sand and the south beach and the blue lagoon have much darker sand. Pasut Beach, near Ho River and Pura Segara, is a quiet beach 14 km southwest of Tabanan. The Ho River is navigable by small sampan. Black sand beaches between Pasut and Klatingdukuh are being developed for tourism, but apart from the seaside temple of Tanah Lot, this is not yet a tourist area.