The Yak #37

Volume 37 Dec/Jan/Feb 2012-2013

IDR80,000 : S$11 : HK$50 : A$10 : €5

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Volume Thirty Seven DEC/JAN/FEB 2012-2013

The Yak Magazine Sophie Digby, Agustina Ardie, Nigel Simmonds

Publisher's PA / Sales & Marketing Indrie Raranta

Production Manager Evi Sri Rezeki

Graphic Designers Irawan Zuhri, Teuku Melody, Stuart Sullivan

Accounting Julia Rulianti

Distribution Made Marjana, Kadek Arthana, Putu Widi Susanto, Made Sutajaya, Didakus Nuba

Publisher PT Luxury In Print

Licence AHU/47558/AH/01/01/2011

Advertising Enquiries Tel: (+62 361) 844 6341, 743 1804, 743 1805

www.theyakmag.com Email: info@theyakmag.com sales@theyakmag.com Canggu Club Tennis Centre, Jl. Pantai Berawa, Canggu, Bali 80361, Indonesia © PT Luxury In Print

IDR80,000 : S$11 : HK$50 : A$10 : €5

On the cover: Nicola wears jumper by Ali Charisma Photography by Anthony Dodds Styling by Ozlem Esen Make up and hair by Julhenry Model: Nicola for Area Mgmt Bangkok

The Yak Magazine Bali.

You know the drill. 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 Publisher reserves the right to refuse advertising that does not comply with the magazine's design criteria. The Yak will not be held responsible for copyright infringements on images supplied directly by advertisers and/or contributors.

min 16

The Yak’s monthly e-newsletter is sent

Archives, additional content and

yPodBali Version 2.1 – The Yak's iPhone

to 20,000 mailboxes every month.

more at www.theyakmag.com

App – is available from the App Store.

contents P: 100 Omnibus: Monkeys in space

26

Ponderings From The Pulpit

30

Where is . . . Pamella Bordes

34

Calender Comings and Goings

38 42

Yakety yak

archives

dates With destiny

15 minutes

Unmoved Like Jagger one world

Charity Begins At Home

82 20

46

72

Upwards And Onwards

Tai Graham

56

Gifted

74

Christina Iskandar

62

Fabien Barral

78

Tim Adams

66

Foster The People

82

Natisa Notables

68

Ethan Mann

86

Jack's Super 8

86

62

new in the hood

out of the box

design

happenings

passions

interview

interview

interview

art sake

passions

56

contents

92 110 120

art sake

Clayton Barr portfolio

Spencer Hansen yak fashion

Documented

130

Iceland

138

Tirtha

142

Balique & Bistrot

travel

oral pleasures

oral pleasures

138 24

146

constant wining

Spoiled For Choice

148

Foie Gras

150

Number One

152

L Hotel

154

Weddings, etc.

160

Funky Town

big 6

vodka

lay over

nuptials

uptown

154

164

venting

Eden

166

Puri Tirta

168

Fabric of Life

182

Party Like Romans

188

Star Turns

190

Who's Who

110

venting

fashion freestyle

yak awards

Astro yak

advertiser's directory

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tapping shoes is where exquisite culinary experiences are presented with passion and love. from his experiences at michelin starred restaurants in japan and france, chef hikaru take shares his repertoire of classic french recipes with a casual twist; as well as his respect for quality ingredients.

CARLO innovative furnishings

25 years of experience providing solutions for hospitality and residential Jl. Danau Poso 22 Sanur T.+62 361 285 211 www.carloshowroom.com

yakback Hang on to your privacy people, social media is becoming downright antisocial.

Unwanted posts, unwanted tags and friend requests by people you have never met, and loads of junk advertising – better known in this day and age as ‘impressions’.

How does the number 26,959,576,835 sound to you? Did you know that is the number of ‘advertising impressions’ sent out by the InMobi Network to smartphones or androids worldwide last quarter – in 120 days?

InMobi network has cruised to a massive 488% growth in the past year for smartphone impressions and an even bigger 771% growth for tablet advertising.

Surely admission without permission. How pushy, disturbing and disruptive this new mobile age could turn out to be. Instant access, instant communication, instant notification and instant gratification.

We at The Yak like to take our time. We have the access, we have the communication and we even have the gratification, yet thankfully there is nothing particulary instant about us. It is not about bombarding the masses and imparting 10 seconds worth of knowledge, product or similar. We aim to please, to connect, to savour the contents of these pages. Recognize talent and be humbled, thrilled or amused. It's Bali peeps, and your time here should not be rushed – it is already hurtling passed at a speed way faster than sound.

So for this issue we suggest you hit that silent button and come with us on a magical journey of image, art and word. To take your time to meet the people that care to share.

So for the aforementioned slow-boat to creativity we head ‘Out of the Box’ and go to Bulgari and Feltz & De for a traditional time-piece and some pure crystalline ‘rocks’. Next we meet Fabien Barral who has a passion for all things ‘old skool’ and ‘fontish’. Then in comes a well-known Bali-ite Christina Iskandar, Foster The People and Tim Adams of Mantra (in Petitenget) fame. Natisa Jones knocks the brush out of our hands with her ‘wonky’ journey towards her dream as we go all the way back in time to the Super 8 and filmmaker Jack Coleman. All very traditional and low tech – so far. Artist Clayton Barr aka Barrfly gets a life by painting it and its culture all the way around the globe.

Our favourite feature is Omnibus, which this issue takes an anti-gravitational twist into Wasted Space where Andrew Hall asks if we know how to live properly on Earth, and what happened to all those animals we sent over the ozone layer?

Our next expedition takes us into the realms of the Mad Hatter and his take on the world of images – created and devised. (X)avier pops into our lives – aka Ethan Mann – as he tours the soup kitchens of down-under. There is Fashion too, courtesy of Ozlem's imagination. Then travel back in time and down deep into the thermometer and arrive in Iceland. To warm ourselves we enjoy hand-crafted food by Chef Hiro at Tirtha Dining before a very traditional ceremony takes hold of us in our weddings feature…Time to back ourselves into luxury villas of great privacy before we come out of our shell for our annual Yak Awards – and this year weren’t they fabulous!! And yes we did put all those images up on FB :) So somewhere in between the rush – and the hush – just remember: May The Yak be with you.

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Dear Yak, I just read your Astroyak horoscope column and am feeling the love. This year is indeed a time of earth-flipping change for me. Lost my mum, my long-time assistant and friend resigned and I got to rely on myself more than ever. 2012 is not an easy year and not the best birthday. Reading the words of your writer Dr Deepak, it feels like a soothing balm and a confirmation that behind all this personal pain, there is something good, a new beginning, another chapter, and not just an ending. So, thank you once again.

Dear Yak, Hello! Just wanted to let you know belatedly that I was reading The Yak and The Bud last week and they are both beautiful mags.

Haven’t seen anything like it in a while. I found the profiles on the different people interesting and hadn’t ever thought of Walter Spies and the intersection of Bali and WWII and the Japanese. I worked in Menteng in the early 1990s and more than once I found Dutch people wandering around looking for the streets on which they grew up in the '50s! Until our paths cross again!

Regards, Eve

Christina Maynes, CEO, Moody’s Investors Service Singapore

And to think we used to make up our own letters for this page.

Dear Yak, I would like to spend a few minutes to thank you all for the great job done at The Yak Awards 2012. It wasn’t an easy gig, there were a few last minute hurdles (including the rain), but you solved them brilliantly. The crowd was happy, the line up of talents was amazing and overall I think the party went smoothly. It was a great team effort and you guys made it seem so easy. Hope to see you again soon!

Dear Yak, Just wanted to say thanks for the exposure in the mag. It may be coincidental but since it came out we have been standing room only almost every night, a 30 to 45-minute wait, sometimes with a queue down the sidewalk! I have a duck with your name on it waiting . . . Happy Tacos!

Bob, Tacos Beach Grill, Seminyalk The pleasure is all ours Bob. Good work sir!

Regards, Nicola Scaramuzzino General Manager Mozaic Beach Club The hangover was worth it then.

yakinthelapof... Bill Bailey

archives

wherearetheynow?

Like thousands before her, she came to bali . . . and fell off her motorbike.

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robert wolf asks: Whatever happened to . . .

Pamella Bordes?

While I like to think that I’m maturing in much the same manner as a fine wine, I must admit that I’ve now passed through the first flush of youth and I’m accelerating rapidly towards what I hope will be the dignity and gravitas of middle age. That being the case, the name Pamella Bordes inevitably conjures up vague memories of exoticism, intrigue, and sensuality for me.

Born Pamela Chaudry Singh in New Delhi, in 1961, she was awarded the title of Miss India in 1982, an accolade she still seemingly considers the most memorable moment of her life. A short marriage to convicted arms dealer Henri Bordes provided her with a new surname, and somewhere along the way the additional ‘l’ snuck into her forename.

Her real notoriety, however, stems from the enormous sex scandal in which she was embroiled in the UK in the late '80s. As a ‘social companion’ to Andrew Neil, then editor of The Sunday Times, she was admitted to the higher echelons of society and photographed around town with numerous members of the political classes.

MPs David Shaw and Henry Bellingham wrangled a House of Commons security pass for her on the rather dubious pretext that she was working as a researcher. She was also mentioned in the same breath as junior minister Colin Moynihan and then-editor of The Observer Donald Trelford. Undoubtedly, she was a well-connected woman.

Possibly a little too well-connected. Besides her media mates and political pals, the Evening Standard linked her with a Libyan security official named Ahmed Gadaffi Al Daim and arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi (what is it with this woman and arms dealers?).

Understandably, this kind of conflict of interests created an absolute firestorm of media coverage, eventually resulting in her extradition back to India and, more sadly, estrangement from her mother. The News of the World claimed that she was a prostitute charging £500 a night, though the figure of £10,000 a night has also been bandied around. The Daily Mail coughed up £250,000 for her version of events, only to apparently discover that most of her accounts of her exploits were too lurid for publication. Ms. Bordes herself reportedly believed that her story, told in full, could have brought down the government of the day.

Following her adventures in Europe, she seems to have decided that actually there is such a thing as bad publicity. She sought solace in a career as a photojournalist, and even spent some time right here in Bali, where she suffered minor injuries when she crashed a motorbike while being chased by a paparazzo. For a while, her work attracted very positive attention. In 1997, she was featured in an exhibition entitled India: a Celebration of Independence. Initially based at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the exhibition travelled worldwide. Similarly, in 2003 she received superb reviews in the New York Times both for a solo show and for her portfolio of images from Angkor Wat. After that, though, she rather dropped off the radar, doubtless aided by switching her surname back to Singh and dropping that pesky additional ‘l’ from her forename.

The period between 2003 and 2010 was something of a Bordes black hole, until the Daily Mail tracked her down living in Goa a couple of years ago. Reportedly she prefers a quiet life these days, pottering around the hippy havens of Goa, participating in yoga and Pilates classes, and hanging out with friends. She refuses to speak to the press, suggesting that she really would rather shuffle quietly out of the spotlight. Elsewhere, she has acknowledged that she still nurses a few regrets from the high-octane days of the late '80s: "Sometimes I made really bad decisions, trusted people who let me down … I'm not going to turn round and say, 'Oh, every experience enriched me' or any such cliché. I honestly wish I hadn't met certain people."

Yeah, we all feel that way sometimes, Pam. In some ways, it’s a sorry tale, from the pinnacle of infamy to a somewhat reclusive existence back in her native land.

The Telegraph of India suggests that, "in many ways, Pamela was probably more sinned against than sinning".

Still, she seems to doing OK, living off her earnings as a photojournalist and getting heavily into climbing.

Yep, climbing. When you’ve lived the high life and been splashed across the front page of pretty much every newspaper on the planet, maybe the best way to soothe an addled soul is to grab a few crampons and scramble up some rocks.

calendar

datesWITHDESTINY Perang Topat This year Lombok’s riotous celebration of peace and harmony between Muslims and Hindus takes place on December 12th.

Also known as "the Rice Cake Wars", Perang Topat is a wild day of fun and revelry for islanders in western Lombok, with what can only be described as a giant food fight that serves as a sign of good faith between the two religions.

The day begins with Hindus praying at the 18th century Pura Lingsar Temple, while Muslims pray at the mosque on site. Both parties give offerings in the form of fruits, cakes, and sticky rice bundles to say thanks for the abundance of crops they received that year.

After praying, the fun begins, with participants pelting each other with the soft sticky rice cakes in a lively show of solidarity and harmony.

IF YOU’RE IN AUSTRALIA...

January 5 to 27 — Sydney Festival: This is one of the country’s biggest cultural celebrations, with over 80 events, including art installations, live concerts, poetry readings, theatre performances, fun runs, food stalls, and fireworks, to name a few.

The festival kicks off at Darling Harbour, where a giant rubber duck will bob on the waves, followed by a massive outdoor dance party at the Domain.

January 24 to 28 — Festival of Sails (Victoria): Sailors and boating enthusiasts alike flock to the shores of Geelong Waterfront to take in Victoria’s oldest sporting event, the Festival of Sails. With over 450 yachts, more than 4,500 competitors, and 15 different race series, this is a keel boat regatta not to be missed. The festival also features live music, stage performances, gourmet food and wine, a children’s area, and finishes with a bang with a spectacular fireworks display.

IF YOU’RE IN SINGAPORE...

January 16 to 27 — M1 Singapore Fringe Festival: Celebrate modern art at the Singapore Fringe Festival, where artists from around the world converge on

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Chinese New Year Chinese New Year falls on February 10th 2013, and with it comes the year of the water snake. In many Eastern cultures, the snake is considered a symbol of good luck. Astrologers believe that this coming year will be one of peace and prosperity, although it could also bring unexpected changes. According to the experts, the next 12 months will be a time for reflection, focus, and planning for the future.

For those who have the patience to pay attention to details and think before acting, this year could bring about positive business opportunities and romantic partnerships.

For the impulsive among us, Chinese New Year is a great time to party. The best places to see spirited parades, colourful performances, and gorge yourself on incredible food and drink are Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Beijing and Sydney.

the city each year to show off their talent. For ten days, venues around Singapore will host cutting edge theatre, dance, and music performances, as well as mixed media exhibitions, each of which will engage the senses and encourage discussion.

February 22 to 23 — Chingay Parade 2013: Chingay means "the art of masquerade" in the Hokkien dialect, and the annual parade is Singapore’s own multicultural version of Mardi Gras. This year’s theme is "Fire in Snow", which symbolises mankind’s strength and determination when faced with the challenges inherent in life. Spectators can expect dazzling costumes, breathtaking theatrics by tai chi sword performers and opera singers, and fabulous pyrotechnic shows.

IF YOU’RE IN THE UK...

December 7 to 9 — London Chocolate Festival: Indulge in some of the world’s best chocolate at the 9th annual London Chocolate Festival in the Southbank Centre Square. Sample sweet treats by world renowned chocolatiers and artisans, learn the finer points of all things chocolate at a tutored tasting session, or indulge in raw chocolate dishes and divine

cocktails at this celebration of all things chocolate.

December 31 — The Stonehaven Fireball Ceremony (Scotland): What better way to celebrate New Year’s Eve than by watching a group of burly Scotsmen in kilts swing flaming balls on ropes over their heads?

The Stonehaven Fireball Ceremony is an annual event that dates back to ancient times, and it is unique to Stonehaven. Watch the night skies light up as more than 40 men parade down the town streets, waving fireballs high in the air. The procession ends at the harbour, where the balls are ceremoniously tossed into the sea.

IF YOU’RE IN THE US...of A January 19 to February 12 — Mardi Gras (New Orleans): It’s that time of year again when the streets of New Orleans are packed to capacity with raucous revellers dressed in glittery costumes, thumping beats pour out of every restaurant and bar, and people come from around the world to feast on spicy Creole dishes and king cakes. This year the festivities will be put on hold between January 28th and February 5th for the Superbowl, but things get back on track again on February 6th, with the final blowout celebration taking place on Fat Tuesday, February 12th.

Lagoon 620 - Arcachon juin 2009 - Mention obligatoire / Mandatory credit: Photo Nicolas Claris

15 minutes

unmoved like jagger Tony Stanton encounters rock royalty in Ubud.

'Pak' mick - still a friend to many in some quarters of bali.

It’s not everyday one encounters the ultra famous, and certainly not in a relative backwater – on this occasion Ubud, laid-back frontier of love and self-exclusion par excellence in the early ’90s.

I’d retreated there, like many others before me, after bailing from a corporate job in Singapore. It was a time to escape and to reflect, twin pursuits I undertook at The Beggar’s Bush bar, a once renowned centre of escapism run by the inimitable Englishman, Victor Mason – himself something of an escape artist having worked for the biggest hongs in Hong Kong in the ’70s flogging booze and lingerie. After a time he’d decamped to the hills of Bali and opened a particularly British style pub amongst the greenery. Darts and ring the bull, with draft Bintang on

tap and a terrifyingly lethal cocktail of nutmeg-blended arak. It was my local watering hole in paradise, and a very enjoyable place too – filled with drifters and fellow escapists, an ivory tower removed. A place where I was confident – having been the editor of a high society magazine in my previous life – that I would never meet anyone famous ever again. How wrong I was.

I can’t remember the name of the girl I was dining with at the time, but she was engaging, in a Scandinavian way.

At some point she leaned over my cap cay and whispered the immortal words: "Don’t look now, but I think Mick Jagger is sitting behind you". Of course I looked. And sure enough there he was – the familiar craggy face of a performing artist I’d seen at least twice on stage and a thousand times in magazines. Mick Jagger.

He too was sitting with a pretty young girl, but it occurred to me relatively quickly that she was too young to be anything but his offspring. Jade? It didn’t matter. My first impression was: here’s a father in Ubud having lunch with his daughter. Respect. I left them alone, as anyone human would, and returned to my friend and my fried vegetables.

Shortly thereafter the landscape changed. I’d heard tales of Victor’s relationship with The Stones – he’d

tea WITH the president

R.W. dines with the first family of Slovenia.

How do you meet the daughter of a president? Why, on Facebook, of course; where else? It happened to me quite by accident, and before long I found myself hosting the first daughter of Slovenia on a visit to the U.K. She was shortly to begin a course of study at a U.K. university, so the distance between Brighton and Ljubljana proved a comparatively minor handicap. Our connection soon blossomed: she the daughter of a high-ranking European politician, I a struggling writer (more struggling than writer, if I’m perfectly honest). Was ever a more perfect match conceived by the angels of Heaven? Don’t answer that.

That December (2009, if memory serves) the inevitable meet-the-parents moment beckoned. Brimful of hope and adventure, we booked a trip back to her native land to spend a few pre-Christmas days in some of the coldest temperatures I’ve ever experienced. President Türk was certainly a busy man (apparently running a country is a fairly exacting task), but he and his wife graciously found a few hours to entertain their daughter and I at their weekend retreat outside Ljubljana.

Inexplicably, I chose to wear my favourite long-sleeved t-shirt with holes in one of the sleeves. I think I was using it as some kind of comfort blanket

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sometimes talked about how they’d visited The Bush back in the day; how Keef had been a ‘nice young chap’ who’d been interested in his vintage vinyl collection; how Mick was a friend who’d befriended some Balinese chums and seen them right in England, taking them backstage and looking after them in so many ways. I left it at that – who cared?

Then I heard Mick say behind me to a waiter: "Is Vic around? "To which the young Balinese waiter replied. "Sure, Pak Mick, saya check dulu." And off he scampered to look for Victor, who as usual was down in his den typing away on his ancient Contessa Adler typewriter.

Presently the waiter came back: "Sorry Pak Mick," he said, "but Pak Victor is busy right now. He says maybe he see you later." It didn’t seem like a snub to me at the time, just a reminder that, ultimately, we’re all the same. And that Victor was old enough to be Mick’s father.

In these days of celebrity worship, when it’s all about the money and talentless reality shows, it sometimes helps to realise we’re all on the same planet, that we’re all equal, and that we all deserve to be treated with some healthy disrespect from time to time. I guess Mick got that.

to ease the anxiety of meeting such illustrious personages. In fact, it had the opposite effect; I was horribly conscious of it. My worst fears were later confirmed when Helena told me that her mother had commented on my attire.

The afternoon itself was very pleasant, if a trifle weighty. I think it’s the only time I’ve ever been waited on at a private house, a curiosity that lent the proceedings an air of solemnity. The air was thick with dignity and gravitas, and naturally I was at my most statesmanlike as I rose to the grandeur of the situation. President Türk and I discussed politics, and I contemplated the excruciating conundrum of whether to refuse dessert (and thus appear rude) or eat it (and probably give myself flatulence). I think I made a halfhearted attempt at it, and prayed that my digestion wouldn’t be too adversely affected.

Following a stroll through the secluded woods surrounding the cottage, Helena and I took our leave and were delivered back into the hands of the black-clad security personnel. As our car cruised slowly back towards the centre of Ljubljana, I felt the pressure of being on my best behaviour begin to wane. Helena and I were together for another few months, but that was the only time I ever met her father.

I doubt he’d speak to me again since it was I who ended the relationship.

giving back

oneworld three innovative charity initiatives for a better bali.

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Sukacita Foundation: Special Needs Sukacita Foundation was founded in December 2010 as a centre of knowledge and information for teachers in Bali involved in special education for children with intellectual disabilities. Rather than providing education directly to students with special needs, Sukacita aims to foster a greater awareness about disabilities in Bali and practical guidance for Balinese teachers who teach in special schools. In collaboration with the Suryani Institute for Mental Health, Sukacita works to bridge the gap between Western knowledge of intellectual disabilities and Balinese culture and practice.

In Bali, children who are deaf, blind, or physically or intellectually challenged must attend a Sekolah Luar Biasa, otherwise known as a special school.

Each of the nine districts in Bali has just one special school, and families must find their own means of transportation to take their children to these schools.

This often involves long drives, which deters many parents from sending their special needs children to school. Knowledge of specific disabilities and the methods for helping and educating children with these difficulties is not often available in the schools, homes, or banjars in Bali. Sukacita offers engaging workshops and seminars on creative methods for caring for and educating children with disabilities to teachers, parents, and members of the community.

Project leaders Marieke Nijland and Mila van der Meer have been working in Bali since 2007, and both have considerable experience working with children with special needs, as well as coaching and training Balinese teachers in the field of special education.

Their mission is not to impose Western values on Balinese teachers, but rather to provide a greater understanding of these children’s particular needs, and to integrate Balinese beliefs, culture, and practice with creative approaches to special education. With this knowledge, educators, family members, and the community at large can work together to create positive learning environments for these children.

PROFAUNA: Wildlife Protection ProFauna is a non-profit organisation dedicated to protecting and saving wildlife and the environment in Indonesia. Indonesia is incredibly rich in biodiversity, but like many other South-East Asian countries, many species of animals and plants here suffer from exploitation of natural habitats and resources, inhumane treatment, and the illegal wildlife trade.

ProFauna aims to combat this with campaigns for awareness, education about endangered wildlife and the destruction of forests, wildlife surveys, and animal rescue and rehabilitation.

The Bali branch of ProFauna opened in March 2001, and was greatly urged on by the rampant illegal trade of sea turtles on the island. With help from other international organisations, ProFauna encouraged the police on Bali to seize large numbers of sea turtles that were destined for dinner tables, ceremonies and medicinal shops in Bali and beyond. In addition, they supplied the marine police with funds to repair patrol boats, an effort that has resulted in an 80 per cent drop in sea turtle trafficking in just ten years.

