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Tags: Bali Travel / Travel Health / Disease / → All Tags

Bali Tourists Bitten By Rabies Scare

The Indonesian island paradise of Bali, a major tourist hangout, seems to be having a few glitches lately. As if running out of alcohol wasn't already a pretty big problem, now the rabid dog problem looks like it is getting a bit out of control.

Previously rabies-free, the disease hit Bali last year, but it's only in the last few months that the drama has really hit the press and worried tourists. Ten locals have even died from rabies in the past year, and now tourists who get bitten by suspicious-looking dogs might have nowhere to turn—post-exposure vaccine supplies at Bali hospitals are pretty much non-existent.

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Tags: Bali Travel / Drinking Travel / Travel News / → All Tags

BYOB Bali: Tourist Resorts Running Out Of Alcohol

Indonesia's popular beach vacation island of Bali might become a perfect retreat for vacationers wanting to detox, since the government started tightening up the laws on alcohol importation.

It turns out that until recently, some 90% of the beer, wine and spirits being brought into Bali was imported illegally to avoid the 200% duties and taxes. But with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (we'd vote for him just for his cool name) getting in for a second term, he decided to crack down on this practice. As a result, alcohol is starting to get scarce, and what's left in store there is starting to get ridiculously expensive.

Apparently some hotels have even started asking their guests to bring alcohol along and the hotel will reimburse them. So if you're heading to Bali soon with the intention of indulging in plenty of cocktails by the pool, either think again or BYOB.

Related Stories:
· Bali Running Out Of Alcohol [The Age]
· Bali Travel Guide [Jaunted]

[Photo: rfaulds]

Tags: Indonesia Travel / Cruises / Luxury Travel / Diving / Scuba Dives / Komodo Dragons / → All Tags

A Whole New Type of Safari: Komodo Dragons In Indonesia

Chilling in an Aman Resort in some exotic location is already pretty enticing, but we've just heard that this hotel group has got a luxury cruiser happening too, based out of their Amanwana resort on Moyo Island, Indonesia. And we want to get on it.

The 105-foot cruiser, called Amanikan, looks a bit like a romantic old trading vessel, but is full of all the necessary luxury inside in its three cabins. They are running a trip called the Komodo Expedition which includes five nights of cruising (with days full of diving) and two final nights at the island resort. While you're on the boat you get to visit Komodo dragons and stop by the Komodo and Rinca Islands to see wild horses, deer and monkeys as well, not to mention all the sea life you'll discover while diving and snorkeling.

Exotic luxury doesn't come cheap, of course. It'll cost you upwards of $22,000 for you and a mate for the week, including everything except alcoholic drinks. But getting up close and personal with a dragon and then retreating to exotic luxury might just be worth it.

Related Stories:
· All the Pretty Seahorses [Jaunted]
· Where to Find Komodo Dragons in Their Natural Habitat [Jaunted]
· Indonesia Travel Guide [Jaunted]

[Photo: Amre Ghiba]

Tags: Airline Safety / Indonesia Travel / Garuda / Dangerous Travel / European Union / → All Tags

Indonesian Airlines Take Action Against Their Bad Reputations

Airlines coming out of Indonesia don't exactly hold the best safety reputations—even the large national airline Garuda gets its bumps and scrapes in the headlines far too often, and you might remember that the European Union, which is a bit fussy about unsafe airlines, banned every single Indonesian airline in the middle of 2007.

Things are looking a little bit better than they have in the past. The EU has just lifted the bans on four of the airlines (including Garuda) and that's inspired the Indonesian government to throw a bit more money and attention at airline safety.

The Indonesian transport minister says his goal is to get all Indonesian airlines off the blacklist by the end of the year, and he's had this smart idea about recruiting more aircraft inspectors and aviation safety managers. Hopefully this means it won't be long until we can get more cheap flights to island paradise Bali and even expect to get there and back safely.

Related Stories:
· Indonesia Aviation to Improve Safety Image [Business Traveller]
· Bali Boosts Its Airport But Skips New Shops [Jaunted]
· EU Blacklists Siem Reap Airways And Others [Jaunted]

[Photo: Tango-Sierra]

Tags: Tragedies / Marriott Hotels / Hotels / → All Tags

Terrorists Checked In as Guests at Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott in Jakarta

Two Marriott hotels were attacked yesterday in Jakarta, Indonesia by suicide bombings that killed eight people and left more than 50 injured. It is now believed that the suicide bombers actually checked into the JW Marriott Jakarta and the Ritz-Carlton Jakarta. A third bomb was later found on the 18th floor of the JW Marriott in one of the guestrooms.

Times Online has details from the blast sites:

Bleeding victims, including foreign businessmen who had been in breakfast meetings, crawled and staggered out of the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels in Jakarta’s Mega Kuningan business district after the explosions struck two minutes apart shortly before 8am.

Footage from a security camera at the Ritz-Carlton showed a suited man wearing a baseball cap, and carrying a backpack and a wheeled suitcase, entering the hotel’s first floor restaurant just before the explosion, which killed two people.

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Tags: Worlds-Coolest-Pools / Infinity Pools / Bali Travel / → All Tags

A View Of The Big Pool

Last one in's a rotten egg! We're finding the best places in the world to stick our toes in this summer (or next winter) for our World's Coolest Pools map. Know of any pools we must check out? Let us know.

After seeing our Santa Barbara triple hop last week, a tipster writes in to up the ante. This pool with a view has a five-star resort around it, but that view's worth a million bucks.

The Amankila resort in Bali opened in 1992 to sell that view from its 34 suites (each an individual beach house) to vacationers craving something nice to look at. Acrophobics fret not, the beach below is also owned by the resort privately.

