Bali Sorgawi Hotel at Kuta, Bali

After about 1 hour and 30 minutes travel from Ubud, we reached the Bali Sorgawi Hotel (S8.71066 E115.17131) at Kuta. We chose this hotel was because of it situated in the heart of Kuta town, shopping area is just a stone throw away...and there are many restaurants, cafes and night life happening here. But the main reason was it's nearby the Bali's Airport.

The alley to Bali Sorgawi Hotel

After the narrow alley (above) along Jalan Legian at Kuta, the Bali Sorgawi Hotel appear in front of us! Our check-in was smooth and we had a short rest in the hotel...

Bali Sorgawi Hotel at Kuta, Bali.

The Reception counter at Lobby of Bali Sorgawi Hotel

The Business Center was just located opposite the Hotel lobby

The swimming pool was just next to it...

The swimming pool just next to the Business Center

Crystal clear water and well maintain...

The cafe area also around the swimming pool area, it had a great view of the pool...

The cafe and restaurant area of Bali Sorgawi Hotel

I like the Balinese design very much!
After glance through the hotel surrounding, we proceed to our room which was at the first floor. Really impressed by the 'Clean and shining' corridor...!

Clean and comfort corridor of the Hotel

Another block of guests room just opoosite the block we stayed...

Our room was the last at 1st floor...yes! It was number '205'.
Every room has 2 wooden chair and a small table outside the room, it was the nice place where I had my 'Bintang' beer during night time! :)

Our room at Bali Sorgawi Hotel.

We took the Family room with bed configuration of 1 queen bed and 1 single bed, package included simple breakfast to 3 persons, Nice fried noodle! (mee goreng). It cost USD60 (about MYR188.00) per day. Well, it was a reasonable price and the room was Spacious!

The booking was simple enough by just sent an enquiry via email to the hotel, no deposit is required. They even have airport transfer if you does not engage a driver. If you pay by credit card, 3% extra will impose in the hotel bill.

Let me show you the room...

1 queen bed and 1 singke bed

Nice Balinese deco of the table...

Spacious sofa area, with a small fridge.

The bathroom is equipped with a bathtub...

Bathroom with bathtub

The room was really spacious enough for 3 persons, and the room also provided the 'international travel adapter' for every visitor from the World, that was Great!

We were satisfied with it except...the 'Unbearable stain' in the bathtub and the 'rusty' wash basin sink!  And I can't find any glass in the room! Weird?!

The staffs here were not quite freindly (hardly to see their smile)...to my experience. Because they don't provide Hot water to the room, when I call to the room service...they asked me to get it myself at the cafe area. Maybe...it's the hotel policy!

Anyway, we were OK for A night stay here, I had to say it again...it was really convenient because of the location.

Bali Sorgawi Hotel

Jalan Legian Kelod, Kuta Beach
Bali 80361, Indonesia
phone. +62 (361) 755 266, 763 220
fax. +62 (361) 755 266
www.balisorgawi.com

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

Location map of Bali Sorgawi Hotel at Kuta, Bali

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Way off geographic topic but relevant: lost synagogues in New York

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

I -- and others -- have written much about and, hey, even taken part in, the  process of seeking out, rediscovering and documenting former synagogues that have been transformed for other use in Europe.....Here's a fascinating story by Benjamin Kabin Weitzenkorn from the local newspaper the Queens Chronicle about a woman's  search for  "lost synagogues" in outer districts of New York City.

On her birthday in 1999, Ellen Levitt decided to look for her mother’s former synagogue in Flatbush. The building was still there, but the congregation was gone, replaced by a Pentecostal Christian one. The news dismayed her mother, but for Levitt, it sparked an idea: to find and document other former synagogues, and to create a record so others could find them as well.

In 2009, her project became a book called “The Lost Synagogues of Brooklyn,” and this past November, Levitt released her latest installment, “The Lost Synagogues of the Bronx and Queens.”

As the project grew, Levitt discovered that synagogues that had not been burned or torn down were adapted for other uses. Some became private homes, one is a correctional facility, another is used for city maintenance and one is even a mosque — but most are now churches.  Read more

In New York, these transformations usually came about because of normal demographic changes that saw Jews moving from one neighborhood to another (often from small towns to cities or from to urban centers and suburbs), while in post-World War II Europe synagogues were most often orphaned by the murder of their community in the Holocaust,  suppression by post-war communist regimes, or emigration of survivors. In Bulgaria, for example, whose Jews survived the Shoah, synagogues were left abandoned when almost all Jews moved to Israel.

Levitt found that many of the former Jewish sites still -- as in Europe -- often retained evidence of their original function.

The former Corona Hebrew School on 53rd Avenue, for example, boasts large stars of David on either side of its gate. Names written in Hebrew are displayed on pillars and walls on the porch. After the Jewish congregation left, the building became a private residence and music studio, and was home to Madonna, pre-fame, in the late 1970s.

Another great example is the former Young Israel of Laurelton on 228th Street. It’s a boxy 1956 building that displays a cornerstone with the Hebrew and secular dates. But its most intriguing feature is the huge window above the main entrance in the shape of a Jewish star, an emblem that the Jamaica-Queens Wesleyan Church has kept as is.

Read full article 

Poland/Lithuania -- Cooperation between Jewish cultural institutions

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

At the end of December, three key Jewish cultural institutes in Poland and Lithuania signed a cooperation agreement that will enhance and expand the Virtual Shtetl portal, an excellent and up-to-date news source for Jewish heritage and culture events and issues in Poland.

Virtual Shtetl reports:

The co-operation agreement concluded between the Jewish Historical Institute Association, the Museum of the History of Polish Jews and the Center for Jewish Culture and Information in Vilnius governs the co-operation with regard to the administration of the ‘Virtual Shtetl’ portal.

Under this international agreement, the Lithuanian version of the ‘Virtual Shtetl’ portal will be created. The Center for Jewish Culture and Information in Vilnius, together with the teams from the Museum of the History of Polish Jews and the Jewish Historial Institute Association, will research the history of Jewish communities that lived in the territory of contemporary Lithuania and will promote the knowledge about Jewish cultural monuments in Lithuania on the ‘Virtual Shtetl’ portal.

It is the beginning of a very promising co-operation and it will be the first time that a foreign organization contributes so extensively to the development and administration of the ‘Virtual Shtetl’ portal. The concluded agreement paves the way to international research and cultural projects on the history of Jews in Eastern and Central Europe.

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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