I guess it’s not too late to say HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I hope this year will bring you a victorious and glorious life that the Creator of love & life has provided for you. The Island of Bali has tremendously receiving more than it was projected and predicted in terms of number of visitor, this is a blessing for so many people involved in the travel and tourism industry, and this year has been declared as the VISIT MUSEUM YEAR 2010! So for you all art lover, be sure to check out special program from the Bali Tourism  Authority which will be interesting!

On this occasion I would like to thank all of Beeamazing.com readers from all the corners of the world, for your kind and amazing support during last year, endless thanks from my grateful heart to you as it will keep me motivated to share all Bali has to  offer to its lovers..<3 And speaking of the year of 2009, I have to share with you the best highlights of Bali, and it’s not the hidden beach findings, but the BEST EVENTS IN BALI of 2009! YEAH! Buckle up, guys!

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…From Day 3 – Monday 26 October 2009
Heading from Yogyakarta to Purwokerto where I met my brother who joined me from Bandung. It’s a very kind of him to take over the wheel from Purwokerto,Central Java to our final destination : Bandung, West Java – knowing that Bart must be exhausted after 3 days on the road.

Purwokerto for me is a city with memory of my childhood visiting grandparents house, this means : lots of good food and laughter. I still have my aunt living in this city today. Like any other city in the country, the javanese culture moves parallel with the modernity and development. It is the capital of Banyumas Regency, Central Java region, Purwokerto is located near the base of Mount Slamet, the highest volcano in Central Java.

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Living and working in Bali for many people is a privilege. If others should pay millions to buy air tickets, hotel, food & beverage, rent a car, etc to enjoy Bali for 4-5 days stay only, this blessed people such as my second BALI LOVER guest, Gita Ernida Wauran aka GEE, originally from Bandung, West Java, get actually paid to have a weekly relaxing sun bathing on the beach, and change the beach every week, know how to get a good food at affordable price and be where locals go. And we met in Denpasar years ago when we both lived under the same roof of a small boarding house for fellow Javanese working in Bali..:)

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I don’t like long road trip, not even in Bali, the longest car trip I’ve done about 4 years ago was around Bali, and that’s because of my job. Bart had been thinking about driving Bali-Java for a long time, and recently I had to send my Bali car to my parent’s home in Bandung, West Java, so we thought this would be a great chance to visit several cities in East and Central Java, like : Surabaya, Madiun, Solo, Yogya, Purwokerto, before we hit our final destination : BANDUNG ! – the city we (specially ME!) never get bored to be for its shopping centers and food paradise are always tempting and heaven for us. We want to see and experience in Java land, what Bali does not have.

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Bart is in action again! Never got enough or tired running 10 kilometers!! This time is 2nd GARUDA BALI MARTHON 2009, at Nusa Dua, Bali. Sunday was supposed to be my ‘pause’ day, but here we are : woke up at 4am, left the house at 5, and the run started at 06.05am.

This year’s marathon event was held on 18 October 2009, Sunday, 6:00 A.M. at Nusa Dua, Bali , Indonesia with GARUDA INDONESIA as its Official Event Presentor,  and offers Half Marathon (21.0975KM), 10K and 5K with several categories. The Organizing Committee has planned it to become an annual marathon event with the aim of offering full 42KM Marathon (can you that, Bart?!) by next year and reverting to its original schedule of every 3 rd Sunday of October for its succeeding stages starting 2009. The Organizers have also applied for recognition with the Association of International Marathons (AIMS) with the view of becoming a distinguished annual marathon event at par with other international marathon events in the Asia-Pacific Region ( source : http://www.garudabalimarathon.com/event ).

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My almost 2 hours road trip with Bart this time is to the east of Bali, to Karangasem Regency. Destination: Water Palace Taman Ujung Soekasada. Not many people in Bali or coming to Bali wants to visit this place for its distance that is far from main tourist spots and I have to admit it is so crazy hot there specially if you come after 10am.

No wonder some professional photographers we met were just on their way back to the parking lot at 10am, exactly the time of our arrival, as they began shooting the place at 5 o’clock in the morning! So my suggestion, come around 7am when it’s cooler and you can avoid the heat.

Taman Ujung Soekasada was the residence of Karangasem Royal Family between 1909 and 1945. It was built in 1919 by the late King of Karangasem, I Gusti Bagus Jelantik. The King of Karangasem Djelantik with his wives (yes, plural..) and children lived here, and it is also their proud place to welcome royal guests from other regions and even countries. It is very interesting to look at their private rooms with old style traditional bed, old family photos hang on the walls.

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Taking theme this year : The New Spirit of Heritage – Marine Life, Sanur Village Festival had taken place from 12 – 16 August 2009, along Sanur Beach coastal area, starting from Pantai Matahari Terbit (the Sunrise Beach), to the main area of festival : Mertasari Beach. Yes, in Sanur, there are several beach access with its own name on each village. Sanur has been known as its laid back atmosphere, from sunrise till sunset, there is no loud ‘house’ music, drunken tourists on the street, annoying freelance illegal guides offering expensive villa membership we will never use, nor t-shirtless surfers on motorbike wearing no helmet – usual scenes you can always witness in Kuta or Seminyak.

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On this first post of a new series on my blog featuring people who lives, resides, ever lived, or even visited Bali, but they left their heart on this island, or considering this island is their life, their home, I would like to share with you what my friends, or fellow bloggers, think about Bali, given its famous name on the tourism destination spotlight in the world (yup! Bali has been voted as one of the best island or the best spa destination in the world by many well reputable and prestigious world wide medias).

My first BALI LOVER guest is Jeff Kristianto.  Originally from Bogor, West Java. Between his busy times managing his business, and play a big role in BEDO (Bali Export Development Organisation)  and Bali Creative Community, he spares his free time to share his love and care God gifted to him, to take care of some projects for disabled people in Bali, giving them sufficient trainings and courses to enable them entering into the real working world. Our online interview took place in the middle of a windy and rainy Jimbaran.
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Running is good. Jogging once or twice a week, I do that. Legian Beach or Renon Park, Bali, is the perfect place to exercise and enjoy the view at the same time. But run 10 km and compete with 300 other runners for a prize??..Never crossed that in my mind and never will.

Bart has been participating on 5K or 10K Run competition for several years. There are some international and national running competitions organised here in Bali. He does not do this for money prizes (although, Bart, if you won, it will make me happy :p ) or trying to break a national record. Yes, he likes to compete in sport, but it’s more for getting him fit, and also for the sake of participating on an international sport event. For Bart, it’s also a photography session (after running, of course).

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I had been planning to create a new feature on my blog, an interview with people who loves Bali as much as I do. And now I’m glad to say some people on travel & tourism industry, expats, friends, visitors, fellow bloggers, all the Bali lover has agreed to say and share what they think and love about this island of paradise.

If you think of someone right to be featured on this section, please do let me know. I’m @gabybali on Twitter or you can email me at gaby(at)beeamazing(dot)com

The post will be published every first Friday (yes, my favorite day of the week embracing weekend!) of the week.