The Yak #18

Vol. 18 MAR/APR/MAY 08

• New Icons of Bali • Quantum Fashion • School Report • Kitchen Confidential • Laughter Yoga

IDR Rp 48.000 S$9 HK$45

Issue Eighteen

March/April/May 2008

Cover Image Creative Director: Ade, Tiga Grafis Digital Imaging: Barliansyah, Tiga Grafis Fashion Stylist: Nikki Hair & Makeup: Spoiled Hairdressers Model: Alex THE YAK and THE BUD team: Sophie Digby Agustina Ardie Michelle Lamb Consulting Editor: Nigel Simmonds, CV Icomm nigel@icommbali.com Publisher’s PA: Katarina Taslim Marketing: I Nyoman Budi Aryadhi Project Manager: Evi Sri Rejeki Accounts Manager: Yani Mulyani Graphic Designer: Irawan Zuhri Distribution: Made Marjana, Kadek Arthana, Putu Widi Susanto, Made Sutajaya Design: Island Communications design@icommbali.com Publisher: PT Saka Wahana Cipta Licence: 1.265/09-04/PB/V/99 Advertising enquiries: Tel/Fax: (62-361) 737 413, 743 1804, 743 1805 www.theyakmag.com Email: info@theyakmag.com theyak@indosat.net.id Jl. Kayu Jati 9Y (Loloan Restaurant) Petitenget 80361 Bali, Indonesia © PT Saka Wahana Cipta No part of this publication may be copied or reproduced electronically or otherwise without prior permission from the publisher.

Opinions expressed within this publication are those of the authors not the publisher.

The Yak and The Bud will not be held responsible for copyright infringements on images supplied directly by advertisers and/or contributors. minYAK, The Yak’s monthly e-newsletter, is distributed every fourth Friday. Inquiries: info@theyakmag.com

contents

20 23 26 32 34 36 38 40 44 46 60

66 70 72 74

IDOL BANTER Yakety Yak ...

Yak Back CULTURE VULTURES Maurizio Rosenberg Colorni NEW IN THE HOOD Around Town THIS MUCH I KNOW Ian Batey

80 88 90 94

FASHION Quantum DUOVIEW Manik Mondays MEMBERS OF THE CLOTH Monika MINISTRY OF INTERIORS Kitchen Confidential

INTERWHO Kerry Grima QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS Sindhu Hadiprana JUST LANDED John Rees OLD GUARD Emilio Ambron FEATURE All That Jazz FEATURE New Icons of Bali FEATURE Schools in Bali

102 104 108 110 112 116

BALI’S BIG SIX Cool Hot Spots

118 120 122 123 124

FREE RADICALS Laughter Yoga

CONSTANT WINING Italian Jobs FORK IN THE ROAD High Road Low Road ORAL PLEASURES Chili Crab Uncooked OVER THE EDGE Ibiza Dreaming BEING GREEN Ripple Effect

MINISTRY OF INTERIORS Ketut Siandana MINISTRY OF INTERIORS Sansbebek ARTSAKE Ida Bagus Indra VENTING IN A VILLA Nunia

78

MEMBERS OF THE CLOTH Magali Pascal

SOUNDS AROUND Nid&Sancy RAVER’S REVIEWS Ayo & DJ Pippi YAK MAP Don’t Get Lost AD INDEX Find What You Like

SUPERMARKETS, Superman and super tankers – words that have had a familiar ring to them since childhood. Supernatural superpowers – we all had those until our age superseded our imagination. But, recently, has anyone heard a non-stop supercilious buzz about Super Tuesdays and Super delegates? What’s that all about? Welcome to the world’s super-ego and the globe’s most talked about ‘democratic’ election. I could of course be talking about the United States of America BUT I am not. I am talking about our annual Yak Awards, 2008. No, it is unlikely that they will fall on a Super Tuesday, most likely they will be held on a normal Friday. They will definitely be held in a super structure in Seminyak, but even that is yet to be confirmed. Voting will be superintended by super Yakkers, and of course all you superstars will get to vote online (www.theyakmag.com, one vote only per email address). However, hold your voting breath until the first week of June! We at The Yak get to choose the superior categories, then you get to superimpose your personal preference on the whole Yakking process – so prepare yourself and vote – be part of process and start thinking of what to wear to Bali’s most popular red carpet affair, happening sometime at the end of Super June! In the superseding meantime, we will guide you, superbly, in and around The Yak and over our beloved Bali to meet the super cool people that go to make up this fabulous island. Maurizio Rosenberg Colorni shares some retro-Bali moments in Culture Vultures, followed by interviews with this issue’s superheroes…Ian Batey, Kerry Grima, Hadiprana and the nouveau arrivée, John Rees. Then we listen to the super strains of jazz before taking our hat off to Bali’s very own super icons. Then it’s back to school before we chat with their super eminences: Ketut Siandana, Magali Pascal and head off in to our fashion spread of superwomen. We then go all cuisiniere on you before moving on to the other super-class island of the world, Ibiza. There will definitely be a Ripple effect when we Go Green, which is just before we super-elevate ourselves with Laughter Yoga. And, as the music of Nid&Sancy subsides, we hope that you have enjoyed this, a superior journey to the Land of Yak…May The Yak be with you.

We tried to get The Yak in the lap of....

Magic Dear Yak, I attended your “Yak Likes to Party in Jakarta” event at Tabac in February. I have to say you people certainly know how to party!

I was there drinking free vodka from six in the evening until 10 at night and it was still flowing (freely) when I finally stumbled out of the door. I particularly enjoyed your magician – I never knew one could do that a cigarette.

Thanks and respect, Tom Hardy, Jakarta.

The pleasure was all ours (hic).

All Grown Up Dear Yak, My, how you have grown! The last time I saw you, you were a mere slip of a thing.

Now I can hardly believe my eyes! I was fully entertained for an hour while leafing through your pages this afternoon…

Helen Heady, UK. Well, thank you! But honestly, I think it helps that you can read us on a lounger overlooking the Indian Ocean with the tropical sun beating down…the English weather is a little harder on our figure(s).

...when she recently popped into Bali prior to her concert in Jakarta. However...there was a swan in the way. Then, of course, there was Tara Reid, who happily took a copy back to Taradise...

Taylor Made Dear Yak, I don’t know if you remember me, but I was on the press trip to Indonesia a couple of months back. We had a very enjoyable evening at the Four Seasons, dining by the pool with chanting and drumming in the background. It was a very memorable

occasion. I spent five more nights in Bali, one with John Hardy and his wife and four children at The Ritz-Carlton. The PR people at The Ritz were charming. They gave me several publications to help with my research. Included was a copy of your magazine, which I enjoyed looking through and reading very much! Overall, it was a very enjoyable and productive trip. All the best!

Michael Taylor, Hong Kong.

Michael Taylor, Michael Taylor…nope, sorry, we can’t recall (only kidding dear!)

Sama Sama Dear Yak, It was great meeting you. Thanks for the magazine! It looks really classy. How bizarre, our November issue also features Oka Diputra and Lembongan island. I will send you a copy when I return to HK. Best regards, Wai Land, ReviewAsia magazine.

Great minds think alike.

Useful Dear Yak, Your magazine is great with a load of useful information – thank you. And it’s so nice in Bali! We’re already sold on another vacation…

Paul Reynolds, UK.

Give us a tinkle next year and we’ll get you a discount…

Paradise Found?

Robinson Crusoe’s image of paradise was quickly shattered once he discovered his dreamy tropical island had no food, dental facilities or, in fact, any means of escape.

Truly he was in paradise, but his experience was grim. mc2 builds quality resort real estate. In paradise locations. Our luxury resort concepts coupled with branded management, secure ownership and outstanding financial returns, mean you can realize your dreams with total confidence.

In fact, whether you are a potential buyer, investor, consultant, builder or operator, you will find mc2 creates outstanding property solutions in idyllic locations throughout South-east Asia. All within a proven package that you can trust to deliver.

After all, paradise is pointless without peace of mind...

t: +62 361 736733 w: www.mc2property.com e: enquiries@mc2property.com

Culture Vultures

Vintage Bali Vintage photographs of Bali have been a passion of collector Maurizio Rosenberg Colorni since 2003. His love of photography extends to his own art, ­in which he prefers to document historical and ethnological images. He has published books in that field and for this was awarded the International Ethnohistory Prize G. Pitré.

Maurizio’s love of prints is evident in his lifetime work as a book publisher in Italy; he has published and produced over 600 books on education, ecology, psychology and psychoanalysis, anthropology, natural medicine and self-help.

Maurizio also collaborated in setting up the Italian National Historical Phototheque in the 1970s.

A recent exhibition of the photographs held at the Quidzy gallery in Seminyak, unsurprisingly provoked a great deal of enthusiasm. If you are interested in purchasing any of the pictures you see here, please contact Maurizio directly at m@ rosenbergcolorni.com.

gallery

We are grateful to Maurizio Rosenberg Colorni for allowing us to reproduce part of his extensive collection of Bali images in this edition of Culture Vultures.

Preferential Privilege Queues, swollen feet, aching arms and jet lag. Could it get any worse? No, but it could be a whole lot better if you had booked your guest’s entry, or your own re-entry, to Bali with The Bali Concierge. Meeting you at the bottom of the escalator in the Arrivals Hall you will be relieved of your hand luggage and accompanied into a large, private, highly comfortable lounge by a TBC butler. Hand over your luggage tags and passport, stretch out on comfortable sofas and enjoy complimentary canapés, soft drinks or a beer while The Bali Concierge sorts out the minor details of visas. Flick through a copy of The Yak and by the time you are ready to turn it around and enjoy The Bud, your charming and efficient personal assistant will be ready to whisk you through immigration and accompany you through Customs to your waiting vehicle of choice. So for a mere US$ 50 you can not only feel like a celebrity but more importantly a whole lot fresher for having just got off that tedious transatlantic! www.thebaliconcierge.com Tel: 755136

Elusive and Exclusive Ayana Villa, where privacy is only disturbed by an incomparable view and the paparazzi can’t get within a halfmile radius! Located in the southern-most corner of the Ritz Carlton Bali Resort and Spa, this exclusive retreat is set on 3,000 square metres of landscaped gardens and there is not much that is does not boast. Opulent would be a good way to describe this high-end sanctuary. Private driveway with water feature, sun-room, an infinity pool of no less than 105 square metres with Jacuzzi overlooking the Indian Ocean, cliff-side wedding pavilion and private gym. Balancing out the myriad of mod-cons is a more-than-respectable collection of art, antiques and artefacts, a fully-stocked wine cellar (read vintage wines, cigars and private reserve labels) and a 24-hour bevy of staff. This three-bedroom villa, ideal to host a 200 person cocktail party, comes at price tag of US$ 8’000 per night. Designed with royalty, celebrities and heads of state in mind is there anyone that would care to vote for me? www.ritzcarlton-bali.com Tel: 702222

B.C.A. Adi’s Artstudio & Gallery 102 on Jl. Bisma in Ubud brings us B.C.A. – Balinese Contemporary Art. Sixteen artists of varying provenances, from Bali to Japan, from Java to Detroit are exhibiting a unique view of the world through their eyes.

Adi says that Bali’s version of contemporary is ‘not cruel, it is not mindful of ‘intellectual concepts’ and ‘although sometimes controversial, thankfully it is never destructive; funny and thoughtful, straight and charming’ he adds. Now that is definitely refreshing! B.C.A runs until the first week of April. The gallery is open from 10am – 5pm.

Bud Map E8

Tel: 977104

A Réi of Hope Bali's brand new wellness venue is re-energizing our circulation, stimulating our zones and offering relief from our fast-paced life on Bali. Time to wind down and turn off for a couple of hours. Four Spa ‘villas’, either open air in small lush gardens or indoors, are the setting for getting the mind, body and soul combination back to an organic state.

Bali’s prolific fruits, herbs and spices are ground, chopped, pounded and crushed to create heavenly rubs, scrubs, tinctures and oils; some ingredients hail from their very own herb and spice garden. The Rei Green Tea Ritual languidly heals us from head to toe whilst leaving us heavenly scented for life back on the road. The Orange Sensation, with its full body massage, citrus body scrub, orange body mask and a soak in an orange scented bath, energizes all the senses.

Meditation and spa product preparation courses are also available.

Jl. Griya Anyar, Br Kajeng, Pemogan. www.reiwellness.com

Tel. 847 3320

Rabia Whatever the reason - religious, spiritual, erotica, fashion, subcultural or anti-conformism, today’s youth culture is looking to define individuality by decorating the body.

This historical penchant for body enhancement has been around since Otzi the Iceman – who had an ear piercing of no less than 7-11mm. Found in the Valentina Trujillon glacier Frozen Fritz as he is also known, was into body piercing approximately 53 centuries ago; but back to today and the tropics. Rabia, close to Café Moka on Jl. Raya Seminyak, is Bali’s newest organic piercing spot. Selling a myriad of antique, tribal and modern plugs, rings and labrets, barbells and ear spirals made out of bone, horn, surgical steel, titanium, silver and coconut, Rabia offers ethnic authenticity for today’s modern primitivism. Other eye-catching pieces are a snake vertebrae choker, cartoon wallets, hats and stunning black and white photography of Kalimantan’s highly pierced tribal members.

Yak Map H9

Dinda…rella, rella, rella Time to get downright sassy and elegant. Dindarella boutiques on Jl. Lasmana and Jl. Raya Seminyak are frocking it up with silks, satin sheen and loads of floaty chiffon, slightly reminiscent of the 1940s. Designers Ucok and Putri serve up pure femininity in shades of mushroom grey, sunset reds, green-tea green, chocolate browns and cream. Eveningwear has never been so alluring and with bags, chiffon scarves and fans to match there really is no reason to look anything less than your best after the sun goes down.

Yak Map G8

Mannekepis Recently opened Mannekepis (I believe that means ‘cherub that pees’!), just one door up from Made’s Warung in Seminyak, is attracting a diverse crowd that has a couple of things in common, delicious food and a love of Jazz and Blues. This Belgian newcomer is led by the charming Yanic of Bruges, (who not only has over 27 years of restaurant experience but also over 2500 CD’s), and his effervescent team of staff. Classed as a European bistrot top of the menu is steak – tenderloin and sirloin – served with the proper sauces – a favourite being Bearnaise served with the inimitable Belgian fries and salad.

Other Belgian dishes include Belgische Stovers – a traditional beef stew cooked of course, with dark beer, and a fabulous Steak American, which is actually a traditional Belgian Steak Tartare, once again served with the best fries in the world! Open from 10am with last kitchen orders at 11.15pm, Mannekepis is becoming the watering hole du jour! Its second floor with indoor/outdoor balcony, features a fussball, a pool table and a two-way aquarium – from the ground floor you actually get to see the rare view of the underside of a goldfish! Live jazz evenings, great food and drinks in addition to valet parking makes this the new kid on the block to watch!

Yak Map I10

Jl. Raya Seminyak 2 Size does matter!

Exotiq Real Estate, with eleven offices in six locations throughout Asia’s most popular holiday resort destinations, Thailand and Indonesia, and with more than 4000 property listings, recently opened their chic Seminyak office. Where? Where else but on Boutique St., a.k.a Jl. Lasmana. As opposed to non-independent brokers, Exotiq is thankfully on the side of the buyer, and does not favour one property over another when interested investors come to call. Not sure where you want to buy? With a centralized database, Exotiq pools all their property knowledge from each of their far-flung destinations.

Whether working with a budget or just looking for that opulent dream hideaway with no holes barred, Exotiq has the where with all to make it happen. If Malaysia, Vietnam and Cambodia are also in your sights then keep your eyes open for more Exotiq offices, coming soon.

Yak Map F8

www.exotiqrealestate.com Tel. 737358

A Massage before Midnight The Laguna Resort and Spa in Nusa Dua have lengthened the hours that one might enjoy total bliss; they wanted to heighten the experience and have come up with the Moonlight Massage.

In a beach-front gazebo sip on a cocktail, enjoy a leisurely massage as the moon rises over the Indian Ocean. The evening has just begun.

Romance is top of their agenda and nothing could be more romantic than their Spa Villa Seduction. How about dinner with champagne, oysters, lobster, ginseng and fois gras? Do you want me to stop? An aromatherapy massage, a chocolate scrub and a body wrap. How are you feeling now? The experience culminates with a dip in an exotic chocolate bath followed by an exotic dessert. Set in the privacy of The Spa Villa, accompanied by discreet butler service, this four-hour pleasure trip is truly an experience of a lifetime.

Tel. 771327 www.luxurycollection.com

Curios and curios Antiques made-to-order may exist a-plenty along the by-pass but real antiques can be found in few places. The job of The Bali Antique shop, on Jl. Raya Basangkasa # 34X, is to bring us out of our contemporary mode and allows us to appreciate what went before. Bone bangles from Flores and Kalimantan sit next to 17th century Thai Bhuddas. Hair combs, mounted antique silver earrings and ornate carved spoons made of horn remind us of the handcrafted artistry of yesteryear. Ancient Chinese compasses and mid 19th century Chinese paintings perfect the Pan Asian selection of curios. Most impressive is the European certified pair of Tang Dynasty horses, reasonably priced at about four thousand dollars. Add to these some shipwreck-salvaged porcelain and some slightly intimidating carved monkey skulls and there really is an antique for everyone.

Yak Map H9 www.bali-antique-shop.com

Peace & Love in Lycra K&I, a refreshing, no-fuss boutique on Jl. Raya Basangkasa a.k.a Jl. Seminyak, brings us light Lycra T’s with words of Peace and Love. Sexy shorts, sequinned dresses, summer frocks floral patterned in a cotton lycra mix - and a small range of this year’s fashionable colours, gold and silver are set to be snapped up by one and all, if you are a girl that is. And if you have the body, the silver and gold bikinis are a must for the beachbound. K& I’s small purses and clutch bags are tasteful mixed shades of leather and the chunky, ‘statement’ jewellery and gold or bling covered skulls do just that…make a statement!

Tel. 737025 Jl. Raya Basangakasa 44

Floors Above the Rest Anantara Seminyak is now open for business. Having had us chomping at the bit since late last year, we are thrilled to have a new IT place to hang. An ‘elegant outpost to chic’ this all-suite resort - 59 to be exact – is so much more than an overnight option. Apart from the ‘free flowing living spaces…with hydro tubs for two overlooking the ocean’ , it is really the Wild Orchid restaurant and S.O.S bar that has our juices flowing. On the raised ground floor, just steps from the sand and surf, Chef Berm cooks up a delectable storm from Thailand with creations of Siam. Leather and wood tables with hints of orange and a vast decking under the stars, ending in a Jacuzzi infinity pool, gives Wild Orchid a view like no other. But off, off, off up to the sixth floor…where Anantara’s rooftop bar - Sunset on Six a.k.a. S.O.S. - is set to establish itself as a top notch and much-sought-after watering hole. From the front, catch the 180degree view from Gilimanuk in the west to Bingin Beach to the south and an unparalleled sunset taking centre stage – remember you are six floors up! Three monster day beds fitting about a dozen people each, two vertiginous glass walkways and an ample decking to one side with views of the volcanoes and Bali to the east, make this a bar like no other. Add to that a walk-in wine cellar filled with premier branded alcohol and private cuvées and the choice of ‘where to drink with friends’ is no longer optional. Why settle for less when you can enjoy the best?

Yak Map D11 Tel.: 737773 www.bali.anantara.com

...is an Asian advertising legend, born in Britain and bred in Australia. His first client in 1972 was Singapore Airlines, and his agency, Batey Ads, is largely credited for the successful positioning of the world’s best airline. He lives with his wife Caroline in Singapore, Mexico, USA and Bali.

About advertising, generally: I still love it.

Every day is a new game. And what a game.

Present world annual spend is US$400 billion or more, dominated by four to five global marketing services groups with their stables of ad agency networks and associated companies offering every communication permutation imaginable. The ever-rising forces of fierce competition have impacted on service deals between brand owners and their marketing service consultants, and yields for consultants are taking a hiding, and will continue to do so. The revenue bashing has significantly affected the quality of creative work, but this doesn’t seem to concern the brand owners at present. It should. I think the door is wide open in several high-profile industries for a new (or revitalized) brand with a good story and compelling creative work to quickly seize sizeable market share.

Looking ahead at the global playing field, I am as keen as mustard to see a non-Japan Asian marketing services group emerge as

the biggest on Planet Earth. It’s a tall order to take on the mighty Western giants such as Omnicom and WPP, but it can be done. All that’s needed is the will to do it.

