Benoa aims to be hub port for cruise ships

Benoa aims to be hub port for cruise ships

 

Becoming increasingly popular as a destination and turn-around port, Benoa is aiming to expand its operations to become a hub port for cruise ships.

By being a hub port, Benoa would be an arrival and departure point for cruise ships from around the world, with cruise operators establishing their home base in Bali.

“Cruises would originate from this port and return here after completing their journey,” Ali Sodikin, general manager of Pelindo III Benoa, the company that manages the port, said Wednesday.

Currently, Benoa is a destination port, welcoming cruise ships that drop off passengers to enjoy the island. The passengers then re-embark to continue their journey on the same ship.

The island’s southern seaport has also seen growing popularity as a turn-around port, where cruise ships drop off passengers to vacation in Bali. While these passengers take other transportation modes to leave the island, the cruise ships pick up other passengers before leaving for the next destination.

To become a hub port, the seaport authority first needs to propose a master plan to the provincial administration and Denpasar administration for approval.

According to Ali, the plan had secured approval from the provincial administration. “We are now waiting for approval from the city administration, hopefully we can get it this year,” he told Bali Daily.

The master plan will then be submitted to the Transportation Ministry. Once the ministry has approved the plan, Pelindo and the ministry will jointly improve the facilities to fulfill the requirements to be a hub port.

“The facility improvements will take around 10 months. We are targeting starting operation as a hub port by 2017,” Ali said.

Among facilities that need improvement are the wharf, port basins and channel. “The wharf needs to be expanded to enable three cruise ships to dock at the same time,” Ali said.

Since 2009, Pelindo III has been attempting to attract cruise lines to build their home base in Bali, he added.

Recent improvements to facilities at Benoa have resulted in Bali’s southernmost port seeing an increasing number of visiting cruise ships.

Throughout last year, the port welcomed 41 cruise liners, a slight increase from the 39 in 2012.

This year, 58 cruise operators have confirmed that they would call on the port during their voyage.

Ali attributed the soaring popularity of Benoa among cruise operators to the many improvements undertaken in the ship’s basin, as well as supporting facilities. In fact, Benoa is one of the favorite cruise ports in Indonesia.

Further upgrades are planned at the port this year, including repairing the southernmost pier and building a domestic passenger terminal.

The majority of cruise passengers visiting Benoa Harbor are Australians and Americans, who accounted for some 60 percent of visitors, while the remaining 40 percent is a combination of Europeans and Asians.

In addition to the improved infrastructure — with proper docking facilities, passenger terminal and security system certified by the
International Maritime Organization — the port is geographically strategic. It is close to the island’s famous tourist spots of Kuta, Sanur and Nusa Dua. It is also situated near Ngurah Rai airport and the new toll road.

“Being a turn-around port generates thousands of foreign tourists at once, a positive contribution for Bali’s tourism,” Ali said.

At the beginning of this month, the port welcomed the Silver Shadow from Australia for a turn-around visit, carrying 1,200 passengers. Three days after its arrival, the ship departed carrying other passengers.

from Jakarta Post

A pact to save ‘subak’ 

 As hectare after hectare of productive farmland is lost to housing and hotels each year in Bali, one community is bucking the trend, making a promise to conserve their traditionally irrigated subak rice farms.

Residents of the villages of Bunutan and Tanggayuda, just north of Ubud, are undertaking a pilot project with the Bali Rice Field Conservation Foundation (Yayasan Konservasi Sawah Bali) to dedicate more than 117 productive acres exclusively to rice for the long term.

The owners of the 135 farms in the program will receive regular subsidies from Sawah Bali for signing agreements not to turn their land into building plots, ensuring that the centuries-long practice of subak farming will continue — despite development.

According to Sawah Bali founder Phyllis Kaplan, all the members of Subak Malung, which comprises the two villages, have signed up. The subak was chosen for the pilot due to its proximity to Ubud.

“As these villages are so close to Ubud there is an extreme threat of them being sold off [for non-agricultural development]. They are also very traditional villages that have already gone partially organic,” says Kaplan

“The land-use tool that Sawah Bali will introduce is one utilized successfully for over 40 years in the US to conserve farms. Sawah Bali will replicate the Vermont Land Trust concept to keep the working landscape productive with best-use practices for managing threatened natural resources with competing purposes,” Kaplan said in a press release. “By conserving the farmland and subak, water use will be prioritized for subak, sawah, food production, security and [sacred activities].”

Sawah Bali is currently well funded and has technical partners in land conservation, fund-raising and soil rehabilitation.

Kaplan adds that technical assistance will be given to promote 100 percent organic farming and to plant heritage rice and other value-added crops to increase farm viability.

