Bali woos Indian tourists this autumn

The blossoms of the Indonesian island of Bali will add fragrance to the holiday itineraries of several Indians this festival season. With the number of Indian footfalls growing in the island every year, officials of Indonesia's culture and tourism ministry, the Bali tourism industry and the Bali chapter of the Pacific-Asia Travel Association (PATA) all expect the number to cross the 22,000 mark in 2008.

At the close of 2007, the number of Indian visitors to Bali stood at 21,909, up 71.27 percent from the previous year, said a communiqué issued here Friday by the Indonesian culture and tourism ministry.

There has been a steady increase in Indian arrivals to the exotic island. In 2003, the number of Indians who visited Bali was a mere 4,554. The subsequent year, the number logged a quantum jump of 42.03 per cent to 6,468 and in 2006, it was 12.792 per cent.

The ministry, which is hard-selling the island as a preferred destination to Indian tourists this year, held a colorful cultural roadshow Friday.

The highlight of the marketing show was a traditional dance performance which opened with the Sekar Jagat dance - Sekar in Balinese means flowers and Jagat means the world. Like other welcoming dances, the Sekar Jagat dancers bring flowers with them, which combined along with hand movement, make the flowers come alive. The dancers move in a circle, which is beautiful when seen from above.

It was followed by the religious Topend Tua dance, which tells the story of a grandfather. The dancer illustrates to the audience that as we age someday into old men and women, one of our senses would not work perfectly any longer. The eyes lose power of sight, the hair changes colour and the body emaciates.

The show ended with the Cendrawasih dance, which is woven around the scarce fauna found in the Irian Jaya (Papua) island.

This dance has a green message - it tells the viewers how to protect the environment - through the movements of the playful Cendrawasih bird. The bird is red in colour and attire and winged formations of the dancers make the dance lyrical.

Bali, which was nominated the world's best island by the International Travel Magazine, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Nestled in the Indonesian archipelago, with a rich tropical wildlife and exotic cultures, it attracts tourists from across the continents.

This year, it hopes to draw at least two million foreign tourists by the year end.

“Interestingly, Balinese is still as rich as it was though it is growing along with globalisation. The Balinese culture has always been related to 'Tri Hita Karana' or a tripartite concept that includes spiritual relationship between humans, gods and environment.

"Owing to many similarities between Bali and India and influence of the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata on the lives of the people in Bali and India, the two places have shared an emotional bond,” the statement issued by the ministry said.

Bali, one of the 17,000-odd islands in Indonesian archipelago, was an old spice trade centre dealing in pepper, cloves, nutmegs, vanilla and cinnamon. India last year ranked 14th in terms of foreign tourists visiting Bali.

via NDTVTravels

Summer at the Samaya

The treatment rooms in the Samaya Spa are positioned so that you can have an ocean view, and even with eyes closed, ensconced in the privacy of the room the oceanic presence is audible and restful.

The Friendly Samaya Spa staff guide you through the choices of treatments and offer knowledge on essential oil blends and suitable styles of massage for problem areas. Well trained and in tune with the healing culture of their heritage, the massage therapists are among the islands' finest. They have a beautiful work ethic; 'share the gift of touch and touch someone's heart'.

A sense of gentleness pervades as the pretty gardens are echoed in the room by the petals strewn on the massage bed and the soft traditional music that flows through the room. The Samaya have a full range of treatments available and what we especially like is the Rama Men's treatment, it is so wholesome and male it provides the perfect excuse for a man to tend to his wellbeing. An afternoon spa session is a perfect gift and can be provided as a treatment for romantic couples or simply as a solo undertaking

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Balinese's Sacred Monkey Forest

In the Balinese Hindu pantheon of Gods and religious ceremonies, no one and nothing misses out on prayers and offerings for their well being.

Cars, motorbikes, books and even monkeys and their animal mates have their turn at the alter of Bali's Hinduism. And it was the monkeys of Padang Tegal's Sacred Monkey Forest in Ubud who were the big winners during last Saturday's twice-yearly Tumpek Kandang religious ceremony.