About business success, generally: Business success need not be judged purely on profit size. Some business folk happily survive on the smell of an oil rag. Which is fine. I just happen to like the excitement of going for healthy revenue and dividends. Bert, my dad, prescribed the classic recipe for business success – hard work. Bert diligently practiced what he preached, and throughout his entire life he remained dismally poor.

My dad’s experience sent me a blunt message that hard work is not the only ticket to business success. Having a career focus in a good-paying growth industry is not a bad start. Then you need to have the lucky breaks. Several years ago, one of Asia’s finest creative minds chatted with me over a whiskey or two, and I must have pressed a sensitive button as my creative buddy suddenly

exploded: ”Let’s face it, Ian,” he screamed.

“You are far less intellectual, less intelligent, less creative than I am, yet you somehow are far more affluent and successful!

“You’re right,” I replied, “but I have been fortunate to have wonderful guardian angels looking after me.”

I support the clichéd view that luck and timing frequently play decisive roles in prospering people and their businesses, and that spiritual forces which we generally refer to as ‘angels’ help navigate our destiny. Sounds like a Harry Potter fantasy to you? Talk to J.K. Rowling’s bank manager about the realities of fantasy.

About my biggest commercial disappointment: I’ve had quite a few disappointments, and each time I lost an advertising pitch I sulked for a week. Arguably the biggest disappointment was my failure to convince the Singapore Government to buy the idea of turning Singapore into the most amazing Garden City on earth. Singapore already offers an impressive garden city experience, and the mad plan my team and I put together promised to rocket this theme to spectacular heights, with the aid of stunning technology and some rather interesting creative spins. I still maintain that my garden city product is a better, more unique idea than the casino route that has been adopted, and I’m still sore that my sales pitch was not compelling enough to turn on the Singapore decision makers. I blew it. Next time you lose an important sales pitch, look in the mirror for answers.

About life, generally: My poor old pal Albert Einstein (no, we never met, but he’s a pal in my mind) once said that life is like riding a bicycle – you need to keep your balance and keep moving forward. Regrettably, I journeyed through the first 60 years

of my life wearing blinkers and wobbling all over the place. I rarely put my head up to see what was going on around me. Then one day someone asked me to help them get out of some mess they were in. “What’s in it for me?” I asked. ”Not much,” was the reply. So I didn’t help them. Six months later the same person approached me again, and he was in really desperate trouble. This time, for some inexplicable reason, I helped bail him out. And it immediately made me feel good. So I removed my blinkers and started to see life in a refreshingly different way, and I got involved in more needy causes. Clearly, there’s a heavy dose of ego in this thing of helping. So be it, I’ve found that the giving side of life is most rewarding for one’s soul.

About laughing: I’ve never been a good laugher. I’ve always tended to make a gurgling sound when I laugh, and if things are not going well I make a kind of nervous hissing laugh. The idea of having a good belly laugh is gathering traction across our planet, and I’m now in training to upgrade.

The great thing about it is you can practice just about anywhere. I also hear that there are specially trained laughing practitioners – you can enjoy Laughing Yoga, Laughing Salsa Dancing, Laughing Cooking Classes, the menu is extensive. Ok, but what’s behind this growing laughing crusade, you could well ask? To start with, a hearty belly laugh re-energies the trillions of cells in your body, and these guys love it! So consistent uninhibited laughter is physically good for you.

A hearty laugh is also magic for relieving tension and injecting positive energy into whatever environment you’re experiencing. If you’ve been a limp laugher like me, I strongly recommend that you take a hearty laughing course of some sort.

Interwho

The Yak: When did you first come to Bali?

KG: In 1984. I moved here to live in 1988.

How old are you?

Thirty five.

Hang on, so you moved here when you were 15?

No, not exactly…

Well, if we do the math…

Okay, you caught me out!

So how old are you?

Oh darling, do I have to…? Oh okay, I’m 45!

Now we’ve cleared that up, what brought you here?

I came at first to meet some girlfriends and saw an opportunity to manufacture a small collection of my own designs, which I put into a friend’s chain store in Australia. It was all mad streetethnic back then. They sold really well and the store doubled their orders, and I then moved here permanently. Before that I was teaching fashion design and marketing and working in New York and Europe as a stylist.

And now you have your own label – Kerry Grima – and your new label D’or for the younger market…

Yes. The D’or label has been very successful and KG has been very good to me also, but now I’m ready to sell.

Are you serious? Why? You’ve worked so hard to get it to where it’s at…

There’s more to life than making dresses. Over the last five months I’ve been working with friends to raise money and awareness of Bali children who live in orphanages. This has opened my eyes and my heart.

In what way?

Bali has been good to me; I want to give something back. By selling my business I can have more time and money for these kinds of projects. Charity work is so much more rewarding. To see your stuff on the catwalk is a big personal ego boost, but to see children painting, hearing them drumming and dancing, seeing them happy with their new sheets and beds, seeing them plant the seeds for the new vegetable garden…to share those experiences with them can be exhilarating and for me it’s more personally satisfying.

Do you want kids of your own?

I’d love to, but honey I can’t. I’ve been trying every position and it’s not working!

How will you support yourself once you’ve sold the business?

Well firstly it’s cheap to live in Bali. I have a couple of rental incomes and maybe I’ll do some consulting work and maybe, in time, I’ll start a men’s label.

Will it be hard to say goodbye to women’s fashion? You’ve been part of it for so long, you almost went bankrupt but bounced back and you’re now one of the island’s most respected designers.

It’s true I’ve had my share of ups and downs. I didn’t go completely bust, but I lost a lot of money through an agent friend in New York who copied my concept. It took me four years to get over that. There was a lot of bitterness but the way I survived was to forgive and move on. Now I’ve built the business up to a point where it’s doing a really good financial turnover, we’ve got a manufacturing unit, we’ve got four retail outlets plus our wholesale business exporting to London, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Italy, Spain, Australia and New Zealand. It’s a good time to sell.

I read somewhere you’re considered the enfant terrible of Bali’s fashion industry. Is that true?

That’s crap. That was written by some editor who didn’t know what she was talking about.

Where do you find the stamina to keep it all happening?

Well you bonk your husband every weekend, how do you have the stamina to keep doing that?

It doesn’t take a whole weekend!

Oh darling, poor you! But I have settled down a lot. My energy has more priority since the orphanage projects. I still enjoy going out and causing havoc. Mind you I’m up every morning to walk my dogs on the beach.

What about professionally? Are you predictable?

I’m predictable on the timing, predictable in that I’ll use suede and leather and silk and beautiful colours and a great story, but unpredictable with what’s going to happen. You always have elements of things you must have, things you know will sell well, but I always throw in some unpredictable pieces in my collection, a few talk-about pieces. Right now I’m commercialising the collection.

So what inspires you?

Nature, art, music, certain people and beautiful fabrics at hand.

Do you consider yourself spiritual?

I’ve done the whole spiritual thing. I’ve been to ashrams, I’ve been with the Khrisnas, I’ve travelled the world and been to Hindu temples and Muslim mosques, I’ve done séances and meditation, I’ve been through mediums, channellers and clairvoyants, but you don’t have to be sitting in a lotus position to find your spirit. To me, I find rejuvenation of my spirit when I’m doing something that wakes me up and shocks me and makes me feel alive. With fashion I get so far away from the spiritual side.

How has living in Bali for so long changed the way you live?

There’s a lot of predictability in living on an island. You need to challenge yourself, to get out of your comfort zone after living here for 20 years. That’s why I don’t live in a big villa anymore.

I had this big comfy villa, but now I’ve decided to live a more simple life next door to my warehouse/studio. I call it the doghouse.

Are you happier living in the doghouse?

Definitely. To be humble in the presence of people who expect some other façade from you is a real awakening for them and myself. I have people coming to my house going, ‘Oh, we thought you’d have a villa and this and that, we can’t believe you live in a grassed-roof place surrounded by seven dogs.’ You know, I have a chaise longue in my place with all handmade suede and Mongolian lamb cushions, but they’re only for the dogs. And I say, ‘Don’t sit there, that’s for my dogs’. They have a really high position in my life. I’m half deaf so they look after me, they’ll bark if someone’s around. And they don’t steal from me.

People have.

It seems like you’re making many big changes in your life. I don’t mean this in a negative way, but do you think you’re experiencing some sort of mid-life crisis?

Definitely. I’m coming through that at the moment, I’m re-evaluating everything in my life and I’m looking at things differently.

Does Bali still have the same appeal for you now as 20 years ago?

What I love about Bali hasn’t changed. I love the Indonesian people and the way they love to joke and laugh. My true spirit is a joker. I love the vulnerability of being here because I grew up very vulnerable as a child.

How so?

Well, I was just very vulnerable, I don’t want to go into that one.

I grew up in a volatile home. But being vulnerable can also keep you alert, aware of your world. I love life on the edge, my spirit comes alive when I’m on the edge. And you’re so vulnerable to natural elements here. But what saddens me about Bali is the over-development. If you can imagine 20 years ago, the roads in Seminyak weren’t sealed, there were open drains everywhere and the shops were bamboo huts. I hate what’s happening now in Bali. Eventually there’ll be no land left, and the gap between the haves and the have-nots has gotten so much bigger. Most Balinese are have-nots and when you look at the money pouring into this island, it’s not reaching them.

Will you stay in Bali forever?

I can’t see myself living here forever. I would always have a base here, but I don’t think I want to live permanently anywhere. In the next part of my life, I would like to travel the world. I have friends in Africa and India working with different charity projects and that’s how I want to spend my time now.

What are your immediate plans for the future?

A KG summer collection and a D’or collection for 2008 at L’Oreal Fashion Week in Melbourne. An exhibition in Dubai for the Middle Eastern market; production for Shevia-Diva and to keep enjoying life. And of course to sell up.

Kerry, best of luck, it’s been a pleasure speaking with you.

Sindhu Hadiprana, a well-heeled member of the Hadiprana design dynasty with many famous projects in Bali, answers questions from Hanna Rodian while overlooking the rice paddies in the fabulous grounds of his former family holiday estate, now the The Chedi Club at Tanah Gajah.

The Yak: Who are you?

Sindhu Hadiprana: It’s difficult to answer questions about myself. I’m just a simple person who doesn’t expect too much from life and just goes with the flow. I’m also someone who surreptitiously keeps the balance within the family company.

First memories of Bali?

I was about 19 years old, and arriving in Sanur for the first time all those years ago, I’ll never forget the acrid smell of coral being burnt for use in the first building boom. Then, of course, there were the many family study tour excursions with my father and the ‘good old days’ of family holidays here.

Your favourite and other projects on the island to date?

My father and I were very proud when our office was chosen to design and build the InterContinental in Jimbaran. This was the very first time that a 100 percent-owned Indonesian company, without any foreign partners, had been given such an important project. Other projects followed. We built The Legian in 1996 and the ‘transformation’ of Tanah Gajah was

completed in 2004.

Does Bali have the same effect on you as on your father, the artist?

No, my father is still always searching, discovering and moving on to find something new on the island. I tend to wait until things find me, then I’m extremely tenacious. One example is that I love Balinese music and I’m trying to take a new direction by combining Negara’s jegog with our local Tanah Gajah gamelan.

Arriving from Jakarta, what is your typical day in Bali?

Always on a tight schedule, I rush into the office in Sanur in the morning, then up to Tanah Gajah in the afternoon. I usually manage to stay overnight but leave for Jakarta early the next day. I’m definitely missing a lot because I actually don’t know Bali at all any more…

If you had the time, how would you spend a perfect Bali day?

Listening to my Ubud gamelan musicians playing with the bamboo jegog from Negara. Watching them all enjoy the

challenge and a chance to do something completely new and different. I’m also planning to add the large wooden kepyongan cowbells too, so the whole project is getting very exciting.

What do you love most about Bali?

The unique, magical interaction between culture and landscape that can only really be felt here.

Where would you prefer to live?

In the mountains of Switzerland.

What would you change in your life?

To work less but more effectively.

What are your plans for the future?

To offer a greater number and variety of cultural performances at Tanah Gajah and, with the help of traditional family recipes, help to turn the restaurant into a very special lunch and dinner destination. Many innovations are being planned from April onwards. Also, I have promised myself to get to know Bali, especially Ubud, better, and spend more time here.

The Yak: Originally from the U.S.A., how ‘Asia’ are you?

John Rees: Hmmm, let’s see, my wife is originally from the Philippines and my kids are half Asian so guess that makes me one quarter Asian?

Your career. Can you give us a brief rundown?

Twenty six years in the industry with a majority of the time in the kitchen. Miami, Atlanta, Boston, St. Louis, Nassau, Switzerland, Beijing, Osaka, Hong Kong, Macau and now Bali.

Companies: Marriott (early years), Ritz-Carlton (foundation), Peninsula (top of my chef game), Shangri-la (intro to Asia), Raffles (Japan) and now InterContinental Hotel Group.

What do you bring to Bali?

I bring a new look and feel to the F&B product of the InterConinental Bali Resort. I am a passionate and devoted foodie who enjoys wine and exploring the local indigenous products and adapting them to the guest experience.

Initiative and innovation seem to be key words that describe your outlook – what are your plans for the InterContinental Bali?

It’s a work in progress. Stay tuned!

You hail from the China World Hotel that has 760 rooms.

How did you maintain quality?

Actually I was only there from 2002 to 2003. But basically by surrounding myself with great leaders and cooks with passion. Also by being relentless in the pursuit of quality products, which can be hard at times in China. When it comes to the size of a hotel, the execution of excellence is only large exponentially. I just adapted policies and procedures that are used in smaller properties to more levels and larger groups in bigger properties.

How does Bali differ from Beijing, personally and professionally?

Night and day. Topography, quality of life, outlook of people, cuisine, pollution…there are a million differences.

Your roots are in the food side of F&B, but we denote true passion when you talk about wine. So what comes first, food or wine?

For me it’s about the marriage of both. If I have a special wine I want to drink then I will make the food to match and vice versa.

Tell us about the BBC (the Beijing Bottle Club or is it the Blind Bottle Club)?

Actually it was the Blind Bottle Club. It was a small club that a bunch of F&B guys from around Beijing put together started by my good friend Dan Siebers, in which each person brought a bottle of wine wrapped in foil and we sat down to dinner and course by course we tried to guess each oth-

ers’ wines, first by Old World/New World, then by country, then region, grape varietal, winery, vintage etc…Very tough to do but it made us truly think about only the wine and not the ratings, price and hype.

Are you a guy’s guy or a Mummy’s boy?

I am a dude’s dude! Worldly travelled, family centric, and 100 per cent grade “A” American product.

Right now you are Area Director for F&B for resorts throughout Malaysia and Indonesia for the InterContinental Hotels Group. What would it take to get you back in the kitchen?

I only cook now for family and good friends. No time for the rear view mirror. Sorry.

Give us one or two-word opinions about the following: Raw food ­– It has a place locally, especially with all of the opportunities of organic foods here in Bali. Globally I think it’s hard to sell. Molecular gastronomy – I like the idea and execution of it, but I prefer to utilise this more in a sous vide way by cooking at lower temperatures to reduce the fat breakdown and increase tenderness. I am not a big fan of protein bonding, xanthan gum and the other ingredients used to change the form of food. Fusion – Is that still around? More like confusion...

If you had to choose, which country has the best cuisine?

Japan. The flavours are based on seasonality, quality, pureness and integrity of product. Everything I had in Japan, while I was there, was clean and light on the palette.

What do you see as the limitations and challenges of your new position?

No limitations, this is Bali! Challenges? Affecting change in a positive way. The normal human instinct is to resist.

And the positives?

Not enough time or room on this page to list. It’s all good.

If we could give you a ‘magic spoon’, what would you change about yourself, your environment, the world?

Nothing about myself (it’s been a great ride so far), maybe more hair... My environment: nothing, we are in a good place now both professionally and personally. Environment for the world? Bring more awareness to the fact that what we eat affects not only ourselves but our children and our children’s children, i.e mercury in fish, pesticides in vegetables, thermerosol in vaccinations and growth hormones in meat.

Thanks! We’re certainly looking forward to you epicurean events. www.bali.intercontinental.com

Just Landed

ONE of the most interesting and talented of the European artists who came to Bali in the 1930s is also one of the least known. Emilio Ambron (1905-96) was inspired to visit Bali in 1938 during its golden era and, after an extraordinary Asian wartime odyssey, returned to post-war Italy, where he lived and worked in Florence, making frequent working journeys back to Bali before his death in 1996.

A sculptor, draughtsman and painter, Emilio Ambron was unlike many of the other artists who came to Bali in those days, in that he was independently wealthy and well connected. He was under no compulsion to sell his paintings to make a living and was reluctant to do so, to the extent of buying back works he had sold.

When, during the war, he had no money and did have to live by his art, he was forced to leave much of his work behind at war’s end in 1946, when he eventually managed to return to Europe. Ambron died in 1996 and it was only after the recent death of his widow, Carla, that Ambron’s work has started to come onto the art market. Which is perhaps why his name and reputation is not as widely known outside art circles as some of the lesser artists who came to Bali – and now command huge prices in the region’s salesrooms. The largest public display of Ambron’s work outside Italy are the 69 works in stone and bronze, pencil,

charcoal and oil, on display as a bequest to Bali at the Museum Semararajaya in the grounds of the royal palace at Klungkung.

A few of his works are also on display at the Neka Museum and most recently at the new Pasifika Museum in Nusa Dua. Ambron’s development as an artist was unconventional. The first-born and only son of a wealthy and highly cultured Italian Jewish family, he was brought up in Rome and Alexandria, where his father was a prominent businessman and patron of the arts. His mother Amelia was herself a gifted artist, as was his sister Gilda.

Artists, writers and intellectuals all found gracious hospitality at Villa Ambron, where visitors included painters Claude Monet, Giulio Sartorio and Giacomo Balla; writers and poets E.M.Forster, Lawrence Durrell, Francesco Michetti, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Constantine Cavafy and Giuseppe Ungaretti. As a budding young artist, his mother introduced him to her great friend Giacomo Balla, the futurist master, and convinced Balla to become Emilio’s tutor.

For the better part of a decade, Ambron was directly influenced by Balla, learning from him his unerring brushwork and ability to convey essence in a few strokes. By 1929 he broke with futurism and immersed himself in the classicism of the great Renaissance masters, with additional influences from the American Agrarian movement and the

Mexico School, typified by Diego Rivera.

By 1938, Ambron was at a turning point in his life and his art. As a Jew he was concerned with the ominous political situation in Europe. Some of his futurist friends, many committed fascists, refused to acknowledge him. And, as an artist, he was at a crossroads, looking for new inspiration. He picked up Dr Gregor Krause’s celebrated book of photographs of Bali, saw a documentary movie on the island, even travel posters, and they fired his imagination powerfully.

In December of the same year Ambron and his sister Gilda landed in North Bali and soon found a small house and studio to rent at the village of Klandis Kedaton near Denpasar. After several months Gilda returned to Europe, but Emilio had found what he was looking for. He was entranced

by Balinese music, dance and cultural life.

Two of the most famous young dancers of the time, Ni Chawan and Ni Sadri, made an enormous impression on him, epitomising the grace and sensuality of Bali, and became his models. Gregarious by nature, Ambron quickly made the acquaintance of the other expatriate artists on the island. He came with letters of introduction to the Belgian artist Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur, whom he often visited, and also became friendly with Swiss artist Theo Meier, whom he regarded as a charming rogue. He talked long with

Rudolf Bonnet and formed a bond with the Viennese sculptor and photographer Arthur Fleischmann, a fellow Jew. He was also neighbours with the Dutch painter Willem Hofker and his wife Maria, though their relationship was not altogether cordial.

Young, good looking, wealthy and Italian, Ambron had an unfair advantage over Hofker, and the young dancer Ni Chawan, who had been modelling for Hofker, unsurprisingly preferred the younger man. More to the point, so did her family. Maria Hofker took Ambron to task for ruining the market by paying his models.

Obligingly, Ambron agreed to compromise and an agreement to share the young beauty’s time was thrashed out with her family. Unfortunately, just as Ambron had found his magic island, news came from Europe that he could not return to Italy or Egypt, and with the imminent entry of Italy into the war on the German side, the Dutch in Indonesia were interning enemy aliens.

He was forced to leave Bali.

In 1940 Ambron left by boat for Manila in the company of his friend Romualdo Locatelli, the most celebrated Italian portraitist of his day, having sent over 50 of his Bali works back to his family in Egypt, where they were exhibited to much critical acclaim. For the next six years, Ambron was to wander penniless through Asia, jetsam in the tide of war, living as best he could

Clockwise from top left: Portrait of an artist; Balinese muse; Ambron with his wife; photos in Bali; at work; an influential relief; a Bali artist’s studio; dining aboard ship.

