Naughty Nuri's Warong at Ubud, Bali

The Naughty Nuri's Warong (S8.49243 E115.25328) is located along the Jalan Raya Saggingan of Ubud town, Bali. This is the restaurant I missed on my Bali's Trip 2010, so by hook or by crook I definitely want to visit it in this 2011 trip! Just because of their Famous BBQ Spare Ribs!

We decided to have our early lunch on our forth day of Bali's trip. Once we checked out from Sri Bungalows Ubud...we moving towards the restaurant immeditely!

Naughty Nuri's Warong at Ubud

Too early for lunch (about 11.30am) when we were there and not crowded at all! Thanks for the suggestion from Mr Agung! According to him, the restaurant will be very crowded during dinner session, that was the reason we avoided.

Let me show you the small and cozy restaurant...

The front row of tables...

The interior design of the Naughty Nuri's Warong

The story of Naughty Brian and Nuri...

Nice, Green deco at the washroom

The area is not spacious as other restaurant, but it was comfort enough. And I like the decoration!
While waiting for our 'BBQ Spare Ribs', we did ordered the local fried rice and another dish which I forgot the name...it was served with beef, cheese and torttilla bread...

The local Balinese Fried Rice

The dish which I forgot the name...it served with beef and cheese...

And the tortilla bread served together with the dish above...

Our 'BBQ Spare Ribs' in making...

The staff preparing the 'Spare Ribs'

And the 'Ribs' served on table...

The Spare Ribs of Naughty Nuri's Warong, Bali

All the foods were Delicious! The simple Fried Rice was cooked just nice with the local taste, we ordered double! The beef was tender and goes well with the cheese, Yummy! And the 'BBQ Spare Ribs' were tender and well marinated with the sauce, Superbly Delicious!!

Apologies from me because I only remember the price of the BBQ Spare Ribs which was IDR80,000.00 (about MYR28.00/USD8.80) for one plate, I forgot the others...but the price was reasonable!

This is the Marvellous BBQ Spare Ribs available at Ubud, Bali, and also the Best I ever have! I will Definitely try it as long as I visit Ubud again!

*  The taste might not suitable for everyone, different people different taste.

Naughty Nuri’s Warung
Jl. Raya Sanggingan
Ubud, Bali
Phone: (361)977547
8am-10pm daily
http://www.naughtynurisbali.com

Related post :-
*  My Bali trip on June 2011
*  My Bali trip on June 2010

Location Map of Naughty Nuri's Warong at Ubud, Bali.

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Serbia -- Concern at condition of historic Nis Jewish cemetery

Vandalized tomb in Nis Cemetery, Dec. 22, 2011. Photo courtesy of Jasna Ciric

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

More than seven years after a well-publicized clean-up campaign, the historic Jewish cemetery in Nis, Serbia appears to be once again under threat.


The Federation of Jewish Communities of Serbia issued a statement on Wednesday protesting  “catastrophic” conditions in the cemetery and urging authorities to take action.

It said that on a recent inspection visitors found “destroyed and broken monuments, scattered bones, human waste and garbage.” It said that the cemetery was at the mercy of private entrepreneurs who have destroyed one-third of the site by building factories, restaurants and warehouses, while another third of the area is inhabited by Roma families who have built a makeshift village over the graves.

Long abandoned and partially built over and destroyed, the cemetery, which dates back to the 17th century and in 2007 was listed as a national cultural monument, was cleaned up in 2004 in an effort that involved the JDC, Serbian soldiers, and the local Roma community. 

Pictures taken Dec. 22 showed much of the area cleared of undergrowth and the grave markers visible. But Jasna Ciric, the president of the Jewish community in Nis, told me that the situation today was "a horror" and that in some ways was worse than it was in 2004.  "Grave monuments have been smashed with hammers," she said.

She said that on a previous inspection of the cemetery in September, things had been fine and it had been cleaned up.

Now, she said, a telephone line,  sewage drains and water pipes have been introduced in the midst of the cemetery.


"All the established safeguards of the Jewish cemetery in Nis, which under the Law on Cultural Property, have remained only on paper and without respect for the Jewish cemetery or the Jews who are buried there," she said. "Our cemetery is systematically destroyed, all of our long-time efforts and the money invested toward saving  this cemetery are in vain, the city authorities do not understand this issue."

The Federation appealed to the Mayor of Nis, the Ministry of Culture, the Nis Institute for Monuments Protection and other authorities to “once and for all put an end to this vandalism.”

