The Magic of Language
Once upon a time in a mystical land some called “The Island of the Gods” there was strange and beautiful language called “Bahasa Indonesia” spoken, and all the brave adventurers who came to this unspoilt island, had to learn this difficult language or face serious consequences. They had to find phrase books, dictionaries and massage
Pride and Perspective: Comparing Scotland to Bali
I have just returned to Indonesia from Scotland for a short trip and once again feel compelled to compare the way in which each country approaches tourism. There are a lot of similarities between Scotland and Bali: each are a small part of a greater country, UK and Indonesia, each are filled with natural beauty,
Saving the Strays
Bali Animal Welfare Association (BAWA) is a non-profit organisation that works to save, protect and improve the lives of all animals in Bali. Founded by Janice Girardi, an American jewellery designer, BAWA is carrying the mission of improving the lives of Bali’s animals through rescue, rehabilitation, education and advocacy. They provide emergency response and rescue,
Have You Heard Of The Spice Islands?
Did you know that part of Indonesia was the fabled “Spice Islands” from the pages of history? No? Well it’s a long and very interesting story of which I can only tell you a small part here. The rest you should find out for yourself. It’s fascinating. Right in the middle of this vast archipelago
A Helping Hand For The Children of Bali
Bali Children Foundation (Yayasan Samiarsa Seminyak) provides educational opportunities for disadvantaged children in Bali. Working mostly in North and West Bali, the foundation offers education scholarships for over a thousand children at school, about 40 in University and delivers English teaching and Computer studies classes to over 1,500 children in 36 communities. While the foundation
Disturbing Facts
Way back in the nineteenth century an English philosopher called John Stuart Mill wrote an essay called “On Liberty”. This defined the individuals drive for self improvement, their desire to “better their station” in life, as the sole source of true freedom. But he qualified this by saying that these efforts must not impede the
Romance and a Great Holiday
When we are young and single, we sometimes go on holiday to find romance; when we get married, we go on holidays to celebrate romance; when we have been married for ages, we go on holiday to rekindle our romance! Whatever the reason, holidays and romance are inseparably intertwined.
Puspadi Bali: Keeping Bali on the Move
In 1999, Puspadi was founded by Nengah Latra to assist people with physical disabilities in Bali. The foundation runs a program manufacturing and providing wheelchairs and artificial legs from their workshop at the Annika Linden Centre. Currently they have 20 staff, 16 of whom have physical disabilities themselves – with this workforce Puspadi has served
Indonesia: Preserving Tolerance
It may be interesting to try to “explain” Indonesia, and in particular to show how this “improbable” country of 250 million inhabitants distributed over more than 17,000 islands has managed to retain its unity whereas most other multi-cultural countries are threatened by chaos when not in the midst of it. However, in order to continue
New Year New Beginnings?
I suppose we all want to have the opportunity to start again, to get out a fresh sheet of paper and say “this time I’ll get it right”! And I suppose that the beginning of a new year is as good a time to do that as any. But actually I don’t think this
Things Worth Keeping, Things Worth Losing
Isn’t this a wonderful way of categorising things in our lives? So simple and can apply not only to physical objects but activities and most especially, states of mind. (*) If we start with the simple things like transport we’d have to keep cars, trains, buses and planes but noisy polluting motorcycles would be on
Bali’s Beautiful Rejang Girls
The Rejang dance is one of Bali’s most beautiful and visually stunning; featuring a troop of young, fully decorated girls, it is a dance of elegance and grace. In the isolated communities of Karangasem, life goes on much as it has for centuries. Of course, now, many of the young leave home to take a
The Best Things In Bali
I have just returned from speaking at an international conference organized by the Singapore Tourism Board where tourism officials from 40 countries around the world were invited to come and learn about best tourism practices from some very learned academics and practitioners (present company excepted of course) which was a great learning experience for me,