Clockwise from top left: Feminine eternal; musical interlude; Borobudur; on tour; a local muse and the artist’s work.

through his art. From Manila he travelled to Shanghai and on to Beijing, where he sojourned for a year and immersed himself in the city and his work, even holding a successful exhibition at the American-run Peking Art Institute in January 1941. Caught in Shanghai with the entry of the US into the war, the situation became so unsettled he was once again forced to ship out, this time for pro-Vichy French Indochina.

Arriving in Saigon via Hanoi in early 1942, shortly after his arrival he visited Angkor Wat and experienced a second epiphany, very similar to Bali, in another tropical landscape filled with temples and an ancient culture.

He was to spend the next two years in a curious wartime idyll, living in a hut by a river painting some of his best work in the company of his muse and lover, a young Cambodian girl called Neang. With no money he lived native, roaming the temples of Angkor in a loincloth with brief forays to Saigon to sell some paintings to take care of their few simple needs.

Alas, the idyll could not last. As it became clear the Japanese had lost the war, they became unpredictable and suspicious of all foreigners. They began arming the anti-colonialist Khmer resistance, who were unlikely to differentiate between their hated French masters and a solitary Italian painter.

Once again swept up in the tide of war, he was imprisoned and separated from Neang, whom he was never to see again. It was several months after the war had ended that he was able to return to Angkor, only to

find his home burned, his work given away by the Japanese, and no sign of Neang. He managed to gather about half of his missing work and returned sadly to Saigon, where after several months of kicking his heels he eventually obtained a flight to Calcutta and finally on to Egypt. He finally arrived back home in Alexandria in 1946, eight years and a lifetime after his departure for Bali.

During the war and Emilio’s absence, Villa Ambron, a huge house with spectacular grounds filled with exotic plants, marble sculptures, ancient granite columns and a magnificent banyan tree, had continued as the hub of artistic social life in intrigueridden wartime Alexandria, presided over by his parents Aldo and Amelia, as well as his sister Gilda. Villa Ambron and the family who lived there were an integral part of the city, which was the social and intellectual capital of the Levant in that cultural hiatus where Asia met Europe between the hangover of the Ottomans and the coming forces of Pan Arabism and Islamism. In 1941, driven out of his beloved Greek islands by the German invasion, the poet and author Lawrence Durrell was to arrive in Alexandria with his wife and daughter, who quickly left him for Palestine. Finding work as the Press Officer at the British Consulate, Durrell naturally gravitated to the literary life of the city and became friends with Gilda and Amelia Ambron, who offered him lodgings in Villa Ambron. It was here in the octagonal watchtower that Durrell was to write Prospero’s Cell, and met the characters

populating his most famous work, The Alexandrian Quartet. The character of Clea was part-based on a composite of his friends and patrons Amelia and Gilda, the only Ambron specifically mentioned in the Quartet. His most famous fictional character, Justine, strikingly portrayed by Anouk Aimée in a two-dimensional screen version

by George Cukor in 1969, being based on Eve Cohen, the Alexandrian Jewess who became his second wife. In 1947, following a plebiscite, the Italian King, Vittorio Emmanuele III, went into exile, residing for a year in a floor of the Villa Ambron at the invitation of the family. The house was finally sold to the Egyptian government in 1994 and became a museum.

In 1947, Ambron had returned to Italy, settling in Florence where he settled into a large late Renaissance studio on the Via Rondelli, entering another fruitful period of his career surrounded by the great masters of the past. In that same year he was also to meet Carla Polacco, a young Venetian of great beauty, who was to become his assistant, his manager, his muse and his wife. Ambron saw in Carla an uncanny resemblance to that greatest of 15thC. Renaissance beauties, Simonetta Vespucci, model for Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, and lover of Guiliano de Medici, younger brother of Lorenzo the Magnificent, who died mourned by all at the age 22 of tuberculosis in 1476.

By 1965, Ambron felt the call to return to the East. Due to the political turbulence in Indonesia, he was unable to visit Bali as he longed to, but he did go to Singapore, Borneo and Thailand, where he renewed his friendship with Theo Meier. He also made a point of returning to Siem Reap in Cambodia in the hope of finding Neang and locating his missing paintings. Sadly, there was no trace or news of either.

It was not until 1968 that he was able to return to Bali, and the magic of the island re-exerted its hold over him and his work there continued on from 1940 with the added vigour of the artist in his full maturity.

He was to make three lengthy visits to Bali, painting extensively there and in Florence.

During this time he met many old friends and developed a rapport with the Dutch painter Arie Smit, who had come to Bali in

the 1950s. It was in the last 20 years of his life that Ambron turned to sculpture, almost as a natural extension of his painting. As if this was the dimension in which he could pay the highest homage in his obsession with beauty in the form of the eternal feminine.

Following a final trip to Bali in 1994, Ambron died aged 91 in Florence in 1996.

Latterly Ambron was most concerned about the legacy of his work and that it should be suitably displayed in the places he loved best – Bali and Florence – and not scattered to the winds of the art market.

Carla, with the assistance of Idanna Pucci, the niece of their Florentine family friend Emilio Pucci, helped in this. Ambron had first met Idanna in 1968 in Singapore and many times subsequently in Bali and Florence. It was she who managed to secure the integrity of a major collection of Ambron’s work from the designs of influential Indonesian collectors by twinning the ancient Bali capital of Klungkung with Florence and having it housed in the palace grounds, where it can be seen today. The collection may however soon be relocated for its better display and presentation to one of the major galleries, most probably in Ubud.

Ambron’s work has long been admired by a small and influential group of collectors.

His work is strikingly original, informed by the unlikely combination of his futurist training under Balla and his instinctive love of classicism. He described his work as “a line without regret” and this is nowhere more manifest than in his renderings of movement and the female form. Along with Walter Spies, Emilio Ambron is one of the most original and talented of European artists to have lived and worked in Bali. Now that some of his work is finally becoming more available in the salesrooms of the world, Ambron is finally taking his place among the very best of European painters in Bali and the Orient at a time, when the going is good.

Let art critic, Bruce Carpenter, have the final word in the most accessible work in English on Ambron, Emilio Ambron, An Italian Artist in Bali: “Ambron remains the last great artist,” he writes, “and certainly one of the most intriguing artists of Bali’s golden era, to achieve his rightful place.”

All That Jazz

Photos courtesy of Tirtha Bridal.

“I DON’T know if jazz fits in Bali or not,” says soprano saxophonist and jazz composer Joe Rosenberg, who visits Bali regularly to play in a burgeoning jazz scene on the island. “People seem to enjoy it and often people from the audience say how pleased and surprised they are to find jazz while they’re here.”

It’s certainly an incongruity to find jazz on an island better known for its rice culture, but nevertheless there’s a core scene in Bali that’s attracted a small but enthusiastic following. And even more surprisingly – it’s centred around a Japanese couple based in Ubud.

Artist Hutomo Ishii and his saxophonst wife Chika Asamoto opened As One – Lounge in Gallery in Jl. Raya Lungsiakan, Kedewatan, in April 2007, shortly after Chika relocated here from her native Japan. “I was working in Tokyo and have a reputation there as a musician,” she says. “I’ve released nine albums and toured everywhere; it was time to settle down in one place and just play music.”

Hutomo Ishii is a painter – together they decided to combine their talents and open a jazz café that doubles as an art gallery. “We went to other places on the island with the word ‘jazz’ in their name,” says Ishii, “but there was no real jazz being played.”

“Some of the people were very skilled though,” adds Chika, “and they had started to play jazz just for themselves, so we put together a band. We invited them to As One, and every time more and more people came. We invited musicians from Japan because the market is not mature here. Basically we found that people were starved of good quality music – not everyone likes club DJs, and some people had just got tired of it.”

Since opening As One, the couple has staged and played in live jazz performances twice a week in the small café that borders rice fields in Kedewatan. Now other venues in Bali have followed their lead, inviting Chika and her band to play regularly at resorts including Sentosa, The Legian and Tirtha Bridal, where Chikka’s Tokyo band joined her for a one-off performance at the end of last year. “We worked with Tirtha to produce a CD – Tirtha Love Deluxe,” says Chikka. “A lot of fun.”

“Most of it is down to word of mouth,” says Ishii. “A lot of people from all over the world come to Bali, and of course there are musicians among them.”

One such is Joe Rosenberg, who lives in Hong Kong and has been visiting the island for more than 10 years.

“I always want to play as much as possible,” says Joe, “so when I come to Bali I find out who’s playing where and see if I can join them. I usually play with guitarist Yuri Mahatma, along with a variety of other players. Occasionally there’s a special event in Bali, like a festival, and then I can arrange to have some musicians I know from outside of Bali join us. But most of the time it’s just for fun.”

Isn’t that how it always starts? “Surprisingly, there’s a long history of jazz in Indonesia,” says Joe, “particularly in Jakarta, with a lot of great jazz musicians there, young and old, and also in some other cities like Jogjakarta and Bandung. Almost all of the jazz musicians in Bali are from Java and a very high number from the south eastern city of Malang,” he says.

Is there a future for jazz here, we asked? “I think it depends on young musicians,” says Joe. “There are some local musicians that are already playing well here and seem to be serious about it. Jazz for me is about finding your own voice and at the same time creating something with others. It’s about a particular type of rhythm and feel, and of course about improvising.” Which seems like good advice to follow as a way forward for jazz in Bali. www.joerosenberg.net www.asone-bali.com

NEW Icons of Bali is The Yak’s take on the island’s freshest legends – brands and destinations known beyond our humble borders that have stamped themselves indelibly on the minds of visitors and residents alike.

Where once the island was known exclusively for its culture (and somewhat iffy nightlife), today Bali has a new aspect, one that is more cosmopolitan, more southern facing and more international in outlook. Not all our icons are entirely ‘new’. In this sense we wanted to look beyond historical constraints to Bali Now. New Icons of Bali is our choice of the latent, the latest and the greatest. Legends, we salute you…

THE best girls’ surf shop in the world? Check. Cool graphics and homegrown creativity? Check. Impish mascot in pigtails and skimpy beach wear? Check. Surfer Girl and its mascot Summer first stretched its legs in Bali in the summer of ’98 at a small all-girls surf shop on Jl. Legian, expanding its collections of street, surf and lifestyle products over the years to bring us an iconic Kuta ensemble that hit a nerve. Today there are Surfer Girl stores in Jakarta, Surabaya and Makassar, with more on the way. And it’s not just about flogging clothes and sunglasses, either. Surfer Girl is a driving force behind several poverty-alleviation, education, and environment-protection programmes, including G.U.S (Gelombang Udara Segar, A Wave of Fresh Air), an environmental organisation supported by the Indonesian surf industry dedicated to finding solutions to Bali’s pollution concerns. Who ever said surfing was for boys? Nonsense. Dude, eat my bikini bottoms.

PRANA SPA IT’S not new. It doesn’t provide anything that’s not on offer at a hundred other fabulous spas in Bali, but still we believe Prana is The One when it comes to pampering.

Because we love the Moorish touches, the grand spectacle of it, the sheer unhindered luxury that lies within. And because the building is an icon, a landmark in a world of villa box-sets that are beginning to grate.

Bali needs more grand schemes and fabulous architecture – Prana led the way. Time for others to follow.

LOOK beyond the cocktails, the cachet, the sunset, the good-looking crowds and the first class service...and Ku has more. It has professional management, marketing savvy and maximum niche value, not to mention innovative cuisine, edgy art and top-notch security. Bali’s day club par excellence, Ku blends music, mixology and a modern attitude to bikini-and-rock-hard-board-short-clubbing that stretches easily into well-conceived and executed season showstoppers. Above all, it has an international reputation on par with the best clubs in the world. And that’s because it exists among them. Ku De Ta is a coup of which any country could be proud – and, we believe, it won’t be long before this club standard spawns a new breed of copycat projects. Respect.

SUPERMAN Is Dead, an icon of Bali? Why? Because once we too were young, in a band and wanted to change the world. And because they’ve got a cool name, an even cooler look and a sound that rocks. Started in the summer of ’95 by members Bobby Kool, Eka Rock and Jrx, and named as such because “simply we don’t believe in the idea of the perfect person”, S.I.D. are a punkabilly trio with a mission to spread positive counter culture among a lost generation. Their musical influences? Social Distortion, The Living End, NOFX, Bad Religion and Johnny Cash. Need we say more. With six albums in their bag, S.I.D. are recently returned from a 16-gig tour of Australia and will be launching a new CD this year.

DOWNTOWN – popular song from ‘60s songstress Petula Clark or our favourite cutting-edge, boutique villa in the heart of Seminyak? Trail blazing its way through Bali’s architectural metamorphosis, Downtown Villas was the first-born of Nine Squares Development – since then this avant-garde group has given birth to an equally impressive sibling: the globally infamous Ku De Ta. The epitome of sleek and sassy, Downtown blended the yet-to-be experienced luxury with innovative interiors that hinted of retro-chic. It was an Austin Powers pad before Austin Powers’ psychedelia-ed his way onto our screens. Privacy with all the trappings (butlers, maxi bars, TV’s in the bath tub, lap pools, right down to hangover kits), Downtown has ushered in the next generation of discerning, economically happy-go-lucky holidaying sybarites…need you ask why we chose it as a New Icon of Bali?

ALL-WEATHER FURNITURE BACK in the day we fitted out our homes in distant lands with teak and tusk sourced from Indonesian hardwood forests. On our verandah we reclined on rattan planter’s chairs. Indoors we struggled to find more than aesthetic comfort on bench seating offset by slippery cushions.

Then the world arrived by the container load to export our teak by the ton, and the bypass became a graveyard of timber that grew tall. Today there is a new teak, a new rattan, and it is – surprise, surprise – plastic.

But it looks real, smarter, more modern...and those shapes! We called it All-Weather Furniture and suddenly another icon was born on our shores. And so the world goes, from ashes to plastic, it’s all consuming, all knowing, all weather. And now it’s all over the bypass.

BALI is blessed with a dozen or more truly world-class hotel properties, but we salute The Bvlgari not for its particular attractions (stunning as they are) but because it has set us on a path from which there will be no turning. Expect more lifestyle branded properties to hit our shores in the coming years (we hear Baccarat is planning a hotel), at which time there will be further swooning over spectacular service, awesomely high room rates and breathtaking views. It will not stop. Iconic brands are headed our way to turn our tropical island into a haven for high-priced Italian handbags. And so the world turns.

IF ever there was an icon omnipotent on our shores it is the Bali wedding chapel, strutting into the sky like a wedge of white cheese…of which there are now many (our picture is of the chapel at The Conrad Bali), perched and preened above the cliffs on several locations and much-applauded by international magazines and wedding websites. How many people have since tied the knot in Bali? Certainly it’s in the high thousands. From most countries in our atlas they come, wedding rings in hand, and with them arrive the guest-lists to match. Bali is the perfect location, of course. Spiritual, happy, beautiful and luxurious…the place for a vvvvvmarriage made in heaven. And if not, the wedding shots will always look great.

BECAUSE he understands branding, his boutiques make us feel sexy and we can see his logo coming from five different directions…and then some. Oh, and he makes clothes that lead and don’t follow, that fit the type that prefers walking naked to wearing suits and because he’s everywhere that’s decent to look…opposite the Four Seasons, down our Seminyak street, along-side streets in the best of Bali. But most of all we like Paul Ropp because he is so unashamedly…Paul Ropp. A wondrous one-off.

IT’S time the world woke up to Bali’s Big Day Off. Turn out the lights, kick back, shut down the shops, offices, bars and bullshit, impose a curfew and let the planet – and our own, tattered nerves – take a deep breath. Imagine. For 24 hours, no planes, trains, buses or BMWs running anywhere on earth. Think of what we would save. Think of what we would gain. Nyepi should be adopted as an International Day of Silence, without exception. And then we could start to rebuild our global spirit, our chi, our taksu. Doesn’t anyone else see the damage? Are we completely, utterly without foresight? Within the spirit and culture of Bali lies the secret to our Giant Leap Forward. As a race, which clearly we are losing. And so we say, make Nyepi a worldwide icon; take a leaf from our Bali book. And please be quiet at the back.

AS Bali’s unrivalled tropical lifestyle attracts an increasing number of expatriate families, demand for international-standard education has risen exponentially.

Two new accredited international schools opened last year alone, and at least one more is expected to open this year, taking the total number to over a dozen.

There’s no shortage of choice, but not all schools are created equal. Parents need to do their homework.

To get you started, the following is The Yak’s guide to Bali’s global classroom.

International accreditation: how important is it?

Facilities, staff qualifications and curriculum vary from school to school, but a crucial benchmark by which parents can judge whether their child’s receiving an education on par with international standards is international accreditation.

Not all expat-oriented schools in Bali are accredited, but things are changing. While many began as small community initiatives founded by parents, there’s now a growing trend towards globally accredited curricula that enable graduates to apply for university anywhere in the world, based on results here.

There are two types of accreditation and most schools seek both: one solely for the curriculum, and one for the school as a whole (based on facilities, staff qualifications and development, and delivery of the curriculum). Accredited schools must meet certain minimum requirements, and students’ results are externally moderated against international standards. It should be noted that schools lacking accreditation aren’t necessarily inferior, but haven’t been evaluated by an outside, independent organisation, so it’s up to parents to make their own assessment.

Worldwide, the most widely recognised university entrance course for senior students (Grades 11-12) is the IB Diploma Programme, run by the nonprofit, Geneva-based International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO). It’s a rigorous, respected course taught to senior students in 2,186 schools in 125 countries, but there’s currently only one Bali school offering it – Bali International School. At least two others are applying for IB World School status, a process that takes several years.

Another respected syllabus comes from the University of Cambridge International Examinations in the UK, the world’s largest provider of international qualifications for 14 to 19-year-olds. In Bali, schools with Cambridge International Centre status include Sekolah Dyatmika, Gandhi Memorial International School and Asian International School.

This authorises them to provide the Cambridge Programme (International General Certificate of Secondary Education [IGCSE] and A-Levels).

Accreditation aside, another major consideration is of course tuition fees. While expat packages in cities like Ja-

karta and Hong Kong generally cover education, there’s few companies paying for the kids’ schooling in Bali. That means international schools on the island cannot charge anything like those elsewhere in the region. Yet, as competition between schools intensifies for the next generation of Bali expats, tuition fees are rising as schools vie to attract and retain internationally qualified teachers, and to invest in upgrading facilities. Nobody likes rising costs, but it might be worth remembering, you generally get what you pay for.

Here’s a roundup of schools in Bali, designed to give you an idea of what’s on offer:

HOME GROWN Australian International School (AIS), Kerobokan. www.ais-indonesia.com • AIS has 170 students from pre-school to Grade 12, and another two campuses in Jakarta.

• Accredited by Australian authorities, the school follows the Victorian State Curriculum in primary and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Curriculum in secondary.

• High School assessments are governed and externally moderated by the ACT Education Department, ensuring AIS’s standards match those in Australia. Upon graduation, students are awarded ACT Year 12 Certification, enabling them to seek university admission in Australia.

• Maximum class size 22.

• Core academic focus is English, Mathematics, Science, Society & Environment Studies, as well as Art, Indonesian, IT, PE and Music.

• Extra-curricular activities include sports, computer activities, homework club, cooking and arts and crafts. Each year the whole school, from Prep to Grade 10, puts on a musical production that’s performed for the local community.

• Facilities include computer laboratory, library, specialist areas for music and art and multi-purpose court.

Annual Fees (tuition + development levy) Pre-school from US$3,000-3,600; Primary (Kindergarten to Year 6) from US$4,600-7,500; Secondary (Year 7-12) from US$8,0009,000.

Bali International School (BIS), Sanur www.baliinternationalschool.com • Opened in 1986 with eight students, BIS now has a total of 320 pupils.

• Currently Bali’s only IB World School, offering the IB curriculum from pre-school through to Grade 12.

• Senior students can follow the IB Diploma Programme, which includes six core subjects – Language, Second Language, Mathematics, Science, Humanities and Social Science, and Arts/Electives – and a requirement of 150 hours in community and sports activities.

This page and far right: Ecole Internationale Francaise de Bali).

Right: Bali International School.

• BIS director Dr Hana Kanan said some universities exempt students from freshman year courses based on credits earned through the IB Programme. “It’s not for every student,” Dr Kanan said. “It’s a very intense, inquiry-based course that encourages students to be critical thinkers and apply their knowledge in real-life settings.”