Pictures from Dec. 22, 2011  showing homes and other structures encroaching on the Nis Jewish cemetery. Photos courtesy Jasna Ciric

Barong and Keris Cultural Dance at Ubud, Bali

The next session after the Holy Water Purifying, we continued our Culture Dance Show at Ubud - The Barong and Keris Dance (S8.51051 E115.26473). The performing area is located not too far away from the restaurant (Bebek Bengil) we going to have our dinner...

The ticket for the show is IDR 80,000 that will be about MYR28.00/USD8.80 per person.

We were there about 15 miutes earlier and we were fortunate enough to had our seats at the first row.

Group of men came out from the gate before the show start, and ther were the peoples who play the musical instruments.

Once the music started, the show began...

The local music with their instruments

The 'Barong' came out from the gate, well...it was expected.

'Barong'

Some photos of the 'Barong'.

'Barong'

There was a story within the show, but too bad I wasn't understand it...and I can't even search it on the net...

According to Wiki, 'The Barong is often portrayed with two monkeys'. Maybe the monkey below was one of them...

The monkey and the Barong...

Then...group of women with the local culture dance...

Even I don't understand about the story behind, but we enjoyed the show very much! Especially their costumes...
Let me share some photos of the Cultural Dance below...

And the photos is the 'Keris Dance' of the Cultural Show...

The show was ended after about an hour, we enjoyed it very much! And all of us also carving for food after the show...haha!

The show was worth watching and it's one of the main attraction of Bali.

Related post :-
*  My Bali trip on June 2011
*  My Bali trip on June 2010

The Location map of the Barong and Keris Cultural Dance at Ubud, Bali

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Netherlands -- In Amsterdam, the Dutch Queen attends reopening of the Portuguese synagogue after restoration

By Ruth Ellen Gruber


Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands attended the dedication ceremony in Amsterdam Dec. 20 of the Portuguese Synagogue -- or "Esnoga" -- which was reopened after renovation. She also attended the the first presentation of the synagogue's treasure rooms with many special ceremonial objects.

The synagogue's web site called the occasion "an important moment in the history of this monumental complex."

In January 2010 the current restoration project began. This restoration was necessary because the annexes were in very poor condition and had never previously been restored from the foundations. The aim of the restoration and provision of access was to maintain the Synagogue's authenticity.


Renovation of and rearrangement to ensure easy access to the Portuguese Synagogue is a wonderful and unique addition to the city's cultural features. It will reinforce the cultural and economic infrastructure and make the city and region more attractive for residents and visitors. This heritage is unique, in that it remains a lively building with an equally vibrant community that uses it to this day.


The Esnoga is a pearl for Amsterdam and the Netherlands. In use for centuries, it is now literally opening its doors to the general public. Visitors will be able to view the art treasures, which are maintained according to museum preservation standards, in their natural context. The functional areas will also be made visible and accessible to visitors, who will thus feel like guests in the community. Visiting this historic complex is like taking a stroll through the past and present of a community that has been celebrating its religion and culture for three centuries within these walls.

To see specifics of the restoration, click on the following links:  

Photo from: www.portugesesynagoge.nl

The "Esnoga" and annexes

The main building has undergone quality restoration to the gables, the roofs, the cast-iron windows and the sandstone ornaments. The interior of the synagogue, however, has remained in its original state following the restoration. The building will continue to be lit by nearly one thousand candles in the copper chandeliers.

• Treasure chambers
  
  
  Special climate-controlled spaces will accommodate the valuables of the Portuguese Synagogue. In the future, the concealed treasures will be on public display here.

Jewish and "Jewish" Festivals......Shelly Salamensky's Take

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

My friend Shelley Salamensky muses on three Jewish -- or "Jewish" -- festivals: Krakow, Birobidzhan and Hervas, Spain, in the New York Review of Books blog.

The commercial aspects of Hervás’s festival—funded by the village’s chamber of commerce as a boon to local business—are hardly unique. Birobidzhan’s cultural renaissance, has, similarly, garnered it development grants from Moscow; while on the fringes of the Kraków festival, stands sell hook-nosed “Jew” figurines. Yet much more is at stake in both places than profit. In Kraków, with its rich, traumatic history, the festival is an attempt to confront the still relatively fresh loss of what was once the world’s largest Jewish population, as well as the question of Polish complicity with Nazis in the war, communist suppression of Holocaust history, and continuing European intolerance; it’s also a chance for Poles to reflect on their country’s future as a conservative, culturally monolithic nation in a changing, diversifying Europe. Birobizhan’s Jewish cultural revival appears primarily to enliven an isolated, poor, rather bleak place unremarkable but for its unique history. Despite some silliness and confusion, the more sober efforts to teach Yiddish and Jewish history ensure that important legacies are preserved. And perhaps even theme-park-style memorialization is more salutary than the more common case in places from which vital cultures have more or less vanished: sheer oblivion.

