sanur

On the southeastern side of Bali, Sanur beach is easily reachable from Denpasar, about a 5 to 10 minute drive. Sanur is an excellent site to watch the sun rises, as you jog along the white sandy beach. Being one of the first resort developed in Bali, Sanur maintains its traditions. Only a stone thrown away from the beach, ancient temples stand as solemn as they have been in centuries past.

Sanur is a mixture bringing together the two worlds of Kuta and Nusa Dua. For more secluded beaches and a calmer pace of life, the sleepy beach town of Sanur is a heaven. The main attraction of this beach are their white sand and the beauty of constantly calm water. The younger can go diving, windsurfing, parasailing, windsurfing, or scuba diving, but the preferred pastime here seems to be lying back, relaxing and working on a suntan.

Located on the eastern coast of Bali, Sanur is the ideal beach for snorkeling. The beach is safe here as it is sheltered by a reef. Sanur area has all level of accommodation and solid network of infrastructure. There is a good range of accommodation available, together with an excellent range of restaurants. If you do not always want to 'eat in', then there are plenty of restaurants offering a wide range of meals from the quite expensive through to the dirt-cheap prices of local warungs.

Nevertheless village life goes on and visitors can really experience the real Bali. Choose between Balinese or Western style accommodation, both with all the comforts of home. There are also many excellent open air restaurants and cafes offering every variety of food imaginable. The life style here is far different from Kuta and Legian with the accent on relaxation!

Guarantee, Sanur has everything for the holidaymaker and traveller with its travel agencies, money changers, supermarkets and shopping, selling everything you need to take back home, because Sanur also has a busy craft market and a good selection of art shops.

UBUD

Don't expect too much here. We are not Ubud nightlife experts, but names frequently mentioned include PUTRA BAR, Jl. Monkey Forest (every night live music ranging from Reggae to rock), MAGIC BAR, Jl. Monkey Forest (live music and sometimes great atmosphere), JAZZ CAFE, Jl. Tebesaya (live music and jam sessions on different nights), EXILE BAR (Saturday nights only, great music), and FUNKY MONKEY (early hours cafe).

Have fun!

Visit also Food & Restaurants to Enjoy


Private Vacation Villas in Bali
You can rent a private villa in Bali with one to seven bedrooms, tropical garden with swimming pool, and trained household staff as an alternative to spending your vacation in a hotel.

Bali Hotel Bargain Finder
Take advantage of the GUARANTEED lowest rates at famous luxury resorts and budget hotels in Bali. Reserve on-line to save 70% and more on your hotel accommodation.

Cruising the Spice Islands
Step on a modern cruise liner or charter a private yacht from Bali to see fierce dragons from the Jurassic age in Komodo, and to visit ancient tribes and cultures in the Lesser Sunda Islands.

BALI AFTER DARK

Night life in Bali starts late, which means around midnight. Many visitors wonder where crowds of expats suddenly come from around 1:00 in the morning – even when all of Kuta has been very quiet during the whole evening, the IN-places often become crowded after midnight.

There's a simple explanation: during the early evenings many of Bali's night owls either still work, visit friends at home, or simply sleep. Most of them visit pubs, bars, or discos only in the early morning hours. Therefore, if you plan a night out don't start your dinner too early. Between 9:00 p.m. and midnight there are not many places we can recommend.

Visitors looking for company don't need to worry. Wherever you go in Sanur and the Kuta area, there are many other single travellers with the same problem around – day and night. In Bali's discos you'll meet also many "kupu kupu malams" ("night butterflies" or working girls) and young boys who compete with the females and service all sexes. All taxi drivers know the more popular karaoke bars and massage parlours in Kuta and Denpasar, and the various "Houses of ill Repute" in Sanur's narrow back lanes.

As reported in the BALI travel FORUM: "Prostitution is illegal in Bali. However, like in many countries, everyone turns a blind eye. Many girls can be found in nightclubs and bars in most areas. They look usually just like the girl next door, albeit with a bit more make up on, and they usually dress to please the eye. For the most part, they are gentle, easy to be with, and a lot of fun if you want to dance, drink and have a little fun with. Most will be yours for the whole night for about 500,000 Rupiah although prices range from 200,000 Rupiah to 1,500,000 Rupiah and more – depending on the season, the time of night and the situation".

SANUR & NUSA DUA

Some quite popular places in Sanur are the BORNEO PUB on Jalan Danau Tamblingan and the TROPHY PUB in front of the Sanur Beach Hotel. Both, however, close around 1:00 a.m.