• BIS is also accredited by the American-based Western Association of Schools and Colleges and is currently undergoing accreditation assessment from the European-based Council of International Schools.

• Co-curricular activities range from team sports to surfing and athletics, music, art and drama.

• Facilities include library, 25-metre pool, full-sized tennis, basketball and netball courts, playing field, music room and multi-purpose room/auditorium.

Annual fees (tuition + capital levy; includes text books, year book, graduation, PTA membership etc) Pre-school from US$4,970-$6,165; Primary (Kindergarten to Grade 6) from US$8,520-$9,415; Secondary (Year 7-12) from US$10,285-$11,105.

Canggu Community School (CCS), Canggu. www.ccsbali.com • First opened in 2001, Canggu moved to its purpose-built, one-hectare campus in 2005. Current enrolment is almost 320 pupils from Pre-school to Grade 8.

• Teaching broadly follows the UK National Curriculum. A membership application is being submitted to the Federation of British International Schools in Southeast Asia and East Asia.

• Teaching includes heavy emphasis on English, Mathematics and Science, as well as Bahasa Indonesia, Music, Computing and E-learning.

• After-school activities include instrumental music lessons, cooking, religious studies, arts and crafts and sports.

• A Community Service programme is being established.

“Environmental and cultural awareness and understanding are important aspects of the pupils’ learning at all ages,” said Principal Ian Ward.

• Facilities include computer lab, science lab, library, music room, multi-purpose hall and access to neighbouring Canggu Club’s swimming pools and sports facilities.

• Maximum class size from 20-24 students.

Annual fees (tuition + building levy) From US$3,550-$6,900 depending on grade.

EIF (Ecole Internationale Francaise de Bali), Seminyak. www.eifbali.com • Founded in 1991, EIF has 140 students from Preschool to Grade 9.

• It’s accredited by the French Ministry of Education and teaching follows the French national curriculum, which is taught in 450 schools worldwide, ensuring students can make a seamless transition in regards to curriculum from one international French school to another.

• Teaching is mostly in French with heavy emphasis on developing multi-language skills, especially English, Spanish and Indonesian. Music and Art is taught in English in secondary school.

• Maximum class size is 25.

• Future plans include moving towards a more bilingual curriculum by adding more time for English courses in lower grades, increasing the number of classrooms, expanding

the size of the documentary and multimedia centre, developing a new science lab and building a gymnasium.

Annual fees (tuition) Preschool/Kindergarten 1,665 euros; Lower School from 1,9183,228 euros; Middle School 4,385 euros.

Green School at the Kul-Kul Campus, Sibang Kaja (15km south of Ubud). www.GreenSchool.org • An international school founded by Bali-based jewelers John and Cynthia Hardy, Green School at the Kul-Kul Campus is scheduled to open in September with an expected enrollment of 80 students from pre-Kindergarten through Grade 10.

• The Steiner-inspired international curriculum combines the best of all worlds: the development of core competencies within an integrated approach that focuses on the education of the whole student, with unique opportunities to link classroom learning to real-world situations within a framework of environmental sustainability.

• The School plans to offer the International Baccalaureate

(IB) program and will offer an IB Diploma to senior students in the next few years.

• Set on eight hectares along the Ayung River, the campus consists of classrooms, laboratories, sports and residential facilities, as well as aquaculture ponds and organic gardens.

Next year the school will create a Learning Village in which students will develop entrepreneurial skills in helping to manage an organic chocolate factory, soap and palm oil production, traditional craft workshops and a publishing house.

• Buildings are made of low-impact and eco-friendly materials such as bamboo, alang-alang grass and rammed earth, and are powered by sustainable alternative energy sources, including a state-of-the-art hydro-powered vortex generator.

• Extracurricular activities such as visual and performing arts, athletics, music, dance and martial arts will take place alongside the traditional academic disciplines of mathematics, natural and social sciences, foreign languages, cultural studies, technology and health.

Annual fees (tuition + building fees)

Day school: Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten full day US$7,900 or half day US$4,900; Primary (Grades 1-6) US$8,900; Secondary (Grades 7-10) US$9,900.

Sekolah Dyatmika, Keramas (north of Sanur). www.dyatmika.org • Opened in 1996 as a parent-funded venture, Dyatmika is bilingual and dual curriculum.

• It has 293 students from pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12.

• With Cambridge International Centre status, the school offers the Cambridge curriculum to high school students.

• Primary school follows the Indonesian curriculum and is taught in both Indonesian and English, with students required to produce work in both languages. Core subjects are Maths, Science, Social Studies, Physical Education, Health, Art and Music.

• Grades 7-9 follow the Indonesian curriculum, with most instruction in English to prepare for the shift to Cambridge A-Levels from Grades 10-12.

• Students in Grades 10-12 follow both Indonesia’s National Plus curriculum and the Cambridge Programme.

• Maximum class size 20-24.

• Extra-curricular activities range from arts and crafts to a variety of sports and games with a more academic orientation.

• Facilities include library, computer rooms, sports field, undercover area for sports, as well as a separate primary school playground.

Annual fees (tuition + resource/technology fees) Kindergarten from Rp22.75 million (half-day) or Rp28.15 million (full-day); Primary (Grades 1-6) Rp31.75 million; Junior High (Grades 7-9) Rp40.2 million; Senior High (Grades 10-12) Rp46.2 million.

Sunrise. www.sunriseschoolbali.com • Established in 2000 as a small community school based on the principles of holistic education and ‘living values’, Sun-

rise currently has 95 students from Pre-school to Year 9.

• Teaching is based on the British National Curriculum, with some influence from US programs.

• The school motto is “think globally, act locally and feel totally”. In addition to academic pursuits, there’s specific focus on ecological education and environmental awareness through hands-on community projects.

• Extra-curricular activities include drama, basketball, painting and drawing.

• Maximum class size 20.

Annual fees (tuition + resource/development fees) Playgroup US$2,550; Kindergarten US$3,600; Primary (Grades 1-6) US$4,600; Junior High (Grades 7-9) US$4,940.

FRANCHISES Asian International School, Jimbaran. www.ourbalischools.com

• Opened in July 2007 as part of the Mahatma Group of Schools in Indonesia, it has two sister schools in Jakarta and one other in Bali: the Taman Rama National Plus School in Denpasar, which has over 1,400 pupils and has just been awarded Cambridge International Fellowship Status, authorising it to grant scholarships.

• The Jimbaran campus currently has 70-plus students from pre-school to Grade 12.

• An accredited Cambridge International Centre, it follows the Cambridge International Programme from primary through to secondary grades.

• The 20,000-square-metre complex is divided into two schools: one following the Indonesian curriculum, the other following the Cambridge Programme.

• Facilities include 25-metre pool, gymnasium, soccer field, mini-golf course, CCTV security system to monitor the whole campus, science and computer labs, language lab,

This photo: Prem Tinsulanonda International School, Thailand.

Top: Asian International School, Jimbaran.

Left: Bali International School.

acoustically designed auditorium, library and music room.

Annual fees (tuition only) Pre-School to Kindergarten US$3,600; Primary (Grades 1-6) to Secondary (Grades 7-12) US$4,800.

Gandhi Memorial International School, Renon.

• Also opened in July 2007, Gandhi is the Bali branch of GMIS Jakarta.

• It currently has 40 students from pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12.

• It’s in the process of applying for IB World School status and hopes to offer the IB Diploma Programme to senior students by 2009.

• It has Cambridge International Centre status and offers the Cambridge Programme from primary to senior school.

• It’s also affiliated to the Indonesian Board of Secondary Education and the Association of Indian Universities.

• Facilities include science and computer labs, language lab, multi-purpose recreation facility-cum-auditorium, seminar hall, library, music room, and art & craft room.

Annual fees Between US$250-$400 per month depending on grade.

Montessori Bali, Seminyak. www.montessoribali.com • Founded in 1998 by Nattalia Sinclaire, Montessori Bali is based on the Montessori Method founded by Maria Montessori, who opened her first school in Rome in 1907.

• One of 8,000 Montessori schools worldwide, it has two preschool classrooms for three to six-year-olds, and one lower elementary classroom for six to nine-year-olds.

• Under the Montessori Method, children remain in one classroom for three years, in mixed age groups: three to six-year-olds, six to nine-year-olds, or nine to 12-year-olds.

Younger children learn through imitation by observing older students, while older children reinforce their own knowledge and develop leadership skills by helping younger classmates.

• Due to the programme’s unique structure, the school does not recommend that children join or leave a class part-way through the three-year cycle. It prefers children start between the ages of two years and eight months, and three years and eight months.

• Classrooms are well-ordered to encourage children to work independently in a flexible environment. Each piece of Montessori equipment is specially designed to incorporate a particular challenge or task and has a built-in control of error, encouraging children to move from the very concrete exploration of a concept to a more abstract understanding.

• There are five curriculum areas: Practical Life (daily activities such as buttoning and tying, pouring and scrubbing), Sensorial (activities teaching the child to judge and order impressions received through their five senses), Language, Mathematics and Culture. Other activities include Arts, Music, Creative Movement and Physical Activity.

Annual Fees Montessori declined to provide us with a breakdown of fees, which are available on inquiry to their website.

120 boarding students from 35 nationalities.

• An IB World School, Prem offers the IB program from Kindergarten to Grade 12. It was also recently accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and is undergoing further accreditation with the Council of International Schools.

• Teaching is in English. Prem hosts the Diana Princess of Wales International Study Centre to provide intensive English programmes for non-English speakers. All students learn Thai language and culture.

• Scholarships are offered for Prem’s cricket, tennis and golf academies, with internationally accredited coaching staff and swing analysis technology, putting green and shortgame golf range. International tournaments are hosted on a world-class cricket pitch made from turf imported from Western Australia. Sporting facilities also include squash and tennis courts, 50-metre pool, and fitness centre.

• A farm and cooking school teaches students about food production, harvesting and preparation.

• Prem runs fieldwork, leadership and cross-cultural courses for visiting schools from Asia and beyond, and adventure, sport and language camps during holidays.

• Co-curricular activities range from sports and yoga to fishing, creative writing and community service.

• Future plans include a Sustainability Institute, Arts Academy and extension of adult programmes.

• Family accommodation is available onsite for rent.

BOARDING Prem Tinsulanonda International School (Prem Center), Thailand www.premcenter.org • Located on 90 acres 25km north of Chiang Mai, Prem was established in 2000 and currently has 450 day students and

Annual fees Tuition: Kindergarten 231,000 Thai baht; Grades 1-6 from 241,500-414,760 Thai baht; Grades 7-12 from 414,760-462,000.

Boarding (available for Grades 6-12; includes insurance, visa renewals, transport, meals, cleaning/laundry, wireless internet, full boarding program): 215,260-294,000 Thai baht.

The Yak: What’s your name?

K.S: I Ketut Siandana. I am called Ketut or Sian; my Design Team I called Sian ‘D’ Sain.

Where are you from?

Gegelang Village in Karangasem. It is a small village in East Bali, very beautiful, surrounded by hills. A river runs through the centre of the village, like a Yin-Yang symbol.

Where did you learn to love architecture?

I never dreamed of becoming an architect, but from a young age I enjoyed painting and sometimes I joined competitions, and sometimes I even received awards. After High School I wanted to study hospitality and then work in hotels or cruise ships that travel the world, but one of the university tests that I had taken was for Architecture Techniques. In the end I chose a university that would make my father happy, because he wanted his children to go to university and become engineers. Even in this unique condition I worked hard to be successful with my choice and I knew I must stand out and show accomplishment. These characteristics are very important if you want to succeed in any expertise.

How would you define your style?

Contemporary Vernacular Architecture, or Island Style, or the Simplicity of Traditional Balinese Architecture, etc. People can call it anything they want, I like people to judge or rate me in any way they like. Because they are the ones that see me, and judging me is only following my feelings and enjoyment, as well as the aesthetic concept.

But I often don’t believe the results that people say are great, brilliant, fantastic, etc. I think it’s just ordinary. Sometimes I think there may be a spirit or other energy that is helping me, maybe because I enjoy things that are spiritual or mystical. So, outside of my awareness and ability, another spirit helps me to create something that holds the power of beauty. This is what the Balinese call taksu, the beauty or power of aesthetics that are not of this world.

What architects do you most admire?

Geoffrey Bawa, Frank Lloyd Right, Tadao Ando, Carlo Scarpa. Also Yoka and Popo, Nala, Andra Martin, Yori Antar...there are so many. I salute and respect all architects, some are old or young, and some are from Bali or from abroad.

How many houses have you designed?

I have never counted, but quite a lot. It’s funny, even someone from Puerto Rico trusted me to design their house. I have designed river houses that are strange, crazy, but not fitting for normal people, more like houses for strange people or for the memedi, the spirits from the underworld that live in haunted rivers, but are difficult to see. This house is only just complete. It has some unique and interesting elements, but it’s basically just ordinary, in my opinion.

What do you most like about this house?

I like it because it’s not particularly unusual. There are no rooms that are particularly special, but all the corners are unique and strange, yet function well. So, I like all of it, I really like it, but maybe other people will think it is just ordinary.

You once said that with certain projects you had to keep your ideas suppressed. What were they? Have you been able to express them in other projects?

Actually, I didn’t have any spectacular idea, but my style is Contemporary Vernacular Architecture. Yes, in traditional designs there is use of local materials, such as tegel-coloured cement with motifs, I like this. I enjoy studying other people’s designs, but I seldom imitate them. I always want new shapes and creations. In every project I do I try to use these, which is why it’s easy for people to say, “oh that must be Ketut Siandana’s design.”

How has your style changed over the years? I hear your first house in Denpasar, overlooking the river, has a kind of Mad Max-style about it?

Yes, that is a crazy house that most people couldn’t live in, but it is very attractive for spiritual people. Sometimes spiritual people come from all walks of life and all places. There are old ones and young ones, from Java and from Bali. There was one interesting elder woman from Kintamani, she said that my place there was given a lifetime of many more years, even hundreds of years. That’s very strange. My basic style is still the same. If there are variations they are usually compromises for my clients.

How do you define beauty in your designs?

It just flows with every work process or planning process…and I enjoy it and I flow in the direction of strange beauty. If a client of mine says they like it then I continue, if they don’t like it…then I don’t, and I search for an alternative.

Form or function? Which is more important for you?

Neither is more important, both are very important and dependent on many things, such as my mood when designing, the type of building I’m designing and the client. Ok…to be perfectly honest, the form follows the function. It is important to first define the function, and then create a form that follows the function, and a design aesthetic to make the form interesting or beautiful or brilliant.

How important to you is the land on which you build? Does the site always dictate your style?

Analyzing the location is very important. The location gives me direction to create a design that fits the nature and environment of that location.

Clients: are they essential members of the team or a necessary evil?

Very often, it is important to become part of a team, and only then can we achieve maximum results. A good client is a client that gives enough direction but also provides space/ freedom for the architect to create. There are also clients that want all their ideas to be used

and they don’t give us much of a chance…but, they don’t bother me, they just want maximum results in all aspects according to their taste. I just follow, because they are the ones that are going to live there, but I still provide them with wise input and explanations from my professional opinion and experience.

In your opinion, what’s the worst building in Bali?

There are actually many ugly buildings in Bali, but because they are so ugly they are interesting. It’s funny that way. I think it is amazing that people would think to make such strange buildings as these. In my opinion, the ugly buildings [in Bali] are the buildings that are decorated in traditional ornamentation. And then there are the buildings that are detrimental to the natural environment, or not in tune with the environment where they are built. Something else that can make a house ugly is when a building style from a different area or place, which has a different natural environment and a completely different culture, is used completely out of context.

Is “Bali style” sufficiently embedded in modern Asian architecture to maintain it as a continual global presence?

Oh, yes, definitely. But which Bali style? It depends on the function; if a house is being built, the traditional architecture for houses must be used. If a communal or public area is being built, the Balinese style of architecture for communal or public buildings must be used. For example, we can see that Balinese houses in the traditional villages have simple characteristics, they follow the colours of nature, use local materials, they are humble yet elegant. In more detail (this is a slightly darker theory): the size of the house is made to fit the body of the owner; the planning and building process is defined through ceremonies and rituals that ask and hope that the nature of that area will allow and support the construction of the building; it follows the traditional laws of Balinese architecture, either written or not; it uses spiritual orientation that respects the spirit of nature, etc. If all of these rules are followed, it is definite that the building will follow and maintain a global presence.

What, in your opinion, is the reason behind so many contemporary ‘box’ designs visible in Bali’s villa culture of today?

I believe it is only the human ego that makes use of the negative side. On the positive side, the ‘contemporary box’ is actually following simplicity of shape, because people now are so complex and complicated in activity and in thought that they need simple spaces, but sometimes this is not in tune with the natural and cultural environment in Bali. I believe it is as simple as this.

Has your love for Harley Davidson’s influenced your design style in any way?

Yes and no. If my answer is no, well, I mean how can the shapes of spare motorbike parts influence architecture design? I am not insulting this question, but it is an interesting question that requires an answer from deep thought. The answer is yes. Harley Davidson motorbikes are objects of great design, they can capture feeling, character and enthusiasm from every person that observes or drives one…so, yes, this philosophy is behind the creation of the Harley Davidson design, that is what makes me contemplate and become inspired about how to create designs that can make every person, or most people, become in awe of the character and become enthusiastic.

What’s the role of architects today in maintaining Bali’s religious culture?

What is important is that every design can bring beauty to the basic needs of preparing a space for Balinese (Hindus) to carry out their traditional rituals that are related to their religion, places of prayer or places of social interaction. Of course, there are many considerations that arise, especially a limited amount of space.

If you weren’t an architect, what would you be?

Maybe a waiter at a hotel or bar! This was my early dream, but my serious ambition was maybe to become a painter or fashion designer.

If you didn’t live in Bali, where would you live?

It would always be in Bali. But high up in the mountains maybe, in a place that is more suited for a life that is peaceful, calm and spiritual, and not yet tainted.

WHEN French architect, Marie-Helene Verlant, first came to live in Bali in 1996, she fell in love, not only with the island but also with a traditional, Balinese, handwoven textile known as kain endek. A variant of ikat, the cloth or ‘kain’ possesses a rustic appearance similar to linen, due to the fact that the cotton yarn is dyed prior to the weaving process.

Endek sarongs were once used exclusively by families of Balinese nobility.

Marie-Helene knew immediately that she wanted to help keep the endek tradition alive, and started looking at ways in which this could be achieved through the design and creation of soft furnishings. “The challenge,” she explains, “was to make wide items, such as bed covers, from a narrow-width fabric.” The width of the fabric, of course, is determined by the width of the handlooms. She set about working on a solution, and came up with the concept of a patchwork technique to combine two or three harmonising colours, bringing a geometric, contemporary look to an ancient textile.

And so, Sunbebek, Marie-Helene’s own label and retail outlet, was born. She maintains that good service is an essential element of her business and has therefore set up a dedicated factory, which means that she doesn’t have to rely on outside production. With most of the curtains, chair covers, cushions, bed linen, table cloths, runners, place mats, napkins and coasters being custom-made, Marie-Helene is justifiably proud of her twoday turnaround for retail orders. The Sunbebek store is a spacious, light and airy shop on Jl. Raya Kerobokan and, in addition to soft furnishings, the products showcased include

loungewear, baby pyjamas and cot sets, gorgeous soft toys and accessories such as wallets, purses, photo frames, jewellery cases, business card holders, cosmetic pockets, pencil cases and bags galore.

“The style is neither feminine nor masculine,” she says, “and this has been proven by the diversity of our customers.” This talented designer finds inspiration everywhere, bringing together colours that she might have seen in a cartoon, for example. Sometimes her ideas are laced with history and humour, while at other times she might salute the local culture by incorporating the chequered design of the Balinese poleng cloth into a chair cover. In the last year, she has also introduced embroidery into her creations; pillow cases and duvet covers display a classic 18th century European motif and black cushions are embellished with white, embroidered representations of Chippendale chairs. Subtle prints also appear on some of the pillows, and another technique that she has employed is pleating the endek – a meticulous, labour intensive hand-process, resulting in a heavier, delightfully tactile fabric that has proven to be the perfect medium for bedspreads.

Safe to wash, the colour pairings are seemingly unlimited; pistachio is married with blue, orange with grey and cappuccino with cream. Sunbebek products grace a number of Bali’s luxurious hotels and villas, and are also exported to Europe.

Jl. Raya Kerobokan 118

Tel: 730596.

Yak Map ref: H6

For artist Ida Bagus Indra, it’s all about the magic spirit of Bali. What else matters?

