Image © Getty Images.
I’ve blogged without interruption the point Nyepi, the Balinese day of Silence, before. Now Tugu Hotels in Bali will help you connect to your inner self during this noiseless Balinese holiday, which takes place this year on March 16.
Tugu Hotels offer a Nyepi Retreat package for the ssshhh holiday season: for US$865 at Hotel Tugu Bali, or US$712 at Hotel Tugu Lombok (inclusive of 21% taxes and service charge), you’ll get a private retreat to call your own, with views of Indian Ocean sunsets and access to a private plunge pool.
The Nyepi Retreat package includes two nights’ stay at the luxury suite of your choice, with a lavish breakfast served where you wish.
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Girl on Bali beach, image Getty Images.
As of Jan 25, the Indonesian Law and Human Rights Ministry announced that they were scrapping the visa-on-arrival scheme, which permitted non-ASEAN citizens to pay US$10 at certain Indonesian points of entry for up to seven days. Visitors who enter Indonesia would have to pay US$25 for a 30-day single entry visa.
Not surprisingly, people are teed off. Reports the Straits Times of Singapore:
Mr Andrew Dixon, one of the owners of the Nikoi Island resort off Bintan, pointed out that many visitors went to the islands with a view to only a day of golf. "It will increase the cost of a visit to Bintan for a family of four by US$60," he told The Sunday Times.
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Every year I’m in Shanghai for Chinese New Year I half look earnest to it, half fear it. The looking forward function is easy – the city empties out, people are happy and feeling jovial, the decorations are up and it’s fun to see a whole place array up for the biggest holiday of the year – especially when you’ve already done your celebrating so you don’t feel the pressure to cook a turkey or buy one more Christmas present. I have that happy – I’m-done-with-my-holiday-and-I-happily-gawk-as-you-enjoy-yours feeling.
The fear part comes this evening as the fireworks begin at 11:45 and don’t stop until the fifteenth day of the lunar new year. Hmm, let’s see, that’s February 28th!
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The Jakarta restaurant Shanghai Blue 1920 takes old-school romantics back to a livelier, jazzier time – back to the days of the original Shanghai Tea House, a warung-turned-full-scale-restaurant.
With jazz music courtesy of the Shanghai Jazz Band and Nita Aartsen Project, Shanghai Blue 1920 harks back to its storied predecessor on Sunda Kelapa, a bustling tea house and restaurant run by a Shanghainese immigrant and his Indonesian wife.
The Blue Valentine special will be served on February 14: lovers who attend My Blue Valentine will enjoy a four-course dinner and a glass of sparkling wine, for IDR 498,000 (US$53) per couple.
Shanghai Blue 1920 preserves the memory of the Shanghai Tea House with origin pieces of the restaurant on site, the lively jazz stylings of its live performers, and the charming Shanghainese and Batavian dishes derived from the simple home cooking prepared by the Shanghai Tea House’session original proprietor Siti Zaenab.
RSVP Hatina/Diana at +62 21 391 8690, or email shanghai-blue@tuguhotels.com.
Ole’s Steak Palomillo. The slice is hidden under the ensalada of parsley and onions. Image © Mike Aquino, licensed to About.com.
When I was in the U.S. a few years ago, I happened upon a Filipino restaurant that had this sign in the window:
SERVES 2-3 AMERICANS (4-5 FILIPINOS)
Maybe you Yanks don’t effect this, but we have smaller servings of food in Southeast Asia. One cup of rice and about a handful of meat or vegetables is what you’ll usually get in most places around here, whether you’re at a hawker’s stall in Singapore or a pho stand in Vietnam.
So this puts me in a bind when I write restaurant reviews: do I say that a certain serving size is adequate, when it’s enough during a meal plus takeout for the locals?
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Image of Thalasso Facilities Aquatonic pools (top) and image of Spa on the Rocks (left) Ayana Resort & Spa Bali, used with permit.
Looking for the world’s best spa? Look no further than the Thermes Marins Bali Spa in the Ayana Resort & Spa on Jimbaran Bay, Bali.
The Conde Nast Traveller Readers’ Spa Awards 2010 has awarded several key laurels to the Thermes Marins Bali Spa – not only the World’session #1 Spa, it’s also been crowned the Favourite Hotel Spa in Asia.
The Conde Nast Traveller Readers’ Spa Awards are based on an international survey of Conde Nast Traveller readers, and were awarded this year in a prestigious ceremony in London.
“It’s a great honor to win Conde Nast’s highest award in this prestigious survey of international travelers,” said Ayana’s Director of Spa and Business Development (Japan), Michi Sonoda.
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Image of Singapore Zoo courtesy of Singapore Tourism Board.
Who says there aren’t enough babies in Singapore? At least Singapore Zoo seems to be working overtime bringing babies into the world. The AFP reports that the Zoo’s breeding program has brought forth about 2,500 animals so far from the 315 species enrolled.
2009 brought forth 142 animals, 32 from endangered species. Not surprisingly (befitting the Singaporeans, the in the greatest degree methodical people in Southeast Asia), nothing is left to chance.
The latest star of the programme is a baby Komodo dragon hatched in December -- the first born in every Asian zoo outside the giant lizard's native Indonesia.
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