According to the manager of the Sacred Monkey Forest, I Wayan Selamet, the ceremony is for all animals, but the monkeys appear to get the best of it in the free-for-all party of fresh eggs, papaya leaves and fruits served following the ceremony.

Hundreds of monkeys whoop it up during the ceremony, but are surprisingly well behaved, waiting with scarcely concealed excitement for an end to the serious business of chanting and the real festivities to begin.

A few monkeys cannot control themselves and with the speed of pickpockets zoom across the offerings, grabbing at anything that looks edible, but most sit and wait, ready to pounce on eggs when the time is right.

I Wayan Selamet says the ceremony follows the three concepts of Bali's Hinduism, which pays respect to God, man and nature, but it is unclear how devoted the monkeys are to God, they appear much more devoted to eggs.

While the monkeys of the sacred forest appear to be especially favored during the ceremony, Selamet makes it clear that these raucous primates deserve special attention for the economical and environmental benefits they have accidentally brought to the Padang Tegal community.

""The monkey forest is important not only for Ubud and Bali, but I believe for the world. At the moment there are forests being cut down everywhere, but this forest is growing larger. We have recently added another three hectares of plantings and the villagers all take part in protecting the forest,"" Selamet said.

He points out there are few places in the world that have forested land in the city"" with a resident population of monkeys and he says all towns will need this green belt in the future; a place for people to escape the stress of city life and share time with animals in a natural environment.

""Having a forest in cities balances the environment. At the moment the forest is almost 10 hectares and that grows as we change the villages' communal rice paddies to forest,"" explained Selamet.

The forest has grown with the increase in tourism, says Selamet, who remembers the 1970s when the forest was much smaller, ringing the communal rice fields of Padang Tegal. But even then the forest was protected by its sacred status.

""There were always stories about the forest, that if you destroyed it or killed the animals you could never escape. That fear protected the forest and taught people to respect it. At that time most of the community economy was dependent on the rice fields, but as tourism has grown the forest and the monkeys have become the dominant element in our economy.

""It was the stories passed down from earlier generations that have saved the forest and allowed us to now develop it as an environmental and tourism area. It is important for our religion and our economy"" Selamet said.

But, like all valuable land, there are some in the community who, Selamet says, would like to see the forest chopped down and hotels built on the site.

""I often need to point out to people that we don't need to build hotels here. Some people think they could make more money from hotels, but we don't need to do that. The forest and the monkeys are very good for our community economy.

""Yes you can build art shops and hotels anywhere, but you can also build natural forests with their animals, so we need to protect the Sacred Monkey Forest, and other forests and wilderness in Bali and Indonesia, into the future,"" Selamet said. (TheJakartaPost.com)

Indonesian President witnesses mass cremation in Bali

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and First Lady Ani Yudhoyono attended a mass cremation procession of 139 Balinese people, at Batur village, Bangli district, around 60 km east of Denpasar, on Wednesday.

The cremated remains included those belonging to Guru Nyoman Santi, the father of Culture and Tourism Minister Jero Wacik.

Guru Nyoman Santi, who died at 94 years old, around 1.5 year ago, was one of the country's freedom fighters.

The first mass cremation was held in Bali in 1963 at the initiative of Nyoman Santi and his colleagues. It is for the first time that a mass cremation Hindu ritual was attended by Indonesia's head of state. (The Jakarta Post Newspaper article)

Balinese and The Beach

Unlike westerners, the Balinese rarely go to the beach except for work and ritual. Swimming and sunbathing on the beach like a tourist is not a Balinese custom. For the Balinese, at least before the development of tourism, the beach was not a place for recreation, but a sacred site – a place for spiritual purification.

There are several Hindu rituals that take place on the beach that include melasti, nganyut, and pakelem. Melasti is a purification ritual that takes place every year, usually in March or early April, precisely two or three days before the Bali-Hindu New Year day of Nyepi (the day of silence). The melasti ritual is marked by a long procession from village to the beach and vice versa. In the past, people carried all of the religious paraphernalia while walking( some are very heavy), but more recently wheeled-carts or even trucks are used to lighten the load. Thanks to technology and the smooth asphalt it has become less of a burden for the procession participants. Besides the beach, melasti is also made lakeside or by a river, especially for those who live far from a beach. Water is the important element.

