The start of the week is upon us again and I got off to a busy start by getting some hotel reviews online.
Check out the Bali Rani in Tuban and the Bali Garden also in Tuban.
I’ve been to so many guest houses and hotels that by now it’s a blur and if you ask what the Bali Coconut or the Puri Asli etc. is like I’ll have to read my own review to tell you.
One thought that crossed my mind is that guest houses and hotels that are new or that have refurbished within the past year look a hell of a lot better than ones that haven’t. Take the Bali Rani for instance, their Superior rooms have just been renovated and I’d take one of them over the Deluxe rooms which are larger but older looking.
Find out how old your hotel is and when was the last time it was renovated. Some of those 15 year old budget places look like crap.
The big news here right now is the anniversary of the Bali bombing which is set to kick off Tuesday at 9am. Seems like we’ll never have closer on this baby with the whole song and dance replayed every year but who am I to spoil people’s fun. I will be reporting from the site and will try to talk to some people to get their reaction.
Here’s Tuesday’s schedule once again for those who are in town.
Dallas Finn founder of Bali Peace Park is getting interviewed at 5am by the Today show in Australia. He told me last time they interviewed him he had a Bintang in his hand. I said it was nice that he is getting recognized as a ‘go to’ man on the subject these days and that he should leave out the Bintang this year. He told me he had to buy an alarm clock specially for the event.
A friend of mine sent me a link to a Bali site that takes some of the most uncomfortable issues in Bali head on. At first I thought the owner of this site must be crazy or have some kind of agenda but there is a grain of truth, albeit the ugly truth. Check it out for yourselves. I don’t endorse it, just see it as another point of view.
Here’s a little Bahasa Indonesia tip for you. You might know a ‘cewek’ is a woman and a ‘cowok’ is a man. I asked Ika what a ‘cewok’ is and she told me it means wiping your ass / arse. So fellas don’t go telling that pretty girl at the bar she’s the best ‘cewok’ in the place.
{ 21 comments }
Nick,
i read this site daily to get my bali fix, it is a great insight.
However please do not call it a song and dance on this special day, this day will never be forgotten in history.
I think what they are doing is great, these cerimonies bring people back to bali which is a great thing for the country.
To all brave enough to go back and celebrate lost lives i take my hat off to you all
Have to agree with you there Mick. It’s like the anniversary of any tragedy that has occured - it must be respected and the proper respects given…
human beings lost their lives and there are those loved ones of the victims who live with this every day of their lives.
To those people, my prayers are thoughts are with you on this day…..
I know what you mean Nick… I am sure he did not wish to upset anyone!
It is not the way for the Balinese to keep reliving tragedies each year…
I know many in Australia think it strange that we Westerners dredge it up yearly.
To all that have been affected by this tragedy in any way no matter how big or how small…
My heartfelt prayers & best wishes of strength to go on is sent to you on this day!
I agree it is a day in history and is an anniversary. I wish the very best to the relatives of ther victims and the people attending.
Are we going to do this for the next 25 years? I hope whatever way people decide to go the survivors and relatves feel some relief.
Nick
PEOPLE’S FUN????
You just lost me from this site. What a cruel and callous statement!! And it is even more of a shame coming from a site moderator. I wonder if you were working on Israel Blog would you would be making the same coment about the Holocaust Rememberance each year. I hope this part of your posting comes to the attention of the Boots n all Management. Again it is a shame it was a very enjoyable site.
It still is an enjoyable site (and the best on Bali).
Gary, Nick IS BootsnAll management!. I can understand where you are coming from and everybody has their opinions.
Tracey, you are spot on. Westerners have a predisposition of ‘not letting go’ of loved ones. Perhaps it’s their religion.
My wife is Bhuddist. Once a year the whole family get together for a morning once a year at the family shrine, have a wail, then get stuck into some good tucker and celebrate the lives of their ancestors knowing they are in a far better place and happy.
