The 8th Kuta Karnival: Heal The World

The 8th Kuta Karnival will be held again this year, on 28th Sept - 03 Oct 2010 in Kuta Beach, Bali. Previously Kuta Karnival is one of the biggest events in Bali and East Indonesia, which involves approximately 20 types of activities. This year KUTA Karnival 8th theme "Heal The World" with the meaning of Healing world from all aspects, both from a spiritual aspect or aspects of life primarily to remind the world and we as God's creatures to always remember the will of nature and the environment.

Initially, this event was established and organized as a response to the terrorist blast that devastated the island of Bali and the international community in October 2002. After major cleansing ceremonies, establishing a memorial for the lost lives, and paying respect to those who left loved ones behind, the people of Kuta decided to continuously rebuild the image of the island of Bali, and look forward to a brighter and promising future for the island’s people and its tourism industry by restoring Bali’s image.

The event marks Kuta community’s commitment and thus a tagline of “A Celebration of Life” is established for Kuta Karnival. The nine-day-long Kuta

Karnival consists of traditional art performances such as the favourite Sunset Dances, sports on the beach as well as in the water for young and old plus rows and rows of culinary displays along the one kilometre of sandy beach. With the first Kuta Karnival held in 2003, this year is the sixth year the event is held. In line with the development of this annual event, Kuta

Karnival has grown into a tourism promotional event with major coverage from television and newspapers from across the globe. Companies, Embassies,

Non-Government Organizations, Associations and even individuals come forth to get involved in the various events such as a Balinese dance competition presented by a surf-wear company, an environment exhibition presented by an Embassy, a fun cycle presented by a group of individuals, a seminar presented by an association and a parade on the streets presented by an NGO. Tourists and locals alike, more than ninety thousand people participates in the numerous events, year after year.

A repeated tragedy in Bali in 2005 did not reduce the people’s determination to carry out this annual event. Kuta Karnival is conducted to commemorate and give respect to the victims of human violence and show the world the true spirit of local community survival despite terrorism attacks.

The Kuta Karnival is a “Community” and “Recovery” initiative of the Kuta Small Business Association (KSBA) for the island of Bali. The Kuta Karnival is officially endorsed by the Government of Bali, Chamber of Commerce (KADIN) Bali, Bali Tourism Board (BTB). The Kuta Karnival is supported by the local authorities Camat Kuta, Kelurahan Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, LPM Kuta, Legian , Seminyak, and the community representatives of the Villages of Kuta, Legian , Seminyak. The Kuta Karnival committee consists of representatives of all stake holders, and has been socialized within the government, the private sector and the community.

for Schedule please visit the official site of Kuta Karnival

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Nusa Dua Fiesta 2010: GREEN TOURISM

A one-step-away Leisure & Entertainment Attraction with the theme: GREEN TOURISM, conducted in a secluded prestigious white sandy beach area of Nusa Dua Bali.

Worldwide Tourists will flocks here at Nusa Dua Fiesta 2010 which will be held on 15-19 October 2010 including worldwide TV Magazines to cover this special event. Lots of attractions such as Water Sports, Family Activities, Art Fashion Shoppings, Food Bazaar and most of all is CULINARY CHALLENGE for Professional Chefs.

Guests may watch how those professional Chefs show their talented skills in the food industry all in one secluded safe area on the beach of Nusa Dua Peninsula (Behind Grand Hyatt Bali).

Nusa Dua Fiesta 2010

CULTURE | ART | SPORT | FUN | EXHIBITION

Nusa Dua Fiesta 2010 Schedules

Nusa Dua Fiesta Schedule 1

Nusa Dua Fiesta Schedule 2

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The 2010 Citbank - Ubud Writers & Readers Festival

The 2010 Citbank - Ubud Writers & Readers Festival theme is ‘Bhinneka Tunggal Ika : Harmony in Diversity’, the Indonesian national motto originating from the Sutasoma, an ancient Javanese text which advocates respect between all people, across religious, ethnic and social divides. From October 6 - 10, the brightest global writers will come together to debate the issues that divide and unite us, in a celebration of stories and voices.

Writers from China, Malta, Djibouti, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Burma, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, France, Bosnia, Turkey, South Africa, Australia, the UK, Ireland, the US and Canada, and from across the Indonesian archipelago.

The Citbank - Ubud Writers & Readers Festival is the major project of the not-for-profit foundation, the Yayasan Mudra Swari Saraswati. It was first conceived of by Janet De Neefe, co-founder of the Foundation, as a healing project in response to the first Bali bombing, with the first event held in 2004.