“Whenever in the future farmers have problems, we have technical assistance for them so they can consult with the appropriate person to address issues, either collectively or as individual farmers,” says Kaplan of the project that she hopes will become a model for the 1,500 or so subak across Bali.

Kaplan says that while many across Bali want to continue farming, market pressures lead them to give up their traditional livelihoods.

Stressors include hefty land tax increases in areas near tourist destinations such as Ubud, diminishing income for farmers, the threat to water access when rice fields are interspersed with buildings and youth who are leaving the field to find work elsewhere.

 It is not too late to halt the destruction of the Balinese agricultural way of life, according to Wayan Rachman, a resident of the village and a “conductor of land conservation” for Sawah Bali.

Wayan says the island is at a tipping point for land conversions, a problem exacerbated by declining incomes and land tax increases due to escalating property values.

“Bali is facing great pressure from tourism. One area of this is the need of investors to build more villas. As a result, farmland, wherever suitable for hotels, villas or restaurants, becomes a target [for conversion]. This not only affects rice fields, but the heritage we have been passing down for centuries,” says Wayan.

While farmland loss is an environmental issue, agriculture is at the center of Balinese religion, culture and heritage, as expressed in the concept of Tri Hita Karana — people, the lands and the gods — and the balance this implies.

Wayan continues. “These transformations of rice farms have brought about an imbalance to this spiritual concept — a concept that suits the Balinese really well. Also, from an economic point of view, there is an interdependence between the land and the people: The land gives food, so we have an obligation to take care of that land by working our rice field.”

The head of Subak Malung, Nyoman Wardika, says the key to a healthy agricultural sector is the harvest.

 We need to increase farming practices and gain technical skills on farming. We need to find ways that we can increase our yields. This is critical, because over time our yields have been declining, while farming costs are very high,” Wardika says. “We believe this project will help us increase our yields through education and technical skills. Every farmer in our subak organization is 100 percent behind this project.”

One farmer, Ketut Pendak, says he is deeply grateful that the village is getting help to preserve its traditional farming lifestyles.

“I am very happy to be a member of this project. Our agricultural culture is not only about income, but is also related to our religious ceremonies. Every Balinese ceremony has rice as offerings, so it is vital we do not lose this land of rice production,” says Pendak, looking out over a green swathe of maturing rice.

Another farmer, Made Anggit, 62, is looking forward to keeping the traditions of the village alive. “I have kids and grandkids and I want to keep the land for them — to go down generation to generation, just like it was for me.

“This land has been in our family from the mid-18th century, so this is my children’s heritage. Selling our land would be like selling your mother.”

Taken from Jakarta Post

One diver found dead, one
still missing 

One of the Japanese divers who went missing during a dive in Blue Corner (also known as Blue Point) off Nusa Lembongan was found dead Tuesday evening.

She was found floating in Serangan waters near a watersport area at 6:10 p.m. by a local.

However, the victim has yet to be identified as she suffered injuries to her face and is hard to recognize. It is suspected that the victim is Miyata Ritsuko, 59.

The body was evacuated from the waters at 6:35 p.m. by boat and immediately taken to Sanglah Hospital.

The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) Denpasar head, Didi Hamzar, said that the victim was found wearing a wetsuit and a buoyancy control device (BCD) used for diving.

The last remaining diver still missing is Takashi Shoko, 35.

“Tomorrow morning, we will continue the search for the one other diver,” Didi said.

On Monday, five of the seven Japanese divers lost at sea were found alive. The five are Furukawa Saori, 37, Yamamoto Emi, 33, Tomita Namomi, 28, Morizono Aya, 27, and Yoshidome Atsumi, 29.

The survivors were first found by a local at 3:52 p.m. around 300 meters from Manta Point, a Nusa Penida dive spot located between 14 to 16 nautical miles from Blue Corner, where the women had vanished Friday.

As of Tuesday, four survivors were still being treated at Sanglah Hospital, while one other was being cared for at Kasih Ibu General Hospital.

The seven Japanese divers vanished Friday while diving off Nusa Lembongan, one of three small islets off Bali’s southeast coast known collectively as Nusa Penida.

The search and rescue team involved members of Basarnas, local police and military personnel, fishermen, as well as a helicopter and a search boat from the Basarnas local office on neighboring Lombok Island.

Previously, Basarnas had stated it would stop the search and rescue operation on Tuesday, in line with standard operating procedures, however the situation has now changed.

“Because we have found five victims alive and another one dead, we will continue to search, deploying all personnel and equipment on Wednesday. If we don’t find the victim, we will start only monitoring on Thursday,” Didi said.

Meanwhile, Basarnas also denied that the two missing divers had already been found alive on Monday. “The two people reported by a local as the victims were actually rescuers from Basarnas who could not be evacuated after they had helped the evacuation process of the five living divers,” Didi said. 