During the one day ritual, almost every beach in Bali fills with people in traditional attire, gamelan music, and colorful religious paraphernalia such as the umbrellas, statues, spears and other sacred objects that are usually stored in temples. While the day is usually hot and humid at Bali's beaches, some people like to take a swim during melasti, though it is still not a common activity. While tourists are discouraged from coming to the beach to swim on melasti day, it is the best time to see one of Bali's grand rituals. Melasti ritual is also held on other auspicious days in conjunction with important temples festivals over the island, or festivals for newly renovated temple. Such festivals commence by bringing all the temples' religious paraphernalia to the beach for purification. But this time, they carry them by car or truck. There is nothing like the annual melasti procession.

Nganyut is an ash-throwing ritual held by the sea which marks the end of a cremation ceremony. It usually take place in the late afternoon, or even at night, depending on the time the cremation ritual ends. For a high scale cremation, the ash-throwing is usually done a few hundred meters from the beach, so several canoes or boats are required to take the ashes out to sea. They must be thrown into the sea, as some believe the sea has every power to purify any impure matter. Others believe that it is a symbolic way to send them to the Gangga River, India's holy Hindu Ganges River, because that river also finishes at sea.

Pakelem is a ritual that attempts to neutralize negative energies of the macrocosim. Depending of its scale, this ritual is marked by throwing sacrificed animals, like a cow or buffalo into the sea. Before sacrificing, the animals are purified so their souls go to heaven so that should they reincarnate, they can become a creature of a higher level than before.

In the growing fear of frequent natural disasters like tsunami and earth-quake, several pakelem rituals have been held throughout certain beaches in Bali. The aims of such rituals are twofold – both to prevent natural disaster, and most importantly, is calm fearfulness amongst the community. Recently, with the growing trend of national disintegration, a pakelem ritual is also held in the hope that the unity of Indonesia as a nation may be maintained and strengthened. The red and white Indonesian flag is brought to the ritual, marking its nationalistic dimension. Swimming is rarely done in this ritual.

Although swimming is rare, it doesn't mean that Balinese people avoid the totally. In fact, one day called banyupinaruh is an auspicious day for beach swimming. It falls every six months in the Hindu-Bali calendar on the day after the special day of knowledge, honouring the Goddess Saraswati. It is considered the best day for Balinese to swim, usually at dawn to cleanse their bodies. On this day, Sanur beach and the beaches around Kuta and Nusa Dua are usually packed with people, especially families with children. Most people bring offerings and pray before swimming. Yet on all other days, except for those who working as fisherman, most Balinese do not approach the beach. Twilight is the most dangerous time for Balinese to go out, let alone to come to the shore to see the sun set. The beauty of the sun set is, in the past, hardly part of ordinary Balinese conversation.

Change, however, has taken place since the tourism industry developed. By the 1970s, Sanur Beach became a popular site for young Balinese couples, particularly at night, and during full moon (purnama). School students also came, although not for swimming. They sought the strange ten-story building of Grand Bali Beach Hotel, the tallest building on the island.

Now more and more Balinese see the beach as a place for recreation, especially for town folks with the fast growing population. Every weekend or holiday in the morning and the afternoon, see Bali's beaches packed with local people. Since tourism developed, many young Balinese have also learned how to surf and they often spend time on the beach, particularly in Kuta. Many of Kuta's youth have gained success as world class surf champions, whilst others work as beach patrol. Change brought about by tourism also brought about a different understanding. Today, Balinese come to see the sun set, and they talk about its beauty, take pictures with digital camera or hand phone, just as tourists do.

Beach clothing with international brands like Quiksilver and Billabong have also become popular among young Balinese. Yet, those who wear such clothes as part of a fashion statement may or may not have ever been swimming at the beach as they are occupied with an idea that Bali has no beach culture, if what is understood as beach culture is swimming, sunbathing, and surfing.

Source: Hello Balli Magazine