The Citibank - Ubud Writers & Readers Festival mission is to create a world class literary event that brings together diverse Indonesian and international voices for dialogue and exchange in order to:

• share stories, ideas and their craft in the spirit of cross-cultural understanding;
• foster greater international awareness and understanding of Indonesian literary cultures;
• create opportunities for Indonesian writers to present their work to a global audience; and
• expose Indonesian audiences to the work of international writers.

Feature countries: Feature writers

Feature countries include:

Indonesia: Each year the Festival searches for a diverse mix of Indonesian writers to bring to the international stage. With established and emerging, young and old, from a myriad of ethnic and regional backgrounds, 30 Indonesian writers will open the stories of the archipelago to our audience. We are delighted to be able to feature both Sitor Situmorang, the grandfather of Indonesian letters, member of the Angkatan 45 [the revolutionary generation], jailed during the 1960s, and now living in the Netherlands, and Dewi Lestari, singer, songwriter, bestselling author, innovator and legendary twitterer, who represents the new generation of Indonesian literature.

Philippines: The Festival this year offers a unique and exiting opportunity to meet a delegation of writers from the Philippines – poets, playwrights, academics and artists will surprise and delight you. Dip into the rich literary heritage and contemporary writing scene of this diverse nation.

Vietnam: With writers from Vietnam, US, Australia and France, the Festival has found the brightest Vietnamese voices from around the world to illuminate this country that has long been of fascination. Guests include Nam Le, Anna Moi, Andrew Lam, Paul Nguyen, and Nguyen Qui Duc, named One of 30 Most Notable Asian Americans by A-Media.

Australia: As always, the Festival brings together the best writers Australia has to offer. From the established and well loved – Thomas Keneally, Frank Moorhouse and Robert Adamson, to the young and emerging – Jon Bauer, Emilie Zoey Baker, Daniel Ducrou, Patrick Allington – and everything in between.

East Timor: The winner of the first Tetum writing competition in 2009, Teodozio Ximenes will headline alongside Xanana’s biographer, Sara Niner, Tony Maniaty journalist and author of Shooting Balibo - and Chris Parkinson, who will bring his East Timor street art project to our audiences.

UK and Ireland: A stellar line-up Booker Prize winning Anne Enright, Louis de Bernières, Kate Adie, William Dalrymple, food writer and journalist Sarah Murray.

USA: The Festival this year is delighted to welcome writers from the United States - novelists Rabih Alameddine, Lisa Teasley and Kris Saknussemm, memoirist Ali Eteraz, human rights activist and writer Mike Otterman, writer and Director of Non-Fiction at the prestigious Iowa Writing Program Robin Hemley, children’s author Ann Martin Bowler, and spoken word and hip hop performers Mighty Joe and Kamau Abayomi.

Russia: For the first time outside of the UK, the winner of the prestigious Pushkin in Britain competition, held in London each year for diasporic Russian poets, will attend along with the writer, poet, critic and founder of the prize, Oleg Borushko.

Yayasan Mudra Swari Saraswati Foundation

The Ubud Writers & Readers Festival is a project of the Mudra Swari Saraswati Foundation. Founded in 2004, the Foundation is an independent, non-profit, non-government organization. The members of the Foundation are committed to enriching the lives and livelihoods of Indonesians through the development of a range of community-building arts and cultural programs.

The primary goal of the Foundation is to give full expression to the creative needs of individuals and the community in order to better equip them to interact in our rapidly changing global society. Through its revenue from ticket sales to events and workshops, the Festival provides the Foundation with vital support to pursue its creative, educational and youth mission.

The Festival helps to promote Ubud as an arts and cultural centre, showcases Indonesian writers on an international stage and helps young Indonesians to reach their potential through educational programs and literature. Proceeds from ticket sales are also used to cover free public evening events, free workshops for local children and high school students and their teachers and to subsidise attendances of local residents who could not otherwise afford to attend.

Source: http://ubudwritersfestival.com

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Kopi Luwak (Civet Coffee) The Most Favorite and Expensive Coffee in The World

Kopi luwak, or civet coffee, is coffee made from the beans of coffee berries which have been eaten by the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) and other related civets, then passed through its digestive tract. A civet eats the berries for their fleshy pulp. In its stomach, proteolytic enzymes seep into the beans, making shorter peptides and more free amino acids. Passing through a civet's intestines the beans are then defecated, having kept their shape. After gathering, thorough washing, sun drying, light roasting and brewing, these beans yield an aromatic coffee with much less bitterness, widely noted as the most expensive coffee in the world.