On Monday evening, Nusa Penida Police chief Comr. Nyoman Suarsika revealed that local fishermen had reported spotting the two missing divers near Batu Bolong off Nusa Penida, but had not been able to evacuate them.

Taken from Jakarta Post

Conservation workers remove
ash from temples 

 

The Central Java Cultural Heritage Conservation Center (BPCB) started on Monday to clean several temples affected by the Mount Kelud eruption.
The temples include Plaosan, Sewu, Sojiwan and Merak, which are located in the Prambanan temple area and are badly affected by volcanic ash.
Meanwhile, the cleaning of other temples in the province, such as Sukuh and Cetho in Karanganyar and Gedong Songo in Ungaran, is being carried out by each management unit.
The Borobudur, Mendut and Pawon temples are handled by the Borobudur Conservation Agency.
The BPCB deployed some 20 workers to clean the temples under its jurisdiction using sharpened bamboo sticks to loosen the ash before hosing them down with water.
The method is deemed effective in cleaning the temples.
"We are manually cleaning and hope to finish the job by Thursday or Friday," BPCB protection, development and utilization section head Gutomo said on Monday.
PT Taman Wisata Candi (TWC) Borobudur, Prambanan and Ratu Boko spokesman’s, Martana Eka Rahardi, said Borobudur and Prambanan temples were still closed to the public on Monday.
He said the cleaning was carried out by workers from the BPCB while those of PT TWC were cleaning the supporting facilities in the tourist park area, the so-called Zone Two.
The main temples are in Zone One, which is under the jurisdiction of the BPCB.
Martana said he could not yet determine the losses inflicted at the park by the natural disaster.
He hoped tourists would be able to visit the tourism parks around Prambanan and Borobudur temples by Wednesday, although the temples themselves would remain closed.
Yogyakarta BPCB protection, development and utilization section head Wahyu Astuti said it would take about two months to clean Prambanan.

Taken from Jakarta Post

 

Besakih Temple

Besakih Temple
Karangasem Bali

Besakih Temple is the biggest Hindu temple in Bali which the local people call Pura Besakih. It owns beautiful view from the top of temple area where we can see the wide nature panorama until to the ocean so that way this temple is many visited by tourists from all over the world. Besakih Temple is located in Besakih countryside, Rendang sub district, Karangasem regency, east part of the island. It is located in southwest side bevel of mount Agung, the biggest mounts in Bali. It is because pursuant to Agung Mount confidence is holiest and highest mount in Bali Island.

Besakih in Mythology

The Besakih's name is come from the word of Basuki, the old language from Sanskrit Wasuki, and then it become the Ancient Java Language. In this Sanskrit, the Basuki means congratulation. In mythology of Samudramanthana has mentioned that Basuki is a dragon that twines the Mount Mandara. The omission has come from tradition megalithic which had been indicated that it had to be sanctified place. It seems, the Besakih is coming from very old era which is far before the existence of Hinduism influence. Hereinafter, an Ancient Bali king of Sri Kesari Warmadewa found the Merajan Selonding Temple in this temple complex area. He also commands to build the Blanjong Monument that is located in Sanur Village. The Besakih Temple complex is built pursuant to cosmos balance. It is based on the nature conception which is disseminating the fundamental temple complex that is arranged to pursuant of the way direction. So, this building can deputize nature as symbolic of the world balance existence.

Besakih Temple in Hindu's Philosophy

As we familiarize, that the point direction way like East, South, West, North, and middle as center point and each direction is named by Mandala. In Hindu philosophy, Panca Dewata is manifestation of Siwa God. Like Penataran Agung Temple as center, we find in its courtyard conception show the solidarity conception between the original Indonesia culture namely tradition megalithic in form of Punden Berundak-undak with the Hinduism concept. The ancient omissions which is existing in Besakih Temple complex can be classified into 2 types those are omission pertained by megalithic tradition and classic era. Besakih Temple beside as the altar for Hindu people in Bali, it is also as tourist destination which is a lot of visited by tourists.

Besakih, Place to Visit in Bali

Besakih Temple is located in the plateau area which is covered by the cool atmosphere and Mount Agung as a back drop. From the top of temple building, we can see the beautiful panorama of nature from the temple area to the ocean. It is situated in cool area with the light breeze and unique temple buildings spread out in the temple complex will create the peaceful atmosphere. It is ideally for the people who did the meditation and now, the Besakih Temple is opened for tourist and it is the great place to visit in Bali.

How to locate Besakih Temple?

It is very easy to find this temple in Bali where most of the people have known it in particular the Balinese Hindu. It is about 2 hours away from Bali's International Airport by car to the east part of Bali and right located in Besakih Village, Rendang – Karangasem Regency. You may join the Besakih Temple Tour, the exciting tour package to visit the places of interest on the way to this temple