The discos and pubs in Nusa Dua's 5-star hotels are often rather empty. They are mostly frequented by those visitors who stay in-house and are too tired to make the 30 minutes drive to Kuta.

THE "KUTA" AREA

Everybody looking for some action and fun in the evening goes to "Kuta" which nowadays means the area extending about 4 miles or 7 kilometers North from the original village of Kuta and includes now Legian, Seminyak and even Basangkasa. Here are most of the better entertainment places offering EVERYTHING single male or female visitors as well as couples might be looking for.

There are several places such as CASABLANCA etc. – down-market open-air pubs and very noisy discos full of stoned Aussies courting Javanese "Kupu Kupu Malams". PEANUTS Discotheque on Jalan Raya Legian at the Jalan Melasti corner (about the border between Kuta and Legian) has been re-opened very soon after it was gutted by a fire. The huge (air-conditioned) dance floor is often crowded, guests are a mix of locals and younger foreign visitors.

Closer to the center of Kuta you find the BOUNTY SHIP with a noisy, over-air-conditioned disco in the basement and the re-built PADDY'S not far from the original PADDY'S. Much more "IN" nowadays is the newer M-BAR-GO which features really good music and a better crowd than most other places. SKY GARDEN is also on the main road and an interesting place to go. The bar is on the top floor, the three storeys below feature all different lounge areas. The menu is huge but the food is often disappointing. When most places close around 2.00 or 3.00 in the morning, night owls of all kinds continue drinking at nearby MAMA'S until sunrise.

For a somewhat more civilized evening out, you can have dinner and a couple of drinks at the bar at either TJ's or KORI in Kuta, at the open street side bar at NERO Bali right opposite AROMAS Restaurant in Kuta, at the re-built MACCARONI CLUB in Kuta, at MADE'S WARUNG in Basangkasa (see BALI - Restaurants to Enjoy), or at the trendy HU'U Bar & Lounge near the Petitenget temple, LA LUCIOLA and THE LIVING ROOM.

One of the most "in" venues in Bali is KU DE TA right on the beach adjacent to the Oberoi hotel. This is the place to see and be seen, and from late afternoon there is a DJ providing rather noisy entertainment for Bali's beautiful people. This is a great place to watch Bali's famous sunsets, but expect to pay for a cocktail around US$10 and more.

Something more outrageous and only for open-minded people are the HULU CAFE shows in Garlic Lane between Jalan Padma and Jalan Melasti in Kuta/Legian, a place which called itself the "only real gay bar in all of Bali" with drag shows starting at 11:00 p.m. three times per week. The performances are actually kind of funny! Since the original HULU CAFE burnt down in 2008, the shows are now performed at 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at the BALI BEACH SHACK in the same lane

You'll find a large and quite popular HARD ROCK CAFE right at the beginning of Kuta's beach road with live music from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. Expect to find many singles of all kinds here looking for company. If you think this is too noisy, too crowded, or the air-conditioning too cold for you, try the CENTER STAGE at the HARD ROCK RESORT located in the back of the CAFE. As the name implies, the band performs on a raised stage in the middle of the huge round lobby bar until 11:00 p.m. Both HARD ROCK outlets are expensive by Bali standards.

The JAYA PUB on the main road in Seminyak features also live music and attracts many Indonesian customers who don't mind the chilling air-conditioning and the sometimes horrible bands and singers. MANNEKEPIS, a pleasant Belgian pub/restaurant right opposite the QUEEN'S TANDOOR in Seminyak, features live Jazz on Thurdays, Fridays and Saturdays and serves good meals at reasonable prices.

Seminyak's best place to have a drink and some fun after 11 p.m. are nowadays probably OBSESSION World Music Bar and SANTA FEE Bar & Grill, Jalan Abimanyu (also known as Gado Gado Road or Jalan Dhyana Pura). Life music, reasonably priced cocktails and the friendly girls attract many visitors until the early hours. Other popular night spots nearby in the same street are SPY BAR, LIQUID, Q BAR and MIXWELL ("for the alternative lifestyle"), SPACE and THE GLOBE. New bars and "Chill-Out Lounges" are opening all the time, and most of them feature DJ's and/or live music on certain nights. Just walk down the road and check them out !