During the past decade, ProFauna in Bali has also worked closely with the Kuta Beach Security Guards to protect nesting sea turtles, relocate turtle eggs to hatcheries, and release the baby turtles into the sea.

In 2012, ProFauna passed the sea turtle conservation project over to the Kuta Beach Security Guards.

Part of the ProFauna vision includes involving local communities in their conservation efforts. The organisation believes that people who are educated and empowered can better manage their own resources to protect and save their environment and the the local wildlife that they share this earth with.

ProFauna strives to work together with local law enforcement in Bali to stop the illegal wildlife trade in all its forms. Moreover, they will continue to undertake wildlife surveys, monitor the illegal wildlife trade, and provide education to schools and universities on the island to raise awareness of the ethical treatment of animals and the importance of wildlife conservation.

www.sukacita.org

www.profauna.or.id

Kopernik: Simple Technology Saving Lives Poverty takes many forms, all of which limit an individual’s potential to live a healthy, productive life. Limiting factors include access to basic services that many of us take for granted, such as access to electricity, safe drinking water and stoves to safely enjoy a meal. These factors exponentially steal opportunities from more than one billion people in the developing world, trapping them in poverty.

Kopernik is a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation and Indonesian foundation that poses simple solutions to the complex problem of poverty through access to simple technologies.

Simple technologies like solar lights that charge during the day to use at night reduce or remove the need for harmful fuels like kerosene.

Access to fuel efficient cooking stoves that produce almost no smoke have faster cooking times and use less fuel, which saves time and precious trees.

And access to simple water filters that remove water-borne bacteria make water safe to drink.

Kopernik is a marketplace for these innovative, life-changing technologies designed for the developing world. To access the most in need, Kopernik connects technology providers, local distribution networks and funders. Since its founding in 2009, Kopernik has implemented nearly 50 projects in 11 countries, bringing the benefits of life-changing technologies to over 84,000 people — including 20,000 people in Indonesia alone. In fact, to deepen its engagement and outreach within Indonesia, Kopernik moved its operational headquarters to Bali in 2010.

To donate or learn more about how Kopernik delivers simple, life-changing technologies to those most in need, visit kopernik.info.

To buy these technologies for yourself visit Wartek, Warung Teknologi Kopernik, at Pondok Wisata Sayan Ayu, Jl. Raya Sayan, Ubud, Bali; Monday to Friday 9am-12pm and 2pm-5pm; +62 361 976 417. twitter.com/thekopernik facebook.com/thekopernik facebook.com/kopernicolandonesia

members of

Executive Chef Hamish Lindsay provides new culinary delights at our newly renovated resort

Come and experience it!

Jalan Raya Nusa Dua Selatan, P.O. Box 76, Nusa Dua 80363, Bali - Indonesia, Phone +62 361 775 111, Fax +62 361 775 222, Email us at bliss@thebale.com, www.thebale.com

Pure bliss !

Step into a blissful oasis.. Pure Bliss

Jalan Kunti 108 Seminyak 80361 Bali, Indonesia Tel. +62 361 738 866 Fax. 62 361 734 299 bliss@theamala.com www.theamala.com

Discover the other side of Bali

Jl. Raya Gilimanuk, Singaraja Km. 17 Desa Pajarakan, Buleleng 81155, Bali - Indonesia Tel. +62 362 94700 Fax. +62 362 94708, bliss@themenjangan.com www.themenjangan.com

Mad about Mango High-street Spanish fashion brand Mango Inc. hits the beach walk. With the face of Kate Moss behind their funky marketing – videos and fashion shoots - it is not surprising that this brand has more than 2000 stores in over 103 countries.

Opening in Bali's newest lifestyle shopping destination, Beach Walk Bali in Kuta, it has every thing a woman dreams of - clothing, bags, shoes and accessories. The new collection of "ceremony" brings long frocks - think chiffon and sheen - and boleros, animal print silks for the tops, skirts and trousers. www.beachwalkbali.com Yak map. D.12 Moving on up Reopening in another location in Petitenget, just close to Gourmet Café and Dahana’s, Bali’s fabulous clothing brand Nico Perez also launches a new collection.

Elegance, tropical and comfort are synonymous with the NP fashion brand so having started ‘niche’ with an ample range of men’s and ladies linen fashion their designs now come in light fresh cottons, silks, satins even a denim and linen mix. Nico Perez fashion for the tropics. www.nicoperez.co Yak map. Q.4

Bali boat shed Recently opened in Seminyak – sandwiched between Body Works and Sea Circus – Bali Boat Shed presents a quirky, one-stop store selling hand-picked designer brand products from Bali, as well its own collections. You’ll find men’s and women's resort and beach wear, evening attire, cosmetics, luxury handbags, sun glasses, jewellery and more. Bali Boat Shed’s own label features hand made leather and canvas bags and casual apparel. Bright, multi-coloured exteriors are based on the design typical of boat sheds and bathing boxes along coastlines originally settled by British colonies. Interiors however are all 'Bali', utilizing natural timbers and bamboo, cleverly replicating a boat shed.

Tel: 0361-736673 www.baliboatshed.com

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LET’S MAKE-UP A cosmetic brand delivering a progressive and fun shopping experience, Make Up For Ever Indonesia has launched its latest cosmetic boutique, in Bali’s Beachwalk! Make Up For Ever serves professional makeup artists and the cosmetic needs of women in Indonesia – whether for big nights, make over's, or daily routines. Broad colour ranges and products plus dazzling array of artistic products are on sale. Showcasing latest merchandising concepts, Make Up for Ever unveils their unique “Slow Space” spot – where patrons can hang out-try out without staff interruption – plus in-house Makeup School with certified makeup artists for learning new tricks.

Tel: 0361 8464924 www.makeupforever.com POLE POSITION It had to happen! Pole dancing classes have arrived in Seminyak, with aptly-named Fit Boutique & Pole Studio opening for sexy work-outs on Jalan Merthasari. From a diverse range of 'work that bod' options, Drop-in Classes include Goddess Boot camp (the ultimate Vixen workout), Pole Curiosity open-classes for beginners and intermediates and Surf-fit, improving muscles for surfing. Premium Classes and Privates, by appointment only, include Pole Workshops, working your way up, literally, through Levels 1 to 3 to advanced. There are also private classes and personal training, pre-natal classes, plus Body Flying® multiple fitness method. No pain, no gain!

Tel: 0361 877 4094 www.theartofbody.com

Furla - handheld luxury This historical fashion brand recently re-entered Jakarta and now comes to Bali for the first time.

Joining a myriad of top international brands, Furla opens in Beachwalk Bali in Kuta. Designing luxury bags, shoes and accessories since 1927, this master in all things Italian lifestyle opened its first shop in Bolgna in 1955. Now with about three hundred shops around the world it was about time it opened in Bali! www.furla.com Yak map. D.12

YOUR PLANS A AND B Finally, a Bali-based events company, Plan A, specialising in those all-important hens' and bucks' nights, baby showers and birthday, anniversary and themed parties. Australian co-owners of boutique events company, Plan A, have over 15 years combined industry experience and shared passion for bringing people, fun, and Bali’s magic together.

Locations are flexible, but Plan A focuses on creating individually tailored events and parties in private villas (yours or rented), plus any post-villa action. They’ll also be opening an exclusive costume hire shop, not only supplying an extensive fancy dress selection, plus wigs, masks, etc, but also available to buy. So now you really don’t need a plan B! Tel: 0361 282186 www.planabali.com

Gem of a place Paris, Hong Kong – and now Bali! Exclusive Feltz & De International Luxury Jewelry opens a bijou boutique showroom, in Petitenget. This high-class, timelessly chic French jewellers, founded by the previous fortune manager of French powercouple Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Anne Sinclair, has a designer-creator who numbers designer John Galliano as a friend and lends out his treasured gems to international celebs for global events. Now designing with the Island of the Gods in mind, among the inspired collections, note the fabulous ‘candy sapphire’ bracelets, crafted in 18k gold and Sterling silver.

Tel: 0361 4735 917 www.feltzandde.com

JEWEL LOVE THIS This year, Tulola Jewelry opened its first flagship boutique, in Petitinget, showcasing divine creations from designerfounder, Sri Luce Rusna, and inspired by Indonesian culture and craftsmanship.

A tribute to artisan luxury, Tulola offers patrons a sleek, intimate environment for viewing one-of-a-kind and limited edition pieces in Sterling silver and 18 carat gold.

Highlights are 25 meticulously crafted “Juwita Malam” jewelled pieces – which took master artisans six months to create – signature collections, and curated vintage Indonesian jewellery. International celebs already loving Tulola include Hollywood hotshots Katy Perry and Kelly Rowland.

Tel:0361730261 www.shoptulola.com

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It’s a stitch-up Siloam Hospitals Group is Indonesia’s most progressive health provider offering world-class healthcare and serving one million-plus patients annually. Part of national expansion plans, they’ve opened their latest modern facility in Bali – on Sunset Road. Siloam Hospitals Bali brings world-class holistic health-care, equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, including CT Scans, mammography, dental X-Ray and fluoroscopy and boast top-standard neurosurgery, cardiology, trauma response and medical evacuation. In-patient services cover maternity & delivery units, pediatric ward, ICU, NICU and four operating theatres, and there’s a 24-hour emergency department. Plans for 2013 include orthopedic surgery and international accreditation with Australian Council for Healthcare Standards.

Tel: 0361 779900 www.siloamhospitals.com

GoddesS of babylon Opened for business on Seminyak’s Jalan Kayu Aya, Babylon is a one-off concept store created by Australian partners and Bali lovers, designer Chantel Barber and creative brand director, Blair Beattie. Both design collections for their ‘Goddess of Babylon’ label, also showcased in their Byron Bay lifestyle boutique. Inspired by the rich culture of travel, the brand epitomises bohemian luxe with an alluringly styled chic. Checkout hand-made jewellery from New York, home furnishings with signature prints and seasonal collections from Goddess of Babylon, featuring designs in hand-crafted and embellished cotton, silk, leather and suede.

Tel: 0361 207 3307

www.goddessofbabylon.com.au

FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT The Mulia, Mulia Resort & Villas, Nusa Dua, Bali has only been open five minutes but the grand act for their exclusive New Year’s Eve Party, is Adam Lambert. ‘Robbed’ into second place on TV’s American Idol (2009), Lambert has had the last laugh, achieving international success with hit singles like For Your Entertainment, sold-out tours and a Grammy nomination. Closing 2012 at the Mulia’s swanky all-new Grand Ballroom, December 31, this will be Lambert’s first performance in Indonesia. With his flamboyance, theatrical skills and outrageous powerhouse vocals, along with ZJ's Bar beats and inspirational global cuisine, tickets will be hotter than a Korean BBQ, so contact reservations pronto!

Tel: 0361 301 7777 www.themulia.com

An elevated experience To celebrate its January 31 launch, Le Méridien Bali Jimbaran unveils ‘Discovery Offer,” a special introductory package which extends privileged room rates (from US$ 219++) and includes airport transfer, daily breakfast and resort credit (US$25) and double points for Starwood Preferred Guest Members. Promising a ‘new elevated experience,’ Le Méridien on beachfront Jimbaran Bay unveils 75 guestrooms, 35 suites and four penthouses and villas apiece, combining latest in-room technology with Le Méridien brand amenities, plus heavenly Celebration Pavilion located sky level – 1,300sqm saltwater Lagoon pool, three levels of dining and entertainment and signature Le Méridien ‘Arrival’ and ‘Hub’ experiences.

Tel: 0361 8466888 http://lemeridien.com/balijimbaran

BRIDGING OUT Open only a year, but 197-room THE 1O1 Legian, deep in Legian-Kuta territory, isn’t resting on its laurels, offering a ‘Deluxe Experience’ with its 1O1 Extension. Currently underway, this extension sees an additional 103 Deluxe Rooms, olympic-size pool, pool bar, restaurant and bar plus fourth-floor Rooftop II, with extended music lounge, and restaurant bar. This deluxe category hotel extension of rooms and facilities, primed for launching early 2013, is part of a separate 2,000sqm wing beside the existing premium three-star hotel, connected by pathway access – forming one of the area’s biggest hotels. “Early Bird Special Sales” promotion for stays during the opening of the 1O1 Extension offers up to 50 per cent discounts.

Tel: 0361 3001 101 www.the101bali.com

villa kubu Chic haven in the ‘hood, Villa Lataliana, provides a new dimension to family holidays. Two separate, ultra-contemporary villas within one gigantic walled garden complex means grandparents too close for comfort and in-laws becoming outlaws are distant memories.

Villa Lataliana easily accommodates the dream family vacation. Situated in Seminyak’s quieter parts, Lataliana is crawling distance to the beach and alluring distractions, yet provides a villa retreat of unrivalled luxury and style with full staff team (with Chef ). Book the two villas together, eight bedrooms combined, plus sumptuous facilities including vast freeform and living/dining spaces and hi-tech media room, everyone has enough room (s) to chill, but enough space to gather en famille when it suits.

Tel: 0361 738 905 / 731129 www.villakubu.com

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LITTLE HOUSE ON THE RICE FIELDS A new addition to the sublime Alila Manggis experience is Villa Idanna Pucci – a gorgeous stand alone, fully-serviced villa in magnificent East Bali. Originally built and owned by the celebrated Pucci family, now managed by Alila Manggis, Villa IP overlooks remote Sidemen Valley, with stunning rice terraces and jungly hills extending up to sacred Mount Agung. Sensitive to local beliefs and embedded in supremely natural environment, this private two-bedroom ‘House on the Hill’ utilises indigenous materials throughout. Overseen by Alila Manggis (45 minutes away), Villa IP, however, offers standards expected from the prestigious Alila brand, supplying housemaid, cook, housekeeper and in-residence host, plus services on- hand. Hire a room or the whole villa and make the most of available packages.

Tel: 0363 41011 www.alilahotels.com

So Spa, So good Lovely Theta Spa – independently operated within Ramada Bintang Bali Resort, next to Tuban Beach – offers a great menu focusing on traditional Indonesian rituals, remedies and (strong) massage methodology. Nature is a constant ingredient: in approach, setting, and ingredients – fresh organic herbs, seasonal produce and purest essential oils. So be sure to check out Theta’s new additions to their excellent spa menu: Volcanic Hot Stone Therapy (US$ 90++), Whitening Facial Ritual (US$ 40++), Natural Coconut Bliss (US$ 103++) and Manicure / Pedicure (US$ 30++).

Tel: 0361 755 726 www.thetaspa.com

Café life Here’s another notable new establishment to hang out at the all-happening Beachwalk shopping and lifestyle mall, Café Sardinia. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, sunny Café Sardinia supplies a delicious array of fresh, simple cuisine, complete with fully stocked bar and extensive wine list and cocktails. Focusing on oh-so-casual beachside dining, loiter with intent on their chilled, open beachfront terrace along Kuta’s promenade. Drop-in after overdosing on retail therapy, or take away yummy goodies back to your pad.

Tel: 0361 8464966 www.cafesardinia.com

Club Escapes Like buying a part of a racehorse, Anantara Vacation Club’s unique shared ownership offers a viable and affordable option when wishing to own a villa. The added benefit is not only that they take care of it but you also get to choose from any of their destination resorts (Phuket, Koh Samui, Bali with expansions into New Zealand, Australia and Dubai over the next few years). Anantara Vacation Club Seminyak – the most recent jewel in the Anantara crown hosts 18 one,two and three-bedroom villas an on-site Deli and Wine shop and, once renovations are complete later this year, an Activities and Fitness Centre. The cherry on the icing has to be the option of staying at any one of Anantara Hotels Resorts & Spas - 17 hotels and resorts are located in five countries – under their Club Escapes flexible use arrangement.

Tel: 737908 www.anantaravacationclub.com

By Design Also taking-up residence at Kuta’s Beachwalk, SATU – Bali’s Finest Designers, an emporium-style boutique, showcases some of Indonesia’s, but especially Bali’s, finest and creative designers. Exclusive designs including couture fashions, evening wear, ethnic collections, resort wear, shoes and home-lighting displayed art-gallery-style.

Approximately 30 designers range from internationally-acknowledged to upcoming local; prominent designers include Ni Luh Djelantik, for fine leather accessories; Milo’s, pioneers of batik couture; and Ali Charisma, one of Indo’s most celebrated fashion designers. Couture and contemporary fashion designers, internationally-recognised ready-to-wear brands and jewellery designers also feature, so too Uluwatu Treasures, Indonesia’s first and only Uluwatu showroom offering custom-made services.

Tel: 0361 8465001

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THE GREAT ESCAPE Want to flee to paradise, not too far yet far away enough? Sorted. A 30-minute boat ride transports you to Nusa Lembongan, where its premier resort, Batu Karang Lembongan Resort & Day Spa, offers a restorative, first-class island sanctuary. Here, traditional yet sophisticated experiences merge with comfort and ambience and spacious villas with stylish interiors create a luxurious sense of privacy. Rejuvenate in one of three pools, sunset cocktails or gourmet dining on the waterfront boardwalk, or on dazzling blonde sands.

With Batu Karang’s full-range facilities, yoga retreats, weddings and corporate events can also be organised here. Their Christmas Escape five -night package (from US$1,664) includes transfers, Christmas buffet lunch, spa treatment and snorkelling around this idyllic island.

Tel: 0366 5596376 www.batukaranglembongan.com

A WORK OF ART Recently unveiled beside Batubelig Beach, Mozaic Beach Club offers divine sunset lounge, poolside Tapas and cutting-edge fine dining – and now, another new addition – Private Dining Room, by Chris Salans and Lotus Arts de Vivre. This stunning space seats an intimate 20 for memorable evenings, surrounded by Lotus Arts de Vivre’s exquisite Asian art pieces infused with Thai and Balinese influences. Private Dining Room is the perfect combo of Salans' culinary genius and flair, Bangkok-based Lotus Arts de Vivre’s prolific art works and Mozaic-unique degustation menus served in private. Now open for reservations.

Tel: 0361 473 5796 www.mozaic-beachclub.com

RESIDENTIAL CARE Bali’s first fully integrated residential estate, AYANA Residences, within Jimbaran’s AYANA Resort and Spa, is on the short list for Best Condo Development (Indonesia) in South-East Asia Property Awards, 2012 – before it’s even completed! These annual awards celebrate the region’s finest in the luxury residential property sector.

Final results will have been announced November 21 at a televised Gala Dinner in Singapore – AYANA Residences receiving either ‘Highly Commended’ recognition or ‘Winner’ of Best Condo Development (Indonesia).” The stunningly designed residences, part of AYANA Resort’s 77-hectare property, contain a select number of ultra-luxury apartments, the largest living space of any of its kind in Bali. First development phase is set for release mid-2014.

Tel: 0361 702120 www.ayanaresidences.com

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It's all in the bubBle Making a personal appearance in August, Bruno Paillard arrived to the shores of Bali bearing grape news. The son of a grape broker, Bruno has the fortune to know his grapes and so only chooses the best when blending each of his offerings. Multi vintage champagnes such as the Brut Premiere cuvee, Rosé Première cuvée, Blanc de Blancs Réserve Privée Grand Cru are divine and it was none other than Joel Robuchon who collaborated with Paillard to create a number of mouthwatering recipes all using the Paillard bubble. For the recipes check out the website, to taste? Head down to Potatohead Beach Club or any other fine establishment worth its champagne! www.champagnebrunopaillard.com

PAVEMENT TO PENTHOUSE GIFTS FOR THE FESTIVE SEASON AND BEYOND.

Ring Tone Amethyst ring from jewellers Feltz & De. Dark amethyst 143 carats, 51gm pink gold and two carat diamonds. www.feltzde.com

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BOTTLE UP Colourful silicone bottle stoppers that fit easily into almost every wine bottle. From Studio Sumo. www.studiosumobali.com

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Snake Eyes Bulgari Serpenti Vintage www.bulgarihotels.com

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Clockwise From Top Left: Octo Ambassador chronometer from Bulgari www.bulgarihotels.com; Bathtime fun from Bathe, www.bathestore.com; Yachting Ring, Natural Pacific Ocean Pearl, with brown diamonds and pink gold from Feltz & De www.feltzde. com. Classic books from Drifter www.drifterbali.com

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Head Candy Zik bluetooth headphones designed by Philippe Starck with touch-sensitive controls, active noisecancellation, hands-free telephony and an app for iOS and Android smartphones that acts as a virtual control panel.

Available from sks Simple Konsep Store www.sksbali.com

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Havaiana Heaven The world’s best rubber flip-flop comes in white, black, navy blue, dark brown, amazonia and tangerine.

And pretty much any other colour you can think of. www. havaianas.com

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design

A French designer with a love of old

skool font work and new world blogscapes.

It often feels like the world is a very small place indeed, and that Bali is at the centre of it. Or maybe that's just our ego talking. But in this instance – an instance in which first we admired, then contacted, then met Fabien Barral – it felt as if there was a convergence of ideas made manifest, and of mutual respect.

We first came to know about Fabien through his blog, or more accurately, through one of our designers at the magazine who pointed us towards his blog. It seems Fabian is something of an underground entity among designers the world over – mainly because of his intricately detailed and multi-textured work; his love of letterpress and typography (possibly the highest church in the world of design) and his unflinching desire to showcase the work of others he admires.

The result is a blog with a niche, but focused, following of around 5,000 visitors a day which shines a light on the world's most passionate product

packaging, and artistic work in the world today.

Graphic-exchange.com is a big portal that hails from tiny corners of the world. When he started his life online six years ago, Fabien lived in rural France – in a cottage in a tiny hamlet few have ever heard of. From there he worked his magic in design, often for clients he never met. He blogged about his experiences, and, in turn, met other designers in similarly distant corners of the world.

He created small runs of beautiful objects that he sold online as Mr-Cup. He travelled to meet some of his clients and fellow designers, always with his camera, and in time he came to Bali, to work on a project close to his heart: the creation, in wood, of the alphabet in Helvetica font. And that's how we met him. He was the man with the wooden letters who we encountered online and who then turned up at our office . . . much to our delight.

>>>

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design

Fabien, have you moved permanently to Bali or is this just a flying visit?

I first came here in May for one month to take a look . . . it followed a month in Thailand. We – my wife and nineyear-old daughter – loved it. So we decided to come back for more – three months first and then we’ll see . . .

What do you find inspirational about the island?

Inspiration is everywhere Art is so "normal" in Balinese culture. Take most of the craftsmen you find here and put them in Europe and they will be called artists. The aim of my first travel in Thailand and Bali was to find craftsmen to work with . . . and it was so easy here.

What have you been doing while in Bali?

I mainly stay in Ubud. I am a working traveller, so am in front of my computer a lot. The good thing is that here it can be a different place everyday . . . I have tested enough places now in Ubud that I choose one depending on what kind of work I want to do, and on the speed of the Wi-Fi connection. When I first visited I spent a day a week to find craftsmen to develop products. I found a great woodworker in Ubud and developed a collection of wooden Helevetica letters with him.

Let's talk about your blog. It's become quite a thing . . . how did you start it and how has it grown?

I started it back in 2006, at a time when blogs were not what they are now. I am the kind of designer that needs to be fed with thousands of images to get inspired, so I used to put all the things that inspired me in my computer . . . but it was hard to order them. So I figured out I could do a website with them. The main difference with other blogs is that mine presents all the images I like for a subject. The first idea was to do real graphic exchange with designers I admire – I send you my printed work, you send me yours . . . The blog is now visited by 5,000 to 6,000 people a day.

Yours is a very modern internet story . . . it wouldn't have been possible 20 years ago. Were you classically trained as a designer? What's your backstory?