FOR those who collect art, his style is well known. For those perhaps with just a passing interest in the imagery that decorates, inspires and otherwise adorns our walls, his work takes only a first glance to capture the imagniation. Ida Bagus Indra – I.B.I. to his friends – has had such a stellar rise in the world of art in the last few years that one suspects powerful forces at work.

“My father is a successful businessman in Bali,” says Indra, “and he wanted me to take over the running of his travel company.” To that end Indra and his wife Ayu moved to Melbourne, where Indra was enrolled in a business and economics course. “My heart was not in it,” he admits. “I wanted to paint, to make art, and so that is what I did.” Within a few months of following his passion, his work was already well sought-after.

“I was painting and earning enough from my painting that I could go out and buy a sports car,” he says. But universal spirits had other plans for him. His wife, a demure mother of five and a stunning muse to her artist husband, felt a calling beyond Australia.

“Indra is from the Brahmin caste,” she says. “His ancestors began to communicate through me.”

Channeling the desires and wishes of one of Bali’s most ancient priests, Ayu was told a simple message. “The ancestors told us to return to Bali, to this beautiful island, and to work to reawaken the taksu, the magical power that resides here.” And so their mission was born. They packed up again and returned home. “My father was shocked at first,” says Indra, “but now he can see the success that has come for me.” There followed a rigorous series of pilgrimages to faroff temples in Bali, where the couple purified their minds and bodies and sought to purify the message they had received.

A series of stunning paintings followed in Indra’s fast and flowing style that has developed from early, playful themes. Today he paints exclusively for the gods; before each painting the couple blesses his artisitc equipment – his brushes and blades – and calls for the message that first sought them out in Australia. “It comes down to this,” says Indra, who paints in a rapid, no-thought frenzy while his wife dances in his studio. “It’s all about the art, the taksu, and the gods,” he says, “nothing else.” His work flows from this trinity, and carries the blessing of generations of spiritual guardians.

Location, location, location...and some superb colour and texture.

IDEALLY located in a quiet residential part of what has become known as Greater Seminyak, Nunia Villa joins the burgeoning one and two-bedroom villa marketplace.

PT Tatamasa Group and Gde Aditya Architects have created open, contemporary living spaces that are simple, functional and chic.

Interiors are fabulously white with hints of leaf green and hues of brown. The open living area, comprising ample sofas and pile carpets and dominated by a widescreen television, opens on to the sundeck and the aquamarine blue pool. At Nunia Villa what stands out is the contrast of colour and texture.

Black lava stone, pale blue water, white sun-loungers, wooden decking. The white and green bedroom, with kingsize bed and flat television screen, leads to the black polished stone bathroom. Indonesian antiques juxtapose the architecture.

Nunia Villa includes four one-bedroom villas all built on a generous 220 square metres, with the four two-bedroom villas occupying a spacious 550 square metres with 10 metre by five metre pools and gazebo. All villas have fully equipped kitchens, indoor and outdoor showers, ample bathtub and immaculately landscaped gardens. As well as ample parking space, a rarity in this area, Nunia is just a few minutes’ walk from the ever-fashionable and ever-popular restaurants that have made this area famous. Close by is The Living Room and Nutmegs at Hu’u and beachside you have La Lucciola and Ku De Ta. All in all, if you want to stay in the thick of it, then Nunia is probably your best location of choice.

www.villanunia.com

Tel. 734329

Yak Map: F6.

The Yak: Who first interested you in fashion? Mother, brother, lover?

Magali: It was no one in particular. Initially it was because I liked to shop. I then went to ENSAD, the French National School of Decorative Arts, and studied textiles and theatrical costume, which naturally led to fashion. I did a diploma in fashion garments.

Where did you grow up and what do your parents do?

I grew up in Fontainebleau, near Paris. My mother’s a social worker and my father an engineer.

How have you come so far for one so young? You are about 23 years old right?

Oh, I’m older than that ! I’m nearly 30, and I didn’t become successful straight away, it took a lot of work and a lot of patience to get this far, but I’m passionate about what I’m doing.

Given the choice, which designer dead or alive would you most liked to have apprenticed under?

I would say French designers Vanessa Bruno and Isabel Marant.

What inspires you the most when you are designing clothes?

Everything…movies, moods, magazines, people on the street, Fashion TV. Cut or fabric? Which is more important to you?

Oh cut…definitely!

When did you first create your own label?

In 2004.

We understand your label is a favourite with celebrities. Care to name some names?

I heard that Dannii Minogue always wears my designs when she goes to shows. Also, quite a few celebrities in Australia, but it’s funny because I’ve never heard of them. Dannii Minogue sent me a CD to thank me for designing such beautiful clothes.

In which direction is your style evolving?

My designs are famous for beading and studs, but now I find myself going for something more pure, lighter and less embellished, but with detail in the cut, stitching and shape.

Would you say that your designs are more influenced by a Paris lifestyle or by a Bali lifestyle?

A mix, I think. The background is Paris but when I create I think of Bali. Bali fashion is sexier; it’s summer temperatures all year round here and I have to take that into consideration because I’ve got a shop here.

How long have you been living in Bali and what brought you here?

I was working with some friends of mine, helping them to design some clothing, and they invited me to Bali to assist with the production for a month. I returned the following year and did the same thing, and on the third year I came back alone, still working with them, and still designing. They purchased my designs from me, and I realised that the opportunities in Bali were greater and that it would be easier for me to develop my own label. I came to live here six years ago. It took me two years to settle down and work out what I was going to do. I started off designing bikinis but it didn’t prove to be very profitable because I had to import the fabric.

What do you bring to the Bali fashion scene?

Silk, chiffon, glamour and luxury for a new generation. Lily Jean was

one of the first to introduce this style of fashion to Bali. Now many designers are following her example and opening boutiques. Before that it was only Biasa and Paul Ropp.

What do you think Bali brings to the global fashion scene?

A specific fashion style, which is now attracting shoppers to Bali.

Do your clients have any characteristics in common – bold, feminine, extrovert?

My typical client is a woman in her 30s, fashionable and sexy, who loves the glamorous summer nights.

What emotion would you like visitors to experience when they visit your boutique?

I’m always happy when I see the reaction of my customers. The response is always positive, leaving me feeling…how do you call it?

Stoked!

What can we expect to see on our next visit to your boutique?

I’m going into bright colours this year for a change. Moving from champagne and pastels to bold blues, yellows and rainbow colours.

Do you wear your own designs?

Very rarely, because most of my designs are glamorous clothes for going out. I don’t go to big parties very often, but when I do, I know that many people will be wearing my clothes and I don’t want to be dressed the same. At the end of March, however, I’m opening a new shop in Bali, which will be showcasing daywear, so I will be wearing that.

Tell us about your new shop?

It’s called Anouck and it will be next door to Circle K (near Made’s Warung on Jl. Raya Seminyak) and opposite the Magali Pascal Boutique. Same concept, same cut, no beading, no silk. Lots of cotton, fresh and easy to wear.

As a fashionista how conscious are you about your weight?

My weight doesn’t vary much, but I always notice if I’ve gained a kilo or two. I go to the gym and I go surfing sometimes with my boyfriend.

Where’s he from?

New Zealand.

Do you have any tattoos or piercings?

Just pierced ears. No tattoos.

Why are French women so chic?

French women have been chic forever; it’s just part of the culture.

What do you like to do when you’re not working or designing?

Sports and travelling. I travel a lot and I love to hang out with my friends here in Bali.

If you could have lived in any era, which one would it have been?

I really like retro fashion. I think I’d like to have lived in the ’20s for the style and the ’70s for the craziness and the freedom.

What gets you out of bed in the morning?

My boyfriend.

What’s the last thing that goes through your mind at night?

Well, maybe there is no last thing because my mind never seems to stop working.

Magali Pascal, thank you for your time.

My pleasure!

Stranger than fiction.

The Yak 18 Fashion Team Photographer • Lucky 8 Photography Art Director • Ade Adinata Designer • Yudi, Tiga Grafis Digital Imaging • Barliansyah, Tiga Grafis Fashion Stylist • Nikki Make-up Artist & Hair Stylist • Wawan & Anox, Spoiled Hairdressers Models • Paulina & Alex

www.sabbathabali.com www.mojajewellery.com www.okadiputra.com www.marugallerybali.com www.paulropp.com www.libidobali.com www.dearangelbali.com

Dress by Okane, Ring & arm band by Maru Studio Gallery Earrings by Moja Jewellery

Dress by Paul Ropp All jewellery by Moja Jewellery

Opposites attract.

Dress by Dear Angel Diadem, earrings & cuff by Samantha Black at Maru Studio Gallery Ring by Moja Jewellery

Float away.

Dress by Okane Earrings & ring by Maru Studio Gallery Necklace by Moja Jewellery Brooch by Libido

Dress by Okane Ring & pendant by Maru Studio Gallery

Break new ground.

Bodice by Sabbatha Skirt by Dear Angel Necklace & earrings by Moja Jewellery Arm band, anklet & cuff by Maru Studio Gallery

Manik

Mondays The Yak: Where were you both born?

Claire: Australia.

Marie: Mauritius.

Tell us about your backgrounds in beauty?

Mother and daughter…over 40 years in hair and beauty!

What is beauty?

One would like to say the inner reflections of one’s soul. But really it’s about making the most of what we have been given. And, of course, seeking professional help to assist you in looking your best.

The mother-daughter combo? Advantage or disadvantage?

Definitely an advantage. We have a lot of fun in the salon. We make a great team and we are always complementing each other at work.

Do you compete with each other?

No, why would we? Our individual talents work in harmony with each other.

Have you ever criticised each other’s fashion sense?

All the time!

Why is hair important?

Hair is our crowning glory. Hopefully it radiates health, well-being and beauty…

Is the cost of buying branded hair/makeup products really worth it?

Our saying: You pay peanuts; you get peanuts. What you’re paying for is quality and a huge amount of research and development that constantly improves beauty products.

What are the top three beauty tips that only beauticians know about? 1. Apply foundation on your eyelids first to extend the duration of your eye shadow. 2. Always rinse shampoo thoroughly out

of your hair to avoid dandruff and scalp problems. 3. If you’re not sure what you are doing, seek professional help…that’s where we come in.

Hangover beauty treatments, any quick fixes?

A good massage, and Tom’s Bloody Mary at Kudos.

Do you condone plastic surgery?

Claire: Mum’s booked for Bangkok in April…that should answer the question!

Do you ever have bad hair days?

Of course. Everybody starts the day with bad hair…maybe that’s why we are here.

What flips your biscuit when it comes to men?

We both like ‘big’ men. Claire - ‘Physically’; Marie - ‘Economically’!

How does each of your love lives (i.e. your choice in boyfriends) affect your relationship?

It doesn’t. Nothing could ever come between us.

Where is beauty heading?

More and more it encompasses both the external and the internal.

As for where Manik is heading, we are opening a salon in Bali Dynasty Resort on Jl. Kartika Plaza in Tuban!

Why should we go to Manik salon?

Because we are 100 percent confident that we at Manik provide the most professional, skilled, Western service at Bali prices…and because we genuinely care.

What’s the most common beauty faux pas that people commit?

Beauty or beauté? The answer is simple, not blending foundation from the jaw line to the neck!

Jl. Legian 427.

Tel: 761147 Yak Map ref: A15

Ministry Of Interiors

Glow at COMO Shambhala Estate at Begawan Giri.

Four Seasons Cooking School at Jimbaran Bay.

The Ritz-Carlton, Bali Resort & Spa.

Four Seasons Cooking School at Jimbaran Bay.

The Ritz-Carlton, Bali Resort & Spa.

Rachel Greaves seeks out Bali’s WiFi restaurants. Let’s get wired.

SOHO

THE JUNCTION

SOHO, the pioneer of Bali’s WiFi cafés, is a Seminyak hotspot in the true sense of the word. For those casual business meetings where cappuccino and high speed Internet access are the essential ingredients, this 24hour joint is a sleek, air-conditioned NewYork-style diner with an urban chic décor, deeply cushioned private booths and a hitech lighting system that gyrates through the colours of the rainbow. If you like your emails served with fast food, you’ll certainly be drawn here. The menu is jammed with soups, salads, burgers, some pretty fierce dogs, hot dinners, inventive pasta dishes, sandwiches, wraps and burritos, cakes and fancy sodas. Awesome all-day breakfasts include Huevos Rancheros and Hash Browns to die for. Sandwiches include a Philly Cheese Steak clasped in a dog bun. There is even a kids’ menu featuring mini-burgers, chicken nuggets, macaroni cheese and bowtie pasta. Moreover, where else in Bali can a hardcore late-nighter roll up at 4am for some MSN Messenger chat flavoured with Grilled Hirtenwurst and Veal Bratwurst sausages?

WiFi access at SoHo is free of charge.

737280 Yak Map ref: F8

WHETHER you’re composing emails or chatting to your mum on Skype, The Junction offers a cool and stylish, green and white environment for laptop dependents.

A variety of seating areas, including a comfortable lounge and a colonial whitetrellised veranda, provide customers with those ever-important elements of privacy and choice. Don’t be fooled by the open-air architecture, the temperature of this street corner café is controlled by a/c. As you pass through the ‘air curtain’ you will immediately appreciate the benefit of a cool interior without the feeling of being hemmed in by walls, doors and glass. The menu presents organic salads and sassy sandwiches with gourmet ingredients, including roasted veggies, goats’ cheese and Parma ham.

Check out the Crab and Egg Baguette, as well as the Panini, the Pita Pockets and the Crêpes. The Junction sets an example with environmentally friendly methods; portions are generous, and the super-efficient food service is almost as fast as the high-speed Internet. Look out for an exciting new dinner concept, starting in March, with fine dining at very affordable prices. WiFi access at The Junction is free of charge.

735610 Yak Map ref: D7

HOME COFFEE & BAR

BREEZE AT THE SAMAYA

DRAGONFLY

THE TUCKSHOP

THIS intimate little hotspot is the place to hang out and make new friends while looking up old chums on Facebook. Within the airconditioned interior, keyboard tappers can work at small tables or make themselves at ‘Home’ in a comfy lounge area. Outside is an open-air terrace with more seating and tables in front of the next-door ‘Home Store’. Freshly squeezed apple juice, nine different coffees and a selection of teas are featured on the menu, along with hearty breakfasts and ‘Make Your Own’ Sandwiches (actually, the staff will custom make them for you) with a choice of breads, meats and cheeses. Pastas incorporate homemade pesto, while other light meals include Yummy Tuna Melts and Bruschetta of the Day. If you don’t mind a little bit of grease on your keyboard, order an ‘Extra on the Side’ such as the Garlic Bread or the Potato Wedges.

Finish up with a Homemade Cupcake and buy a couple of Candy Bags to keep the kids quiet, filled with a mixture of Smarties, Choco Bits, Snakes and Beans. WiFi access at Home is free of charge.

8620455 Yak Map ref: D8

FOR aspiring writers with laptops, the beautiful, beachside Breeze at The Samaya sets the scene for a Condé Nast travel story. This fabulous al fresco restaurant and bar is appropriately named after the fresh sea breezes that whisper across its terraces. Ideal for breakfast meetings, it’s a great place to impress a client with a presentation of your product on-line. This is the sort of venue where folks come for lunch, take a front row armchair seat for a dazzling sunset, down a few cocktails and return again for dinner. In fact, communication addicts can recline on sun loungers or take a dip in the sparkling waters of the swimming pool while waiting for the all-important reply to that urgent email. Meanwhile, the gastronomic delights of Breeze will blow you away. International offerings include dishes such as Classical Lobster Bisque, Wild Barramundi with Avocado Salsa and Sweet Potato Chipotle Gratin, or Pot Roasted Best End of Lamb served with Broccoli Raab Pasta, Minted Pesto and Red Wine Jus. WiFi access at Breeze is free for residents of The Samaya. Outside guests can purchase one hundred minutes for Rp100,000.

731149 Yak Map ref: B7

WHERE better to read the online newspapers than on the breezy, elevated outdoor terrace of Ubud’s Dragonfly Restaurant, with its sunbrellas and potted plants. Indoors, the stylish Dragonfly boasts a chili red, mustard and olive green decor, crisp white tablecloths, colonial checkerboard floor tiles, planter chairs, the sincerity of an open kitchen and a California vibe. The food is superb. Order an ‘Ubud on the Beach Grill’ or make your own deli plate with a baguette and your choice of six cheeses, olives and sun-dried tomatoes.

Check out the Vietnamese Chicken Salad, the Mission Burritos and the latest libations – natural drinks made to order from fresh fruit, veggies, herbs and spices. Relish a Pumpkin Soup, a cheese-laden Pizza, or a Seafood Laksa, and, if you’re still reading those dailies, go for a dessert of Black Rice Pudding or Mulberry Pie. Then come back on a Tuesday or Saturday evening for some live music and a ‘2 for 1’ offer on the house wine, Bintang or Bali Moon cocktails. WiFi access is free of charge.

972973 Bud Map ref: 8H

IF the eye candy in Bali isn’t up to scratch then The Tuckshop might just be the place to browse Internet dating sites. Whatever your reason for going online, this hotspot hangout is as good as any. Shaded by frangipani trees and characterised by an open-air timber deck with white metal tables and seats with blue cushions, The Tuckshop doesn’t flaunt a sign, but it’s next door to The Cornerstore so it’s easy to find. A stencilled exterior wall is reminiscent of muted flock wallpaper, while the cool interior provides shelter from the elements.

This is a popular breakfast destination; check out the Poached Apple Organic Rice Puffs topped with Natural Yoghurt, Wheat Germ and Royal Jelly Honey, or the Bagels with Smoked Salmon, Cream Cheese and Green Peppercorns. Fresh juices and smoothies incorporate tangerine with blueberries.

Baguette sandwiches include the BLT, which in this case stands for Bless the Little Tuckshop.

Finally, the coffee here is delicious; the brand is Lazumba, and the cappuccinos are huge. WiFi access at The Tuckshop is free of charge.

730276

Yak Map ref: G8

Italian Jobs An evening of fine Italian wines brings back memories of love and lust for Katrina Valkenburg…

WAY back when I was a mere slip of a thing, I fell in lust with a gorgeous boy who was four years my senior. He was tall, dark, handsome, strong and athletic and I fantasised about him becoming my Tarzan to swing me through the jungles of Africa whilst I took photographs and wrote diaries for publication.

My tortured diary entries of this time are full of girlish ‘will-heor-won’t-he’s?’. Well, he didn’t – or not for a very long time anyway.

Instead of me, glorious me, he chose all of my girlfriends one after another. No one knew of my agony as they rabbited on endlessly about his fabulousness.

Years upon years later he returned from some god-forsaken oil rig in the Philippines and called me. My little heart went pitty-pat when I recognised the voice and shakily accepted a dinner date.

It was to be my choice of restaurant, so I settled upon a very glamorous – read expensive – Italian restaurant in Sydney’s Kings Cross. Run by the patriarch of an immensely talented family of chefs, the restaurant was a hotbed of intrigue and scandal – not as a result of any food poisoning incidents nor bad behaviour from its patrons, but because it was frequented by politicians, socialites, crooks and bandits. All felt warmly received in this remarkably understated venue and felt comfortable in the knowledge that the owner was as discreet as he was modest.

The restaurant was named Pulcinella, after a character in a classical Italian comedy, who is a romantic, a comedian and a gourmet, and the food served was impeccably true to its heritage of Napoli.

The antipasto was as famous as some of its guests, overflowing with exquisite little morsels and displayed quite eccentrically on a central table in the foyer.

I well remember the wine we drank that night as it was only recently, whilst packing up my life in Australia to move to Bali, that I came upon the very aged and dusty bottle. I had secreted it away for nearly 30 years as a reminder of my anxiety-filled evening with said Tarzan. It was a cheeky little Italian Chianti that came wrapped in a raffia basket – you know the one – useful as a candlestick when empty.

We happily sipped through the litre of red wine and moved on to a number of rounds of Sambuca before…well, that’s private.

This little tale is heading back to the Italian wines – which is far

more interesting and appropriate.

Italian wines are built to go with Italian food, even if the Italian food is made in Bali. Like the food, the wines are big, bold, colourful and tasty. Most of them are not designed for intellectual analysis.

But as with the food, a little knowledge about them can enhance your pleasure.

Italy is home to some of the oldest wine regions in the world.

Etruscans and Greek settlers produced wine in the country long before the Romans started producing their own vineyards in the second century BC. Two thousand years later and Italy remains one of the world’s foremost producers, responsible for approximately one-fifth of the world’s wine production.