Kopi luwak is produced mainly on the islands of Sumatra, Java, Bali and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago, and also in the Philippines (where the product is called motit coffee in the Cordillera and kape alamid in Tagalog areas) and also in East Timor (where it is called kafé-laku). Weasel coffee is a loose English translation of its name cà phê Chồn in Vietnam, where popular, chemically simulated versions are also produced.

Kopi is the Indonesian word for coffee. Luwak is a local name of the Asian palm civet in Sumatra. Palm civets are primarily frugivorous, feeding on berries and pulpy fruits such as from fig trees and palms. Civets also eat small vertebrates, insects, ripe fruits and seeds

Early production began when beans were gathered in the wild from where a civet would defecate as a means to mark its territory. On farms, civets are either caged or allowed to roam within defined boundaries. Coffee cherries are eaten by a civet for their fruit pulp. After spending about a day and a half in the civet's digestive tract the beans are then defecated in clumps, having kept their shape and still covered with some of the fleshy berry's inner layers. They are gathered, thoroughly washed, sun dried and given only a light roast so as to keep the many intertwined flavors and lack of bitterness yielded inside the civet

Kopi luwak is a name for many specific cultivars and blends of arabica, robusta, liberica, excelsa or other beans eaten by civets, hence the taste can vary greatly. Nonetheless, kopi luwak coffees have a shared aroma profile and flavor characteristics, along with their lack of bitterness. Coffee critic Chris Rubin has said, "The aroma is rich and strong, and the coffee is incredibly full bodied, almost syrupy. It’s thick with a hint of chocolate, and lingers on the tongue with a long, clean aftertaste. Kopi luwak tastes unlike heavy roasted coffees, since roasting levels range only from cinnamon color to medium, with little or no caramelization of sugars within the beans as happens with heavy roasting. Moreover, kopi luwaks which have very smooth profiles are most often given a lighter roast. Iced kopi luwak brews may bring out some flavors not found in other coffees.

Sumatra is the world's largest regional producer of kopi lowak. Sumatran civet coffee beans are mostly an early arabica variety cultivated in the Indonesian rchipelago since the seventeenth century. Tagalog cafe alamid (or alamid cafe) comes from civets fed on a mixture of coffee beans and is sold in the Batangas region along with gift shops near airports in the Philippines

Research by food scientist Massimo Marcone at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada showed that the civet's endogenous digestive secretions seep into the beans. These secretions carry proteolytic enzymes which break down the beans' proteins, yielding shorter peptides and more free amino acids. Since the flavor of coffee owes much to its proteins, there is a hypothesis that this shift in the numbers and kinds of proteins in beans after being swallowed by civets brings forth their unique flavor. The proteins are also involved in non-enzymatic Maillard browning reactions brought about later by roasting. Moreover, while inside a civet the beans begin to germinate by malting which also lowers their bitterness

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Saha Nuhu, Sanur Village Festival 2010

Following their four consecutive successful celebrations, this year the Sanur Development Foundation again will held Sanur Village Festival (SVF). Festival in previous years are always held with great fanfare, SVF will be held on the beach of Segara Ayu and Sanur Inna Grand Bali Beach, on August 4 to 8, 2010.

The Theme of the festival this year is "Saha Nuhur", which literally means "zeal to visit certain places." By tracing the history that made the festival committee, said, "Saha" and "Nuhur" is the root of the word "Sanur" which has become a coastal area in Denpasar city's east side.

"The use of Saha Nuhur as the festival theme this time was for visiting the past at which time it was the center of Sanur and forging search of spirituality. From there expected to radiate the spirit to visit myself in the search for peace and whatever be their own life goals, "said Ida Bagus son Sidhartha MBA, chairman of the committee SVF 2010, which brought about this year's theme.

As in previous years, 2010 SVF held a series of very young art activities, sports, health, culinary, plant exhibition, art installations, and environmental preservation activities. The activities include: Golf Tournament, Food Bazaar and Festival, the Festival Bulk Yoga, Kite Festival, of Underwater, Beach Football Competition, Water Sports, Bike Casual, Collaboration and Puppet Music, Photography Contest, Annual Cooking Competition ICA, Bonsai Exhibition and Competition, Fashion Show and Music Performances.