I went to design school and tried working for myself before getting hired by an agency – became an art director, got married, bought a house, had a child . . . the normal life. Then a U.S. agency told me they liked my work and wanted me to work on a project . . . then two, then three. But I was not happy working for big clients that do not understand what design means to me. My wife and I figured out we could do our own thing – to open a shop and produce on demand.

The best designers are the one's who find good clients. Discuss.

For some people the best client might be a big fast food company, but from my own experience, it was the worst. So the good client if for me the one that lets you express yourself, but in a way you would have not found by yourself. You will never tell the dentist which tool s/ he should use and how s/he should use it . . . do the same with a designer.

How has design changed over the years, and how have you changed with it?

Design is changing all the time. There is a strong trend to do old-type work – going back to what was done in the ‘20s to ‘50s, with no computer and with hand lettering.

Letterpress printing brings that to the design world ...

And as this is a trend. I need to follow it in some way as my clients are looking for this, consciously or unconsciously.

What's still the most important thing about design, and working with designers?

Clients need to trust them. Speaking for myself, I live design. I check designers and agencies websites all day. I know type and color. Everything I look for is analysed – from the packaging in a shop to the menu in a restaurant (by the way, there is a lot of work to do in Ubud for menus). So if you ask a graphic designer to work on your project, do not try to choose the font . . .

Ok this is possibly gratuitous: how did you first become aware of The Yak? What were your impressions?

When visiting Bali the first time, I saw The Yak in a bar and found it so great . . . a lot of white space; nice font works, beautiful images . . .

What are you working on at the moment?

Well, the big thing is my new website www.mr-cup. com. After working under my own name for years, I want something different to have a shop/portfolio/ blog website, all in one. I will sell the wood Helevetica letters I have made here, and a lot of other things. I am also working on a new project made in wood, but need to sell all the other items first. I just want to have fun designing and creating products.

And when will we see you again?

I need to see a lot of things in Bali, but it is so easy to travel – other countries are so close. I don't know where we will be in the next few months, and I love that. www.graphic-exchange.com

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font trinity.

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spent time with them in traffic.

FTP uploaded their energy at a

sold out gig in Bali. Tom Hawkins

happenings

Photo: Anthony Dodds.

American Indie band Foster The People formed in 2009, really not that long ago in the grand scheme of things, yet the speed that the ensemble has risen into the limelight can only be described as somewhat rapid. Front man, Mark Foster, spent his early years in the musical industry struggling to get by, waiting tables and writing commercial jingles to pay the bills . . . but all the while writing songs of his own.

A blossoming friendship with drummer Mark Pontius finally saw the beginnings of a band-like structure and with the addition of Cubbie Fink on the bass, the trio known as Foster the People was formed. Not long after the group came together, they recorded the hit that helped spring board them into fame, Pumped up Kicks.

Since its release, the catchy tune sent the band on a roller coaster ride, fast tracking them into billboard charts and world tours. Not wanting to be a one-hit-wonder, the trio quickly wrote and recorded a collection of additional tracks, which formed their debut album Torches.

Packed with songs that showcased the group’s remarkable ability to flawlessly flow to and from different genres and song styles, Torches solidified Foster The People as definite up-and-comers in the industry and a force to be reckoned with.

Fast forward a few years, thousands of tour miles and countless sold-out shows…

FTP finally arrives on the shores of our little island paradise. With a few days to go until their gig at Potato Head Beach Club, the group relaxed at a quiet villa in Canggu. This is where I had the chance to spend some time with the guys and subsequently got to know them as a bunch of fun-loving and laid-back human beings.

On stage they go all out, putting on energetic performances that send crowds wild, yet in their own time they are pretty much the antithesis. Mark Foster spent a 68

couple of days on the north of the island scuba diving, while a friend and I took Cubbie and Mark on a tour of the island's waves, allowing them to get their surf fix before the concert.

Spending time stuck in traffic with the guys got conversations flowing, and definitely gave me a better insight into what the group is about when it comes to their music. Underneath the hypnotic synthesized beats of the band's songs, there are stories being told. Cleverly disguised notions and undertones narrate their way through the tunes that get you on your feet and dancing. For example, Pumped Up Kicks, although shrouded in an upbeat tempo and catchy bass line, depicts a Columbine-esque school shooting, and was written to draw attention to gun violence amongst the youth.

After a few days of relaxation it was time to work, and the guys definitely didn’t disappoint. A crowd of 2,500-plus eager fans packed the lawn and pool of Potatohead’s impressive grounds, waiting for the trio to take the stage. The subsequent performance was one that will definitely stay with me. For well over an hour the guys, along with two back-up musicians, gave it everything they had. Frontman Mark rarely stood in the same position for more than 30 seconds – regularly switching instruments and covering every inch of the stage with his presence. Everything led up to the finale, a seven-minute remixed version of Pumped Up Kicks, which sent the crowd into a chanting frenzy, culminating in a surge of bodies jumping in the pool, sending water every which way – an impressive sight, scary adn beautiful. Things wrapped up, everybody went home, and before you knew it, the boys were on a plane and off to Manila to play yet another sold out gig. Fostering more people.

passions unmugged.

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Ethan Mann was born into a Kuwaiti military family but grew up in Sydney, Australia. He chose a career in the fashion industry after leaving school, and spent a number of years in Asia as a corporate fashionista. He’s had a few epiphanies along the way. He sat down in Bali – where he intends to base himself and his family – with Drew Corridore and told of his most recent project . . .

In so-called "first world" countries like Australia there is a cultural blind spot when it comes to issues of dispossession and indigence.

There is a conscious ignorance, for the most part, that in the middle of a city like Sydney when the thrum of city life winds down there are large numbers of people who have no home to go back to.

They call it "sleeping rough". And rough it is.

So why would someone – who has a middle class family, successful professional career, a comfortable home – decide to drop the trappings of daily life to spend two weeks as a vagabond? As a "street person".

Ethan Mann is a Sydney-sider who has worked extensively in the fashion industry as a designer, photographer, model, and corporate honcho, but after overhearing a conversation in a coffee shop he calls his office, Ethan’s world view got a bit shaken up.

"I decided that I’d shot enough fashion . . . I don’t know if it’s an age thing but there was a switch (in my thinking) and I asked myself, 'is this as good as it’s going to get'," Ethan says.

"I began to question myself about how I was contributing to humankind.

"That went on for a few months and started around the time I turned 40."

Ethan, 42, says he began to think that he had to do something "big", something that marked a legacy for his children.

"I wanted to leave them with a trail, a history, when they ask the question, 'what did dad do'," Ethan says.

One day when in residence at the "office" Ethan overheard a conversation conducted by a local priest named Father

Sinn (really) about the plight of the homeless in the suburb of Darlinghurst.

"I knew nothing about this priest, knew nothing about the soup kitchens (he was talking about) . . . I knew nothing about the dark side of my city," Ethan says.

"I listened in on the whole conversation . . . it was moving, what he said, about how people forget what they are living on top of, especially in our city.

"We are blessed as a nation . . . we’re not struggling as much as people in other places . . . but there is a dark side."

When Father Sinn had left the coffee shop Ethan asked his mates – Latteria owners, Tom and Vito – about him. They brought him up to date with the works of Father Sinn’s parish.

He discovered his friends were heavily involved in supporting the charitable works of the church. He had no idea until that point that Vito regularly donated food and drinks to those who had none.

"That’s the city WE live in," says Vito to Ethan.

"That triggered something and I wondered if I could use my heart to give back to this man (Father Sinn), to help him achieve his goals," Ethan says.

An idea began to form, a unique and complex idea . . .

The X Book project was born.

In 2009 Ethan actually sat down with Father Sinn and sketched out his idea: to get a bunch of very famous people to pose for the camera, mug-shot-style, and to tell their life stories – times of hardship; times of enlightenment and epiphany; times of uplift.

We can’t tell you who those people are here – although we know – because the X Book is not due to be launched until mid2013. But trust us, there are some seriously cool people in there.

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With some very interesting stories to tell.

It has taken a long time for Ethan to put the X Book together because the people in it are often hard to get to . . . and to convince that the project is worthwhile, and will (by way of Ethan’s promise to Father Sinn to share the proceeds amongst projects that aid the homeless) perhaps act as a catalyst to raise awareness and financial alms for the downtrodden.

"I had to deal with a lot of gatekeepers – something I’m not very good at," Ethan Says.

"But I just asked people to let me in . . . to give me the time necessary to explain the nature of the project.

"And eventually they did."

Then, early in 2012, Ethan took a step further in understanding what homeless people in central Sydney actually have to contend with . . . by becoming homeless himself.

His wife, Marissa, thought he had a few ‘roos loose in the top paddock, that he was a couple of cans short of a six-pack.

"I was prepared to lose Marissa over it," Ethan says.

"It was an emotional time because here, again, I am at the crossroads, and this is the partner that I love."

Ethan overcame Marissa’s reticence with the assistance of Marissa’s mother in a family meeting.

His resolve firmed after a conversation with a homeless person in Darlinghurst, when he thought he could get away with simply capturing images of homeless people with his camera.

"He would not give me anything, he would not even look me in the eye," Ethan says.

"What would you know about homeless (he said to me)?

"He looked me up and down. He judged me like we judge them.

"He said, ‘why don’t you go homeless . . . see if you can last out here for a night mate . . . you go out and be homeless, then come and talk to me’."

Ever up for a challenge, Ethan decided to do exactly that – which led to the family discussion alluded to earlier.

"I’ll see you on the streets," Ethan said.

Marissa came around, helped to plan Ethan’s excursion, and laid out some rules about staying in touch with the family.

So Ethan hit the streets of Sydney’s notorious Kings Cross – infamous for the sex trade, the drug trade, and organised crime as depicted in the visceral Australian mini-series Underbelly. It’s an often violent place . . . a place where street smarts, or lack of them, can keep you alive . . . or get you killed.

Ethan was one of the first people on the scene of a police shooting of two young indigenous men.

"It was manic, manic and unbelievable," Ethan says.

A dark day for the New South Wales police force, and the last day for the Aboriginal youths.

Over the two-week period Ethan found out what it was like to walk the high wire without a safety net . . . except those provided by the tireless work of Father Sinn and others like him.

Ethan begged for food. He attended the soup kitchens. He got up close and personal with the community who, for whatever reason, sleep rough.

Ethan made it home to Marissa and his children intact, but irrevocably changed.

"It presented me with a conundrum because I want the X Book to be uplifting, inspirational, and after my experience on the streets it would have been easy to focus on the dark side," he says.

Uplifting and inspirational the X Book remains.

And if it meets with the success that Ethan believes it deserves he will take the concept to other places in the world, including the United States, Indonesia and other parts of Asia.

Watch this space . . .

interview

tai, shot by spencer hansen.

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Tai Graham first set foot on a surfboard aged three and has been visiting Bali since he was seven. Now he’s managing one of the coolest bars on the island, at one of the most iconic surf spots on the planet.

Robert Wolf hangs with him and talks passion, purpose, and philanthropy.

Tai Graham has the well-baked look of a man who spends serious amounts of time outdoors, doubtless aided by his Polynesian blood (his father comes from New Zealand). His ready smile and ultra-laidback attitude suggest to me that he’s probably spent so much time riding waves that most of daily life seems like a breeze in comparison with the adrenaline rush of catching a big tube.

Despite having spent years holidaying in Bali, Tai tells me that he never anticipated living here. He never even really thought surfing would become such a touchstone for him. As a kid, his game was rugby league. It wasn’t until his teens that he swapped the egg-shaped ball for the board, and never looked back. He’s good (he recently won the open-to-all-comers Put Up or Shut Up challenge at G-Land in Java), but not good enough to make a living through surf alone. For a while, he did water patrol and lifeguarding at big contests, but when a friend and mentor asked him, "are you happy?" he was forced to admit that it was all becoming a bit stale.

So began the Bali years. For a while Tai traded on his years of experience as both a holidaymaker and a surfer in Bali, providing accommodation and offering himself as a guide to the best breaks and eats on the island. Tai’s hotel and Sherpa services took off quickly, and soon he was playing host to multitudes of pros and photographers. That era served a valuable purpose, he tells me, grounding him in Bali and becoming a stepping stone to greater things. He gave it up though, he remarks with a grin, when "it turned into a babysitting service".

He put in a shift with the ISC (Indonesian Surfing Championships), both as a commentator and a wise old(er) hand guiding the young Indonesian guns.

Then the opportunity to team up with his good friend Tipi Jabrik and turn an old batik factory into a bar beckoned, and Black Dog was born. Open only on Fridays, Black Dog was the perfect way of expressing Tai’s gregarious nature and love of music without taking away too much of his surf time. He describes it as “a surfer’s bar, but it was full of everyone – artists, musicians … it felt like a house party, but every week".

Tai says of Bali that "it’s a lot harder to just get a job here, you kind of have to create something of your own". As he relates his own story to me, it becomes apparent just how true that is of his experience. His life has gone through a steady evolution in the six years since he moved here, and yet, with hindsight, each project looks like a natural step from the previous one. What do you think he did when Black Dog had run its course and he was ready to move on? Why, he combined his passion for surfing with his growing experience running venues, of course. Initially reticent about the idea of a bar in Uluwatu, his objections were overcome when local surfing legend Madé Kasim took him to the spot that’s now home to Single Fin and asked him: "What do you want to do with it?"

Tai knew what he didn’t want to do. He didn’t want to create a fine dining concept restaurant that was out of step with the vibe of Uluwatu and the local community. Single Fin, he says, is a place where "anyone can come and have a good time", where "the ocean is the feature". The furniture is all made of old boat wood, and the name itself is a homage to the first crazy souls who clutched their single fin boards, took what was then a 10-hour journey from Kuta to the Bukit back in the 1970s, and stumbled across what has become one of the most iconic breaks in surfing lore.

Unlike Black Dog, Single Fin is open every night of the week, and "people come from all over the island" to chill, take pictures of the sunset, and of course ride the breaks. The Sunday sessions, in particular, often go off, although the bar closes at midnight out of respect for the local community.

Despite the responsibilities of running a business (Single Fin in Uluwatu consists of a café, bar, and surf shop, and there’s another shop in Seminyak), Tai’s main ambition still seems to be to catch as many waves as he can. The day before meeting me, he tells me, he went down to the bar for a staff meeting, "noticed the waves were firing," and grabbed the opportunity for a quick surf before the bar filled up for the evening.

As brand ambassador for O’Neill in Indonesia, Tai also gets to put together community projects that introduce youngsters to their surfing heroes. Sage Erickson, one of the top female riders in the world, passed through Bali recently. Tai organised a competition that allowed one 11-year-old Indonesian girl to spend a day surfing with her idol. Witnessing her excitement, he says, was "a real goosebump moment". With "the best of the best" passing through Bali, he’s also keen to establish a training centre, both to provide world-class surfers with needed facilities and to inspire local surfers with a sense of what’s possible. He’d love to see one of the locals break through and make it on the pro tour, forever altering perceptions of what’s possible for an Indonesian surfer. As he says: "It only takes one."

In the end, "everything revolves around surfing. It’s what I know, it’s what I breathe". Building a life around the things he most enjoys seems to be working out okay for him. He shares his life with "a beautiful girlfriend and three annoying dogs", and he gets to spend hours in the water. As his mentor, Dave, said to him, "if money is the driving force, it’ll never work. You’ve gotta do what you love and follow your passion".

He and I both know people back in our respective home countries who are tied to jobs they dislike, and yet who continue to moan about them rather than make changes. One thing that’s clear to me from chatting with Tai is that he makes a habit of living his values, and giving back to the communities of which he’s a part. What’s left for him to accomplish now that he’s got Single Fin, the O’Neill ambassadorship, and the training centre in the pipeline?

"Well, I don’t want to be that busy guy that doesn’t surf anymore … I just want to be on every big swell that comes through."

"I look at my old man," he says. "My dad’s a big inspiration … he was a football coach for, like, 20 years, he’s 58, and he acts like a 25-year-old. He’s just a big kid … he’s having fun, because he hangs around with the youth every day."

Tai follows his example, spending time mentoring young surfers, finding inspiration in the innovative places they’re taking the sport, and staying young himself in the process. Does he still see himself surfing when he’s 40 or 50?

"Oh yeah, if I can still be surfing when I’m 80 I’ll be stoked."

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Photo: Spencer Hansen

Text: Mike Pohorly

interview Uncle Jim taught her how to give.

She won a Yak Award for Best Community Services in 2011.

Since then she's taken the challenge and moved mountains in the name of others.

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Christina, it’s great to be here at Revolver Café with you. Are you Bali’s most popular person?

No way (laughs), that would be Governor Made Pastika.

You do use your powers of popularity for good.

Yes I have been known for being out there as a social butterfly and connecting people together. So I decided to use the Bali networks and social circles to help those less fortunate in Bali. My Uncle (mum's bother) was a philanthropist, donated US$500,000 to the Disabled Children of Cuba Foundation, so I guess I get it from Uncle Jim. It’s a cliché that us foreigners always talk about wanting to give something back. So I went out and just went to it.

And what I see inspires me to do more.

Which has led you to the Charity Challenge – as Bali’s own “biggest loser”.

Yes, being here in Bali and having a good time with the social calender . . . I was neglecting my health. Then this weight-loss challenge for charity was proposed to me by Kerry Ball from Whiteball Media. I then thought if I'm going to do the weight loss then I may as well go the whole hog and give up the alcohol, cigarettes and caffeine. The challenge was to lose 15kg in 12 weeks in order to raise money to buy a transport bus for the handicapped orphanage YPAC in Jimbaran. As at the moment the 22 kids that live at the centre can’t really go anywhere, unless it's through volunteers who organize outings from time to time. The rest of the time they are literally confined to their rooms.

The YPAC children were the same ones you raised money for last year at Warisan through the Heart Strings event?

Yes, that enabled us to buy computers, internet for a year and a projector for the kids and a complete kitchen renovation, new doors and windows, new beds. It’s so amazing to see these children neglected by society and then to have access to the world. I walked in the other day and Yuyun, who is a thalidomide kid, was on the computer learning Japanese. To see these kids being shunned as handicaps – as they often are in Bali – and then moving on to where they are now is so inspiring for me.

So for these kids you were willing to make your weight loss challenge a public challenge?

That was the most difficult part. It was hard to see those 'before' photos of myself everywhere on Facebook. Every time people put in a 'like' the photo popped up on my screen again. But I knew it had to be done because of the awareness. It’s funny because even though I knew I was overweight, looking at the pics made it a harsh reality. Exposing myself helped me.

You look great now. And I heard that your challenge has created a trend here – it’s turned into a bit of Cultural Meme, which Richard Dawkins referred to as necessary for evolution, in which behaviors spread from person to person

in society.

The biggest thing in certain quarters of Bali is that everything is associated with alcohol. Every event and party and gathering takes place around a drink. Even looking at the daily sunset requires a 'sunset drink'. So through my public challenge I’ve been flooded with so many others who have been inspired to challenge themselves to lose weight, start exercising, stop smoking or stop drinking for a month. Maybe it’s been a bit of a wake-up call to some – to see me do it. They think, if she can do it, so can I. What’s been your biggest surprise with the challenge?

Doing things I never thought I could do. I climbed Mount Agung, something I only ever dreamed of. I did that climb in memory of my beautiful father Angelo who passed away in 2010. He would have been so proud of me. My next climb will be Mount Batur, then I'm going to do some diving.

Will your Diva lunches be the same without drinking?

They've become a mainstay on the social calendar.

Of course! The Diva lunches are about charity. Every month I get together with some amazing and inspirational women – the next one is December 13th, our huge charity lunch supporting www.sacredchildhoods.org. What started as a few ladies getting together at Biku three years ago has turned into a monthly event with close to a hundred joining us for the next one at Cocoon.

Because Salvador Bali isn’t doing this interview, I’ll need to ask you myself – what is your Bali story?

I came here 28 years ago in 1983 and have been here off and on since then. I was based here in the early '90s, my husband is from Jakarta and we have three sons. And then I came back to live here full-time five years ago.

Your Bali Love/Hate list?

Absolutely more love than hate. The development is crazy, the concrete villas are everywhere, I miss the joglo style villas and the infrastructure is breaking and Bali now seems to attract people who want to claim they are the best at everything and we seem to find that maybe they might not be as a great as they think.

But the love is the love of the Balinese people and how they’ve always accepted us to their island. And the people that you meet from all over the world is a blessing. I had a dinner party one night and everyone was from different places. It was like hosting the United Nations.

How can people get involved and start giving back to the less fortunate in Bali?

Anyone can contact YPAC Handicapped Orphanage at www. friends-ypac-bali.org or attend the Orphanage at Jl. By Pass Ngurah Rai KM 30 Jimbaran. Tel: (0361)771718. Contact Ibu Tanti, Bapak Putu or Eka.

steely resolve.

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interview

Tim adams — bespectacled and tattoo-sleeved rockabilly man-about-town — runs the cozy (and raucous) new watering hole, Mantra.

So Tim, how did you find your way to Bali?

I was approached to help out with the Potato Head project, so I helped lay some roots with that project and then while I was here, I uh … met my wife, and yeah the rest is history. I was based in Jakarta at that point but was bouncing back and forth to Bali.

Did you always know you would end up in this line of work?

I remember when I was 15 years old, I was in a room with a good friend and she was predicting that I would end up doing bars and nightclubs, and I thought it was really funny because academically I was pretty successful and studied political science. But when I had the fortune to move to Paris I got the opportunity to open a bar. So I opened a bar at a very young age, at the age of 20, and it was a good location and became a very popular bar, and gave me a good reputation in Paris and it just kind of started from there.

Did your family have anything to do with this direction?

My mother had a very prominent restaurant in New York and I grew up around that, but you know everyone ends up trying to do the opposite of what their parents are doing, and that’s why I studied political science. I worked in a plethora of industries, from movies to branding and doing events, which I still do now, but the bar work has always been something that’s a passion of mine. I developed a fascination with the mixology culture and right now amongst certain circles around the world my opinion is validated and I actually have something to contribute to the game and be a part of it. It’s something that’s followed me around the world and it's something that I am passionate about. I always go back to it, no matter what I do.

So opening that first bar introduced you to mixology?

Pretty much. When I started the first bar, I grew up between London and New York, and so I was very privileged to be able to go to high-end restaurants and bars, and something that always attracted me was kind of the sophistication behind ordering a sophisticated drink, and the anecdotes and stories that go behind it. . .actually having an opinion about your drink. You know, to me – I see it like if everyone wanted to drive around in a Lamborghini, everyone will drive a Lamborghini … but they’re very expensive … and impossible to drive – so if you can afford to go out and have a drink you can afford to pay a bit more for good alcohol. Alcohol basically poisons your body when you drink it, so you’ve got to have an excuse and a reason behind building it up in different ways, and I like to have an insight about that.

So how did your collaboration with Philippe Starck come about?

It actually came about because I was popular in Paris as a bar-tender and his daughter, Arra Starck, used to come in quite a lot and party and they approached me to work with them on a number of projects in Paris, mainly in that they would be working on a big project and they would need to have the food and beverage base consulted in terms of work flow and what would appeal for the bars, and so we 80

adamant.

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worked together on a number of projects, the biggest of which was the Mama Shelter project, which was a collaboration between the Trigano family, Chef Alains Senderens, Philippe Starck and myself.

What did you learn most from working with Starck?