In Hervas, the evocation of a Jewish past is so perfunctory and historically fanciful as to border on the offensive. Stars of David adorn street signs, window grates, and even, for no clear reason, the church. There is a Judería Tavern and a Hotel Sinagoga: the former, on inspection, specializing in ham, the latter indistinguishable from a Holiday Inn. On arrival, I was amused by the kitsch; but by my last day, I felt vaguely sick. The empty symbolism cruelly underscored all that Europe has lost.

Very off geographical topic -- synagogue in Mumbai celebrates 150th anniversary

A ceremony Tuesday celebrated the 150th birthday of the Magen David synagogue in Mumbai, India. The synagogue, which underwent restoration last year, was built in 1861 by the philanthropist David Sassoon at a time when hundreds of Baghdadi Jews were migrating to India to escape religious persecution.

“This is probably the largest synagogue in India and, if you exclude those in Israel, probably the largest in Asia,” Solomon Sopher, chairman and managing trustee of the Sir Jacob Sassoon Charity and Allied Trusts, told India's Daily News & Analysis news agency.


He told the Mumbai Mirror (which also publishes a picture of the ceremony): “The Magen David synagogue is easily the biggest in India. Its beauty has been enhanced after the second renovation last year, at the cost of Rs 70 lakh.” He said the first renovation of the synagogue was done in 1910 by David Sasoon’s grandson Jacob.

Pura Tirta Empul (The Temple of Holy Water) at Tampaksiring, Bali

The Pura Tirta Empul (S8.41586 E115.31516) at Tampaksiring is situated about 18KM from the BAS Coffee Farm. It was our next destination after the Luwak Coffee session. The place was calm and peaceful during our visit, and not crowded at all...

The Legend of the Temple :-
"The sacred spring was created by the god Indra. His forces had been poisoned by Mayadanawa, so he pierced the earth to create a fountain of immortality to revive them.

An inscription dates the founding of a temple at the site to 926 AD. Ever since - for more than a thousand years - the Balinese have come to bathe in the sacred waters for healing and spiritual merit." Source from here.

There are many statues around the garden and temple area from the entrance.

Different statues at Pura Tirta Empul.

Beside the statues, there are also many signages...and we have to read carefully and follow the procedures...

Caution : You are entering the Holy Temple, please do not littering...

One of the entrance to the temple.

The signage above is located before the Purifying pool...in Indonesian Language.

The Purifiying pool of Pura Tirta Empul, Bali

It is the rectangular pool carved of stone. The water in the pool was Crystal clear! Where we can easily see the rocks at the bottom of the pool...

Crystal clear water in the pool

Just for that clean and crystal clear water, we (me, my friend & his elder son) decided to do the purifying like others...:) So we asked Mr Agus to help us on the ceremony and tell us the procedures...

All of us must wear with the 'Sarong' from the temple before get into the pool. There are many lockers around the area for you to keep your valueble items...each locker cost IDR 3,000.00 (about MYR1 / USD 0.33).

Once everything ready, we slowly soaked into the first pool (There are 2 pools at the temple). BEWARE! It was slippery! I slipped from the step and falled directly into the Ice Cold pool! Haha! We had to finished from the first fountain until the last fountain in the purifying pool, total of 22 fountains (if I'm not mistaken). I was shivering after the fifth fountains...it was extremely cold! WOW!
It tooks about 30 minutes to finished the purifying and we quickly changed and warm up our body! Yes, too cold for me! :)

Then we started our tour at the other side of the temple...

Beautiful stone sculptures from the temple

There were some Balinese Hinduism praying ceremony during our visit...

The ceremony in the temple...

We passed through the pool of the sacred spring water, the spring water is continue from the pool non-stop more than thousand years ago...

The pool where the sacred water came from...

Peaceful while walking in the temple...
Before we reach the exit of the temple, we came to another pool which full of koi...and there were some souvenirs shops beside the pool...

It was a life experience for us in the purifying process of the temple, the skin was smooth and clean after bathing from the spring water! I will do it again if I re-visit the temple.

If you don't mind, you might want to try the purifying in the Ice Cold spring water pool! :)

Close up of the fountain

Related post :-
*  My Bali trip on June 2011
*  My Bali trip on June 2010

Location map of Pura Tirta Empul at Tampaksiring, Bali

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