There are more than a million vineyards under cultivation and over a thousand different wines made in Italy and each of the 20 wine regions is extremely proud of its indigenous wines.

Reading an Italian label is usually straightforward: there’s the winery name, perhaps the vineyard that the grapes came from, the year, and an abbreviation or a phrase. The four Italian wine categories are: Vino Da Tavola – Denotes wine made from Italy, generally a quaffing table wine.

Vino a Indicazione Geografica (IGT) – Denotes wine from a more specific region within Italy. This appellation was created for the ‘new’ wines, those that do not fit the very strict wine laws. This is where the ‘Super Tuscan’ wines fit in. Super Tuscan describes any

Tuscan red wine that does not adhere to traditional blending laws for the region.

Vino a Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) – Is the Italian answer to the French AOC. DOC wines are produced in specific well-defined regions, according to specific rules designed to preserve the traditional winemaking practices of the individual regions.

Vino a Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) – Similar to the DOC but more strict. Allowable yields are generally lower, and DOCG wines must pass an evaluation of a tasting committee before they can be bottled.

The biggest selling Italian red wine is Chianti, which is made predominantly from the Sangiovese grape. The best are called Classico and while not all Chianti Classico wines display a black rooster on the label round the neck of the bottle (known in Italy as gallo nero), those that do so belong to the Classico’s marketing consortium, an influential and remarkably competent body. The Global Encyclopedia of Wine states: “The symbol derives from historical Florence-Siena animosities: one day horsemen were to depart from both cities at dawn (announced by cock-crow) and the place where they met defined the border between the two territories.

The Florentines trained their black cockerel to crow early and so

gained the lion’s share of the land.”

Sadly only a fraction of these are available outside of Italy. However, it’s not all doom and gloom in Bali as I discovered recently when I was invited to a tasting of Italian wines at the InterContinental Bali Resort in Jimbaran. All the wines tasted were selected as part of a Dine and Wine Festival that included a ‘Fine Wines from the North of Italy’ dinner.

The wines tasted represented both old and new styles but what they had in common was that they were all absolutely delicious.

The InterContinental brought US wine expert Dan Siebers to Bali to hold Master Classes, staff training and to inject new energy into the hotel’s wine list. Dan is a charismatic vinophile and it was a great pleasure to share with him wine-related stories and to hear him wax lyrical about the Italian wines he had selected.The wines tasted included 2005 Fontanafredda Langhe Chardonnay D.O.C., 2003 Banfi Chianti Classico Riserva, 2004 Gaja Promois Ca’ Macanda IGT and 2003 Banfi Summus Sant’ Antimo D.O.C. Ranging in price from about Rp350,000 through to a whopping Rp1,600,000, these may not be your Monday-night-in-front-of-the-idiot-box wines but one thing’s for sure – no more raffia basket wines for me.

Katrina Valkenburg is a wine communicator and educator. All correspondence to katrinav@mac.com

BEDS ON THE BEACH – FOUR SEASONS RESORT @ JIMBARAN BAY. TO dine on a beach is not unusual, but to dine on a bed on a beach takes romance to a whole new realm. Imagine, the sun is setting across the bay, cream-coloured lanterns dot the expansive beach before you as the waves seductively lap the shore. You are luxuriating on a four-poster canopied bed with the object of your desires, a glass of champagne. Strains of jazz tinge the air and candelabras stand regally as twilight coats the sky. Bringing out your best bedside manner you make idle conversation with your companion before being thrown into a quandary with the arrival of the most indulgent sampler ever. Instantly, manners are forgotten, and with an unbridled passion the Lobster Kofta, Foie Gras and Mango Maki, Truffled Calzone with Parma Ham, the Sushi Rolls with Smoked Tasmanian Salmon the Tuna Sashimi and Wok Fried Prawns, Chili, Ginger and Cilantro... are devoured with abandon.

Momentarily the flame of attraction is reignited with the first of many respites.

Conversation flows, as does the wine. The union is strengthened…until the arrival of yet-more-tempting dishes, when once again we are transported into the epicurean world of silence and appreciation of the egotistical kind. The Crabmeat and Chorizo Risotto is followed by a Chilled Gazpacho and Swordfish Lemper; savoury romance of Mediterranean proportions. The next course brings us back to earth, Imported Australian Sirloin with Chunky Chips. This is a veritable roller coaster of flavour, heightened by the Grilled Spiny Lobster and Cous Cous Salad. Mindless of time and space, yet aware of the magnetism you feel, your attention is seized by Chocolate and Chocolate. Once again, you are lost to each other, and give in to the ardour of Iced White Chocolate Soufflé with Hot Raspberries, the passion of the Warm Milk Chocolate Rum Cherrie Soup, the sadness of the Bittersweet Chocolate Sorbet, and, as the relationship eclipses, you share a memory of Drunken Strawberries in Bittersweet Chocolate and Milk Chocolate and Orange Trifle. Keep in mind that these romantic interludes can only be enjoyed on Thursdays and Saturdays, so choose your partner wisely. www.fourseasons.com

Tel: 701010

BENCH ON THE STREET SEMINYAK’S lesser-known ‘bench on the street’ is Sakanaya, Ryoshi’s very own fish market-cum-warung. Set slightly back from the first tranche of Jl. Sunset– 77X to be exact, just after the Hishem headquarters and under the shade of a large mature tree – Sakayana blends Japanese food with warung-style eating. As one of the production outlets for all things Ryoshi, we are blessed to be able to enjoy excellent sushi and sashimi right at the source (15 pieces for Rp37,000). Part-warung, part-Japanese deli, other items on the menu include Fish and Chips, breaded, battered or Cajun-style prawns, crab and eight kinds of fish. They also serve tacos and burritos – obviously with fish instead of meat. Sakanaya also serves excellent guacamole and salsa, and given that a large Bintang here is ice-cold and only Rp19,000, I can think of nowhere better for a quick sushi roll or a Mexican moment, any time of the day…

Yak Map J8

Tel. 8475950 Photos by Four Seasons Bali @ Jimbaran Bay.

Chili Crab, Uncooked

“CHILI crab was created in the late ’50s,” says Dorin Schuster, executive chef at The Legian, Bali, “by a great cook – Madam Cher Yam Tian. She and her husband, Mr Lim Chook Ngee, set up a food stall selling sea crabs on the seashore. They were open from dusk until the wee hours, cooking and serving their chili crab by the light of a kerosene lamp.”

This was the first version of the Singapore Chili Crab. With a hearty gravy made from fresh red chilies, tomato sauce, fresh eggs and spring onions, chili crab is of course best eaten with your fingers (and possibly a hammer). Use our recipe and serve with French bread or Chinese buns (known as mantou); or say to hell with the cooking and get yourself down to The Legian (or Kafe Batan Waru, where they serve the dish twice a week). And get stuck in…

Chili Crab Recipe Feeling adventurous? Try this recipe for Chili Crab, courtesy of Dorin Schuster at The Legian.

Ingredients 3-4 large crabs, about 1.5kg 180 ml (3/4 cup) boiling water 3 shallots, chopped 2 ½ cm piece of fresh ginger, grated 2-3 bird’s eye chilies, finely chopped 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 1 stalk lemon grass (tender inner leaves), chopped 1 tsp. shrimp paste 3 spring onions, chopped 2 tsp. cornstarch 3 tbsp. oil 1 tbsp. sugar 1 tbsp. ketchup 1 egg Method Clean the crabs. Cook them in a large pot of boiling water for about four minutes. Drain and remove the top shell. Chop the crabs into four to six pieces with a large cleaver, leaving the legs attached. Crack the claws with a mallet or pestle. Mix the cornstarch into a little cold water. Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet and stir-fry the shallots, ginger, garlic, lemon grass, shrimp paste and two-thirds of the chilies for two minutes. Add the crab and boiling water, reduce the heat and cook 3-4 minutes longer.

Transfer the crab to a plate. Add the sugar and ketchup and egg to the wok and combine well. Add the cornstarch solution and continue stirring until the mixture thickens. Return the crab to the wok, stirring until well coated with the sauce. Place on a serving platter and garnish with the spring onions and remaining chilies. Serve hot.

The Legian Bali, Tel: 730622, www.ghmhotels.com, Yak Map ref: B7.

Kafe Batan Waru, Ubud: Tel: 977528 Bud Map ref: I8. Kuta: Tel: 766303.

FOR this episode of The Yak’s forays beyond Bali’s borders, two of our own Yaketeers managed to outlast the summer mayhem, and rather than retreat to some quiet Ubud getaway, got the hell out of Dodge, via Amsterdam and Madrid, to the legendary White Isle, known traditionally as Eivissa, for a long-awaited holiday on the legendary island of Ibiza, purported club capital of the world.

Though it would be a long trip for us from our familiar isle of Bali, we couldn’t resist the invitation and the chance to catch an inside peek of the notorious nightlife and ancient natural beauty that we had heard so much about. Without further ado, please join us for pictorial excursion of an island that truly moves to its own groove.

The Journey Arriving on a Spanair flight from the dusty plains of Madrid, Ibiza shone on the midday Mediterranean sea like a glowing beacon drawing us into her flame. From the small airport, a 10-minute taxi ride shuttled us to a modern townhouse with a rooftop view, set above the luxurious harbour community of Marina Botafoch, bordering Talamanca Beach. As we sat down to our host’s welcome Bloody Mary’s, he began to explain the lay of the land, pointing out various do’s and don’t so as to maximise our Ibizan experience.

Ancient Eivissa The Phoenicians founded the town of

Eivissa, or Ibiza (pronounced ai-bee-thah), over 2,600 years ago, followed by the Carthaginians, Barbarians, Byzantines, Arabs (who called the island Yebisah), and finally the Catalans. To this day, it has welcomed settlers and visitors from all parts of the world.

Curiously enough, the peak season lasts a mere four months, from the opening events in June to the closing parties in late September (which each year get pushed closer and closer to October). After that, the 120,000 inhabitants of the island settle down to recuperate, watch TV, siesta (the ever-revered day-nap, as you’ll learn later), eat and plan next year’s high season.

We were pleasantly surprised and intrigued to learn that the Old Town of Eivissa boasts a rich and ancient history, and was officially declared a World Heritage Site in 1999. As with the other Balearic islands, Ibiza has enjoyed a somewhat independent history and, due to her location, is a meeting point between Spain, Africa and the rest of the Mediterranean.

This combination of peoples and traditions is another aspect that sets her apart from other island getaways, as well as mainland Spain. Interestingly enough, it turns out that Eivissa Town is considered one of the oldest towns in Europe, dating back to 654 B.C. when the Carthaginians further developed Ibiza Town. Considering this, it’s understandable why even ancient clans treasured her natural beauties.

Fast-forward to the nineties, when hyper-development started to kick in. Two

factors truly changed the course of Ibiza’s future during this time. One was the arrival and cross-promotion of dance club culture from over the river in nearby London. The other was the advent of the Euro, whereby those with coffers of old currencies leading up to the change-over needed somewhere to put it, and many of those thought... where better than here!

The rest is history. Any visitor will notice the lack of international hotel chains, and on one or several levels, this has seemingly been controlled by the Balearic tourism authorities and local town hierarchies.

Development by foreign hands and land ownership is also complex and has protected the property markets for a select few Spanish and German agencies. The result keeps the island extremely exclusive, but still parochial and almost medieval in nature.

After a little researching of local maps and guidebooks, we began to understand the island’s history and geography, and made plans to find Vila D’Alt, the hilltopped Old Town that cuddles around the remnants of a centuries-old fort overlooking the far side of the harbour.

Don’t Forget To Go To Bed The first rule of thumb, or rock, is the siesta. This Spanish tradition of midday snoozing generally lasts from two until four in the afternoon, but can stretch to 5.30 depending on the heat of the day and the size of one’s lunch (read sangria) consumption. After this, shops, restaurants and bars reopen till one or two in the

morning. The sun doesn’t set until 8.30pm, indulging revelers in the feeling of the endless summer, and the locals don’t usually have dinner until at least 11pm or even later (take note – only the unhip go to dinner before 10pm!)

Finally refreshed from siestaville, we managed an afternoon stroll along the promenade of Marina Botafoch, where Miami-styled oceanfront apartments line a staggering collection of high-class yachts and Bond-like pleasure vessels. This boulevard leads around the moderate harbour to the cobblestone complex of narrow whitewashed alleys of Eivissa Town.

Arriving at the main front-street junction, the seaport (Puerto de Eivissa) welcomes mammoth cruise-liners that tour The Med and Canary Islands. A small square stands with its original stone floor, housing the statue of an ancient fisherman gazing out to sea. Ten feet in front, a local performer painted with terracotta clay sits motionless and crossed-legged atop a pillar of the same finish, holding a horned helmet. Tourists wander by, unaware of his guise, until he cracks a smile for their cameras. As in Bali, old and new walk hand in hand, and these contrasts are one of the island’s best qualities to enjoy.

The Bars. Oh dear...

Over the years, we came to know of Ibiza’s charms by way of Café del Mar’s compilations and stories from friends in Bali.

But it wasn’t till recently that we realised there was more to the island than English

lads getting hammered in San Antonio.

The commercial sunset venues – Café Del Mar and Café Mambo – that line the island’s west coast promenade, are equivalent to Bali’s Kuta or Blue Ocean locales. This is one of those Top Ten places to visit, which, despite the golden Kodak sunset moments, is an anticlimax.

Other than discount club tickets and Del Mar souvenirs, the main attraction here is the sunset. Fashion parading down the boulevard is a preferred pastime, and there are virtually no clean sandy beaches from which to watch the sunset. Let’s just say this is the dirty side of the island. Modern development here is evident with a vast number of construction cranes lining the bay to create boxy apartment towers.

For an authentic bar-hopping night out, Ibizans congregate on the harbour line of the Old Town, which starts filling up and spilling out onto the cobbled-stone streets at around midnight. We became regulars at Reunion Bar, the last watering joint on the strip, next to BASE Bar, where many of the club managers and promoters gather for gossip and vodka tonics before the start of their shows, around 2am.

During this time, club promoters parade through the narrow streets with their colourful costumed performers, holding signs heralding news of the parties happening that night. Stunning ticket girls

stream behind the revelers, selling discount entrance fares to jazzed up partygoers.

Reunion Bar is where our contact/local legend would buzz about, introducing us to Mike McKay, Claire the Siren and Johnny the Dwarf from the Manumission @ AMNESIA show. Although racy by our prudish Asian standards, the 2007 version was deemed tame by an Ibiza regular, compared to its original format at Privilege Club (with capacity of 10,000 pax, Privilege is the largest of all the clubs on the island).

And through the bartendress at Reunion Bar we also met the manager of our most adored club night in Ibiza, Home of La Troya @ SPACE, featuring the best music we had heard all season, by Ibiza’s own homegrown DJ, Oliver Lang.

The refined, more sophisticated bar/lounges – catering primarily to the European jet set – lie in the middle of the island and are only accessible overland by rented car (hard to find taxis out here).

Km5, located on the 5.6km marker on the road to San Jose, is the classiest of the pre-club venues, and houses not only a first-rate restaurant and lounge but also an art gallery, boutique and gardens to stroll through to enjoy the panoramic views.

Reservations are crucial during August and September’s high season.

Other locales that have sprung up in the centre of the island are Bambuddha

Grove, on the way to San Juan, La Maison de L’Elephant, in the hills of San Rafael – with the most breathtaking beach and countryside vistas – and new-kid-on-theblock, Atzaro, which even has a spa. Blue Marlin at Cala Jondal Beach is the Ku De Ta of Ibiza, and serves up the best bikini fashion shows and Cava Sangria over lunch.

Clubbing Pacha, as the oldest and dearest nightclub in Ibiza, was founded way back in ’66 and incorporated in ’73 by the Pacha brothers, who first opened a boutique of finely tailored clothes. To this day, it is the most famous of the handful of superclubs that pulsate through the island. Over 17 bars service the 3,000 capacity club, which also boasts five separate rooms and unique music styles in a labyrinth of split-level lounges and dance floors. Pacha’s newest addition, El Hotel, is conveniently located across the boulevard from the club, and offers free club tickets and 24 hour VIP service for its guests.

Privilege (also Europe’s largest club), Amnesia (Manumission’s newfound home), Space (Home of La Troya and after-hours party, the Saturday Matinee), El Divino (who’s owner is currently opening 50 El Divino Clubs in China, and Heaven, also dot the southern coast and marina of Botafoch.

Other honorable mentions include DC10 club, which remains the professional

partygoer’s and DJ’s choice hangout, lying just meters off the airstrip on the way to Salinas.

In Ibiza clubland, it’s all about the Terraces at the clubs, and the VIP areas.

Both are places designated for VIP spenders to take a breather from the mayhem, but then the terraces become the sought-after party space. An ‘in’ with the bouncer of the VIP section is key to access. Alternatively, one could also buy a bottle of premium spirits, which actually works out cheaper in large groups than regular ticket prices. This club strategy is a sure-fire, beg-free way to secure a table. The terrace @ Space is top of the VIP areas, but La Terraza @ Pacha is also a favourite, housing a legendary jumbo cherry-branded champagne glass, overlooking Marina Botafoch’s main boulevard, Avenue D’Agosto.

Tapas Spanish cuisine is down-to-earth, uncomplicated, delicious food, based on the ingredients available locally. Many dishes are prepared today using the same cooking methods and ingredients used two or three hundred years ago. Food in Spain is fresh, abundant and full of taste, as the Spanish dearly love to eat.

Rich and as varied as Catalan culture, most of the dishes are based on olive oil, tomatoes and garlic and utilise an abundance of ham (jamon), spicy and

blood sausages (chorizo, morcilla) and an abundance of seafood, caught fresh daily.

Basically we dedicated ourselves to as many tastings of tapas, paella, gazpacho and sangria that we could handle, and reveled in this particular pursuit of happiness.

Tapas can be almost anything from bruschetta (rubbed tomato and garlic on olive oil soaked bread), to slices of chicken or lamb on skewers. It is served and eaten from morning until late at night in every bar and café in Spain and accompanies the vast quantities of wines, sangrias, cervezas (beer) and other dizzying beverages consumed in this Moorish isle. Tapas keeps the Spanish fueled for their long days and nights, and creates a rainbow of flavors and treats to enjoy, a little taste at a time.

Somehow, this actually makes you taste and enjoy the different flavour’s that much more. It is said that tapas originated in the province of Cádiz, where King Alfonso took respite by ordering a glass of sherry or (jerez). In response to the blustery Santa Ana winds during the winter seasons, the inn’s proprietor served the king his glass of sherry covered by a slice of ham to protect the drink from dust. King Alfonso apparently enjoyed it so much that he asked for a second glass, with tapa, or “cover” just like his first, complete with jamon to snack on.

And so a tradition was born.

Our most beloved tapas discovery was Pimientos de Padrón; medium-sized fresh jalapeno peppers marinated in (you guessed it!) olive oil, garlic and lemon. The fun part of this dish was that everyone participated in a sort of “Russian roulette” to find the hottest of the bunch, rousing the table in bales of laughter as the unfortunate victim would be forced to down a pitcher of sangria to cool off the fiery tongue.

Which brings us to the Sangria The traditional sangria is crafted with red wine, a splash of Grand Marnier or brandy, triple sec, orange and lemon juice. Right before serving, ginger ale and sliced citruses are added, then poured over bountiful pitchers of ice, and stirred and served with a wooden spoon. The favorite local sangria variation, Sangria Blanco (white sangria) includes the use of sweet Spanish sparkling Cava wine and orange or white grapefruit juice.

Boatlife While the dazzling array of yachts and pleasure vessels – proudly lined up along the marina – can be intimidating, here is where local knowledge and a national love of boats come together, in outrageous style.

Ibiza is almost a permanent boat-show, as wealthy ocean enthusiasts and day-tour

captains vie for the right of passage in and out of the marina to explore the rugged coastlines and Formentera Island to the south.

Fortunate enough to be taken for a day-cruise on our last day, we boarded a friend’s yacht of choice, First Temptation, a three-level, 40-foot Fairline, solely commandeered by El Capitán, Mauritzio.

Blessed with pristinely calm waters, we left the harbour behind for a sun-soaked picnic anchored off the sandy stretch of Formentera Island. A sun-bleached medieval fort, El Pirata, testified to the timelessness of this isle. Cruising out to the mystical rock formations of Es Vedra for sunset, we lost all sense of time and space.

These legendary rocks (made of magnetite) mark an assumed former magnetic pole, as well as an underwater staircase to the lost city of Atlantis! They also played a key role in Greek folklore, as the channel of gnashing rocks that tormented Homer’s Odysseus.