Philippe is very difficult man to be around – you know he’s the kind of guy that can walk into a project and he knows exactly where it should go from day one, and what I took from that is . . . I think I definitely adapted a bit more style, a bit more taste towards interiors, and F&B interiors, and also his level of productivity. He’s very focused and he works at an incredible and alarming rate, and I like to think that kind of attitude has rubbed off on me a bit. Which is why I’ve been able to complete a number of projects here in South-East Asia and worldwide.

How does Bali compare to what you’re used to or where you grew up?

When I first got here Indonesia was a huge culture shock, everything here is completely different, and Bali is a small community, hugely creative and hugely productive, but you have to work your way in there to get known and be a part of it. How does if differ? I think everywhere in this industry is the same, you know, that’s one of the challenges I like about it. You learn about an area, you learn about the demographic of that area, and you try and create something that would appeal to that demographic and area, so the same formula doesn’t work everywhere. You’ve got to identify different areas, with regard to my industry of food and beverage and more so mixology – it’s still a growing industry here, not in a bad way, but it’s where New York city was 10 years ago, it’s younger. There’s a lot of opportunity here. I’m seeing a lot of repetition of what I saw in New York 10 years ago, what I saw in Paris five years ago. But what I can say is the energy here is great, the people are great and there’s a lot of potential in the market here.

Funniest or most unexpected situation you’ve had to navigate here so far?

I’ve so many weird and funny situations here – man I’ve got so many…okay I can’t go into too many details because I might get in to a lot of trouble, but it was Jakarta Culinary Week, that’s probably too much already… and we happened to be hanging out with a very famous singer who decided to retire to bed. He met a girl and left early, but in the meantime by this point everyone knew I was hanging out with this celebrity and they were calling me relentlessly, two or three nightclubs were calling me to bring this guy to their club, and they were offering us girls, money, to make an appearance – so in the end I was with my friend who happened to be an Asian British guy who was like, 'what the hell', let’s just pretend that I'm a guy working in the band. So I don’t know, I was very drunk, and this is something I would never do, but we called up the guy and said we’re coming in a bit with the bass player of the band, and we rocked up to this nightclub and we didn’t realise how much of a big deal it was gonna be. It was like Beatlemania, so we walk up and there’s girls all lined up, cameras flashing everywhere, we had to be escorted to our table and got given special treatment with our space. The funniest thing was that when it was time to go home, they insisted on driving us using with their drivers. So I couldn't take the friend to my house because they would figure it out, so we had to go back to the hotel where the band was staying, and then wait till they left so we could go. In the end no one was the wiser and it was actually mentioned on the radio the next day. There’s been a plethora of stories.

You recently staged Seminyak’s first proper iPod battle at Mantra – will this become a series or was it a one-off?

We want to do another one and do lead-up battles in between and really capture

people’s imaginations, including the air-band battle, but I won’t give away too many details – you know you come with your friends and pretend to be a band – like air-guitar. The iPod battle was a huge success; we used to throw them in Paris about five years ago. The reason I did it here is because there’s all these party crews here in Bali, and let’s be honest they’re kind of cliquey…so I wanted to try and pit them off against each other and make the challenge and they would all step up.

Some people tried to flake on the day, but we convinced everyone to show up and it was insanely popular. We want to do another one here, and we’ve already got Jakarta in the works, and I’ve got calls from Singapore as well. It was great.

How about your own iPod – what's been heating that up lately?

I’m really into SUBTRKT at the moment and then…Wave Machine, a new band that’s come out. I was hanging out with Foster The People recently when they were here so been listening to their stuff. What else? Mac Miller? I’ve been getting back into HipHop – I’m a huge music head so I could go on and on.

What’s your toughest challenge these days?

That would definitely be bringing up my newborn son. He’s 11-months-old. It’s not just a challenge, he’s changed my life so much already, especially working in this industry I have now reduced my sleep by about six hours, which sucks, yeah and married life, that’s about it – those are the toughest things for me right now, but you know we’re living in Bali so it’s amazing too.

How do you enjoy time away from work?

Looking after my son is a big escape for me. It makes me do a lot of things that I wouldn’t normally do. Go to museums and do things that are good for kids . . . but I guess my most favorite thing to do is go visit bars. I’m just really interested by bar culture and restaurant culture. For example if we go on vacation, my highlights of the vacation are from the restaurants and bars.

Is there any personal mantra that gets you through trying times?

Honestly I think Indonesia has taught me patience. Definitely when I came here two years ago I was a different person than the one I am now. I realised that being humble and being patient can be a way to getting your goals in life. And testament to that is our bar Mantra itself, and my wife and having a kid. I’m more complete now than I ever was in my entire life. I really put it down to learning from the Indonesian people and their examples of humbleness and patience.

What’s your dream?

I’m really pretty content with my life right now, and if anything I’m pushing myself to do more of what I’m already doing – travelling, consulting … I guess if I were honest with you I’d want to be a rock star. I still fantasise about being on stage and rocking out with a guitar in front of people, but in the meantime I'm pretty content. My wife is actually a performing entertainer so it’s nice to be on the sidelines and watch her go through it, and I do a lot of promotions in Jakarta which may come here soon, so looking at some pretty big names, you know, I’d rather go big or go home.

Favourite Footwear?

Patrick Cox, but since we are in Bali – I really like what Suedehead is doing … and my trusty Chuck’s of course.

Thanks for your time, Tim and the silky Sazerac cocktail (try one yourself) and see you soon back at Mantra. www.mantrabali.com

eat drink read lounge

Breakfast at Biku...

Open 8am-11pm Daily Ph. 0361 8570 888

Jl.Raya Petitenget no.888 www.bikubali.com

Kerobokan Kelod info@bikubali.com

discovers.

worth watching, as Robert Wolf

cultures that has created an artist

. . . Natisa Jones, a conflict of

MTV meets Bali meets Canada meets

artsake 84

Although she was born in Jakarta, Natisa (pronounced Na-tee-sa) moved to Bali when she was three or four (she doesn’t remember which). With an Indonesian mother and a Canadian stepfather (who’s been part of the family since she was a baby), she’s been exposed to a pretty broad spectrum of cultural influences.

Her features are Indonesian, but her English wouldn’t sound out of place on the streets of New York or Toronto.

“I blame MTV and the Disney Channel and international schools!” she says when I mention it.

With an artistic mother, she "picked up painting and drawing before I could read or write". Before she had developed much in the way of fashion sense, either, she admits: "I still have pictures of myself when I was two years old with a bowl cut, painting on kiddy paper with kiddy paint and looking like I knew my shit".

Clearly, she was always destined to be an artist, much to the chagrin of her fourth-grade maths teacher: "I used to get in trouble because I had the shittiest grades, but my exam papers were always colourfully decorated, with flowers everywhere".

Aged 15, she outgrew her school in Bali which, "didn’t really have strong artistic support," and her parents tried her out at an international school in Canada. It was a "top-notch education," she says, but "I didn’t really care about that. I wanted to be in an environment that was inspiring and culturally stimulating". The culture shock of a very Westernised atmosphere, coupled with Canada’s frigid weather, put her off, and she soon relocated to a school in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

In stark contrast to the fairly homogenous atmosphere in Canada, her new school was "full of mutts and mongrels," a mixture she found "much more relatable". She was, she tells me, "blown away", and enjoyed a happy and satisfying three years there before departing for the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) to take her BA. Her three years in Melbourne were notable for the opportunity to mix with people who were just as "obsessed with found objects" as she was. She also encountered, and initially kicked against, a "very Western definition" of what constitutes art. "Indonesia," she says, "has only had a contemporary art identity for maybe the past

visions.

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artsake artery.

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30 years. In the West, there’s fine art and there’s life, and they’re completely separate. In Indonesian cultures, art has always been a part of daily life".

She struggled at first to express that contradiction to her lecturers, and also notes that she hadn’t realised the extent to which she already "had that conflict in [her] pocket".

"My mum’s still quite traditional, even though she’s a modern mum, and my dad’s very Western," Natisa says.

It was a "wonky journey," but – for now at least – she has successfully integrated the combination of influences into her work.

Since graduating, Natisa has spent some time interning at Nylon magazine and Nylon Guys, two of Indonesia’s well-known fashion magazines, where she’s also published work. Most recently, she’s contributed to a series of artworks by both local and international young artists showcased at Swoon gallery in Sanur. The series, entitled Man/Pria and Woman/Wanita, gave her an opportunity to explore her perceptions of gender relations, "a huge subject to cover in six works".

When I ask her about these, she’s wary of ascribing any particular meaning to her work. Her pieces in the Woman series, she says, "come from [her] own experience", and also draw upon the vast range of perspectives she collected about women from various media and from conversations: "the profound messages behind the little things that people say".

I suggest that, in some ways, there’s a collage effect to the works. Natisa agrees: "Yes, it’s like a collage where I’m taking bits and pieces of everyone’s experience within my reach. I don’t want to dictate anything. After I put it out there, it’s really none of my business. The artwork will develop its own life and its own conversation with the people who view it". She stops for a moment, and laughs: "Sorry if I’m being a bit cryptic".

Interestingly, she’s more direct about her work in the Man series, which she describes as "a lot more masculine visually".

Her view on the Woman series is fragmented, cautious. It seems much easier for her to view masculinity as a coherent whole, possibly because she’s approaching being male from an external perspective rather than an internal one.

"The Man series is more about connecting with the opposite sex," she says.

"With the male stuff I can be completely biased."

Nonetheless, Natisa has already learnt to leave her audience wanting more, and to resist the temptation to define herself too thoroughly.

"Mystery carries the work much longer," she says.

"You can draw your own conclusion from that."

LAID BACK.

www.natisajones.com

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PASSIONS the fine art of surfacing.

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Filmmaker Jack Coleman shoots Super 8 to bring the smell of cut grass and childhood dreams to bare on a world of wonder.

Ano Mac peers through his pre-digital lens.

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PASSIONS 90

There's one point in the film we're watching where Jack's recorded sound with his little tape machine while shooting with his camera.

Intermixed with the ambient goings on, we can hear the 'click-click' of the super eight as film speeds through the gears, exposing the emulsion and capturing as yet undisclosed images of what's going on. I know that sound. Many do or did. Not a new sound, yet it's one that sets off a chain reaction of emotions. It's an anchor in the past.

Conjuring up images from old. A mental aphrodisiac that evokes childhood past.

We're sitting in Canggu. Out in the back yard. There's a hundred-odd people, a mixture of locals and travellers, all strewn about. It's a quasi-private showing for a new surf movie, 'Imaginary Carpet Market', produced along with Raen Optics by filmmaker Jack Coleman. It’s his third.

Something of a late bloomer in moviemaking circles, it wasn't until Jack had spent many years in front of a camera that he took those few short strides behind. A model, a traveller, a surfer. There was the year spent in Germany, another spread across Italy and New York. He may have made his living being out in front but he felt comfortable there, cut off, aloof, disjointed and, as he tells me, feeling more than a little odd at having his photo taken.

It was in the days before digital, almost forgotten now, when there was more of a process to taking a photo. You had to be sure.

No instant gratification. Jack has an affinity with that process. He doesn’t do digital. In Italy he shared digs with another model, a photographer on the side. Seeing his work piqued an interest in Jack, eventually leading to him investing in a point and shoot camera and for the first time, perhaps, finally utilising the large amount of downtime between jobs and auditions.

He missed California. He’d spent a long time living outside her borders. He missed his life there, his friends and his family and he missed his first love too, surfing. Finally whatever kept him away, broke. He came home. He came home to a somewhat changed way of life. People had grown up. They had kids. They had houses.

They had careers. They were not the only things that had evolved.

Model had become photographer and at some stage, an SLR, still film, had supplanted his point-and-shoot. He was documenting life. He came home and continued. He started taking photos of his friends' children and shooting their weddings. It must have been conducive to a good consensus for this led him to shoot for them more commercially. He did catalogue work for his friends' clothing companies and took photos of bands his mates were in.

Jack went to art school and honed his skills. It was also there that he fell from static to dynamic. From still into film. Reasons are rather sketchy. Jealousy or frustration with the limitations of a medium. The moment of revelation came while Jack was putting together a slideshow assignment for college; he had a chance viewing of a film, a short for a clothing company, though he can't remember who or what, for him this was the tipping point.

Jack has memories of a childhood sitting around home as dad replayed family gatherings, camping trips and backyard birthdays.

The sound of the projector sprockets winding through the Super 8 film. The smell of the popcorn. The family laughter and friendly banter.

Things happen in threes. First one for Jack was a friend at art college gifting him an old Super 8 camera. A relic from the bottom of the wardrobe. Second was living in Pasadena, California. Close to the beach though, more importantly, the epicenter of the film industry. Home to Burbank, where all the film labs are. Close vicinity meant quick turnaround and accessibility. His student discount made Super 8 his affordable choice.

When he started out, his movies were art, then art and music and then art, music and surfing. Pasadena was full of friends doing things. A lot of whom needed things done for them. Small promo videos for the clothing lines Idol Radec and BB Dakota. Music videos for mate’s bands; The Shy’s and The Growlers.

Jack then took to the road, disappearing down into Costa Rica on tour with The Growlers. Music, surf and shooting. A year south of the border, adopting the traveller’s free spirit, he gave up all the trappings, the trip an exorcism. It proved very cathartic to him.

He’d had a Catholic upbringing; was well groomed from years of plying his former trade and most certainly more than a little image conscious. The tumble through the jungle stripped him of the lot.

With money more wisely spent on food and film, things like haircuts became a thing of the past. His entire persona underwent radical changes. Outwardly, his appearance only really differed where his hair took on a life of its own independently developing into natural blonde dreads. It was underneath the skin that major changes took place, where his whole world inverted. Or should I say, righted itself.

Finally back in California, he made a video clip for a friend’s band, Tomorrow’s Tulips. This is what became that third of the three things. Jack’s love of surfing meshed with one half of the band, Alex Knost. Musician, artist and surfer, Alex was more than a little well known for his surfing prowess and it had already started to become a rare day when he didn’t have a photographer about taking pictures. They came from all over, Europe, Japan, Australia and, of course America. That was all happening at the local beaches, the same ones that Jack surfed. Wasn’t long before Jack turned up at the beach armed with his own camera. Over the course of a few months he recorded these surfs and approached Alex to show him a sample of what he’d been up to. Fait accompli. Alex became intrigued. The rushes were so different to anything anybody else was shooting of him at the time. The dialogue opened and like they say in the movies…the rest was history.

It took a year for Jack to make his first surf film, Polyester. When it opened there was no great fanfare; rather a few viral premieres, moreover parties. It’s a slow burner and has over time developed an underground following. It featured Alex Knost. They shot it in

lady in red.

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PASSIONS

mermaid montage.

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mainland Mexico, Central Baja, and all those SoCal surf spots where Alex likes to hang. The singularity of subject allowed the artist to really explore his medium. He built it up frame by frame. At some point he’d discovered a stash of old out of date Super 8 cartridges which, when developed, gave some amazing effects. Sometimes. It was a rather hit and miss affair. Some of the film returned from the labs unusable while other footage just got Jack super excited. He began to hand paint and scratch the films before sending it out to be digitized. Only when it returned could he begin the editing and composition process. He began to develop a love-hate relationship as the hoopla became more and more convoluted.

Jack was in new territory on more than one account. He was a man who’d grown up watching all the slash style short board surf movies. He loved ‘em! It was his type of surfing and he now found himself making movies with a guy that rode anything but. Small wonder that halfway through the undertaking he unconsciously began another. In some way a response to missing those types of movies. Though mainly the fact was that Alex would introduce him to someone, say Ozzie Wright and of course they’d go surfing and of course Jack would get footage of him. Same goes with all these other free surfers who proximity cast a role for. Dane Reynolds, Andrew Doheny, Josh Hoyer, and Ford Archbold were guys he would party and hang with. They lived in the same area and he’d go surfing with them and of course he’d end up with footage of them.

'Happy Beach', Jack’s second movie, is really is a celebration of his community. It has that uncontrived feeling of friendship. Likeminded guys, mates, going for a surf. Jack, their other mate, there to document it. He loves catching the waves with them while at the same time capturing them.

As with 'Polyester', 'Happy Beach' is a movie as much about Jack’s art as it is about the content. He shot, directed, edited and produced both of them off of his own bat. Or on his own dime, as they say in the States. The other thing about them is both movies left me a little dumbfounded, at first. I should also add I saw them back-to-back.

His film making process is convoluted and more than a little archaic. The visuals are different. You have to peer in, his kaleidoscopic tactile imagery of amazing free surfers in exotic locations mixed with a thoroughly planned, yet obscure, musical score. It’s ocularly ill defined at times and some waves are more hinted at than shown. But once allowed a little time to percolate around the inside of your brain, you’ll come around, as I have, to see he’s actually on the right path. Jack is definitely safe in the knowledge that no one out there is doing the things he’s doing.

Just when understanding comes, the benchmark is moved.

'Imaginary Carpet Market' is a complete departure from his first two offerings. For one thing it’s less worked from a visual point. The movie is also the first co-produced work he’s done. Raen Optics gave him a bunch of cash to buy some plane tickets and film, however,

they left all artistic control up to Jack. The speed at which it was shot surely had a lot to do with it. Shooting the lot across a twoweek period earlier this year in Bali. Another predominantly Alex Knost piece, it does have some amazing cameos from the likes of Ellis Ericson, Jared Mell, Harrison Roach and Matt Chojnacki. He’s also included glimpses of everyday life. Of Bali life. It flows from one to another with a documentary like feel. And there is the sound.

The new sense. He’s a man that loves the process and for someone who shoots in Super 8, a medium that has no sound track, you can tell he’s really enjoying the ability to grab sound at the source to incorporate later.

Feeding on a fresh idea each day. He’s in his year of perpetual motion; California, Bali, California, Japan, California, Mexico back to California before returning to Bali, back to California and now returned to Bali. Whew! There’s this heap of footage he shot while in Japan. Small waves enabled him to be sidetracked by the culture.

Germ of a new project. A cultural travel film. Not quite a fully fleshed out idea so presently he’s just tucking away footage for later, a work in progress.

A month ago Jack arrived back in Bali armed to the back teeth with film, more than 100 rolls and cartridges in total, like some unsung brand ambassador for Kodak. And already they’re filling up. Pushing and pulling people up and down the archipelago they go. Chasing waves. Expeditions in Indonesia with the likes of Ozzie Wright, Jason Salisbury, Alex Knost, Mitch Coleburn and Ellis Ericson.

Craig Anderson wanted in but a hurricane called Fiona dragged him and a couple of mates to Nova Scotia so he eluded Jack’s lens once again. Jack’s super stoked about Indonesia. He loves the people, he’s getting to travel and he’s shooting great waves. Apparently it’s tough to get good stuff in California.

The speed Jack is producing movies is scary. Over a couple of years he’s already got more than a respectable body of work and shows no sign of slowing down. As if he’s drinking from a well that might, at any minute, dry up.

His next movie, ‘Temple’ is a Deus ex Machina produced Indo surf movie. Based around Jason Salisbury’s soul surfing rad style it’s centred on their mutual love of motorcycles, mini jaunts around Bali and other islands and surfing. Everything he comes to Indo for. He’s just returned from California where he had the film developed and scanned and is now busy editing. It’s all but there and we should see it out soon.

And if that weren’t enough 'Secret Sound Underground' is set for a January 2013 release. With little or none known or spoken about the project this will be a return to his self-produced movies. I, for one, am expecting him to take new tangents and await its release with baited breath.

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artsake

Clayton Barr has a sell-out art exhibition under his belt.

Culture is his inspiration, art his mojo, living a full life his motto.

He spoke with Salvador Bali. Photography by Anthony Dodds.

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Life in one barr.

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artsake oodles of doodles.

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IT'S your canvas. I'm Clayton Barr, 44, from Central Coast, Australia. Married with two kids, a sevenyear-old daughter and four-year-old son.

Early days? High school, trade school. I survived by doing little flick-book animations and things like that.

When did you realise you had a passion for the art world?

Young, forever, high school, it all clicked around the age of 14 when I met some people who, to me, were a very colourful tribe, and I kind of warmed up to their look and everything . . .

So we’re talking 30 years you’ve been doing art?

Yeah. I went to the beach and saw all the creativity around that world, sprays on the surfboards, T-shirts and the like, and I just lived in that vein.

When did you actually become a professional artist? In Australia, when I was a teenager – graphic design in the corporate and advertising worlds.

Do you do other art besides the surf-based genre?

I do, but the nice stuff always comes back to surfing. I draw and dream around surfing. I’m doing more and more, however, these days . . . it’s starting to happen.

Where has your art taken you? Many great places. Bali, California, Brazil. . .

And all you had to do was carry your brush . . . Pretty much.

When did you first come to Bali? I actually went to West Java in 1999 on a boat trip and the first destination was Jakarta . . . came to Bali after that.

When did you decide to live here? Slowly, see-sawed my existence here, two weeks on, go back home, but I always made a promise to myself that I would come back every year. Then, one day, I asked for a job from a guy named Bruce at Quiksilver, and he gave me a ticket to Bali. There’s a guy named Steve Palmer here too, and so it began.

Did you ever think things would develop the way they have? No man . . . it's pretty outrageous . . . I just had my first solo exhibition and it went well – actually I sold out, so that has given me more inspiration to paint. But my bread and butter is doing illustrations.

Will you be doing more exhibitions in the future? I am talking to some people about an exhibition in Jakarta and other places. I’m sure with a few more contacts it will happen.

What is your philosophy? I have a book on Darwin that’s keeping me calm in traffic . . . it’s all about do the work and let it go. Then there’s Andy Warhol who said: "Do the work and let others decide". Don't worry, do the best you can do, and that's it.

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We sent monkeys, dogs, mice and men into orbit, and now we’re spending billions on a project to reach Mars. Yet we don’t even know how to live properly on Earth, writes Andrew E. Hall

“Sometimes you have to get up really high to see how small you are . . . I’m going home now.”

- “Fearless” Felix Baumgartner “You probably have to get really, really high to even contemplate plummeting 39,000 metres dressed only in a pressure suit and parachute . . .”

- Andrew E. Hall (acrophobic)

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I was in a hotel in Singapore once – my room was on the 20th floor

going through. I was zipped into a sleeping bag in Spain once when

and had one of those windows that enabled guests not only to look

this unpleasant sensation occurred, and could do nothing but bring

out, but straight down as well. I approached this viewing portal in the

up my dinner into the hood of my brother’s sleeping bag . . . he wasn’t

way a cat burglar approaches someone else’s silverware . . . slowly,

happy.

carefully, a little nervous, ready to run like hell. As I summoned the courage to look down, my feet started to tingle and I felt a bit weird. I

But apart from feeling very queasy, Fearless was faced with the very

don’t like heights.

real possibility that his blood supply would be involved in a centrifugal crisis; that he might pass out (like I did in Spain before my brother

On October 14th 2012, 43-year-old Austrian, Felix Baumgartner – or

started punching me). Splat.

Fearless Felix as he’s fondly known – ascended in a pressurised capsule dangling from a 55-storey helium balloon (made from a

My heart was in my mouth as I watched (purportedly live, but actually

material that weighs 10 times less than your average plastic bag) to a

on a 20-second delay in case of a “tragic accident”), my feet were

height of 39.04km (or 128,100 feet) into the stratosphere, got out of his

tingling like crazy . . . Fearless got his spinout under control. Whew.

capsule, and jumped.

Then his helmet visor fogged up and he couldn’t see anything. Hell's I wondered at the time if his feet were tingling.

bells Fearless!