G’Day Nick,
Just spent the last 10 mins WASTING my time perusing the ‘Fugly-bali’ site. Okay, so everybody is entitled to their opinion but, does this guy have a life!. He has some good points [I'll concede that] but as far as I’m concerned the good outweighs the bad by a country mile. Rock n’ roll Bali and the Baliblog!.
like itlots
I get the impression Nick you would like the ‘SARI BOMBING’ to go away. Your comment ‘Are we going to do this for the next 25 years? ‘ is so insensitive. I am not an avid follower of this site, it is my work colleague who is a regular. However we have just argued over your statment,me claiming you should resign or make a public apoligy on-line which you have not done yet and my colleaugue stating that you have made aninsensitive statement but meant no harm.You show your immaturity and lack of experience in dealing with ‘raw’ topics. I myself on second thoughts think that you have not grasped just how many people have been affected by the bombing and the enormity of it all.
The ‘MEMORIALS’ should go on for ever, regardless of how the Indonesians deal with matters like this. !!! I know if i had a loved on so cruelly snatched from life in their prime with their whole life ahead of them i would never get over it and whats more Nick i would not want to read blase comments like yours. Living in Bali surely you should know better.I wll also be refraining from logging on to this site till you make that apoligy. My colleague will update me if you do and only then could i follow the site.
David Davis
I get the impression Nick you would like the ‘SARI BOMBING’ to go away. Your comment ‘Are we going to do this for the next 25 years? ‘ is so insensitive. I am not an avid follower of this site, it is my work colleague who is a regular. However we have just argued over your statment,me claiming you should resign or make a public apoligy on-line which you have not done yet and my colleaugue stating that you have made aninsensitive statement but meant no harm.You show your immaturity and lack of experience in dealing with ‘raw’ topics. I myself on second thoughts think that you have not grasped just how many people have been affected by the bombing and the enormity of it all.
The ‘MEMORIALS’ should go on for ever, regardless of how the Indonesians deal with matters like this. !!! I know if i had a loved on so cruelly snatched from life in their prime with their whole life ahead of them i would never get over it and whats more Nick i would not want to read blase comments like yours. Living in Bali surely you should know better.I wll also be refraining from logging on to this site till you make that apoligy. My colleague will update me if you do and only then could i follow the site.
David Davis
Nick
Have you gone troppo?
Sounds like you need a break from
the paradise isle mate.
Barrie
I agree that everybody has their own opinions, however Nicks comments are indefensible. Being a trained counsellor it is apparent that both he and yourself have no idea of what grief and loss are all about, and how people deal with the loss of a loved one, particuarly under these circumstances. Further if these people affected by the bombing choose this way to deal with their loss, does any one have the right to trivialise and belittle it with Nicks Comment- “Seems like we’ll never have closer on this baby with the whole song and dance replayed every year but who am I to spoil people’s fun”
And Barrie if the Buddist Religion deals with Death in this way, more power to them, however I feel that the circumstances here are totally different. Someone dying from old age or an illness is one thing, and inevitable. 200 inocent people dying this way is totally different.I probably have stronger feelings on this subject because I lost a close work friend in the bombing. I agree with David Davis in that perhaps Nick has not grasped the enormity of this to a lot of people. In conclusion I probably feel more disappointed and hurt with the comments than anything else as I had a lot of respect for Nick and how he was running the site, and got great satisfaction from the content.
I don’t think we should all get too heated about it, I understand it from both sides… As my hubby is balinese & he thinks it odd, crazy & weird that Westerners continue to mark the disaster rather than celebrate the life that was… It makes sense to me..
We all do have the right to our own opinions & Gary you are also joining in by putting down Nick’s opinion of the annual ceremony & not letting him have his opinion, after all he is there & probably hears from the Locals how Bizarre to them this is that each & every year it is brought back up again.?
Barrie never said that each & every person from his wifes family had died from illness or old age that’s just an assumption.
I have Balinese friends that were killed from the devastating bomb too, their families want to move on but find it harder with the Western involvement….
But then again noone seems to be thinking of them???