Later, from 2:00 a.m., it's party time at the SYNDICATE, BACIO and DOUBLE SIX, a large open-air disco with several bars, big dance floor, and many tables. All three are located next to each other on the beach in Seminyak and charge an entrance fee of 30,000 to 100,000 Rupiah (depending on the day) for which you get a voucher for a free drink. Here and in nearby DEJA VU and LA VITA LOCA you'll find most of Bali's night owls drinking and dancing the night away until 4:30 a.m. or so. (The legendary GADO GADO Disco has been re-converted into a restaurant.)

Also, watch out for notices and small posters in Kuta and Seminyak announcing special events such as Full Moon Parties, House Warming Parties, Body Painting Parties, etc, etc. If these "parties" are announced to the public (even if only by word-of-mouth), they are open for everybody. You'll have to pay for your drinks, therefore, don't be shy.

Japan otomotif market

Japanese dominance
Its continuous presence and long experience in sales and distribution help explain why Japanese auto giant Toyota has done so well in Indonesia. In February 2005, Toyota had a 31.7% market share with 13,899 vehicles sold, compared with 10,717 units sold the same period last year. It plans to increase annual production capacity of its Innovative International Multipurpose Vehicle (IMV), the Toyota Innova MPV, from 70,000 vehicles to around 100,000 vehicles by the end of this year. The expansion will set it back around $40 million. In 2006, Daihatsu will invest around $10 million to increase its annual production capacity for the hot seller Xenia/Avanza, jointly developed with Toyota, from 78,000 vehicles to 114,000 vehicles. The model sells as the Xenia under the Daihatsu brand and as the Avanza under the Toyota brand. Nissan plans to more than triple its annual capacity in Indonesia by 2007, from 12,000 units to 40,000, and plans to mass-produce a global car in Indonesia and other plants in Asia for markets in Asia, the Middle East and Central and South America. Figures released by PT Indomobil, one of the country's largest automobile distributors, show that sales of Nissan cars, only one of the 12 car brands marketed by Indomobil, accounted for 12.5% of the company's 96,000 vehicles sold last year.

Indomobil also distributes for Suzuki, whose cars accounted for 83% of total sales. PT Indomobil Suzuki International (ISI), Suzuki's Indonesian car manufacturing joint venture, last month launched the export campaign for its new APV multipurpose, compact minivan. The vehicle jointly developed by ISI and Suzuki went on sale in Indonesia in September 2004. Monthly domestic sales volumes have since averaged at around 2,400 units. There are plans to make Indonesia the production base for worldwide sales of the vehicle, according to Industry Minister Andung Nitimihardja.

South Korean's Hyundai and KIA are also considering setting up a production base in Southeast Asia to take advantage of AFTA, though there has been no confirmation yet that Indonesia has been shortlisted. Honda assembles the CR-V sports utility vehicle (SUV), Stream MPV and Jazz compact cars in Indonesia. The Stream is exported to Thailand. Similarly, BMW assembles most of its 3 Series and 5 Series sedans in Indonesia and exports the BMW 530i to Thailand.

Odd man out
It's easy to see why the car makers in Asia are optimistic. Emerging markets present the main opportunity for long-term car sales growth and will boost the global car market to over 60 million units by 2009. Prospects for car market growth in Asia are particularly positive and the Pacific Rim countries are forecast to make an additional 5 million units for the world market by 2009. China alone accounts for around 80% of that increase and annual car sales there are expected to top 6 million units by the end of the forecast period.

None of the member states has a market big enough to give the economies of scale needed to justify major manufacturing investments. But the complete liberalization of the region's automotive sector by the full-scale implementation of AFTA cranks up the stakes. ASEAN states have agreed to remove import duties altogether by 2010 for the five founding members of the grouping (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore) and by 2015, for new members Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar as well.

As trade barriers tumble and car makers shut down redundant plants to move production to where it can be done most profitably, the ASEAN market, with 10 countries and around 511 million consumers, becomes even more appealing. Ford has production facilities in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines but only has a distribution network in Indonesia. It focuses on sales and after-sales service. Ford (Thailand) exported 20,000 vehicles to 130 countries from the Kingdom, mainly as a result of the AFTA agreements.

Stephen Biegun, vice president of the Detroit-based auto giant's international government affairs division said, "We are betting on the ASEAN Free Trade Area model and also on trade relations among ASEAN nations. We are the biggest cheerleader for ASEAN economic integration because we are the biggest beneficiary," admitted Biegun. This will herald stiffer competition for existing players, but Indonesians who can afford a car will still have plenty of choice for a long time to come.