One small concern that he and his Stratos Project team had to

He deployed his chute before the planned time and made a

consider was taking great care upon exiting his capsule lest he tear his suit. If this had happened a rapid depressurisation would take place that would lead to a thing called “ebullism”, whereby all the gases normally dissolved in the blood would come out of solution . . . very nasty indeed – a process that has been likened to one’s bodily fluids boiling, but really isn’t. And that’s just one in a list of conditions that would have left Fearless a messy smear on the ground in Roswell, New Mexico – appropriately near where the alleged crash of an alien spacecraft took place in 1947.

How do we know about these things?

Because we’ve sent animals to great heights to find out how bad things can get.

People die in droves every year from some of these known effects – which include hypoxia and hypocapnia – while attempting to climb

picture perfect landing in the desert. I was jumping for joy (but not too high).

After seven years of preparation Fearless Felix had broken the record for the highest leap ever made by a human, became the first human to break the speed of sound without the assistance of an aircraft, but fell short of the mark for the longest freefall because of his visor fog-up.

That record is still held by Fearless’ mentor, Joe Kittinger, who leapt from 102,000-odd feet in 1960.

“Let me tell you - when I was standing there on top of the world, you become so humble. You don’t think about breaking records anymore, you don’t think about gaining scientific data – the only thing that you want is to come back alive,” he said afterwards at a media conference.

Why do people like Fearless do such things? Why do people like me

Mount Everest, which is a mere 8,848 metres.

get excited about it?

Fearless was careful upon exiting his life preserver, although what

Maybe it’s got something to do with what James Dean once said:

happened after he uttered the immortal words that stand first in this

“Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today.”

piece, I considered somewhat careless, reckless even. The mother of all plummets.

Sir Edmund Hillary – the first person acknowledged to have summited Mount Everest – provided this sparse explanation for why he did it:

He reached a velocity of 1,342km/h – well over the speed of sound

“Because it’s there”.

– and then began to spin uncontrollably. Now, any of you who have

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overdone it big time on the grog and thought it a good idea to have a

We humans are funny things.

little lay down will have experienced something of what Fearless was

And now Virgin’s Richard Branson is contemplating mounting a

get me the *@#! out of here.

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never look down.

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project to replicate Fearless’ feat . . . from 400,000 feet. Who is the

neglected to remove the warhead. Albert IV (dear oh dear) on the

nut job crazy enough to make that leap?

last monkey V2 flight died on impact after another parachute failure.

“It sounds like kind of a joke because it looks like he wants to use

Lucky for Fearless Felix parachute technology has come a long way

our positive momentum and gain publicity on his side and that is

since those days.

kind of lame,” Fearless said, and added that the idea of someone leaping from 400,000ft was “completely insane”.

All in all there were six Alberts, the sixth of whom actually survived his flight, but died – along with a number of rodent friends who

Motivation aside, part of the reason we are able to pull off such

travelled with him – of heat-stroke two hours after landing in the

stunts, including space travel, is that we have some furry relatives

desert because the recovery crew were a bit tardy in living up to

that have selflessly gone before us in the name of our science, and

their job description.

our selfishness.

It is unsure whether the researchers got much out of the Alberts in Monkeys in Spaaaaace . . . and other hapless creatures.

terms of biological data given their near zero survival rate.

November 2012 marks the 55th anniversary of a pooch named

Except, perhaps, that shooting people and other creatures off in

Laika, who was the first animal ever to go into orbit (at an altitude

rockets (especially the V2) was a pretty dangerous business.

of around 3,220km). The whole world held its breath as Laika went round and round. But the Soviets had not figured out how to bring

Things got a bit better for our primate friends when the Jupiter

Laika back to Earth. It must have been very lonely up there for one

rocket programme arrived in the late 1950s in the U.S. Able

of “man’s best friends” (an odd epithet under the circumstances),

and Baker (the first two letters in the phonetic alphabet . . .

and the world heaved a collective sigh of sadness as the batteries

pathetic) were sent aloft on May 28, 1959 and travelled at more

on her life support system ran down. The dog the American media

than 16,000km/h, endured 38g of gravitational force, and, more

nicknamed Muttnik was aboard the 508kg Sputnik II and was

importantly, returned to Earth intact. Unfortunately for Able, during

outfitted with scientific gauges, life-support systems, and padded

an operation to remove an infected electrode a couple of days after

walls. Laika was supported inside the satellite by a harness that

his return, the anesthetist messed up and killed him. He was stuffed

allowed some movement and access to food and water (for all that

and mounted in his space suit, and is on display at the Smithsonian

was worth, given it was a suicide mission). Electrodes transmitted

Institution’s Air and Space Museum.

vital signs including heartbeat, blood pressure and breathing rate.

Laika was cremated when Sputnik II fell into Earth’s atmosphere

Baker died in 1984 at the ripe old age of 27 . . . but then again, so

and burned up.

did Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Amy Winehouse – all of whom could reasonably be accused of also being pioneer

Shooting animals off in rockets to see what would happen to them

space cadets.

began in the 1940s.

In all, four nations have sent monkeys into space (or as near as they The first ever monkey astronaut was Albert, a rhesus monkey who,

could get to it): United States; Soviet Union/Russia; France; and, of

on June 11, 1948, rode to over 63km on a V2 rocket – which was

all places, Argentina. On the whole things didn’t go terribly well for

originally designed by the Germans to obliterate London during

these front-liners of occupied rocketry.

WWII. Albert selfishly died of suffocation during the flight. He was followed by Albert II who survived the V2 flight, but died on impact

Lapik and Multik were the last space monkeys – they flew aboard

on June 14, 1949 after a parachute failure – bummer. Albert II

the Russian Bion 11 mission from December 24, 1996, to January 7,

became the first monkey in space, however, as his flight reached

1997. Multik died while anesthetised for biopsy sampling on January

134 km – beyond the so-called Kármán line of 100km taken to

8. Lapik almost died during the identical procedure.

designate the beginning of space. Albert III . . . could these research

Echoes of poor old Able.

people not have been more original in their naming of these creatures; sounds like the British royal family . . . died at 10.7km

According to the research, and strangely, no one thought to follow up

in an explosion of his V2 – presumably the rocket scientists had

on the effects of anesthesia on sentient beings immediately following

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space flight . . . despite considerable evidence that it probably isn’t

on Earth by a manned submarine.

good for you. Either that or anesthetists are just hopeless in Russia and the U.S. and you shouldn’t go there for an operation.

Please note: there was no wastage of animal life involved in this one, although I’m sure someone somewhere has put a monkey in

But thanks to the sacrifices of these, and many, many more

a hyperbaric chamber to gauge the effects of extreme pressure as

experimental subjects we humans have a pretty solid knowledge of

opposed to extreme lack of pressure.

the effects extreme altitude can have on our bodies. I just wonder if anyone thought to give Jane Goodall – a world authority on primates

On March 26th James Cameron – who is better known for making

and their communication patterns – a call so she could explain to the

films like Avatar and Titanic – squeezed into a radical new type of

space monkeys exactly what they were in for, and ask them if they

submarine and plunged, as opposed to plummeted, to a depth of

were up for it. Probably not.

11km.

You might think that, given his exploits and accomplishments,

According to the National Geographic Society: “Engineered to sink

Fearless Felix would be a fan of things being shot off into space . . .

upright and spinning, like a bullet fired straight into the Mariana

nope.

Trench, the sub can descend about 150 metres a minute – ‘amazingly fast’, in the words of Robert Stern, a marine geologist at the University

He has branded NASA’s efforts to discover whether there was once

of Texas at Dallas.”

life on Mars a waste of money.

It could be argued that 2012 was the year of spin – especially if you In an interview with The Daily Telegraph two weeks after his historic

take into account that there was a United States presidential election

plummet he said: “A lot of guys they are talking about landing on Mars

going on as well.

. . . because [they say] it is so important to land on Mars because we would learn a lot more about our planet here, our Earth, by going

And what did “Geronimo” James Cameron find when he got to the

to Mars. Which actually makes no sense to me because we know a

bottom of Challenger Deep? Not much – it’s an environment that’s

lot about Earth and we still treat our planet, which is very fragile, in a

about as friendly to living organisms as space . . .

really bad way.

But he boldly went where no man had gone before.

“So I think we should perhaps spend all the money [which is] going to Mars to learn about Earth. I mean, you cannot send people there

He and Fearless Felix took huge risks to achieve a dream; they

because it is just too far away. That little knowledge we get from Mars

behaved like free spirits in the presence of fate.

I don’t think it makes sense.”

They inspired people like me whose great adventure – apart from And all the money spent on the Stratos Project does?

driving on Bali – lies in the written word, because when I start something like this I never know where it’s going until I get there.

Of course it does – it was an extraordinary promotion, watched “live” by an estimated seven million people, for an Austrian energy drink

They inspired the editor of this magazine and his young daughter

company.

whenever they step down from something higher to say together, “I’m going home now”.

But, as Helen Keller – American author, political activist, and lecturer – who was also the first deaf and blind person to earn a Bachelor of

We know where home is. We just don’t really know how to treat it and

Arts degree, said: “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep

the other creatures that live upon it with us.

our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.”

Would that they might teach us as much as we like to think

Another daring adventure that also took place in 2012 was almost a

we can teach them.

mirror image of the Fearless Felix caper – a dive to the deepest point

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"i'm going home now. . ."

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portfolio

Spencer Hansen is a wanderer with a camera, bridging the visual and the visceral and leaving behind a filmic roadtrip. He spoke to The Yak's Tony Stanton.

Spencer Hansen . . . that's an intriguing name. Where's it from?

It's from the name of a Mormon prophet, go figure.

Really . . . so you grew up as a Mormon? Tell us a bit about your childhood and what that was it like?

My childhood was great. The Mormon faith was all I knew and so I had no reason to question it. As I reached my teens though, the pressure to go on a mission as well as the expectation to attend a Mormon college – like most of my siblings – motivated me to explore other possibilities. This discovery phase made me feel as though I was raised in an alternate reality.

Breaking free left me wary of belief systems and filled me with curiosity about how other people live. It created a hunger for travel and new experiences.

Are you still religious, or have your views on life changed over the years?

Nope – creativity and nature are my church.

How do you think your childhood and experiences influenced your photography?

My childhood was free – in a small Idaho mountain town, and a mother busy with eight children . . . that left me space to explore my environment. I started using my grandpa’s Zeiss manual camera when I was eight. I was obsessed . . . I would do chores and mow laws to buy and develop my film. We built a darkroom that became my favourite place to be . . . a place to be alone and creative, which was hard to find with my big family.

You work in a few mediums . . . there's the toys, the clothing line, take us through that.

I enjoy using whatever medium will best bring my ideas to life. I get off on learning new processes and playing with different mediums. I enjoy sculpting or carving the masters for

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portfolio MESSAGES FROM HEAVEN.

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››› pull me.

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life on the rocks.

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portfolio Blamo Toys – an art toy line – which is our response to vinyl toys. We avoid plastic and instead incorporate woods, leather, brass, and found objects.

The other project I’m focused on is Heathen – a clothing line I design with Shayne Maratea. We design leather jackets, hats, other clothing, and jewellery.

Heathen has so many facets and it feeds my interest in different media from drawing designs and making patterns to fashion shoots.

Do you paint as well?

Yes, I give it a go.

Where did the inspiration for the toys come from?

My doodles. I love drawing . . . and also I think it feeds a more silly side. I don't think art has to be serious. My jobs can be hard work but that deosn’t mean it can’t be fun. I try and incorporate the idea of fun into my work and especially Blamo.

There's a lot of references to rabbit's in your work . . . did you fall down a rabbit hole when you were younger?

My first year of college, my mom and I made a bunny suit for halloween that I wore to threads. There is something freeing about putting on a creature suit.

I’ve also created a Blamo toy rabbit character named Billy so I think it’s funny for people to go from collecting a toy to becoming the toy themselves. We also make monkey and panda suits.

What's your involvement with Bali?

I love Bali. I'm amazed at how differerent it can be from one minute to the next. For instance the smells – you can be walking down the street and smell the sweetest fragrance and take another step and smell the worst shit you have ever encountered. The culture supports artisans – people make beautiful things here – coming from a country where there's less of that and more buying of things – it’s refreshing and inspiring to be around. The artisans that I work with continue to surprise me with ingenuity, patience and attention to detail.

OK here's one for you. You're driving home in a canyon. There's a large animal injured in the road, blocking your way. You can't get around it and it's a five-hour drive back to the nearest town. What do you do?

Snack on it . . . duh.

And finally, Spencer, what gets you up in the mornings these days?

Truthfully, I wake up early most mornings buzzing, ready to get at all the weird projects in my studio. I feel lucky to get to create on a daily basis and look forward to it each morning. www.spencerhansen.net

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A TALE OF ONE CITY.

spencer, stacked.

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models: tatiana for so wanted / lak for fauve agency / nicola for area mgmt bangkok hair & make up: julhenry

jewelry (Nose piece) Ozlem Esen.

Oka Diputra dress and belt.

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photography: anthony dodds stylist: ozlem esen yak fashion

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Left to Right – Tatiana wears: Blackhearts leather vest (available from sks) A.T.G swimwear bottoms (Available from Drifter) Leather gloves by Dust & Beau Jewlery (nose piece) Ozlem Esen Lak wears: Miss Milne Black leather top Miss Milne Sequin shorts Gloves by Dust & Beau necklace by Ernte (available at sks) Nicola wears: Miss Milne dress nose piece by Ozlem Esen neck piece by Ernte (available at sks).

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Lak wears: black jumpsuit by Ali charisma.

Bolero by Oka Diputra.

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Lak wears: Dress by Ali charisma. necklace by Chloe Bag from Prisoners of St. PetersburG

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Tatiana wears: top by Miss Milne Jacket by Ali charisma.

Nicola wears dress

by Ali charisma.

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Left – Tatiana wears: Dress by Miss milne

Nicola wears: dress by Ali charisma, A.T.G swimwear bottoms.

HeadpiecE model's own

Tatiana wears:

Jewelry by Ozlem Esen.

velvet dress by Miss Milne.

Headpiece Stylist's own. Jewelry Ozlem Esen.

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Dress by Ali Charisma. Tail from Prisoners of St Petersburg.

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Right: jumper by Ali charisma.

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travel

hang out with history in iceland. text: Joe Yogerst photos: d.hump

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I WAS sure I'd walked in on a room full of ghosts – three women seated around a smouldering hearth in a sod house on Iceland's west coast. Two of them dressed like medieval peasants, the third like a Viking princess. Hair long and unruly. Hands stained with grease and soot. Poking at the fire, chatting in old Norse. A vision from 1,000 years ago, deep and dark in the Icelandic past. No other people within sight or sound, I was alone with these eerie characters.

But just as I was about to slip out of the house and back to my car, they looked around, glaring at me through the dim light and swirling smoke.

The princess beckoned with a lanky finger.

"Who, me?" I asked, thinking I was dog meat, or at best a toad.

"Of course you," she responded in perfect English. "Don't be afraid! Come in! Join us!"

Moments later, the mystery was solved. The "princess" was Alma

Gudmundsdottir, director of the local tourist office; the "peasants" were a friend and her teenage daughter. All of them were actors in the living history performance that plays each day at Eiriksstadir, a homestead in the secluded Haukadalur Valley. There, Eric the Red lived before his banishment from Iceland, and his son, explorer extraordinaire Leif Ericson, was born.

"Eric was a bit of a troublemaker," Alma explained as we stood in front of the house, looking out across the treeless, emerald green landscape. "He was always arguing with his neighbours, probably over grazing rights. After one of these arguments, he murdered the farmer over there."

She pointed to a farmhouse on the other side of the valley. "He was finally 'outlawed' after murdering two other people – meaning that anyone could kill him without punishment. Rather than wait around for certain death, he took his family and his livestock and sailed away to Greenland."

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travel midnight sun equineimity.

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out of the blue.

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aurora.

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I had come to Scandinavia's most remote country in search of natural treasure – the glaciers, geysers and lava fields that make Iceland an outdoor adventure paradise. But I also discovered, quite unexpectedly, a people who recall their rich history – replete with Viking warlords and real-life witches – as if it were yesterday.

Twelve hundred years ago, this North Atlantic island was settled by the outcasts of Viking civilization. The baddest of the bad. The weirdest of the weird. People like Eric the Red who were so radical, so violent, so off-the-wall, they were judged unfit for what was already a pretty wild society. Struggling against extreme weather and stark geography, they were forced to build a new society from scratch.

Along the way, they founded the world's oldest surviving democracy.

And in typical Icelandic fashion, they did it like nobody else before or since.

Starting in 930, the island's nobles gathered every summer at a place called Thingvellir (Plains of Parliament) on the banks of the Oxara River. During this week or two, all of the nation's annual legislative and judicial business was conducted.

"It was more than politics," said guide Geir Rogwaldsson as we gazed from towering basalt cliffs that mark the plains' western boundary. "Maybe more like Woodstock. The entire nation came to Thingvellir. Peasants, fishermen, priests – everyone. Because around all of the politicking was a huge outdoor festival with music and markets, mud wrestling and matchmaking. Two weeks of extreme merriment during which people got married and pregnant and oft times very drunk."

This summer tradition, the cornerstone of the Icelandic nation, went on until the late 18th century when the capital was established in Reykjavik.

Nowadays, the plains are the centerpiece of the island's oldest and most popular national park, a place where archaeology complements incredible geology – lava fields, glacial rivers, the country's largest lake and a dramatic fault line that marks a sharp divide between the European and North American tectonic plates.

I uncovered more of Iceland's offbeat history during a drive around Westfjords, a rugged peninsula that juts into the Greenland Sea and long considered the island's most remote corner. Even today there are few paved roads and just a smattering of villages. The scenery is drop-dead gorgeous – glaciers hanging above deep blue bays, puffins clinging to precipitous cliffs, long and lonely golden beaches with nary a human footprint.

But for hundreds of years, Westfjords harbored one of Iceland's darkest secrets: sorcery. Given the area's long winters, extreme isolation and dire poverty, locals turned to witchcraft to solve their everyday troubles. By the 17th century, Westfjords was the hub of Icelandic black magic and a backlash that resulted in dozens of witch trials and burnings at the stake.

All of this comes to life at the fascinating Sorcery and Witchcraft Museum in Holmavik, a fishing village in the sparsely populated Strandir district. Tucked into a warehouse beside the wharf, the museum explains why black magic flourished in the region and details various means by which it was practiced.

One of the most common was carving a magic symbol, the "Hulenhelmer," onto a piece of lignite. It was then dipped in ink and pressed against your forehead as protection against enemies. But the ink had to be a blend of blood from your own finger and the heart of a living raven, mixed in a bowl with raven's brain and pieces of human stomach.

My personal favorite is the spell for raising the dead. Start by painting a secret symbol on an oak plank using blood from the big toe of your right foot and the thumb of your left hand. Place the plank on the grave of the person

you want to bring back to life. Walk three times around the graveyard church in a clockwise direction and then three times in a counterclockwise direction.

The dead spirit will then spew forth from the earth. But you must immediately snatch the zombie by the neck and squeeze until it begs for mercy. Only then will the zombie follow your commands.

On the way out, I asked the museum curator if people in Holmavik still practiced sorcery. "It supposedly ended in the 18th century," she answered.

"But there have always been stories in this area about people with special powers."

Then she flashed a sly smile. "Nowadays, we just don't call it sorcery or magic."

Rugged beauty Iceland's top natural attractions include: Gullfoss (Golden Falls): Spectacular double cascade that tumbles 100 feet into a narrow basalt gorge. A footpath leads to the "spray zone" at edge of the chasm. Expect to get wet.

Geysir: Geothermal spring where the term "geyser" was born. The original Geysir, damaged by earthquake and human interference, erupts infrequently these days. But the nearby Strokkur geyser spouts off every five to 10 minutes, a plume of water that rises about 100 feet in the air.

Langjokull: Iceland's second largest and most easily accessible glacier.

Guided snowmobile, snow jeep and dogsled treks available from the mountain base at Skalpanes. All cold-weather clothing and equipment is provided.

Dyrholaey: Spectacular headland on Iceland's south coast, flanked by a beautiful, black-sand beach and eerie offshore rock formations. Prolific bird life (puffins, Arctic terns) and great views of the volcanic Westmann Islands. Army surplus "duck boats" take visitors on amphibious tours.

Jokulsarlon: Deep, iceberg-filled lagoon at the foot of Breidamerkur Glacier, formed since the 1920s when the local climate began to change.

Sightseeing boats make frequent cruises, but the lagoon is also ideal for kayaking.

Lake Myvatn: Iceland's equivalent of Mono Lake, rich in both rock formations and migratory bird life. More species of duck breed here than anywhere else on the planet. Numerous walking trails and hot springs within the national park that protects the lake.

Latrabjarg: Both the westernmost point in Europe and the largest seabird cliff in the North Atlantic, a spectacular 700-foot cliff that provides a home for millions of seabirds. The offshore waters are notorious for shipwrecks but are now a haven for hard-core sea kayakers.

Blue Lagoon: Iceland's most renowned hot springs and also the most commercialised, with restaurant, gift shop and spacious modern locker-rooms built right along the shore. Best after sundown during summer "White Nights" when an eerie blue twilight bathes the entire complex.

If you go Iceland Climate: White Nights (24 hours of daylight) last from early June through mid-July. Summer daytime highs are in the high 50s (°F) or low 60s, nighttime lows in the high 40s. Weather conditions are unpredictable: rain, sun and wind are common on the same day.

Details: Icelandic Tourist Board, www.icetourist.is, or Iceland Tourist Board North America, www.goiceland.org.

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oral pleasures

mike pohorly gets high and down to earth at tirtha, one of bali's most understated premium dining spots.

“Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time, then your time on earth will be filled with glory,” wrote Betty Smith in her 1943 novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. This is actually something that seems to occur quite effortlessly while travelling. Nothing ignites the feeling of being in the now like getting off a plane in a strange country filled with foreign sights, sounds and flavours. We find ourselves uplifted and inspired, absorbing the world around us again, spontaneously refreshed.

Tirtha, a stunning dining room perched breathtakingly high on the cliffs of Uluwatu overlooking the Indian Ocean, serves up just such an experience. An evening here feels as if an old friend has gently taken your hand and led you to an astonishing vista to gaze at nature, as if for the first time. It’s a dining experience that vibrates within, like a much-needed vacation within a holiday. And by vacation I refer to the term in its strictest sense: to vacate or leave something one previously had occupied – whether it’s that day’s business and its associated stresses, the smart phone that hasn’t stopped beeping since 2004, or perhaps just a formerly held mindset.

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three levels of excellence.

The food at Tirtha Dining is superb, and as such it enhances and accentuates the entire experience. The executive chef, Japanese-born Hiroyuki Meno, learned the art of French Cuisine first at school in France and then by working there under Michelin-starred chef Paul Bocuse at the three-starred L’Auberge de l’ill. The marriage of Japanese chefs and French food at the decadent Tirtha Dining is everything you might presume it would be. Precise and fun presentations blending a taste that is deliciously full, yet never overdone. With this combination of attention to detail and elegance, it’s the fine dining version of the Goldilocks principle: It just feels right.

For my meal, I stepped outside of my comfort zone and embraced the pan-seared scallops and beetroot coulis.