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Bali awarded as the World Best Island in Asia 2010

Bali is remains a tourism icon of Indonesia. In the midst of government efforts to pursue targets seven million of foreign tourists in 2010, a leading travel magazine based in New York, Travel & Leisure, awarded "World Best Island in Asia 2010" to the island resort, Bali

The award presented in the "World's Best Award 2010" show in New York, Wednesday afternoon (21/7/2010). Hotel Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran also received an award for the category of "World Best Hotel Spas in Asia 2010". Awards in various categories are also provided to approximately 100 award recipients from all over the world. Fuad Adriansyah representing the New York consulate to accept the award for the Bali as "Best Island in Asia 2010". Awards were presented by Nancy Novogrod, Editor in Chief Magazine Travel & Leisure, and Mr. Jean-Paul Kyrillos, Publisher Travel & Leisure Magazine. 

Determination of winning this annual award was obtained through the survey results during the period December 15, 2009 until March 31, 2010 to experience travel magazine Travel & Leisure readers based on several criteria. Meet the criteria, the island of Bali as the best because its natural state is uniformly attractive (both mountain and coastal areas), tourism objects are diverse and spread out, the availability of restaurants / food (international and local) and its people are friendly and valued friends.

In addition to the Best Island category and Best Hotel Spa, winner of several other categories, such as the best city, best hotels, destination spa, golf best resorts, cruise lines, airlines, agents up to the best car rental place. Some categories are still divided into regional, such as the United States and Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia / New Zealand / South Pacific, Caribbean, and Central America / South.

In a press release the New York consulate, Fuad said that the success of Bali for the umpteenth time earned as the best island would need to welcome. This is to boost tourism industry in Bali and, more important, he says, is the tourism industry in Indonesia.

"This success is of course also be utilized by the Consulate General in New York as the capital to continue to promote tourism in Bali and Indonesia in general to the U.S. public," he added.

(Source: www.deplu.go.id).

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Subak, Balinese Farmer Organization

The word “subak” was originally found in Kediri-East Java a Hindu Kingdom in 14th century and then brought to Bali by the Hinduism when this Kingdom was conquered by the Moslem and kept until nowadays.

Subak is an organization of farmers in an area where rice fields are located to manage water to irrigate their rice fields, includes water supply, and to build a temple.

The temple (=pura in local language) is called Pura Subak. Every month the subak members will come together in the temple to discuss matters concerning the subak, water supply, the harvest and the celebration of the anniversary day of the subak temple.  They worship Dewi Sri, the rice Goddess.

One big dam can be shared by many subaks. The member of subaks depends on how large the water supplies are. The subak regulates the rice planting and the distribution of water needed by the rice field, to maintain the dam and irrigation canals. The good condition of the dam, the canals and the ditches assure the steady flow of the water to the rice fields and that no water will be wasted.

The “ kelian subak” the head of  subak  who elected by the members in democratic way has to decide which part of subak who  plants rice and which part has to plant  the other crops such as : corn, potato, soybean etc due to water condition.

Bali has four lakes, they are: Batur, Bratan, Buyan and Tamblingan from where the water flows especially to the south part of the island: Tabanan, Badung, Gianyar, Klungkung, and Bangli regencies. While the north and east part are dry, they are: Buleleng and Karangasem regions. There are thousands of subaks in Bali.

One of the tourist attractions in Bali is the rice terrace. The beauty of rice terraces is caused by Subak organization who attracts the members to have terracing from mountain, as high as possible as long as the water is there. On dry soil they plants corns, sweet potatoes, peanuts, beans, and other plants that need not much water.  To keep the top soil on its place terraced rice field have artistically carved lines as dikes that enhance the beauty of country side.

Periodically, usually every 5 or 10 years after a good harvest, subak of the district organizes a “ Nusaba Nini” a big celebration or thanks giving that usually lasts for at least three days, takes place  in a Pura Bale Agung, a village temple with a large and long  “ bale”, a building of wood. They decorate granaries and invite the Goddess of all subak temples and rice Goddess of all farmers to be in Bale Agung and stay there for the duration of the festival. It will be a parade with colorful symbols, dresses and offerings in the village. You can also find a “Subak Museum” located in Tabanan regency.  Subak Museum keeps any kind of utensils relationship with activities of farmer in Bali. In this place you can learn how and why the “Subak” organization is very important in Bali.

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