Tracey
I think you are missing the whole point.Firstly I feel that, speaking for myself, I have every right to be getting a bit heated about it. I also appreciate that the Balinese may think it is “crazy and weird” that the westerners continue to mark the disaster”. However does not every one have the right to handle this situation in their own way and deal with it in their own way. As an Australian you would be aware that we celebrate Anzac Day each year. In essence this was not only a disater but also Australia’s greatest military defeat. Also as far as assumptions go yours is a very big one in assuming that Nick is looking at at this from the perspective of a Balinese. Further to this I am sure that the Balinese are as free to deal with this in their own way and I feel that what is being missed is that this is occurred only two years ago and so is still very raw. I am confident that as time goes by and the wounds begin to heal that people will moove on. Also I am not putting down Nicks’ opinion of the Ceremony,however I am putting down the way in which Nick has phrased this opinion. Do you feel that it is appropriate to use words such as “song and dance replayed each year, but who am I to spoil peoples fun” And finally both yourself and Barrie are defending Nick by assuming that you know what his thoughts were. Only Nick knows what he meant and only Nick can either admit that the words he used were inappropriate and said without thought as to who they might offend or he can say that that is the way he feels and that he does not find an issue with them.AlsoTracy i never stated that Barrie said that all the members of his wifes family had died from illness or old age.Barrie was generalising about how the Bhuddist deal with death. Their is no generalisation with regards how the people in the two clubs died. It is very specific.So again the only one we have not heard from is Nick!!
I think you folks are taking this too seriously, but I think Nick deserves defense.
I realize that many cultures/countries/folks celebrate national tragedies as a time of remembrance. But in this instance, comemorating a terrorist act plays right into the hands of terrorist. Crimes of terror are designed to shock and terrify people into changing current AND FUTURE behavior. Anything that draws public attention, again and again, to a terrorist incident, especially when the bad guys are still at large, validates (in the mind of the terrorist) the tactic, and perhaps (probably) encourages further attacks. One of the best way to combat terrorism is to collectively shrug it off and then to catch and punish hell out of the terrorist.
Maybe Nick could have been more thoughtful with his choice of words, but anyone looking for namby-pamby feel-good chamber-of-commerce rhetoric has little grasp of the Boots-n-all model of opinionated no-bullshit journalistic ethic.
((rantmode ON))
Just because Nick’s usual articles are fairly sedate, its no reason to think he doesn’t have real, raw opinions about things affecting his daily life. Baliblog is a bully pulpit, Nick works his ass off to keep it relevant, and he has every right to express his opinion. If you have a different opinion, by all means flame him. But to call for his resignation or an apology is utter nonsense.
If you are that offended, go away, or better yet, get three or four friends together, work your asses of for three or four years with no guarantee of success, and launch your own goddamn website.
The mere fact that Nick hasn’t asked the lot of you to kindly sod-off speaks volumes for his integrity. Personally, I have none, so …
((rantmode OFF))
Hi Folks/
Well we have aright hot discussion going on here and rightly so as it is a very important topic. Well i have to say i was suprised by Nicks choice of words regardingthe memorial. Gary G. i totally understand your point of view on this and how it could be very upsetting indeed if youhad a loved one who was taken by those hypocrite terrorist bastards. Firstly me thinks Nick made these comments without prior thought as to how they trivialized the Bombing. The reason i say this is because Nick never sets out to upset anyone, especially those that have already had their heart ripped out by the loss of a loved one(s). Barrie and Tracey i understand the Balinese like to move on as that is their way like some sections of people feelit is their duty to honour and remember the dead.Each and every single person to whatever way best helps them deal with it and move on. Yes Gary g. it was certainly worthy a subject to voice your opinion and hurt at these comments, just like it was fair enough for Barrie and Tracey to not condone what Nick stated,but to just state that they know Nick and realise he never intenede to trivialize or upset people.
Anyway lets move forward as we have all had our say on this one eh…
Mark
Here, Here ed!!!
Let’s move on now!
I agree it is time to move on. My final word on this matter is-if Baliblog is a Boots-n-all model of opinionated no-bullshit journalistic ethic, why has Nick not used some of that no-bullshit journalistic ethic and answered his critics instead of letting his friends, on the site, do it for him. And Eb if you had a son, daughter, mother, father or friend Murdered in this way and could just “shrug it off”. Well your not someone whose opinions I value too highly
I agree it is time to move on. My final word on this matter is-if Baliblog is a Boots-n-all model of opinionated no-bullshit journalistic ethic, why has Nick not used some of that no-bullshit journalistic ethic and answered his critics instead of letting his friends, on the site, do it for him. And Eb if you had a son, daughter, mother, father or friend Murdered in this way and could just “shrug it off”. Well your not someone whose opinions I value too highly
There is a difference between private mourning and a public event. The former is appropriate, the latter is counterproductive for the reasons stated.
There is a difference between private mourning and a public event. The former is appropriate, the latter is counterproductive for the reasons stated.
Comments on this entry are closed.