Scallops have never topped my list of personal favourites, and this dish surprised me with a flavour that was mild but sweet with a very firm texture, and not in the least the fishy taste that I had previously associated with it. The Sautéed Foie Gras was done perfectly. Rich and soft, melting on the tongue, it offers the delight of Umami, the savoury taste. The main course, a grilled lamb chop, was presented artfully and did not disappoint, both juicy and tender. The Pastilla of Dark Chocolate with Pistachio Ice Cream topped off this five-course meal faultlessly. The entire meal was set over a brilliant table presentation that feels like nothing less than a posh wedding, possibly even your own.

Indeed, weddings mark Tirtha Dining’s humble beginnings. The founders are the husband-and-wife team Mr. Koji & Mrs. Yuka Koreyasu, who opened Tirtha Bridal in Uluwatu a decade ago. Tirtha has long been acknowledged as the premier wedding company in Bali. Taking their world-class service and cuisine to a restaurant setting was an easy transition.

Romance lingers in the air as visitors arrive here for dinner. Apparently proposals happen here quite frequently. It also seems like the perfect place to get into the festive spirit. A preview of the holiday menu available in December and January looks particularly intriguing, with caviar, lobster and venison on the menu along with a Raviolis Foie Gras Asparagus Mushroom Cappuccino. Three course meals begin at as little as Rp 400,000.

To top it off, the warm hospitality at Tirtha Dining is never intrusive, and is without the fine dining over-service, problems which seem to be a common nuisance in Bali. Here the excellence is done completely no-nonsense, without pretension or flamboyance. Left with no distractions and interruptions, you can simply relax and enjoy the best part of dining out – your companions, which, in the spirit of this unique environment, you may find yourself adoring as if you were seeing them again for the first time.

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oral pleasures Mike Pohorly visits two new players in Bali's restaurant stable that channel the modern romance of urban-island chic.

these pages: tropical rural exoctica at balique.

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Balique What would it take for you to pack up your things and move to another country to start a business? Okay, if you happen to live in Bali then maybe you already have. But would you do it sight unseen, having never been to the country before? Blaise Samoy and Zohra Boukhari did just that. They left their lives in Belgium and moved her to Bali, a place that they had never even visited. It’s been 17 years and they’ve never looked back.

Balique Restaurant in Jimbaran, not too far from the Intercontinental Hotel, Balique represents a culmination of all the couple’s experiences of life on our warm island, blended with European sensibilities. From the moment they arrived they busied themselves, first by setting up 16 room Villa Balquisse and then completed The Shaba and later Khaima Restuarant.

Based on these successes, they pursued the design business for others as well - decorating, furnishing and refurbishing hotels and restaurants. This extensive experience is on display at Balique. The restaurant is filled with hand-picked curios and objets d’art, including Art Deco working wall clocks, watering cans, teapots, and an antique cash till, as well as some off-beat touches such as the display of classic old suitcases filled with authentic toys of the era. In fact, the collection of chandeliers is, alone, worth the visit.

Upon entering, visitors are greeted by a traditional looking Indonesian structure, a vast open space with a high ceiling that invites one to pause, take a deep breath and absorb it all in before committing to a table. As I sat for dinner, other customers walked in and actually did just that – taking a moment to look around and acquaint themselves to this welcoming expanse.

The food at Balique is a wonderful mix of Indonesian and European. For starters, the tuna tartar here just may be the best I’ve had on the island. It’s a simple dish, but when mixed with Wakame seaweed and avocado in this delightful sauce, it becomes refreshingly alive. The service is cheerful and quick, and as the first dishes hit the table, I was still thoroughly enjoying a Coconut Bellini, their cocktail of sparkling wine and fresh young coconut.

For my main course I went for the Australian Tenderloin, with side dishes of Big Broccoli and Lemon Couscous. The steak was full-flavoured and incredibly tender. My dinner companion chose the Seared Salmon with Ginger, which came in such a picturesque presentation that it was immediately photographed and posted to Instagram. Dense, moist, it had a taste to match the visual artistry. For dessert, we shared the lemon cheesecake and the ginger Crème Brûlée, the ginger adding an unexpected hot tangy bite which completely cleansed my palate.

Over an after-dinner cappuccino, while enjoying the modern music selections of jazz, soul and cutting-edge lounge playing in the background, I heard more of Blaise and Zohra’s fascinating story. It began when he and Moroccan-born, Zohra, who had only very recently married, packed up and moved to Bali, encouraged only by some random enthusiastic reports from others who had mentioned that people in Bali were nice and that there were lots of things to do on the island. After years of completing their own projects as well as designing other people’s dreams, they still relish each opportunity to live their own — to design a space from scratch exactly the way they want it. This experience is something akin to what is sought after in the film industry, the “Director’s Cut.” Zohra reflected that this comes from a passion to designing spaces that they themselves just love to be in. Their ultimate joy of life is hosting others and seeing people happy.

“The great satisfaction we had in making our own restaurant was to create a concept from A to Z without restrictions,” says Blaise. “We believe that the décor, the menu, the wine list, the uniforms, and the music are all part of a place. Being able to finalise our concept rather than stopping at just the décor was immensely satisfying.”

And what they’ve created is truly a delight, both expansive and warm, in true Indonesian style, but with a unique take that showcases their Moroccan and European roots. The name Balique captures the spirit here perfectly – conjuring up “unique”, “antique” with an openair Bali concept. They did, however, come by it more honestly – their daughter’s name is Balquisse which inspired them to call the restaurant, Balik, Indonesian for “return”, and then, just like they did with the eatery itself, gave the final name a French twist.

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Metro meets Retro @ BISTROT Bistrot, the latest restaurant entry in the heart of Seminyak on Oberoi Street, presents the diner with exactly what its name implies – a vintage Parisian eatery serving good home style food without the to-do of a formal establishment. It all takes place in a beautiful converted warehouse that resembles a refurbished European train station, incorporating a style straight from Soho.

The Soho look, which has its roots in New York’s south of Houston Street area was the center of a design revolution in in the late 1880’s when Iron began being used as a building material.

This allowed enormous windows and high vaulted ceilings to be shaped into factories. Later, after the textile industry moved on, the area became a slum referred to as 'Hell's Hundred Acres', only to rise once again proving true the axiom, "one man’s loss is another man’s gain", as artists and designers flocked there to convert those high-ceiled buildings into lofts, clubs and restaurants.

Bistrot Restaurant, holds to this industrial style, accented with a brick wall and finishings like old sewing machine tables, antique lamps, all the while moving towards a theme, which the owners refer to as an "adult fairytale". This installation is brought to us from husband and wife restaurateurs and designers, Blaise Samoy and Zohra Boukhari. As Blaise tells it: "We fell in love with the volume of this space. The mezzanine is amazing because we could see the high roof as soon as we entered. The old paved streets of Paris inspire the floor. We also pay tribute to Indonesian heritage with antiques gathered over the years from across the archipelago. The final result is a blending of old Soho warehouses and factories with a railway station."

The couple is also behind the restaurant Balique, opened a year ago in Jimbaran. Whereas Balique is in open concept, Bistrot is completely enclosed and air-conditioned. It’s set back just far enough from the street to make it a welcome escape from the heat and noise of the busy neighbourhood. There’s a touch of fun everywhere you look including the drinks menu, which offers up an array of sparkling cocktails. I chose the Mojito Royale from the likes of a French 75, Honeysuckle and Kir Royale. The wine list also contains excellent choices from around the world, with many in the $40 - $50 range.

For starters we chose the Lobster Bisque and the Fois Gras Terrine. The Foie Gras is homemade in the Bistrot kitchen and I learned something here. Having never looked into it, I had always just assumed that a true foie gras, as opposed to a paté, was only ever prepared pan-fried.

However, Foie Gras Terrine, although resembling a paté in look, is actually slow-cooked at a low temperature in an earthenware terrine mould, which is placed in a bain-marie. This I found out is the ultimate, purist experience of foie gras, as there are very few ingredients to distract from the flavour, and allowed me to savour the rich, buttery taste. Continuing with the appetisers: halfa-dozen fresh oysters were served with a Vodka Relish and lemon – a topping that made each mouthful very clean-tasting.

For a main, I went with an off-beat choice for a bistro and selected the Singapore Laksa, a spicy noodle seafood soup. Laksa had its beginnings as a street food in the nearby city-state and it’s such a personal favourite of mine and a rarity in Bali that I never pass up the chance to sample it when I can. On the menu there is, of course, a great mixture of seafood, meat and poultry dishes. There’s a Bouillabaisse, Slipper Lobster, Duck, and Lamb, as well as some great steaks for meat lovers.

Bistrot’s Executive Chef is Yehudi van Meckeren. Yehudi began in the kitchen at 15-years-old due to his father being in the restaurant business. A native of Bruges, close to the Belgium coast, he worked at various seafood restaurants in his hometown before settling in Bali five years ago, and taking up positions at some of the top restaurants here.

When I asked Blaise about the differing challenges over the years between working as a designer for hire, running villas and as a restaurateur, he replied that for an eatery it is coming up with the right team, a great chef, good hospitality and service. “It’s a bit like a puzzle,” he says, “everyone has to find his place.” After a relaxed and enchanting evening at Bistrot, it’s easy to see how the pieces of this puzzle have been fitted together exactly as they were meant to be.

Also be sure to take note of the events coming up at Bistrot over the holidays, including a St. Nicholas kids' party, a Baroque themed Christmas Eve dinner with food and wine pairings and a Christmas Day brunch.

texture and soul at bistrot.

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constant wining Katrina Valkenburg struggles to answer the eternal question: Is Champagne better than sex?

We live in a world full of temptation and, depending on what sort of individual you are, you will either resist or succumb.

Strangely enough, I slide into the latter, I’m a YES girl. My glass is always half full and if it drops below this perilous level, I become anxious.

But there are some things that I have trained myself to resist for the wellbeing of all that I hold dear.

The number one thing that I have learnt in the last year of working in a premium bottle shop is to resist purchasing champagne willy-nilly. There are so many categories, colours, flavours and price points. But the one that sits majestically above all others in the shop is Krug, the King of all champagne.

Every day I have to resist its whisperings, goading me to buy, buy, buy or at least drink, drink, drink. I have an overwhelming desire to rip its foil off, open its little cage, pop its dear little cork and slurp the entire bottle.

As I yanked myself away from its heady lure recently, for some peculiar reason I began thinking about how similarly I have felt about certain men. "Don’t get too close or I might rip your clothes off", etcetera, etcetera . . . you get the picture.

And then the question hit me . . . Is Champagne better than sex?

I started scribbling madly on scraps of paper and, for the next couple of days, kept myself amused with this meditation . . . believe me, it was fun.

So here’s a list of my thoughts: • With champagne, you never need to feel guilty nor ashamed.

• There are no secrets, in fact sharing is at the core of the vinous experience.

• It’s actually acceptable to share a good bottle with lots of people.

• You can taste dozens of champagnes in the one session and not have to commit to a single one of them.

• When you find a really good champagne, it’s a pleasure to share with more than one person ....this one’s actually debatable.

• With sex (usually) only the two of you know how good it is; • And, of course, champagne always makes your partner look just that little bit better.

• And, you get the headache after the event.

• A bottle of Champagne usually lasts longer than the act of sex.

• If you want more you can simply reach for another bottle.

• With champagne, size is rarely an issue. The standard size is big enough but it’s quite acceptable to go smaller especially when drinking alone.

• One can always buy a large format bottle: • Magnum, Jeroboam, Rehoboam, Methuselah, Imperial, Salmanazar, Balthazar,

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• It’s not only size that’s NOT an issue with champagne or sparkling wine, you can choose whatever style, nationality or colour you want at any time of the day or night, in fact every day and night if you like.

• If you have to pay for it, it’s usually far cheaper and lasts a hell of a lot longer than sex.

• It’s more reliable, more likely to be a sure thing, you almost always know what you’re getting up front.

• There’s no wondering whether it will work (alcohol’s effects are remarkably reliable), it’s rarely flat and other than the odd bottle of champagne, very little risk of premature ejaculation.

• It’s safe to swallow, indeed it’s frowned upon to spit unless in judging circles.

• Wines rarely taste of anything like latex, although some absolute pains in the neck claim to to be able to taste the plastic of the screw cap liner.

• Champagne is not as messy as sex. Bill Clinton would be in a far better place today if all he left on Monica Lewinski’s dress was a wine stain.

Whether we’re talking champagne or sex it basically comes down to: Opportunity – champagne is far easier to find; Choice – from champagne to sparkling wines, there’s far more variety and no social issues if you regularly change teams; Availability – there’s really no limit to the acceptable times to drink champagne, from breakfast (Duval Leroy) through to lunch (Cristal), Dom Perignon before and during dinner, leaving the King of all champagne, Krug, for after dinner.

Guilt – unless you over-indulge, there’s no need to hide your love of champagne nor your habit of paying for it.

Sharing – I’m not embarrassed to say I often enjoy champagne on my own, I even tell people about it the next day. But the most fun is drinking champagne with lots of friends both old and new. You can’t have sex with all your friends, singly nor all at once.

Champagne doesn’t mind if you fall asleep straight after sex, couldn’t care less if you snored, farted or slept in, and is far easier to throw out the door in the morning.

Champagne is the world's finest celebratory fizz and it’s on hand morning, noon and night.

I’ve yet to meet a man so readily available.

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

big six

Sinful, satiating, moan-inducing, fabulous and naughty – Rarely has there been a food so revered, nor so controversial, as foie gras. Animal activitists fight fiercely against the practice, gourmands and chefs fight equally vehemently to keep it on their menus.

Artisan producers claim the fattening of the liver is based on the natural practice of ducks and geese who gorge themselves prior to migrating. The practice of eating this fatty liver can be found in almost every major culture in the ancient world, from the Romans to the Egyptians, each had their own way of fattening their fouls.

Egyptians, Hebrews and Greeks used soaked wheat to feed the waterfowl, while the Romans used figs from which the word “liver” originated. The result was an enlarged fatty liver, which has been on the finest menus for over 4,000 years.

Sticking hoses down the throats of the birds isn’t pretty but it has not deterred fans of the distinguished delicacy, in countries where it is not banned. Indonesia is not one of them and, somewhat surprisingly, some mainstream French suppliers also have a Halal version which is popular in many Muslim countries, including on our little island of Bali.

Metis By now, this is a legendary dish and the waiters at Metis will call it that as they serve it to you. Meltingly tender pieces of pan-friend duck liver foie gras is layered with baked apple, drizzled with a raspberry reduction and served with warm cherries. It is a dish that has legions of fans and has been a mainstay of the menu of Doudou, the chef of Metis, since his earlier days at Warisan. Food writers have fawned, diners have been overheard moaning when tasting the dish.

It is far and away a personal favourite in the everexpanding world of gourmet foie gras dishes in Bali. It features as part of a dedicated foie gras menu, among them some gorgeous dishes, both hot and cold, but this delicacy will never be taken off the menu because it is an absolute standout.

St Regis Eating foie gras for breakfast has to be one of the ultimate indulgences, and my introduction to the (pan-fried) delicacy accompanied by fried eggs 148

converted me completely. The fact that it is served as part of the now legendary brunch at St Regis, and has been lovingly created by their award-winning culinary team, means it is artfully prepared and beautifully balanced. The team, overseen by renowned chef, Oscar Perez, and beautifully interpreted by two Balinese executive chefs, both named Agung, has put the resort at the top of our dining to-do lists. Fried eggs and seared duck foie gras with red onion jam, caramelized peaches and brioche toast is the creation of Chef Agung Ardiawan at Boneka and it is sublime, creamy, smooth and full of flavor. Chef Agung Gede is hot on his heels with his foie gras and Shandong pear parfait at Kayuputi, but I can’t go past the decadent breakfast.

Mozaic Beach Club Created as a compliment to the more formal, award winning, Mozaic in Ubud, Mozaic Beach Club at Batu Belig is pulling out all culinary stops to establish a reputation to equal its sister. With former executive chef of the Ubud restaurant, James Ephraim, at the helm, the Beach Club also features a menu dedicated to foie gras dishes. Among them one stands out and it is available in both the Beach Club and the dining room. Crispy duck foie gras features a lightly seared slice of liver, just crisp around the edges, meltingly tender inside, served with a tangy meyer lemon purée and a salad of kemangi leaf, hazelnuts and chili.

Altogether a very refined dish that perfectly signifies the signature Mozaic style; French classics with Asian ingredients. Best of all, order it upstairs or downstairs, anytime. A classic dish.

Oberoi The dishes created by Enrico Wahl at Oberoi are as beautiful to look at as they are to eat and there are always elements that surprise and delight. Foie gras crème brulee with snakefruit compote and sunny-sideup mango is just such a dish. A gently simmered foie gras custard is placed on a soft crouton and topped with a traditional sugar crust, playing with textures and one of the most loved desserts in this sublime creation. Enrico has been known to feature foie gras in his desserts, however this is decidedly savoury, with the fruit compote and the mango sphere placed on

a pool of light yoghurt, giving the dish both visual appeal and a pleasantly sweet compliment. I almost named his foie gras terrine, created in a checkerboard pattern with bitter dark chocolate, another dish that raises the bar in so many ways. However Chef suggested and I meekly followed his lead. He is so often right about these things.

Cocoon Cocoon has proved once and for all that you can be all things to all people. A party venue, a casual hangout for tapas and cocktails by the pool, a luscious lunch and grown-up dinner restaurant, all work a treat here. And why was I surprised to find foie gras on the menu? Silly, really. A couple of lovely slices of perfectly seared foie gras with brioche, port wine and tamarillo chutney with a blood orange essence just worked perfectly on a crisp white-clothed table, with the gentle ocean breeze blowing, some excellent wine, and fine company. Cocoon really does tick all the boxes – with great style at an affordable price. The service is also worth a mention; friendly, knowledgeable and nice. Twelve of us had dinner, all of us loved it . . . a no brainer this one.

Anantara This will be a true test of the power of the press as Brandon Huisman, executive chef of Anantara threatens to close down his monthly brunch and possibly relegate one of our favourite things to a "sometimes" food. Not that it should be an "always" food as it is positively sinful. This one will raise some eyebrows but mindless of fat-ism I’m voting this as one of my favourite brunch items, a good old Southern take on foie gras – French toast with baked apples, foie gras and lashings of maple syrup. There, I’ve said it, feel better for it and hope that by popular demand this dish doesn’t disappear. It is so sinful you have to share it because no one could possibly eat this whole dish for breakfast or brunch . . . could they?

Anantara’s brunch is one of the loveliest in town – excellent value, always with some generous wines or champagnes thrown in – is too good to go. Pressure folks, pressure.

booze Three hundred years of distillation into one clear, screw-top bottle makes for a powerful pedigree, as Tony Stanton discovered early one morning at a tasting of Ketel One vodka.(hic)

It’s not every day one gets to drink vodka at a quarter-to-10 in the morning, not in polite company anyway. But such was the offer I received on what was otherwise an unremarkable Thursday from the good people at Nava+, purveyors of many of the potions one finds behind your average bar. It was an invitation to attend a vodka ‘tasting’, a new one on me, given that I had assumed (erroneously it turned out) that all vodkas were created equal.

Of course they weren’t. In front of me sat three glasses of odorless, colourless, liquid, yet I was assured each would have it’s own distinctive taste and would allow me, given a little education in the dark arts of vodka creation, to tell one from the other, even if I was otherwise blind drunk. And so it went: the first one tasted foul (I put that down to the fact that firstly I generally don’t drink neat vodka at room temperature, anytime before six in the evening and certainly not when I am sober – this being a task one generally only undertakes after one is totally shitfaced having imbibed pretty much everything else in the medicine cabinet).

Nevertheless I persevered . . . and on I went to number two. This second glass was distinctly more palatable than the first, having a viscosity I generally only find when drinking Grey Goose. And indeed it was Grey Goose – I was beginning to warm to me theme here. Anyway the third in the row before me also parted my lips, and this time I tasted a distinct metallic quality that was not at all unpleasant.

This, I was informed by my host, was the mark of a quality vodka – Ketel One. This is something of a long story, not because of my inability to tell it (heaven forbid), but because Ketel One has been around for a rather long time. More than 300 years in fact. Founded in a small fishing village in Holland in 1691, the Nolet Distillery has been producing the highest quality spirits ever since. And what’s more the same family is still in charge.

Ketel One’s unique character comes from this pedigree – and the fact that it undergoes an additional distilling process, reaching, to steal a phrase from another Dutch brand, the parts that other vodkas cannot reach. After the ubiquitous wheat spirit is created through the regular four. Column distillation process (I’ll spare you the technical details) it is re-distilled in small batches using traditional copper pot stills, including the original coal-fired 19th century ‘ketel’ No. 1, from whence the name derives.

The resulting vodka is indeed unique, if you like your vodka crisp with a lively tingle to finish. And indeed millions do. Ketel One is today sold in over 50 countries and has grown as a brand to two million cases a year. So . . . cheers.

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layo ver

lively, lush, luxe... and that’s just the ground floor. Katie Truman lives it up at Petitenget’s latest accommodation addition, L Hotel.

Squeezed in amongst Petitenget’s diminishing rice fields and a short totter to all its fabulous bars, boutiques and restaurants now filling the rest of them, launched May 2012, boutique L Hotel fits in with this increasingly jetsetter village.

One of Indonesia’s foremost architects, Popo Danes, and acclaimed interior designer, Meriem Hall, cleverly merge Balinese traditional heritage with uber-contemporary aesthetics and metro designer style, resulting in a bijou luxe property and "Small Luxury Hotels of The World" member.

A unique quintessential lifestyle brand and experience, L Hotel has enough polished chic, luxurious components and designer-led guest experiences to attract any Mr. and Mrs. Smith-style, well-heeled and savvy traveler to feel right at home. In fact, L’s underpinning concept is an all-embracing "home" to any self-respecting global nomad, as opposed to mere "hotel", starting with the smart town house design and semi-open lobby, resembling an elegant European drawing room, with high-backed velvet armchairs and afternoon teas. L Hotel is the first iconic offering from Singapore’s posh L Hotel and Resorts (which also owns-operates the Shanti Collection), and flagship for future L Hotels and resorts, planned for Bali, Indonesia and beyond.

With just 30 suites spanning three floors, the boutique property is specifically designed to provide ultimate intimacy and personable engagement with its guests and space. Referencing Balinese hospitality, an L signature is highly personalised and impeccable service, with bespoke butlers – kitted out in a funky old Englandstyle waistcoat and breeches adorned with oversized safety pins – assigned at a butler station on each floor to pamper each guest 24/7. Well before checkin, pre-guest forms offer champagne on arrival and special dining options.

The sleekly-designed suites integrate plush interiors, stylishly contemporary décor and splashes of sexiness with this island’s rich artistic elements – a highlight, a hand-crafted carved ceiling ornament above the divinely comfy bed.

Here, size really doesn’t matter, darling! Emphasis is more on an intimate, sensuous playground featuring get-in-the-mood lighting, screaming loud pink and orange silk cushions, lavish leather amenity vessels and marbleclad bathrooms with Gröhe fixtures that come out of the closet, literally. The slinky glass-encased rain shower and wash basin/grooming area are out in full force in this open-concept bathroom; modesty for any shrinking violets prevails however, with remote control shower blind and toilet ingeniously hidden behind a timber panel beside the built-in wardrobe. The six, larger Luxe Suites are even naughtier, with a centre-stage, couples-friendly bathtub.

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All suites also provide arguably the island’s finest bathroom amenities, New York designer-brand Kiehl products (which presumably disappear faster than you can ask, "What time are cocktails?"), complimentary fully-stocked mini-bar replenished daily, deluxe pillow menu, iPod dock, plasma TV / DVD and "work (or play) station" with daybed. You’re not here for the balconies or views, etc, however, five Legian Suites do offer that Balinese 'Holy Grail of vistas,' . . . rice fields.