That edge-of-the-world sensation still prevails here, and anyone with boat-access should make the trip. Circumventing Es Vedra, we bade farewell to the mountain goats that somehow inhabit the grassy far side, and cruised back to town at hyperspeed under a rising full moon. Pure magic!

Homeward Bound As our first excursion to this hedonistic holiday isle, our hunger for a getaway was satisfied, and then some. It is a place that encompasses ideas of perfect recreation and relaxation. Ibiza’s first-class food and drink, crazy clubs, lazy beaches and rich Catalan culture seduced us like the Sirens from the moment we stepped onto her salty white slopes. We weren’t the only Baliphiles looking for an alternate vacation venue, judging by the jumble of jetsetters we ran into. Sadly though, retreats can’t last forever, and our over-extended twoweek odyssey came to an end all too soon.

Such a memorable visit it was, that the first query we Googled upon our return home to Bali was “accommodations Ibiza,” in preparation for our second trip back. We were bitten by the bug, and would never be the same again. For sure, the motto of the journey, taught to us by our passionate Catalonian barmaid, was….muchas fiestas mis amigos! Viva la Eivissa.

Qatar Airways flies four times a week to Madrid (via Kuala Lumpur and Doha).

From Madrid to Ibiza, regularly scheduled flights on Iberian Air and Spanair are plentiful and affordable.

Contact www.qatarairways.com.

Yoga practitioner Dr Madan Kataria makes people laugh for a living. With a little help from Nike…

The Yak: What’s your name?

MK: Dr Madan Kataria.

When and where were you born?

December 31st, 1955, in Ferozepur, Punjab, North India.

What were you trained in?

I am a qualified allopathic physician trained in internal medicine.

Are you still practicing medicine?

I don’t practice for my living. I do see poor patients for free. I travel almost seven months of the year. So I don’t get time to pursue my profession.

We hear you teach Laughter Yoga? Explain please...

The reason we call it Laughter Yoga is because we combine laughter exercises with yoga breathing (Pranayama). That brings more oxygen to our body and brain and makes us feel more energetic.

OK. Does it hurt?

Normally Laughter Yoga exercises do not hurt. But there are some medical conditions where Laughter Yoga is unsuitable, like hernia, epilepsy, backache, pregnancy, uncontrolled high blood pressure, anginal chest pain, etc.

That counts us out. Do you laugh until you cry?

Yes, laughter does bring tears of joy.

Can you do it on your own or do you need a group?

Laughter Yoga exercises can easily be done all by yourself at home. But one needs to learn this technique in Laughter Clubs and then it becomes easy to do alone. I am launching a DVD with special techniques on how to laugh alone.

Why do we need a laugh?

The concept of Laughter Yoga is based on a scientific fact that the body cannot differentiate between fake and real laughter. One gets the same physiological and psychological benefits. Clinical research on Laughter Yoga methods

conducted at the University of Graz in Austria, Bangalore, as well as in the United States, has shown that laughter lowers the level of stress hormones (epinephrine, cortisol, etc) in the blood. It fosters a positive and hopeful attitude. One is less likely to succumb to stress and feelings of depression and helplessness if one is able to laugh away the troubles. In India there are thousands of Laughter Yoga clubs that meet every morning in public parks. Club members proudly report that they haven’t missed a day in five years or more.

They say it makes them happy, healthy and energised. In effect, it has changed their lives. They are full of positive energy that makes it easy to cope with stress and impossible to be depressed. In fact, the impact of laughter is so profound that many practitioners claim they no longer need antidepressants. The sustained positive emotions keep them coming back for more. Participants report significant health improvements. Many felt a reduced frequency of respiratory infections like common cold and flu, while others reported depression lifting, chronic medical problems improving or even disappearing. As the word spread, it was obvious that Laughter Yoga was helping people to become healthier.

‘Carry On’ movies makes us laugh. Doesn’t watching your favourite comedy do the same trick?

The laughter from comedies and movies comes for a few seconds here and there and does not add up to make even five minutes in 24 hours. In order to get the scientifically proven benefits of laughter, one must laugh 15 to 20 minutes in a day. That can be easily achieved by doing laughter yoga exercises because laughter is sustained to get the physiological and biochemical changes in the body. Laughter Yoga is a breakthrough laughter delivery system that can enable a person to laugh continuously for 15 to 20 minutes with short breaks of yogic breathing.

Doesn’t laughing hard get tiring after a while? It makes our gills ache.

Yes, Laughter Yoga is like an aerobic exercise. One can get tired if overdone.

What’s your favourite workshop anecdote? You know, ‘A man walks into a laughter club and...’

Many people walk into the laughter club and ask, “Why are you laughing?” And we say, “We are just laughing”. And I tell people if you can’t laugh, bring your body to the laughter club – your mind will get it.

Can all of this happen in a multi-lingual group? Is there a common ‘laughter language’?

Laughter Yoga is truly universal, as we are not using any language mechanism to make people laugh. It is possible for each and every culture to laugh this way.

What’s your favourite funny moment of all time?

I wear Nike shoes of different colours – one white and one black. That makes the whole world crazy when they look at my shoes, especially the security personnel at airports.

Dr Madan Katari, thanks for making us smile...

Bali’s First International World Yoga, Music and Dance Festival runs from March 5-16, featuring headliners from all three disciplines. The three-part “Silence, Inhale, Exhale” programme builds on Bali’s own special reputation as one of the spiritual healing centres of the world. Bali Spirit Festival 2008 comprises three different experiences, the three-day Nyepi SILENCE (March 5-7), the five-day INHALE Retreats program (March 8-12), and the four day EXHALE Festival celebration (March 12-16). For information about tickets and booking into workshops, including Laughter Workshops with Madan, go to: www.balispiritfestival. com/tickets.html

The Yak: So how did you first meet each other?

Nid&Sancy: We met at a Christmas party. We were both in other bands but we didn’t seem to be in the right bands. So after a while we started making music together.

Your Top 3 musical influences please?

That’s easy...Giorgio Moroder, Dead Kennedys and Cerrone.

New music we really like: The Knife, Sluttt, Symbol One, Madensuyu, Loose Shus. There’s so much stuff happening on the Internet nowadays that’s fresh and cool...

How has the advent of online music affected you personally and professionally?

Personally...not at all really. Professionally: our music is now listened to all over the world, which means we are able to play all over the world. Ten years ago that would have taken an enormously expensive promo campaign or an unusual amount of good luck. So we really should explore the new possibilities and ways of generating revenue instead of whining about the good old days being gone. Online music is a blessing.

How did recording your latest album in Bali affect the style and attitude of your music? What do you find new in this album?

Everything is new on this album. It’s like we opened up the windows and let a breath of fresh air in. That fresh air was Bali, actually. To start with we did some collaborations with artists we like and admire: Nick Marsh of Flesh For Lulu, Symbol One, who just recently featured on the Justice mix album, Sluttt, an American outfit that will be rocking 2008…in short, all heroes of the future.

Do you think the big-city/urban nature of your music “translates” or is applicable in Bali?

Well, sitting outside The Cornerstore in the morning (with a good cappuccino) can be a pretty urban experience…but seriously, we don’t think about that, and we certainly don’t make music with geography in mind. But nice weather, beautiful sea, the magnificent Indonesian food, nice people and good massages will help…

How do you compose your pieces usually? Or is different every time?

It’s a process we try to keep as “organic “ as possible. We try out different versions and just follow our instincts. Any given song can have 30 to 40 rough edits before we land on a final version. It’s very much a long process that keeps expanding before it melts into an essential kind of...form.

How do you see the music scene in Bali?

To be honest, we haven’t checked out many clubs in Bali.

Bali is our hideaway home and except for very fine dining and cocktails afterwards, we usually go back home in the evening and work on new music. We don’t seem to get anything done during the day in Bali, so we are kind of forced to work at night.

Which would be your best and worst gigs? And why?

Our worst were back in the day when no one showed up, and shows where technical stuff was a problem. The best are when you look from the stage and there’s a sweating jumping crowd in front, that could be 50 people or 50,000...it’s all good.

What would be your “dream-concert”? a) To perform at and b) To be in the audience.

To perform: NY Studio 54 with Grace Jones, Andy Warhol, Mick Jagger and the likes in the audience, all on drugs. To be in the audience: ditto.

What’s your favourite footwear?

Interstellar flip-flops and cool boots for performing.

For bookings and further info (SE Asian/USA/Australia) please contact Silvie@massivevibrations.com

AfroDiziYaks Music Reviews By Lou Nietunzz

Artist: DJ Pippi & Jamie Lewis Album: In the Mix ’07

of Love We Left Behind, arriving at one of

with DJ Meme’s bittersweet remix of Cure &

describes herself as an African-Gypsy, in ode

Pippi’s originals, Walking in the Rain, a bob-

The Cause. Refreshed from this lullaby, Lewis

to her mother’s Romanian gypsy heritage.

bing, misty anthem that showcases Pippi’s

takes you back up with the Afro-chanting

Having already sold 550,000 copies of

RETURNING to the earwaves with a master-

own producing calibre. Maybe he should

Me Kumba by Knee Deep, leading on to his

her debut album Joyful in Europe, this De-

ful double-CD album, Ibiza-based house

just forget playing other people’s tracks and

own original tribal anthem, Unity. The cruise

luxe edition includes bonus videos and a

pioneer tag-team Pippi & Lewis present

just focus on his own? Hello? Anyways, for-

continues, and whether on a yacht or the

few remixes. Recorded in New York over

their latest findings, enticing us further

get the track lowdowns, as all here wouldn’t

bus, Dennis Ferrer’s masterpiece, Touched

just five days with Norah Jones’ producer,

into uncharted territories. Taking the bull

have ended up in Pippi’s bag without proper

the Sky, takes you to another world.

Jay Newland, Ayo’s debut features soulful

by the horns, Pippi sets the course with Ur-

testing. The artist and styles he works with

There’s a sneaky, mischievousness that

rhythm & blues with a world-music twist.

sula Rucker’s The Light, whose fuzzy warm

span the planet, and for lack of a better

pervades the whole album, and this is where

Mixing a musical melting pot as diverse as

Spanish trumpets herald an ocean cruise.

expression, you are truly travelling without

you feel you’re being let in on a cherished

her background, her unique vibe draws on a

The soft horns gently launch your boat, fill-

moving – or is it moving without traveling?

secret. I’m not telling you what the secret is,

wide range of influences such as Pink Floyd,

ing the sails with a breeze that slowly whirls

You be the judge.

just where to find it. Akabu’s I’m Not Afraid

King Sunny Ade and Fela Kuti, via her part-

into a gale. Laid-back bass driven percus-

For the second CD, Pippi’s right-hand

of the Future, (à la Jimpster) triumphs with

time deejay father. Also using Lagos’ Pidgin

sion kicks in soon enough, and it is a relief to

man, Jamie Lewis, is passed the torch and

crystal clear quality arriving at the finale,

English, her lyrics cut through any vagaries

hear Rucker’s warm vocals in a good mood,

boy, does the flame grow. Think of an Olym-

I’m Free by Yass & LT Brown. The only place

much as Mr Marley’s did, opening her songs

rather than her trademark vitriolic spoken-

pic flame-runner running with a fireball. Be-

you’re left to go is back to previous albums

up to a wider cross-cultural audience.

works.

ginning with Kevin Yost’s rework of Deeper

by this dynamic duo, or back to the begin-

With her recent live concert in telecast

From there, French chanteuse Hanna

Love by Harley&Muscle, Lewis takes it up

ning of the CD. All prime cuts here, with no

from Monte Carlo (sponsored by none oth-

Hais picks it up, keeping the feminine

another notch with a barrage of standout

fat in sight.

er than Princess Stephanie), Ayo is poised

dreaminess intact while letting the tempo

talents. Hifi Mike, Miguel Migs, Ce Ce Penis-

slowly rise. Jazzy keys work their way in and

ton all contribute here on an all-star effort.

throughout provide a coziness often absent

Whereas Pippi groove’s have a deep Latin

from dance music these days. Spanish gui-

funk, Lewis’ choices cover a more soulful dis-

tar and Latin bongo touches prevail on My

co realm. Gerideau’s squirly croonings add

BRINGING a fresh face and original approach

gerly await her future releases. Her singles On

Brazil, an effortless fusion of house produc-

more fuel to the fire, setting up the follow-up

to the European music scene is German-

my Knees and Without You will surely come

tion and instrumental talents which peak

to Hollywood, a rich synthwashed airy piece

Nigerian song-bird, Ayo. Though her name

crooning to your ears shortly. Who would of

(or start to peak) on Panevino’s The Way I Am,

brimming with class, only to be outdone by

actually means joy in Yoruban tongue, her

thought a German R&B star would be in the

a kinky, sexed-up track that combines lazy

Mig’s classic, Those Things. There is such a

childhood was one strung together by

mix for 2008? This time, the evolution will be

night-life pontifications and tight horn riffs.

depth of experience and wisdom here with

foster-homes in Germany. At one point

televised! One can only hope that with such

Think Saturday Night Fever on Viagra.

to break into the American market soon

Artist: Ayo Album: Joyful – Deluxe Edition

enough. Afrobeat, soul, folk, reggae and more soul, all come together here in soothing, seamless fashion, and we can only ea-

both these fellas that there’s no point in try-

she was even kidnapped by her father, yet

a multi-cultural sound and socially minded

The vibe progresses on with H2O’s Liv-

ing to analyse their directions – they clearly

somehow her spirit has shone through, and

heart, Ayo could well become the next Maya

ing for the Future, a cheeky vocal piece, be-

know where they’re going. Fish Go Deep

joy overcame her pain. Often compared to

Angelou to the masses, something truly joy-

fore weaving into the instrumental version

and Tracey K melt it down for a brief while,

Sade, Tracy Chapman, and Lauryn Hill, Ayo

ful to heal the pains of this world.

EVENT ORGANISER Pro Motion Events Tel: 287250 Fax: 270906 www.pro-motion-events.com page 121

www.thebale.com page 27 Yak map A.13 The Calyx Tel: 8470958 Fax: 8470957 www.thecalyx.com page 17 The Kayana HEALTH, SPAS & SALONS Tel: 8476628 Fax: 8476633 Manik Salon www.thekayana.com Tel: 761147 page 22 Yak map C.5 page 91 The Kozy M Spa at Paul’s Place Tel: 736255 Fax: 736256 Tel: 736715 paulsplace@dps.centrin.net.id www.thekozyvillas.com page 58 Yak map G.1 page 104 Yak map C.9 The Legian Spoiled Tel: 730622 Fax: 8476633 Tel: 8475141 www.ghmhotels.com page 26 Yak map G.1 page 109 Yak map B.8 Theta Spa The Replica Tel:755726 Fax: 755260 Tel: 8476707 Fax: 8476708 page 15 Yak map A.14 www.thereplicasuite.com Ubud Sari page 58 Yak map G.1 Tel: 974393 Fax: 976305 The Samaya www.ubudsari.com Tel: 731149 Fax: 731203 page 126 Bud map H.5 www.thesamayabali.com page 29 Yak map B.7 HOTELS & VILLAS Ubud Sari Alila Manggis Tel: 974393 Fax: 976305 Tel: 0363 41011 www.ubudsari.com www.alilahotels.com page 126 Bud map G.5 page 128 Yak map B.5 Uma Sapna Alila Ubud Tel: 736628 Fax: 736629 Tel: 975963 umasapna@coconuthomes. www.alilahotels.com com page 128 Bud map A.1 page 7 Yak map G.9 Anantara Bali Uma Ubud Tel: 737773 Tel: 972448 Fax: 972449 www.bali.anantara.com www.uma.como.bz page 9 Yak map D.11 page 134 Bud map B.1 Bali InterContinental Villa Kemah Tinggi Tel: 701888 www.bali.intercontinental.com Tel: 8538221 www.kemahtinggi.com page 38-39 page 75 Bud Batu Karang Villas Villa Sungai Tel: 0366 24880 Fax: 24881 www.batukaranglembongan. Tel: (61) 410324535 www.bali-villasungai.com com page 73 page 106 Cicada MEDIA Tel: 8476649 Fax: 8476646 Barefoot Designs www.cicada-seminyak.com Tel: 3136530 page 19 Yak map C.6 www.be-barefoot.com Como Shambhala page 92 Tel: 978888 Fax: 978889 DiSh Communications cse.comoshambhala.bz Tel: 734447 page 134 www.dishpublicity.com Downtown Villas page 121 Tel: 736464 Fax: 736424 Island Communications www.downtownbali.com Tel: 282010 Fax: 287811 page 105 Yak map I.13 www.icommbali.com Grand Hyatt Jakarta page 91 Tel: 021 3901234 www.jakarta.grand.hyatt.com The Yak Online Tel: 737413 Fax: 737413 page 75 www.theyakmag.com Kemah Tinggi page 76 www.kemahtinggi.com page 75 MISCELLANEOUS Maya Ubud Absolut Vodka Tel: 977888 Fax: 977555 Tel: 02175910425 www.mayaubud.com www.maxxium.com page 128 page 76 Nunia Villas Aesthetic Clinic Tel: 734329 Tel: 972648 Fax: 972648 www.villanunia.com www.aestheticbali.com page 119 Yak map F.6 page 126 The Balé MMC Indonesia Tel: 775111 Fax: 775222

(Corruption Control) www.bi.go.id page 93 Rim Cargo Tel: 737670 www.rimcargo.com page 65 Yak map G.8 MUSEUMS Rudana Tel: 975779 Fax: 975091 www.museumrudana.com Inside back cover Bud map N.17 PROPERTY Elite Havens Tel: 731074 Fax: 736391 www.elitehavens.com page 1 Yak map I.1 Exotiq Seminyak Tel: 737358 www.exotiqrealestate.com page 2 Yak map F.8 Panorama Tel: 736733 www.panoramaresortbali. com page 10 -11 (Yak map H.8) Tropical Property Tel: 736733 www.mc2property.com page 21 RECREATION Bali Hai Cruises Tel: 720331 Fax: 720334 www.balihaicruises.com page 71 Yak map E.8 Canggu Club Tel: 8446385 www.cangguclub.com page 27 Yak map B.1 Waka Land Cruise Tel: 426971/72 www.wakaexperience.com page 69 RESTAURANTS&BARS Cafe Bali Tel: 7801515 thecafebali@yahoo.com page 37 Glow at Como Shambhala Tel: 978888 Fax: 978889 www.cse.comoshambhala.bz page 134 Bud map A.1 Hu’u Bar Tel: 736443 Fax: 736573 www.huubali.com page 103 Yak map C.6 Indochine Tel: 972616 www.themansion-bali.com page 126 Bud map B.2 Kemiri at Uma Ubud Tel: 972448 Fax: 972449 www.uma.como.bz page 134 Bud map B.1 Khaima Tel: 736574 www.khaimabali.com page 121 Yak Map F.8 Ku De Ta Tel: 736969 Fax: 736767

www.kudeta.net page 3 Yak map C.9 Kudus at Como Shambala Tel: 978888 Fax: 978889 cse.comoshambhala.bz page 134 Bud map A.1 La Sal Tel: 738321 www.lasalbali.com page 77 Yak map G.10 Loloan Tel: 736677 Fax: 736688 www.loloanbali.com page 73 Yak map C.6 Paul’s Place Tel: 736715 paulsplace@dps.centrin. net.id page 91 Yak map C.9 Sip Wine Bar Tel:730810 www.sip-bali.com page 59 The Junction Tel:735610 page 59 Yak map C.9 The Pantry Tel: 281008 Fax: 281156 page 107 WahWah M: 0815 5832 2735 page 69 Yak map C.7/ Bud map G.10 Wunderbar Tel: 978339 page 125 Bud map H.15 PHOTOGRAPHY Rio Helmi Tel: 978973, 972304 www.riohelmi.com page 132 Bud Map I.5 SHOPS & GALLERIES Atlas Tel: 284455 Fax: 284454 www.atlassouthseapearl. com.au page 119 Biasa Tel: 730308 www.biasabali.com page 12-13 Yak map I.12 Body & Soul Tel: 767169 www.bodyandsoulclothing. com page 8 Yak map A.13/I.13 Carlo Tel: 285211 www.carloshowroom.com page 5 DeJong Tel: 732107/969 www.dejongfashion.com page 37 Dinda Rella Tel: 736953,734228 www.dindarella.com page 14 Yak Map H.8 Gourmet Garage Tel: 701650 Fax: 701007 page 107 Hatten Wines Tel: 767422 Fax: 768418 www.hattenwines.com

page 109 Hospitality Essentials Tel: 7803981 Fax: 430683 www.sb-he.com page 77 Yak map I.9 Imagine Interior Tel: 758830 Fax: 759588 imagine-interior@hotmail.com page 28 Yak map I.9 Jemme Tel: 733508 Fax: 733609 jemme@stockleys.com page 6 Yak map I.9 Lilla Lane Tel: 736180 Fax: 738853 thorabali@hotmail.com page 37 Yak map H.9 Lulu Boutique Tel: 732711 www.lulubali.com page 33 Yak map H.12 Meng Lifestyle Tel: 971220 page 126 Bud map I.16 Paul Ropp Tel: 734208, 731002, 7448083 www.paulropp.com

Inside front cover Yak map G.8/ Bud map A.2 Sabbatha Fashion Tel: 734877 sabbathabali@yahoo.com Front Cover Flap Yak map H.10 Uluwatu Boutique Tel: 287638 Fax: 287054 www.uluwatu.com page 4 JAKARTA Biasa Tel: 021 7182322 Jl Raya Kemang 20 page 12-13 Zhuma Japanese Tel: 021 727 81237 Crystal Lagoon, Senayan City page 105 FONDATION Yayasan Pencinta/Penyantun Taman Nasional www.northernmgic.com/fnpf page 73/136

Distribution INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL SALES Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Brunei Borders Bookstores, Kinokinuya Bookstores, Times the Bookshop and Times Newslink, MPH Bookstores.