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Tags: Dangerous Travel / WTF-Map / Komodo Dragons / Rinca Island / Animals / → All Tags

Where to Find Komodo Dragons in Their Natural Habitat

Welcome to Where To Find, our growing guide to those little-known places that never seem to show up on the travel radar--until now. We're not saying they're undiscovered, but you may need to look 'em up on our WTF Map.

Once again, the the world's animals are not pleased. An Indonesian fisherman was mauled to death by komodo dragons as he was searching for fruit on Rinca Island, a deserted island and UNESCO World Heritage site that serves as a sanctuary for these dangerous lizards.

There are about 3,000 komodo dragons on Rinca and neighboring islands but while there have been some incidents of late, fatal attacks on humans are rare. Indeed, we were surprised to find that visiting Rinca Island to see komodo dragons is somewhate of a well-trekked tourist path. Still want to visit? Here's how.

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Tags: Airport WiFi / Airport-WiFi-Map / → All Tags

It's A Small WiFi World After All

In this brave new era of in-flight WiFi, does it still matter whether airports have a wireless network? Absolutely! For one, Internet in the air isn't so widespread as to be ubiquitous; for another, layovers and flight delays can catch up to the best of us. When Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport recently increased its taxes on domestic and international flights, one of the amenities brought up as most in need of improvement was its spotty, slow WiFi -- Changi Airport in nearby Singapore charges just a little more but includes free WiFi.

So which international airports that are better than Jakarta Know about some WiFi we've yet to list, either in the US or elsewhere? Let us know.

Related Stories:
· Bad Marks for WiFi at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport [AtLarge.com]
· Airport WiFi Map [Jaunted]

Tags: Airport News / Airports / Bali Travel / → All Tags

Bali Boosts Its Airport But Skips New Shops

Not many would recognize the name "Ngurah Rai International Airport," but many have flown into it: It's the arrival point for anyone visiting Bali and it's more commonly referred to as Denpasar. Whatever you call it, it's in for quite a few changes, judging by the announcements made this week by Indonesian VP Jusuf Kalla.

The problem right now is that the airport's capacity is really only 2 million passengers a year--yet 4 million people are arriving in Bali annually. Quite rightly, authorities have decided that a $110 million expansion is needed, and so the terminal that currently services domestic air traffic will be enlarged. Once it's done, it'll become the international terminal.

An interesting part of the planning is that no commercial shops will be built in the new terminal. Officials say that since Bali is known for its "traditional art markets" in the tourist areas, there shouldn't be a bunch of new airport shops to compete with them. And here we were thinking airport shops were meant to be tear-the-last-foreign-currency-out-of-you pit stops.

Shops or not, the new Bali airport is meant to be finished during 2010. But let us be the first to say that we think "island time" will make that 2012.

Related Stories:
· Bali Airport to be Renovated [Jakarta Globe]
· Bali Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: zhaffsky]

Tags: Beachgoers Beware / Bali Travel / Disease / Travel Warnings / → All Tags

Rabid Dogs Coming To Bali Beaches

Uh-oh. The Indonesian island holiday paradise of Bali is not quite the paradise we thought. It's just lost the status of being rabies-free, so now we've got to warn you about it.

Last year it was the chickens that were dangerous, but Australian health authorities have just confirmed that rabies is back in town. The Balinese are denying it for now, saying three locals died of a brain infection... after being bitten by dogs. We'll let you decide.

In any case, there are now warnings for tourists to consider rabies vaccinations before they fly to Bali and to look out for dogs, cats, monkeys and other animals who might scratch or bite you. Even if they're not (yet) foaming at the mouth.

Related Stories:
· Bali Tourist Paradise Bitten Again [The Age]
· Don't Play With Chickens in Bali [Jaunted]
· Bali Travel Guide [Jaunted]

[Photo: marcomazzei]

Tags: Live Music Travel / Rihanna / Celeb Travel / Chris Brown / → All Tags

Rihanna Stopped The Music In Jakarta

What, Chris Brown can't watch her back? Mere days after running off the stage during a concert in Sydney, Rihanna is canceling a show in Indonesia over "security concerns."

After delivering an underwhelming set in Singapore last night, plagued by sound problems and marked by truncated versions of her hits instead of bonus concert cuts, the R&B princess is now backing away from tonight's sold-out show because, according to her reps, of recently updated Australian security warnings. Apparently Indonesia's neighbor to the south is concerned that the execution of three Islamic militants this week could cause reprisals, and Rihanna just didn't want to take her chances on the 6,000-strong crowd.

The prevailing theory is that Rihanna is pulling an M.I.A. and hiding a baby bump, potentially related to the aforementioned Brown. Gossip blog Bossip has already named the baby Chrianna, which gave us a little chuckle.

Related Stories:
· Rihanna @ Singapore Indoor Stadium -- Major Letdown [Emerican Life]
· Rihanna Drops Indonesia Show over Security [Reuters via Yahoo!]
· Celeb Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Ultimate Rihanna]

Tags: Bali Travel / Bikini Travel / → All Tags

Bikini Travel: Almost Outlawed on Bali

That favorite holiday isle of Indonesia, the tropical paradise that is Bali, almost got a radical new look.

The mostly Muslim country was considering banning the wearing of bikinis in every part of the country as part of an anti-pornography bill being pushed through the Indonesian parliament by some of the more conservative Muslim parties. Which is totally their right, of course--but it probably wouldn't be great for tourism on Bali in particular.

In any case, Bali is mainly Hindu, and plenty of locals there were vowing to simply break the law if the no-bikini rule got passed. Luckily it looks like they won't have to. The bill now contains exemptions for special tourist areas so relax: You can still pack your bikini for Bali.

Related Stories:
· Bikinis Given the Green Light in Bali [news.com.au]
· Bali Travel Guide [Jaunted]

[Photo: mag3737]