Elsewhere on the premises, unexpected twists include well-thought-out music piped throughout – from snoozy daytime chill-out to post-sunset funky jazz – and health-giving blueberry and a yoghurt smoothie welcome drink. The semi-open lap pool comes positioned alongside the mezzanine level’s Love Bar and casually sophisticated Lola restaurant, framed by vertical gardens and wall candles (if you’re not happy about stripping off in front of bar flies and diners, a second pool, within L Spa and Gym, in a separate building next door, is suitable for more discreet plunges). Lola dining is an intimate affair, from delicious Chef Selection breakfasts – including freshly-baked pastries and breads served in brown paper bags, farmhouse strawberry yoghurts and Wagyu beef – to a la carte covering fine dining Pan Pacific cuisine with classic French leanings. For more intimate nibbles, Couples Corner is placed apart from Lola, offering a deux dining on a glass table placed above the pool and cascading water feature.

Keep five to seven o’clock free; room rates include complimentary daily sunset cocktail and canapés up on L’s hidden roof-top Luna Bar-Restaurant, exposing mighty impressive 180-degree views of the Indian Ocean, sunsets and Petitenget’s expanding republic. This semi-covered rooftop deck (open from 5pm), featuring square-shaped bar and open kitchen with copper Tandoor, focuses on mixologistinspired cocktails and innovative Tapas-style dishes, which include "Indian," Tandoori snapper Phadi and "Grill & Fried" Beef Wellington, truffle foam and grilled vegetables.

There’s also an authentic Teppanyaki Corner seating six – all L’s culinary offerings overseen by Dutch Executive Chef Rutger Nohl, formerly of Sarong and Mama San. Petitenget’s latest elevated hotspot is available for private parties, corporate and fashion launches, cocktail soirées – even weddings (100 guests standing). Not-so-board-meetings can be accommodated in a meeting room seating ten and private dinners in the adjoining VIP room for six.

For an ‘L’ of an experience and luscious lifestyle, room rates start from US$350, but look-out out for current promotions on their website.

Jalan Raya Petitenget 8L, Seminyak, tel: 473 3147/ www.thelhotels.com

crÈme de la crÈme.

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nuptials WHO'S NEXT?

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You’re on one of the

most romantic islands on earth, so why not get hitched here?

Katie Truman does the rounds of the vows that wow in Bali.

Anantara Seminyak Resort & Spa Slap-bang on Seminyak beachfront, impossibly hip Anantara offers a luxe lifestyle destination and mighty convenient base for Seminyak shenanigans – including weddings.

For hitching, The Thai-brand 59-suite resort offers an open-air timbered deck overlooking the infinity-edge pool at ground-level signature Wild Orchid, or canopyshaded Garden Lounge, a pebbles throw from the surf, positioned beside the resort.

For elevated proceedings, semi-open rooftop bar-lounge SOS Supper Club is a sought-after spot for ceremonies, with open deck facing out to a sweeping bay panorama (maximum 100).

All these venues can be cordoned off – pictureperfect with rose petal-strewn aisles and floral archways framing the Indian Ocean. Best time to book is 4-5pm, followed by classic sunset shots on the sand. Anantara’s fabulous two-bedroom rooftop penthouse (with 8m private pool, chef, and master butler service thrown in) fits more small-scale ceremonies and wedding dinners, or low-key bachelor (ette) parties.

With its sunken dance floor, excellent DJ sound system, culinary flair and birds-eye Seminyak views, SOS Supper Club is popular for receptions, after parties, dining on extensive decks, etc – you can book out the entire venue (subject to booking fees; 400 standing).

Two wedding packages offer different ceremonial styles: Jegeg Bagus Balinese Ceremony (from US$3,000++) or Paradise Western Wedding (from US$3850++); Signature Wedding Package (from US$7,000++), combines all the benefits of above with two-night Penthouse honeymoon. Anantara provides a dedicated wedding coordinator and can tailor-make any

request – even horse back bridal entrances on the beach!

Esther Angeline Salihin, Assistant Event Manager/ email:asalihin@anantara.com/Jalan Abimanyu, Seminyak, tel: +62 (0) 361 737773/ www.anantara.com THE LEGIAN BALI A Seminyak icon since 1996, timeless beachfront The Legian Bali hosts weddings that are simple, low-key yet utterly classy – and kept to one a week – plus customised and highly personable, with brand quality expected from prestigious GHM resorts. Even better, now this all-suite sanctuary has undergone recent renovations.

‘Sunset Garden Weddings’ (from US$3,000) take place on their exquisite – and freshly landscaped – north or south gardens; with gently sloping lawns studded with soaring coconut palms, these gardens flank a quiet section of Seminyak Beach – you’re not right on the (public) beach, but still beside it. Elegant proceedings commence at 'Stairs of Heaven'– a magnificent 28-step outdoor stone stairway adorned with white parasols and flowers, inspired by Java’s Borobudur Temple, with the walk down accompanied by traditional rindik sounds.

Post-ceremony cocktails (maximum 100) and dinners (maximum 80) follow on the immaculate lawns.

For more exclusive wedding celebrations, reserve The Legian’s 'swanky sand box, 'The Beach House', a luxurious three-bedroom villa discreetly positioned at the resort's edge within a private walled garden complete with 16m infinity pool and bale. 'Luxury White Wedding' package (from US$7495++) includes a two-night stay with ceremony for maximum 20 guests. Cocktail soirées (maximum 80) and dinners (maximum 50), can be entertained here, or at the Gardens. The revamped Ocean Bar and Terrace is also suitable for post-ceremony

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drinks, surveying the snazzy new 30m three-tier infinity lap pool and beachfront sun deck – and peerless sunset views. Packages come with add-ons, from canapés to all-important rain stopper.

Email Event Sales Coordinator, Mr. Ngakan Juliarta: sales1@ghmhotelsbali.com/ Jalan Kayu Aya, Seminyak Beach, tel: +62 (0) 361 730 622 / www.GHMhotels.com W Retreat & Spa Bali – Seminyak Dominating Petitenget Beach, Starwood’s flagship W Retreat has evolved as one of Bali’s most glam, ultra-contemporary and accolade-laden hotels. And as you’d expect from this chic A-lister hang-out, nuptials here offer a more alternative, unconventional approach, with playful touches and surprises. 'Wow Vows' can be taken at the refined Tea Garden, distinct concept Starfish Bloo signature restaurant and WooSky, rooftop space atop nightspot, WooBar, or for bigger bashes (maximum 260), 350sqm Great Room with connecting prefunction terrace. Away from the limelight, Oasis offers an escape-within-an-escape and more serenity in a surprisingly traditional setting: secluded amongst the retreats’ villas, two reflective ponds and Wantilan (Balinese pavilion) embedded in tropical gardens.

Wedding packages feature 'Forever After' (US$7,500 nett; includes two-night stay) and 'Yes, Yes, Yes' (US$4500 nett; one-night stay) – all with additional extras. Future betrotheds can make the most of W brand’s signature Whatever/Whenever® concierge service, ' Wow Vows' specialist and Dream Maker– with personal consultations dedicated to ‘visualise, conceptualise, stylize and realise’ to reflect couple’s individual personalities – their signature is stepping outside the box and "traditions." W also provides a custom-created 'Wow Vows website’ to be shared with guests and useful for posting photos, tracking RSVPs, updating event info and more. Find time to host the ultimate bachelorette mani-pedi parties, at W’s outrageous, award-winning Away® Spa – with fully-stocked bar! As W asks – 'Why Knot?'

Email wbali.events@whotels.com/ Jalan Petitenget, Petitenget, Kerobokan, , tel: +62 (0) 361 4738106 / www. whotels.com/baliseminyak Hotel Tugu Bali Boho-chic, evocative and stuffed with a vast swag of personally-sourced antiques and cultural artifacts, boutique Hotel Tugu Bali is a living-breathing museum that beautifully recreates traditional Balinese and Javanese hospitality and culture. And

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that permeates right down to weddings hosted here, supplying romance by the bucket load.

Canggu’s internationally-acclaimed Tugu offers quirky and sublime spots to declare "we do", celebrate and dine: for sunset ceremonies, the mature gardens (seating 75) or private beachfront pounded by Canggu’s wild surf (maximum 250), from Balinese Hindu to dreamy all-white affairs followed by reception dinners by torchlight. Or there’s Tugu’s historic, atmospheric-charged chambers, including Bale Agung (maximum 150), a high-ceilinged hall of giant wooden columns inspired by Balinese ceremonial homes; Bale Sutra, a 300-year-old Chinese temple reconstructed within a stunning red-hued room (maximum 40); and Black Chamber, paying homage to ancient Peranakan culture, (maximum 50). Venues provide a unique range of set wedding menus and custom-made culinary experiences, many covering traditional dining rituals and culturally themed experiences – from grand ceremonial feast, Royal Tugudom Dining and Rajadom (Imperial Balinese dining) to Full Moon Beach BBQs and signature Waroeng Tugu, with traditional Indo home-cooked cuisine served-up in rustic, oil-lamp-lit surrounds (maximum 40). Entertainment ranges from Ramayana to Kecak dances, while ceremonies cover traditional Balinese blessings and royal horse carriages.

Wedding packages start from US$1800++.

Honeymooners should hole-up at Tugu’s sublime honeymoon suite, Puri Le Mayeur Villa, elevated above a lotus pond and impossibly romantic tribute to artist Le Mayeur’s own love story.

Contact Wedding Coordinator, Stefanie Jaton, email: sjaton@tuguhotels.com / Jalan Pantai Batu Bolong, Canggu Beach, Canggu, tel: +62 0361 7311701/ www. tuguhotels.com Conrad Bali If it all gets too much on the fun-but-overrun west coast, slip down south, to sedate resort destination, Tanjung Benoa. As you’d expect from Hilton's worldwide luxury brand, 353-room Conrad Bali offers lofty standards and within their ‘botanical wonderland’ gardens alongside 350m of Tanjung’s pristine sands, pretty impressive wedding venues.

None more so than signature, Infinity, a magnificent marble, glass and steel wedding chapel – one of Bali’s largest absolute beachfront wedding venues. Its symbolic off-set triangle shaped design seemingly floats above reflecting pools and floor-to-

ceiling glass frontage allows maximum ocean-view exposure (seating 60).

Alternatively, Conrad’s thatched Beach Balé offers a more traditional, simplified wedding venue; so too, Water Garden, a stone pavilion elevated above a lotus pond, surrounded by palm trees, manicured lawn terraces and thatched balés and nearer the main resort wing, Floating Garden (seating 140), with secluded lawns extending to gazebo and water fountain backdrop. Additional outdoor venues suited for receptions (or ceremonies, if preferred), include beautifully shaded beach-front lawns: Infinity Garden (seating 80) with Infinity Chapel as backdrop and 1,000sqm Ocean Garden, extending down to the beach (seating 350).

Conrad Bali offers various venue-related wedding packages, but expert wedding planners can customise anything from beachside fireworks organised by certified technicians to hosting largescale, multiple-day Indian weddings – a signature here – from fire dances and Bollywood-style music to Indian Hindu priests; the pillar- less Ballroom (531sqm) with garden courtyard, may be just the ticket for this, catering for up to 300.

Email Ms. Stephanie Hermawan, Wedding Sales Manager, stephaniehermawan@conradbali.com; 168 Jalan Pratama, Tanjung Benoa, tel: +62 (0)361 778788 / www.conradbali.com Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay Armed with Four Seasons brand excellence, this long-renowned resort offers a distinctly Balinese feel, with thatched-roof villas and private residences terraced into hills overlooking tranquil Jimbaran Bay. And along cliff-top rambling gardens, with mature frangipani trees, bougainvillea and stone pathways, Four Seasons Resort reveals well-secluded wedding venues. .

Jimbaran Garden is expansive cliff-edge lawns with scenic 7m waterfall at rear, plus petal-strewn stone stairwell for look-at-me ceremonial arrivals (maximum 60 for weddings, 25 for receptions), while more hidden-away Coconut Grove offers a textbook beach wedding, with coconut palm-shaded white sands. Elevated off the public beach however Coconut Grove guarantees privacy (around 100 guests) – ceremonies range from rustic simplicity to formal-elegance. One of seven, ocean-front thatched balés dotted along the cliffs, Island Gazebo, on mini-headland lawns, is idyllic for intimate nuptials or dinners (maximum 30) aglow with Tiki torches and

Tugu hotel.

W RETREAT & SPA BALI .

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nuptials AYANA Resort and Spa Bali.

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candles; the private cove below accessed by stone steps makes for essential sunset snaps. Couples can also say “yes please!’’ in their own private villa, among stone-walled cliff-top gardens, or in elegant Residence Villas (nearby Coconut Grove); ultimate privacy guaranteed within walled pool gardens – the sumptuous four-bedroom catering for around 100 guests.

Where glorious bay setting blurs into the main infinity pool, The Pool Terrace morphs into a lavish night reception venue for 100 – the pool illuminated by floating candles. When the weather plays-up, Jepun Sari Pavilion, a timbered-glass meeting room with wrap-around terrace and unobstructed ocean views makes a fine alternative (200 guests). Successfully hosting weddings for years, FS’s signature is divine gardens, exquisite floral arrangements and impeccable yet flexible planners; wedding packages include Balinese Purification (from US$1800).

Email Ms. Dhanny Melissa Siswando, Wedding Sales Manager, dhanny.melissa@fourseasons.com/ Jimbaran, Kuta Selatan, tel: +62 (0) 361 701010 / www. fourseasons.com/jimbaranbay Semara Luxury Villa Resort Uluwatu Tottering high above the Indian Ocean on Uluwatu’s iconic cliffs, at the very least, Semara Luxury Villa Resort offers pretty dramatic wedding pix. This new five-Star also provides an elevated luxury and unique villa concept with seven, fivebedroom villas strung along 7.5 acres of cliff-hugging gardens. Each villa is architecturally refined and one-off in character, but all offer approximately 2,300sqm of landscaped grounds, 30m cliff-edge frontage, 25m infinity-edge pool and personal chef, butler and driver thrown in. All seven gigantic villas can be used as outdoor wedding venues – and your very own private estate; Tamarama Villa however is designed with larger events in mind, a fabulous white timbered villa oozing colonial refinement, kindly supplying two pools, oversized bar and enclosed entertainment area, plus cliff-edge gazebo, doubling as ultimate romantic wedding chapel. Villa Ambar has expansive lawns with private gated access to Semara’s central facilities – allowing seamless entry from a ceremony on cliff-top lawns, Selatan Garden, to a reception back in the villa.

Ceremonies can also be held down at Semara’s castaway-style white sand beach and Finn’s Beach Club – beach ceremony wedding packages include

Castaway for Two (from US$4500++) and Beach Club Wedding (from US$20,000++). Basic two-nights villa accommodation with villa ceremony and Selatan Garden reception starts from US$10,500; you can also book off two villas together for maximum 20 guests, or all seven villas and have the entire resort exclusively for your wedding party (up to 70 guests), with full use of communal facilities (spa, restaurant, infinity pool, etc) at no extra cost!

Email events.uluwatu@semararesorts.com; Jalan Pantai Selatan Gau, Banjar Wijaya Kusuma, Ungasan/ tel: +62 (0) 361 848 2111 / www.semararesorts.com Tirtha Bridal Launched to create unique, magical and unrivalled weddings in Bali, Tirtha Bridal is exclusively dedicated to all things ‘wedding.’ Armed with a professional army of over 80 personnel, headed by Japanese wedding guru Yuka Koreyasu, and offering acrossthe-board range of services, Tirtha Bridal has successfully organized over 5,000 weddings since 2003, each unique highly personal.

Then there’s the setting: two dazzling, purpose-built wedding venues of architectural mastery towering high above the rolling surf atop Uluwatu’s southern cliff tops – providing a backdrop of jaw-dropping Indian Ocean views. An acclaimed visionary design, Tirtha Uluwatu features a spectacular glass-paneled wedding chapel (seating 50), with secluded terraced gardens for sunset or moon-lit receptions (90 guests) and formal dining options; couples get prepared in the adjoining Bridal Villa. Larger Tirtha Luhur features a contemporary Asian-designed chapel surrounded by water (seats 100), indoor-outdoor, fine-dining locations – including candle-lit terrace gardens and exclusive three-bedroom luxury wedding villa, for the night ahead. New addition Water Wedding is a purposebuilt altar at Tirtha Luhur’s pool, where couples exchange vows on water, blurring into the horizon.

Exclusive in-house services and facilities include Bridal Boutique, stacked with over 500 hand-picked, imported bridal gowns and tuxedos and in-house specialists from florists to Entertainment Director, Chika Asamoto – Japan’s premiere female jazz sax player. Tirtha Bridal enjoys access to Bali’s finest entertainers, performers and event staff, plus they can arrange off-site weddings in luxury properties; ‘Blissful Wedding Package’ (from US$11,190++), includes two-nights at 5-Star partner hotels.

Jalan Uluwatu, Br. Dinas Karang Boma , Desa Pecatu,

tel: +62 (0) 361 8471151/ www.tirthabridal.com AYANA Resort and Spa Bali Set apart from the crowds, literally, in ultra-secluded 77 hectare grounds in Jimbaran, this prestigious five-star is almost heaven-sent for weddings; ayana hosts around 600 a year, and among many accolades, comes listed among CNNGo’s World's Best Wedding Venues, 2012.

Seven distinct, exclusive wedding venues are spread across 1.3km of cliff-top tropical gardens providing complete privacy and for most, wondrous Jimbaran Bay backdrops.

Tresna (maximum 50) and more secluded, larger Astina (maximum 80) are all-glass contemporary wedding pavilions that shimmer above water features, while Ayana Villa, a 3-bedroom presidentialstyle house set on 3000sqm of cliff-top gardens, provides its own private wedding gazebo and pool – perfect for ceremonies, receptions and honeymoons (200 guests) all in one secure, deluxe location. Secret garden locations for ceremonies and dinners include Bale Kencana, a traditional Balinese thatch-roofed gazebo surrounded by stone-walled gardens (maximum 100) and Asmara, a 350-year-old Javanese joglo ceremonial pavilion (maximum 80). ayana’s Kisik Jetty is Bali’s only private pier available for hotel wedding ceremonies, albeit room for couple and celebrant only.

Not ocean side, but spaced well away from the main resort, Champa Garden offers a minimalist, multi-faceted outdoor event space (20,000sqm) designed to host grand-scale ceremonies and receptions (around 3,000) such as Indian weddings – apparently, the first and largest transposable private outdoor venue of its kind within a Bali five-star.

Venues come with related wedding packages, including ‘Something New’ at Ayana Villa (from Rp 93,500,000++). Ayana boasts the island’s largest multi-lingual resort wedding team, with couples assigned a dedicated wedding planner, co-coordinator and butler, plus can provide most wedding services in-house, including wedding gift registry and Bali’s only bridal horse-and-carriage service!

Email Chief Wedding Planner Ria Kentjonol: weddings@ ayanaresort.com or japanese.wedding@ayanaresort. com / Jalan Karang Mas Sejahtera, Jimbaran, tel: +62 (0) 361 702 222; www.ayanaresort.com/wedding

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uptown

It’s time change for brash Kuta and Legian, now experiencing a renaissance in upmarket movement. By Katie Truman.

Pullman Bali Legian Nirwana Almost an old hand (opening more than a year ago), Pullman Bali Legian Nirwana (PBLN) is not only the first new wave of upscale accommodation in Kuta-Legian that startled the locals and wowed the tourists, but ACCOR’s first Indonesian Pullman property. Alongside Legian’s main beach drag and within sprawling tropical gardens studded with palm trees and water features, five-star PBLN comprises clumps of accommodation wings with a combined architectural design resembling a frangipani flower. This expansive beachfront yet urban smart resort (and tsunami-certified) simultaneously keeps partygoers, corporate groups, honeymooners and families happy with diverse facilities: highlights include Connectivity Lounge, Kids' Club, hi-tech-meets-holistic Tjakra-7 Spa – try the sublimely therapeutic hydro-vitality pool, night time – and rooftop infinity pool (one of three pools), with sun deck splashed with turquoise mini-cabanas – a fabulous perch for surveying Legian’s surf and sunsets or for early morning yoga classes. Excellent MICE facilities – the area’s first – feature innovative 'chill-out zones,' pillarless theatre space and dedicated group check-in lounge.

All 353 non-smoking guestrooms, including family-friendly two-bedroom suites, come earthy toned and wood-floored, supplying posh Roger & Gallet bathroom amenities, in-room yoga and gym kits, interactive LCD TVs and garden-view balconies. Look out for their upcoming third restaurant, streetside Sembilan, specialising in contemporary Balinese. #1, Jalan Melasti, Legian, tel: +62 (0) 361 762500 www.pullmanbalilegiannirwana.com

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SHERATON BALI KUTA December’s arrival of Sheraton Bali Kuta is arguably the area’s most profound addition. Endorsing Kuta’s new potential, GM, Dario Orsini, points out: "We aim to take Kuta to the next level and change people’s perceptions, introducing luxury in an area where guests wouldn’t normally perhaps stay."

In its 75th anniversary year, this all-new Sheraton generation serves up a young, fresh and interactive approach reflecting this dynamic community, but guaranteeing expected luxury. Design-inspired by Balinese terraced rice fields, this contemporary E-shaped property incorporates two accommodation wings connected to a central hub by walkways and garden spaces, a communal concept enticing guests to mingle. Natural materials like stone and mother-of-pearl induce warm, earthy interiors. All 203 rooms, including two-level Presidential Ocean Front Suites, offer Sheraton-style amenities, such as Sweet Sleeper Bed, latest technologies (multimedia system with iPod connectivity, etc) and spa-inspired bathrooms, whilst practically all are ocean-facing with private balconies for glorious Kuta Bay and sunset views. Sheraton brand top-notch Shine Spa and F&B outlets, including street-level, signature Feast, plus MICE facilities covering 1,600sqm are further welcome injections.

Sheraton adjoins and rests above another swanky new outfit, retail and entertainment complex, Beachwalk: guests are directly connected to all its diverse outlets, including Cineplex and child care centre, and are in the thick of Kuta’s hotspots and beachlife, yet can retreat back to their elevated sanctuary.

the stones legian bali.

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SHERATON BALI KUTA.

THE AKMANI LEGIAN.

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'Experience Sheraton' promotion, from US$225++, runs until June 30 – but like all our featured hotels, check websites for latest rates.

Jalan Pantai Kuta, Kuta, tel: +62 (0) 361 846 5555 www.Sheraton.com/Balikuta

The Stones Legian Bali Opened October 2012, The Stones Legian Bali shares the same Indonesian owner, site and name as Legian beachfront’s in-yer-face Entertainment Centre – but that’s where similarities end. Positioned far enough from the beach drag and The Stones Entertainment Centre (launched 2010), Asia Pacific’s first Autograph Collection and Legian’s second five-star international brand, The Stones Legian Bali holds sway. A series of unique hotels by Marriott, Autograph Collection defines itself by ‘less predictable stays’ and ‘unexpected delights’ – a recurring theme here.

Ultra-contemporary luxe, The Stones Legian Bali offers things on a colossal scale: the grandiose open-air lobby – blue marble-clad and stunningly illuminated night time – extends out to 308 guestrooms and ground-level F&B outlets encircling 3,500sqm of freeform pool and entertainment deck. Their Presidential Suite is a 1,950sqm jaw-dropper; three floors and four-bedrooms of retro elegance, with exclusive rooftop pool and de rigueur helipad. And although geared to young, hip couples of all persuasions, MICE business plays a big part, literally, with a whopping 3,000sqm of hi-tech-equipped event space – the Grand Ballroom (1,493sqm) is Bali’s largest pillar-less venue.