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Aloha Alila Clockwise from Top: Poolside over the Ayung; relaxation at Alila Spa; footbath heaven; hanging out over the valley.

IT’S hard for non-Bali dwellers to believe that even people who live on this island sometimes need a holiday. Such is the sarong-wrapped reputation here, but it’s true – stop press: living in paradise can also be stressful.

Which is why it’s nice to know you don’t have to go too far out of Seminyak to find relief. Alila Ubud Bali is one of those sanctuaries, a place that combines good service, stunning design and good food with a killer view. It’s not a particularly new property, but its pedigree stands the test of time. I first visited the hotel more than half a decade ago, and it’s as good today as it was then. There’s a peacefulness that pervades the air, a sense of relaxation that comes, most obviously, from looking out across the surreal, jutting swimming pool to the early morning mist rising above Ayung River valley.

The Alila experience begins once you turn off the main road and wend your way through emerald rice paddies to the front gate. Walk from here and the opportunities open up for you – the gardens are unusually spacious, with plenty of room for contemplation. The resort itself is simply but well conceived. Rooms face the valley view, a single restaurant levels out to a terrace and the pool – which resembles a block of olive-tinged granite – is a monument to hedonistic pursuits.

If you’re lucky enough to secure one of the resort’s valley villas, expect to enjoy privacy and intimate luxury in a wood cabin-like space. We even found time to feed the fish that swim happily around the bathtub, sunk into the water as if that’s the way God always intended us to bathe. This central area leads to a spacious vanity area, a rain shower and twin basins – although it would be hard to contemplate coming here on your own, quite honestly.

If hanging out on the balcony and listening to the in-room iPod isn’t enough excitement for you, Alila also offers a Japanese-inspired Spa, where you can bliss out to an indulgent menu of treatments that includes ancient Balinese healing techniques and New Age beauty recipes. The hotel also offers a menu of adventure activities that includes trekking, picnics and bike-riding.

It would be inappropriate not to mention the food at Alila. Plantation Restaurant, above the pool, is a culinary venue with a stand-alone quality. The menu is simple, fresh and modern and complemented by an extensive wine list, and the ambience is calm and welcoming, whatever time of day you’re dining. There’s a richness to the dishes that you won’t find outside of the hotel, a blend of the best of Australia with local organic produce. All in it’s hard not to recommend Alila Ubud. Hard to fault and frankly hard to leave.

AT A GLANCE Name: Alila Ubud Bali.

In a Nutshell: Luxury hillside resort just outside of Ubud with stunning views over the Ayung River Valley.

Facilities: Plantation Restaurant, Alila Spa, Rooms and Villas.

Address: Desa Melinggih Kelod, Payangan, Gianyar 80572.

Tel: +62 361 975963 Fax: +62 361 975968 Web: www.alilahotels.com

The Yak: What is your name?

Putu: People call me Putu the Art Promoter.

My full name is Putu Supadma Rudana.

What do you do?

Mainly I manage and invest in art. I also lead a number of businesses, including a petrol retail business, resort, art gallery, trading company and consulting company. My focus now is in the art business, as I find it gives me greater challenges and more satisfaction. Fine art for me (especially in the form of paintings) is extremely powerful.

You can feel the soul of art created by the maestros, as in the exhibition that I just conceived, promoted and organised: Modern Indonesian Masters, with works from eight artists – Srihadi Soedarsono, Sunaryo, Nyoman Gunarsa, Made Wianta, Nyoman Erawan, Made Djirna, Made Budhiana and Wayan Darmika. In art, as in business, you have to be able to forecast the future.

That’s art investment. I believe Indonesia has a great culture that I can promote.

What’s the link between art and money?

Is it a fair one?

Art is a tool to heal the heart and soul. It can make us rich inside, helping us to manage our own selves. Money helps to satisfy our physical needs, but there should be a balance between spiritual and physical.

How much is your art collection worth?

I am very blessed to have a huge collection of fine art, especially paintings. We have over 10,000 pieces, each of which is worth a lot of money. I have a dream to make Indonesian art well respected and appreciated globally, and I believe Indonesian art can become a billion dollar Industry. But this depends on how we manage and respect it. Indonesians, as well as Balinese, should understand and be proud of our art and cultural heritage.

Who’s your favourite grand master and who’s your favourite up-and-coming artist?

My favourite grand master is Srihadi Soedarsono, and I am proud to be able to say he made one piece especially for me. The piece is called Borobudur-nafas kehidupan, and its vibrant colours have a deep meaning for me. There are a number of talented up-and-coming artists. One of my favourites is Ida Bagus Indra.

What do artists think of art dealers?

For many people, the term ‘art dealer’

suggests only buying and selling, but I am very proud to present and promote Indonesian art, for which I have a great passion and dedication. I call myself an art lover, investor and collector and I truly believe that art has a soul, and that it can bring peace to the people of the world.

People need to understand there’s a difference.

Your father is a politician. Do you have any political aspirations?

My father is a Senator. I am proud to be his son because I can see the contribution he makes on behalf of the Balinese people in helping to fulfill their aspirations. For a long time, I have dreamt that Indonesian leaders will grow to have a love and understanding of art culture, because I believe this is where the strength of Indonesia truly lives. I also believe that bringing an appreciation of art into politics will make us more peaceful and responsive to the needs of the community.

Bali says it’s committed to fighting climate change, but its rivers run thick with plastic. What will it take for us to clean up our act?

Let’s focus on the word ‘us’. We have to do it together to make Bali clean. There needs to be a synergy between people, the community, government, students, young and old. Everybody needs to work hand-inhand to solve this global problem. We need to take care of the world with a great love, so the city can be free from pollution, the rivers free from plastic and the forest always green for future generations.

Bali has problems with public transport, roads and the building boom. How would you tackle each one?

Bali needs long-term planning in regards to public transportation, roads and the building boom. Firstly, regarding public transportation, we need to have a more efficient mass public transportation system, a better bus system or perhaps something more sophisticated like a monorail, energised by magnet to create less pollution. Bali needs to be environmentally friendly. A better transport system will mean fewer cars and motorbikes on the roads. Sea buses are another option, powered by solar systems or by wind. We also need to focus on our airport and airport services for the future. Regarding the building boom, we

have to understand that the economy will be driven by property; the most important thing therefore is a responsible building code. And let’s not forget art – we need to keep the balance between the physical and the spiritual.

Is gift-giving between politicians and businessman a form of corruption?

Tolerance is part of our culture. We have a respect for guests, for friends and family, and we feel good when we give. We shouldn’t lose this, but in politics and business, we must understand there are conditions. Not all forms of gift-giving constitute corruption and not all forms of corruption involve giftgiving. We need to know the boundaries.

Do you favour the left or the right when it comes to politics?

Not everything is black and white, right or wrong, light or dark. There’s often more to it than that. We need to have insight and try always to be fair. Is it important whether it is labeled left or right?

Take away the art, take away the politics, who are you?

I am just Putu Rudana. I am proud to say I contribute to the community and give to other people. I believe that in life, as in business, it should not always be win-lose.

We can achieve win-win if we listen to our heart.

If you had to give all your money away, who would you give it to?

I have never thought of myself as being rich, unless I am surrounded by art. But I think the most important thing in giving is that we should give to something worthwhile, like education, skills or ideas. I never think of money. Instead I create ways that the money will follow me.

Would you ever do a pilgrimage, to where and why?

A pilgrimage to pray and be blessed at the mother temple of Bali, Besakih, is very important, and allows us to blend with the spirit and power of Bali.

If you had to change your passport, what country would you choose?

This is a great question. I love Bali, I love Indonesia and I feel blessed to live in this beautiful country. To be able to live on Bali, the most beautiful island in the world…I think you know my answer. Thank you, but I will keep my passport as it is.

The Yak: Jean Francois, tell me what you love and hate about yourself.

JF: I have to say that I love everything about myself. In fact there is nothing I do not like about myself.

Which part of France are you from?

I’m from Bourg-en-Bresse, Ain, between Lyon and Bourgogne in eastern France.

What did your parents do?

My dad worked for the SNCF, Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français or in English, the French National Railway Company.

You went to India in the ’70s – who or what was it that encouraged you to come to Bali?

I was in New York and happened to see a Balinese dance. I was so inspired by the costumes I decided that I had to visit Bali.

How long after arriving did you discover Ubud?

Well, it was really step-by-step. At first, I was attracted by the beach, but once I heard about Ubud and discovered its magnetism, I was mountain-bound What is it about Ubud that makes it your favourite corner of the world?

Undoubtedly it is the Balinese culture. The ceremonies, the traditions; they are all still so vibrant in Ubud, which is why I chose to live here.

We hear that your favourite day of the year is Nyepi (Bali’s Day of Silence) Why? Because it is an inimitable Bali tradition.

Yes, Nyepi is my favourite day. The whole island stops and for 24 hours there is total silence. The Balinese pray and meditate. It is the only day that one can truly relax.

What was your worst day in Bali?

Maybe, like many expats, my worst day in Bali was when I had a motorcycle accident.

And the best?

The best day had to be when I attended the massive cremation ceremony of the King of Gianyar – Ide Anak Agung Gde Agung. Absolutely splendid.

We know Ubud inspires artists, writers, designers…why is that, do you think?

Well, again it’s because Ubud is wellknown as Bali’s culture heart (especially abroad, thanks to the Ubud Royal family).

This is what attracts. They arrive, they live

and Ubud inspires them.

In our mind you are an extremely talented alchemical jeweller, (selling at private shows throughout the world, Asia, Europe and U.S.A and dressing the A list). Where did that talent come from? Who was responsible?

My talent is from God. I’m autodidactic. I am in tune with my creative mind. Everything is in my psyche; inspiration, experience, creative energy. And I’m ever grateful for the assistance of amazing Balinese hands; all my silversmiths are Balinese, they are so talented and they also understand what I want to create.

What did you hate about the world twenty years ago?

Nothing, nothing at all.

What do you hate about the world today?

It seems that change is happening so fast. Technology is speeding us up. I am not saying that it is bad but that we need to look at the reality of the impact it is having on the environment. There is a lot of damage being caused. I think that technology is good only when used with respect to our surroundings.

Who is your favourite jeweller from the past?

That would have to be René Lalique!

Why do we, as a race, adorn our bodies?

It is traditional. To beautify, to attract and because we can.

Why is there a lack of social responsibility regarding mining and the terrible conditions that gem miners live and work in?

This is actually a catastrophique situation, but there is little one can do about it. As I mentioned, much of it is due to technology and our modern way of life. Big powerful companies only think of the bottom line, the profit margin. I believe it has little to do with the designers.

If you could have been anyone else but yourself who would you have been?

Actually I am quite happy being myself.

Hmmm…I suppose I get inspired by the past, the good and the bad…maybe I would like to have belonged to an ancient Indian Civilization.

Jean Francois, thank you very much.

Cope with the Slope

WHEN a Balinese grandfather tells you that he’s a metrosexual, you know that Balinese reality is running way ahead of its brand. Especially when this grandfather is from Ubud. (If you must know, he’s my husband.) It indicates that Bali is more supple than we thought.

The Balinese of Ubud labour under the weight of being exemplars of traditional Balinese culture, which at the least is mighty expensive. Anthropologists suggest that there are other stresses as well – stuff about “shifting paradigms” that can sneak up from behind and bite a perfectly proper Balinese on the neck and shake him or her like a rag doll, until he or she loses his or her traditional bearings and goes famously amok.

The people of Bali are told that the solution is precisely in that old way of life that is slipping away from them, which only twists the knife: the old way of life required farm land and a great deal of confidence in its own peculiar cosmology. Is metrosexuality a symptom or a response?

Meanwhile, anthropologists have not yet noticed the stress that “shifting paradigms” exerts on Ubud expats and our thin cultural resources.

Spider Suicide AS many hundreds of thousands of Spider Solitaire addicts know, while you’re working on a

game, it feels like you’re doing something urgently active – but the only aerobic exercise is in your eyebrows and whatever it takes to get you out of your chair, at dawn, and into bed.

So as a strategy for achieving personal beauty or good marital relations, Spider Solitaire naturally ranks very low. On the other hand, it is excellent for killing time.

Kill time, you say? Time is life. It’s the basic treasure of all creatures.

But that doesn’t mean we necessarily treasure it. Indeed, it seems to be part of the human condition to waste it as we wonder what to do with it. Sometimes it weighs on us so heavily that we’re tempted to just give it up.

Which is why Mother Nature gave us Spider Solitaire. It allows us to commit suicide in a sanitary way, with minimal impact on society. With its limitless braid of challenge and surprise, we are kept in a constant state of alertness and hope.

You might say that what we should be doing instead is helping the poor – or at least meditating, or working out, or planting trees – that there is more moral worth in certain activities than in others.

The creators of Macintosh computers seem to think so. I recently switched to Mac and I can’t find the familiar classic Spider Solitaire that comes bundled on a PC. Instead they give us chess, which offers nothing but despair. The only alternative is to type things like this.

But everything eventually returns to star dust. Will it matter then how we’ve lived and died? Perhaps it only matters now – this now, with its itch and ache.

Oh, but that’s the point, you say. This is the only window we have to the humming behind the stardust.

You’re probably right. But I’ve glimpsed the beauty of unprotected experience, when there was nothing to do but to be still in the midst of what ever was going on around you, whether squashed in a truck full of car-sick pilgrims or sitting next to someone dying. It’s awful.

It’s only when you get back to your own room that you feel exhilarated for having lived through such a thing, and then you begin to treasure it.

But then, back in your own room, there you are again with all this treasure on your hands, and your culture says that you must do something with it.

Why Bars Have Mirrors MIRRORS double things. Everyone knows that the mirror behind the bar is to make it look like the bar has twice as many bottles, and also to let you look at the person next to you without going to the trouble of turning your head. Cowboys needed mirrors to see who was walking in the door or reaching for his holster. But the mirror’s also there for beauty.

Mirrors are expansive, and bars are a place to expand.

In downtown Ubud, there are several places that make good use of mirrors. At the Cinta Bar & Grill on the Monkey Forest Road, for instance, the mirrors flatter not only the bottles – with their promise of greetings from France, Italy, Russia, and Cuba – but also pots of perfect white orchids, bringing a note of serenity that’s always useful in a bar. On the other hand, at Lamak, just up the street, you’ll have trouble avoiding ghastly flashes of yourself everywhere: from behind the bar of course; but also going up and down the stairs; going toward the toilets; and (if it occurs to you to look up) from the ceiling of the toilets as well. There’s no chance to forget who you are at Lamak.

At the bar at the Four Seasons at Sayan, they don’t need mirrors. You look straight out across a river ravine into a splendid tangle of trees. I have heard, from relatives who live on the other side of the river, that amongst the trees there may be local landowners looking back, furious that they are blocked from letting investors develop five-star hotels on their side of the river, lest the five-star view be spoiled. No mirror-image hotels wanted here.

At Naughty Nuri’s they don’t need mirrors either. They already have plenty of everything: customers, noise, smoke, and enough first-class booze to let you drink till you sink.

The walls are full of pictures anyway. Only Victor Mason can see his face reflected back, in a Wolfgang Widmoser portrait. But some people have been caught primping in front of Wolfgang’s triptych of swirling martinis.

Cultural Dance Calendar

IT’S an age-old question (or at least one that’s as old as we are). And it’s time we asked it again. Is Balinese culture on the way out? We would have to say...yes. Let’s not get into the anthropology of it all (what is Balinese culture, is Ubud the ‘true’ Bali, blah di blah?), what we’re talking about here is the end of The Beauty and the beginning of The Way of The Beast. The end of the pretty, feudal, “we’re all in this universal cycle together” way of life and the beginning of, “I want another motorbike” and “why is your land draining water into my carport?”. Perhaps this is why the tourist authorities here have come up with such a bright campaign for 2008 – which, we are told, is the year to go Sightseeing In Denpasar.

What fun. Here, amid the pot-holed streets and rivers of motorised madness, you will see Bali’s future quite clearly: it might be a century and more late, but the Industrial Revolution has finally arrived on this island’s shores. So all we need to expect for the next 100 or so years is a couple of decades of child labour and dodgy land laws followed by a period of ugly pollution, rubbish education, inequality of the sexes and mass greed on a scale never before witnessed in the history of human unkindness. Perhaps then, in, 2108 (when the rest of the world has, let’s hope, fully lit its green light), we can expect someone in Denpasar to start complaining that their children can’t breathe anymore and are developing odd rashes behind their ears. The End will truly have come, of course, when some corporate entity decides to build a convenience store opposite the palace in Ubud. Oops, too late?

When 1st & 15th of every month

What Gambuh dance (The Ancient Drama of Bali)

Where Pura Desa Batuan

Every Full & New Moon

Kecak Dance

Arma Open Stage, Peliatan

Mondays

Legong Dance Kecak (Fire) Dance Ciwa Ratri Dance Barong & Keris Dance

Ubud Palace Tunjungan Village Pura Dalem Puri Jaba Pura, Desa Kutuh

Tuesdays

Ramayana Ballet Legong Dance by women Spirit of Bali Kecak & Trance Dance Wayang Kulit (Shadow puppets) Legong Dance Legong

Ubud Palace Puri Saraswati Jaba Pura, Desa Kutuh Jaba Pura, Padang Kertha Kerta Accommodation Puri Kaleran Peliatan The Chedi Club at Tanah Gajah

Wednesdays

Legong & Barong Dance Wayang Kulit Kecak & Trance Dance

Ubud Palace Oka Kartini Padang Tegal

Thurdays

Gabor Dance Legong Dance (Children’s gamelan) Barong Dance Kecak Dance Calonarang Dance

Ubud Palace Puri Saraswati Puri Saraswati Puri Agung Peliatan Mawang Village

Fridays

Legong Dance Barong Dance Kecak & Trance Dance Legong

Ubud Palace Peliatan Village Pura Dalem Ubud The Chedi Club at Tanah Gajah

Saturdays

Legong Dance Legong Dance Calonarang Dance Legong Dance Wayang Kulit

Ubud Palace Puri Saraswati Mawang Village Pura Dalem Puri Ubud Kerta Accommodation

Sundays

Legong of Mahabaratha Kecak & Trance Dance Wayang Kulit Legong Dance Female Gamelan and Children’s Dance

Ubud Palace Padang Tegal Oka Kartini ARMA Peliatan Village

A unique opportunity to witness the spectacular revival of Gambuh – the ancient dance drama of Bali. Performances every 1st and 15th of the month at 7.00 p.m., at Pura Desa Batuan, (11km from Ubud). Entrance fee Rp50.000. Free transport from Ubud Tourist Office at 6.30 p.m.

For reservations telephone 974 528/295 846.

Issue fifteen March/April/May 2008

THE BUD Ubud Views UPHILL Cope With The Slope ART MARKET Putu Rudana UBUDIAN Jean Francois Fichot RAVINE RETREATS Alila Ubud Bali MOOD FOOD The Mansion BUD MAP Cover Photograph: Warwick Ibah Luxury Villas & Spa, www.ibahbali.com

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IDR Rp 48.000 S$9 HK$45