New Years Resolutions: Getting Better All the Time?

What have you achieved this year? Have you become more environmentally friendly? Have you become fitter, faster or better at something? Have you done something you are really proud of? Helped poor people? People in difficulty, people in crisis, people in hospital? Have you been a good father? Mother? Sister? Brother? Son? Daughter? Are you

Alistair G. Speirs

The Importance of Food

I was recently lucky enough to be introduced to a Swedish initiated but worldwide foundation called “EAT” which is dedicated to creating a global sustainable food economy. A huge ambition. This foundation, which is backed by world leaders, academics and top companies, is about to have their first Asian Conference in Jakarta as I write

Killing the Golden Goose: When Development Should Stop in Bali

There are some things that perplex me, some that annoy me, others that leave me totally astonished, and finally those that seem to make no sense whatsoever. The latest “Canggu Conundrum” is one. I have long been a student of tourism development and served on two planning committees of Indonesian tourism and spoken at around

Do You Hear That? It’s Another Form of Pollution

The people of Bali are quite rightly concerned about the amount of waste that is accumulating, not only in the municipal dumps (which are turning into mountains!) but also on the river beds, the beaches, the fields, the mountains, its everywhere and continues to spread as consumerism and the conversion to plastic-packed foods continues apace.

Bali’s Eco-Warriors Awarded

I was delighted to be invited to two great events last month, by two very different organisations, but both headed by, shall we call them, “Champions of Sustainability”. Bali Adventure Tours’ new amazing complex, featuring the astonishing combination of Jungle Buggies and chocolate factory, just south of the Elephant Safari Park, is an example of

Take Care On Your Holiday

Sadly we start this issue with another tragedy, well more than one actually, with terror attacks in Manchester, Melbourne, Manila, London and Jakarta over recent weeks. And this long list of names gives us pause for thought and a realisation: it can happen anywhere, and it has already happened in the worst possible circumstances in

Sustainability in Bali: For you or for the island?

I am on a “sustainability” rampage at the moment and it seriously worries me why everyone else is not! Perhaps it is the word “sustainability” which puts people off. It certainly has so many meanings and is so misunderstood. At its core is the whole concept of “keeping going” which is pretty obvious but it

John Fawcett

Caring: An Overused Word in Bali

It’s a lovely simple word isn’t it? Yet it conveys a great deal. People care for their families both emotionally and physically. We tend to “care” for older and younger people, the disabled, the ill, the needy, but also “care” about issues: politics, global warming, sustainability, traffic. Well at least we argue with people over

The Strength of Belief in Bali

What do you believe in? Well the great majority in Asian countries still believe in God, but sadly (for me at least) many Western countries have abandoned traditional religions and tried to replace them with a huge variety of spiritual and non-spiritual beliefs and practices to satisfy the human need to explain our existence (meditation,

Diversity in Indonesia

Indonesia has a great national motto:Bhinneka Tunggal Ika – Unity in Diversity. The Founding Fathers of this vast archipelago state certainly got it right, both with this fantastic statement and their much misinterpreted, but actually equally powerful State Ideology, Pancasila, the five guiding principles: 1. Belief in the One and Only God2. Just and Civilized

My View on Views

In most countries in the world there is a very clear principal of town and city planning which allows development in specific areas and restricts in others. In some areas no development is allowed at all. In Indonesia, as in many developing countries, there is a combination of poor planning, very poor enforcement and a

Uniqueness of Bali

The Uniqueness of Bali…Under Threat

Many years ago a very experienced and erudite editor was working for me on a regional travel magazine based in Singapore. His job was to go to Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka to review hotels and write destination stories. What a great job! One day he came to me and said, “Alistair, I just

News from Bordeaux Saint-Emilion

In my last issue I wrote about news from the area of the Champagne region in France. This was written because I went to France this year at the beginning of October. In one week visited in a way three wine regions; Champagne, Saint-Émilion and Haut Medoc. I was one of the few that were

Now Bali
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