Minimalist, light rooms and suites incorporate thoughtful touches such as kimono-style robes for tasteful outdoor forays, espresso machines and complimentary use of iPads and pre-programmed iPods; most rooms feature freestanding balcony bathtubs – or ground-floor whirlpools – concealed behind white curtains. Centre-stage, the lagoon-style pool lures with semi-submerged sun-loungers, poolside cabanas and a ‘hammock hill,’ where pool attendants come attired in funky boardies, flip-flops and Trilby hats. Sunset entertainment here presents a solo mobile saxophonist followed by Balinese fire dances accompanied by African drum-beats. Hard to believe downtown Legian is just a stone’s throw away. Opening rates start from US$160++, valid until January 31.

Jalan Raya Pantai Kuta, Legian, tel: +62 (0) 361 3025888 www.stoneshotelbali.com THE AKMANI LEGIAN Don’t be taken in by its narrow entrance along Legian-Kuta’s main thoroughfare; this urban oasis on these 'burbs blurred boundaries' is deceptive, rather like Dr Who’s Tardis, and is actually a five-storey property stretching a block through to Jalan Benasari. Through The Akmani’s open-air lobby, you’ll arrive at an expansive courtyard space, where accommodation wraps around a gigantic freeform pool and tropical gardens.

Opening December 2012, this independent, Indonesian-owned four-star brand is stylish; design is contemporary Asian-infused with trad

Balinese flourishes – note the earthen screen block-lined passageways and window-ledge bamboo wind chimes. Sustainability efforts include recycled matured ironwood incorporated throughout (sourced from an East Javanese port) and maximum sunlight exposure and plant use. All 154 guestrooms feature quality bedding and bathroom fixtures, widescreen LCD TV and high-speed WiFi connection – only the 70 Classic Rooms don’t provide bathtubs or balconies. Four luxurious top-floor Villas (suites) reveal extensive indoor-outdoor living areas and include a two-bedroom Grand Villa and two, one-bedroom villas with roof gardens; Akmani’s integrated rooftop also reveals a Rooftop Bar-Lounge complete with plunge pool, sunken bar and cabanas – a new ocean-view destination perfect for cocktail indulgences and wedding vows. Facilities run to signature Italian restaurant, Bel Piatto, overlooking Legian Street, meeting rooms, spa and a ‘tat-free-zone’ shopping arcade. Like the others, Akmani is all about location: a stagger from Kuta-Legian’s shops and nightspots and easy beach access from their Jalan Bensari entrance. Opening rates start from US$99++, valid until March 31. #91 Jalan Legian Raya 91, Kuta, tel: +62 (0) 361 754 577 www.akmanilegian.com THE MAGANI Here’s another unexpected twist in Legian, with the recent arrival of The Magani. The concept behind this 108-room hotel is to bring Legian (and dreary Jalan Melasti) up a notch, introducing an urban boutique hotel that’s new, different and stylish, with lofty service levels, yet reasonably priced.

And The Magani surprisingly pulls it off, a chic bijou bolt-hole – what you’d expect meaning “delightful place” and from Balinese owners-management, Niksoma Group (of Bali Niksoma and Maharta Bali beach resorts).

The tastefully-styled, contemporary lobby extends out through a sea of sofas to an inner sanctum courtyard, totally dominated by an outdoor lap pool and tightly configured on three sides by five floors of accommodation.

This socially buzzing pool comes book-ended by Garuda water fountains and sunken bar, with mezzanine day-bed zone above. Sleeping options include 20 ground-floor Premier Pool rooms, featuring smart walnut brownhued interiors and walled gardens with plunge pools (remarkably peaceful, given this is Legian’s epicentre) and Suites with outdoor Jacuzzis.

All rooms, from a generous 42sqm, supply private balconies and DVD players. There’s meeting facilities, spa and gym, but the highlight is signature restaurant-bar, Mozzarella, part of the Niksoma restaurant brand, offering a surprisingly charming in-hotel experience in both cuisine and setting – and well-priced. Dining options include suspended above the pool or Jalan Melasti’s mayhem, out on the spacious verandah. Here, and the rest of The Magani, slip into their element night time, prettily aglow with shimmering tea-light candles; rates from US$125, until mid-June.

Jalan Melasti, Legian Kelod, Legian, tel: 0361 7934935 www.themagani.com

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open spaces in a compound of white luxe

Call us a picky bunch of spoiled Turks if you will, but we have to say it’s hard to impress us sometimes – one of the perks of being involved with The Yak is that we get to live what we’re all about: which is luxury, with a healthy dose of all-walksof-life partying thrown in. So when we went looking for a villa to host our post-Yak Awards festivities, we came upon what we thought was the perfect venue: Eden.

Eden is a complex of 14 individual, two- and three-storey luxury villas all decked out in white comprising seven three-bedroom, six five-bedroom and one four-bedroom residences, offering a total of 55 rooms in all. Which is not entirely a description that does it justice. What you’re faced with in reality is a beautifully landscaped oasis of modern white palaces that whisper style and substance – located on Berawa Beach in Canggu.

One night was hardly enough time to enjoy all three floors of our villa. We started on the ground at the pool around the longest white sofa ever lounged, with friendly and accommodating staff who somehow managed to keep up with

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our demands for various cocktail paraphernalia. Life rose at a pace until we found ourselves, somewhere around dawn, in the jacuzzi on the roof (each residence has a private rooftop garden thus adorned) until finally we hit the sack (perfect white linens in perfect white rooms) to wonder why we had never stayed here before.

All villas are fully staffed, and come with state-of-the-art facilities including flatscreen plasma screen TVs in each of the en-suite bedrooms, fully-equipped kitchens, and private swimming pools, rooftop gardens with jacuzzis and complimentary WiFi connections. Four of the villas can be joined into two large super-villas through the clever use of long sliding walls in the gardens, making one seven-room and an eight-room villa respectively, both with in-house spa treatment facilities. So if you’re feeling expansive and want to invite the crew, there’s plenty of party room for everyone. www.edenbali.com

venting tandjung tirta.

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puri tirta "Life is like a tackle box. Just when you think you have everything you could possibly need in your arsenal of lures, baits, and other assorted odds and ends, you find yourself in a situation where you have to run out and get something else. So it is with life. Just when you think you've seen it all, done it all, and heard it all, something new happens. And afterwards, you store it away in the appropriate compartment, where it may or may not be used again." ~ Bill Cari

Fishing . . . the whole world has gone nuts about fishing. They may have been nuts about it in the past, but recently with the dawning of reality shows such as Deadliest Catch, Wicked Tuna and Fishy Sundays, it seems that the hook and the reel of it is that we all want a 'go'.

So in this case Bali – one of the world’s hotspots for mahimahi, yellow fin tuna and more – comes up trumps with this ever-evolving fun day out. Time to decide. Most Bali options drag you out of bed pre-sunup for an hour’s car ride before even getting sand on your feet; then, and only then, it’s anchors aweigh.

How to go one better than that? Simple, miss the traffic, check in one night early and stay at a villa with its own jetty.

So it is for Puri Tirta villas, in Tanjung Benoa – South Bali. Managed by the VillaNaBali crew, four 3-bedroom villas come complete with the usual bedrooms, bathrooms, indivudual swimming pools and balés (and very nice they are too!).

Sunsets are amazing from this vantage point – they look west over a bay to the mangroves and beyond.

High tide laps at the retaining walls just metres from the

infinity pool. There’s a private jetty – yes it’s yours – as is the boat that comes with it!

Low tides lend themselves to walking, looking, and poking around in the natural environment.

High tides – two in every 24 – prompt you to get your Esky organised, and your rods ‘n’ reels, bait and lures (a Yak favourite is one we call the disco squid) and get set to go.

The thing about fishing is not about IF you caught a fish or how big it was before it got away. The trip is just about the trip – the adventure; the gargantuan possibility of IF. Couple that to a none-too-shabby luxury villa with charming people to assist your every whim, two perfect sunsets, and a boat captained by an amenable fellow who knows the local waters like the back of his hand . . . one has all the elements to make a memorable getaway indeed.

Puri Tirta comprises of four privately owned villas just minutes away from a golf course, an art museum, a shopping mall and most of Bali’s five star hotels. www.puritirtavillas.com www.villanabali.com

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fashion freestyle

www.beachgoldbali.com

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www.bodyandsoulclothing.com

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www.biasabali.com

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Bamboo Blonde Tel. 3640060

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www.deus.co.id

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www.bytheseatropical.com

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goddess of babylon Tel. 739146

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www.sksbali.com

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www.quarzia.it

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SATU is available at beachwalk Level 1, Jalan Pantai Kuta, Kuta Bali. Tel: 8465001

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www.milos-bali.com

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www.paulropp.com

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www.nicoperez.co

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yak awards Mario Gierotto: winner, best fashion label 2012.

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we came, we conquered, we drank martinis. and we partied like romans.

On a pregnant late September 2012 evening expectation crackled at the Mozaic Beach Club in Batu Belig. There was electricity in the air.

Everything was set up; the weather threatened to intervene and turn the event into a damp squib. But we’ve got connections – we had a word with the weather gods, and they decided the annual Yak Awards meant too much to too many to end up as a washout. We thank them for that.

Under leaden skies the bold and the beautiful began to turn up for our celebration of “The Martini Days”. Fashionistas and foodies; the fab folks; the first-timers; and the full-on frequent flyers gathered, mingled, and sparked up the night on Mozaic Beach Club’s pool deck while the ocean roiled in the background.

Yak Man of the Year . . . Desmond James Yak Woman of the Year . . . Suhaila Noordin Outstanding Achievement . . . Ni Nengah Widiasih, Paralympian Best Community Service . . . Bali Kids Best Newcomer . . . Mamasan Best Wine List . . . Metis Best Event . . . Fatboy Slim at Potato Head Beach Club Best Restaurant . . . KU DE TA Best Chef . . . Michael Shaheen, Sardine Best Sunset Venue . . . Potato Head Beach Club Best Spa . . . Jari Menari Best Bar . . . Mantra

Womenfolk shone in their finest threads.

Menfolk dressed up snappy.

Everyone was happy and martinis flowed.

Couples posed for some photographic chappies.

Crazily creative canapés came forth from the kitchens thanks to some of the most talented chef’s on Bali.

They pushed the boundaries; they concocted sublime; they tempted and treated time after time.

The buzz rose to a crescendo as the Yakkers took the stage to make the announcements that all had come to hear . . . and the winners of the 2012 Yak Awards are:

Best Retail Space . . . Bathe Best Ad Campaign . . . Deus Ex Machina Best Fashion Label . . . Nakal by sKs Best Jewelry Design . . . Tulola Best Resort . . . W Retreat & Spa Best DJ . . . Stuart McLellan Then the dancing began. The tension that had pervaded the Beach Club ebbed – replaced by relaxed conviviality, and congratulatory backslapping and hugging.

We’d pulled off another one . . . we look forward to the next one.

Plans are already afoot for 2013.

Thank you one and all . . . we look forward to seeing you there.

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astroyak

moodofthemoment

By Dr Deepak | astro-deepak@usa.net | www.astronlp.com | Skype: drdeepakvidmar So now is the time of the infamous Mayan prophecy of the end of the 4th World Age on Dec 21, 2012. Actually there is no prophecy. All that has been found are some stone stele with a calendar ending on a date we don’t fully understand because the Europeans killed all the astrologers and burned their books. The agreed upon date for the beginning of it was 3114 BC, which is the same time of the beginning of the Kali Yuga according to the Vedas. It is also the time of collapse of Mediterranean civilizations because of comet impact and megadrought and the Sahara turning into a desert. So what is going to happen? You don’t need astrology to tell you that. Just read the news. It is not a matter of If, but When. It is not a matter of When, but How Soon. From what I hear, all the souls in Heaven are lined up waiting to come into a body so as to have a ring side seat to the show.

Saturn has been opposite Aries since the end of 2009 and now it is gone. It may have felt like lead in your shoes, that something was holding you back, that there were obstacles of practicality in your way and there was a heavy load of duty or responsibility on your shoulders. Now it is gone. The spring that was compressed now jumps back with more force than before. Time to move, to travel to foreign lands, to seek the Truth, to hit the refresh button on your programme.

leo The Duality for you now is to whether take a risk or be conservative, to look to the future or to learn from the past, to jump or to stand your ground, to advance or to consolidate what you have gained. The paradox of wanting something is that when you get it, it turns into a burden, duty, or responsibility and holds you back. This is a networking time for you now. Many friends with a common goal to be achieved. You are born to be the leader. Now you have it.

sagittarius You don’t have to know where you are going to arrive at your destination. You don’t have to know where home is to feel at peace with yourself. You don’t have to know anything for sure my friend except where to put the next step. It is travel time again in a beautiful way. It is about the joy of living, the joy of experiencing yourself, and the joy of being with good people in your life. All you have to do to find Home is to follow your heart. Home is where the heart is.

taurus

virgo Your intuition is stronger now and the next step in your evolution is to merge that with your powerful analytical mind. How to merge faith with facts? How to merge the big picture with the details?

How to merge the unseen with the obvious? How to merge structure with the formless and infinite?

How to merge responsibility with playfulness and contentment? The paradox is that the more you let go of earthly concern, the more successful and recognised you become.

capricorn

libra

aquarius

Since 1998 Neptune has been in aspect to Taurus. It was a spiritual, idealistic dreaming time. The practical world didn’t matter so much. Now it does. Saturn transits Taurus for the next couple of years.

The Wheel has turned. Now it is about feet on the ground. Make a plan and prepare for the practicalities of your life. Not a problem for you. It fits with your energies. Paradoxically, the most practical thing to do now for your life is to go into your Aloneness and feel the presence of yourself to know the life you are planning for.

gemini

This is as good as it gets. There may always be a bug in the soup, but this is such a good soup, you may not even notice the bug. Jupiter transit in Gemini. It is about feeling lucky and good with yourself. It is about enthusiasm and being social. It is a people time and many want to be with you now. Don’t worry, be happy the wise man says. Flash that beautiful smile of yours and smile, baby, smile. Go where the wind blows and forget about any kind of plan.

It is a time when relationship is emphasised in your life, relationship in its many forms of coming together and going apart and how to relate in between. This is an unusual time of intensity and non-commitment simultaneously at the same moment.

It is an energy of trying to possess what cannot be possessed so that the lesson of independence and freedom is learned. Two powerful individuals are bonded and yet they recognise the other as free. You are apart but not forgotten.

Pluto and Uranus transit at the same time. This will happen only once in your life. It is a significant time. Shock and change take you to the very core of your Being. Find your power or the power finds you. It is about your inner and ultimate Truth and the purification and cleansing it takes to find it and feel it. It is a significant time. It is an opportunity to directly know the essence of your life. What goes is not correct for you. What stays is eternal and never dies.

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It really is about making a plan for the rest of your life. Maybe it is retirement time or you are already retired. Good to make a plan for your finances and to watch them carefully. Mark out the basics you really need and consider anything else as your luxuries. Make a schedule and be sure to include leisure/play activities for yourself. Renew your contacts with old friends and keep an active social life. Expect the unexpected and plan for that too.

pisces scorpio

cancer

Pluto transit from 2008 until 2024. It happens every 248 years. Lucky you. Last time it happened was from 1762 until 1778, the American Revolution. Its positive intention is to find Eternal Truth.

The way it does that is to kill everything and whatever is left standing must be Eternal. It is Shiva the Destroyer.

It is also the Purifier and does the job of cleansing any impurities from the system. Whatever is lost was untrue in some way. Whatever is left is that which never dies and is your Eternal Truth.

Saturn transit for the next couple of years. Good time for achievement and getting things done that need to be done. Concentration and selfdiscipline are at their highest now. Not a chit-chat social time. You are in your aloneness with the presence of yourself . . . in Time. This energy is about Time, about being in Time and being on Time and how it flows and how it passes. It is about reflecting on your life about what happened in the past. “The future never comes and the past never happened”.

Neptune transit in Pisces from 2011 to 2026. Nowhere to go but everywhere. The most spiritual, mystical time of your life. Follow your faith and intuition because nothing else on planet Earth is going to make any sense. Trying to use your mind to figure things out isn’t going to work because your mind is not working anymore. Don’t know who you are or what you want and hard to make a decision. Find places and others without pressures or demands and just Be.

JEWELLERY AND DINING.

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Page 51 Conrad Bali Tel: 778788 www.conradbali.com Page 77 Kupu Kupu Jimbaran Tel: 703342 www. kupujimbaran.com Page 67 L Hotel Tel: 8947898 www.thelhotels.com Page 43 Yak Map Q.3 O’villas Tel: 737296 www.ovillas.com Page 186 Yak Map R.5 Semara Uluwatu Tel: 8482111 www.semarauluwatu.com Page 71 Sheraton Bali Kuta Resort Tel: 8465555 www.sheraton.com/balikuta Page 53 Yak Map D.12 The Akmani Legian Tel: 3009191 www.akmanilegian.com Page 81 Yak Map V.16 The Amala Tel: 738866 www.theamala.com Page 44 The Bale Tel: 775111 www.thebale.com Page 44 The Legian Tel: 730622 www.GHMhotels.com Page 15 Yak Map N.7 The Mulia Bali www.themulia.com Page FIC The 101 Legian Tel: 3001101 www.the101bali.com Page 165 Yak Map D.12 Tugu Hotels Tel: 0361.4731701, 03706120111 www.bali@tuguhotels.com www.lombok@tuguhotels. com Page 151 Yak Map O.1 Villa Kubu www.villakubu.com.

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Beachwalk Bali Yak Map O.4 Tel: 8464888 www.beachwalkbali.com Page 32 Yak Map Y.12 MEDIA/PRINTING Canggu Club Revolta Studia House Tel: 8446385 Tel: +628122443869 www.cangguclub.com www.revoltamotion.tv P age 76 Yak Map N.1 Yak Directory Cubby House Indonesia Printer Tel: 8478213 Tel: 021 6618501 www.cubbyhousekidsclub. www.indonesiaprinter.co.id com Page 108 Page 109 Yak Map N.5 MISCELLANEOUS RESTAURANTS & BARS Bali Cleaning Service Biku Bali Tel: 7803587 www.balicleaningclinic.com Tel: 8570888 www.bikubali.com Yak Directory Page 81 Yak Map O.5 Bali 2nd Balique Tel: 081246368171 Tel: 704945 www.bali2nd.com Yak Directory Yak Map N.1 www.balique-restaurant.com Page 49 Bintang Beer Bistrot Page BIC Tel: 738308 Eco Bali www.bistrot-bali.com Tel: 7907314/9003344 Page 49 Yak Map T.8 www.eco-bali.com Cafe Bali Yak Directory Tel: 736484 Heineken E: thecafebali@yahoo.com Page 189 Page 147 Yak Map Q.7 Paniaga/Wolf Blass Chocolate Cafe Black Label Tel: 703342 Page 12

E: kupujimbaran.com Rim Cargo Page 67 Yak Map Q.7 Tel: 737670 Finn’s Beach Club www.rimcargo.com Page 147 Yak Map W.6 Tel: 8482111 www.semarauluwatu.com Spoiled Page 71 Tel: 8475141 Yak Directory Yak Map G.1 Hu’u Restaurant, Club & Bar Tel: 4736576 Simpson Marine www.huubali.com Tel: 087862244053 Page 31 Yak Map N.6 www.simpsonmarine.com Khaima Page 36 Tel: 735171 Tempo Doeloe www.khaimabali.com Tel: 734819 Page 67 Yak Map Q.8 www.tempo-doeloe.com Ku De Ta Page 109 Tel: 736969 The Drawing Company www.kudeta.net Tel: +62 811382202 Page 3 Yak Map N.8 www.tdcabali.com Mozaic Beach Club Yak Directory Tel: 4735796 The Menjangan www.mozaic-beachclub.com Tel: 0362.94700 Page 39 Yak Map K.2 www.themenjangan.com Potato Head/Tapping Page 44 Shoes

Tel: 3007979 PROPERTY www.ptthead.com Elite Havens www.tappingshoes-bali.com Tel: 731074 /738747 Page 23 Yak Map O.5 www.elitehavens.com Page 1 Yak Map P.8 Sardine Tel: 8436111 www. sardinebali.com RECREATION baliseminyak Page 19

Page 8-9 Yak Map U.3 Sarong Tel: 4737809 www.sarongbali.com Page 13 Yak Map P.4 Segara Tel: 769755 www.segaraasian.com Page 165 Yak Map D.13 SOS Supper Club Tel: 737773 www.SOSaSUPPERCLUB.com Page 41 Yak Map P.11 Starfish Bloo Tel: 4738106 www.whotels.com/ baliseminyak Page 19 Yak Map O.4 The Deck Tel: 8478223 www.thedeckbali.com Page 109 Yak Map O.5 Tirtha Dining Uluwatu Tel: 8471151/+62 8283611111 www.tirthadining.com Page 28 The Junction Tel: 735610 Page 28 Yak Map Q.7 Wah’s Restaurant Tel: 936585 Tel: +62 818349809/+62 81338722838 www.wahwahburger.com Page 99 Yak Map N.8 SHOPS Alabaster Tel: 769007 www.alabasterlightingbali. com Page 108 Yak Map F.11 Bamboo Blonde Fb:bambooblondebali Twitter:@ bambooblondebal Page 21 Yak Map S.8, U.11 Beach Gold Tel: 737549, +62 81338017256 www.beachgoldbali.com Page 33 Yak Map S.8 Biasa Tel: 730308, 8878002, 0217182322 www.biasabali.com Page 10-11 Yak Map V.12 Bloomz Tel: 2171149 www.bloomzflowersbali.com Page 149 Yak Map V.2 Body & Soul www.bodyandsoulclothing. com Page 55 Yak Map V.13, V.14

By The Sea

www.bytheseatropical.com Page 45 Yak Map V.12 Carlo Tel: 285211 www.carloshowroom.com Page 25 Deus Ex Machina www.deustemple.com Page 4-5 Yak Map O.8 Feltz & De Jewelry Tel: 4735917 www.feltzandde.com Page 17 Yak Map O.5 Goddess of Babylon Tel: 739146 www.goddessofbabylon. com.au Page 29 Yak Map O.8 Jemme Jewellery Tel: 4733508 www.jemmebali.com Page 189 Yak Map R.3 Kapal Laut Jewelery www.kapal-laut.com Page 98 Yak Map T.14 Milo’s Tel: 8222008, 731689, 735551 www.milos-bali com Page 2 Yak Map O.8 Nico Perez Tel: 731311 www.nicoperez.co Page 6-7 Yak Map Q.4 Paul Ropp Tel: 701202, 734208, 731002, 974655 www.paulropp.com Back Cover Yak Map T.8 Periplus www.periplus.com Page 187 Yak Map F.13/P.7 Quarzia Tel: 736644 www.quarzia.it Page 16 Yak Map O.8 Grammes Jewelry Tel: 731562/283861/769555 www.grammesbali.com Page 51 Yak Map U.10 Sababay Tel: 261104 www.sababaywinery.com Page 20 Satu Tel: 8465001 Page 35 Yak Map Y.12 SKS www.sksbali.com Page 27 Yak Map T.8 Sunbrella Tel: 021.52897393 www.sunbrella.com Page 40