A splendid dining journey through BaliRita A. Widiadana, The Jakarta Post/Denpasar Dining in a romantic, serene garden surrounded by water lily and lotus ponds or in a beachfront open-air pavilion overlooking the great rolling waves of the Indian Ocean could be a perfect escape from your hectic...

Lain emerges from independent music sceneJoko Anwar, Contributor, JakartaThe huge hall in Jakarta Convention Center was only one-third full when Lain played their first song at an acoustic event organized by high school students of SMU 8 Jakarta last week.

Medals of honors awarded to 13 respected figuresThe Jakarta Post JakartaAs part of the annual Independence Day celebrations, President Megawati Soekarnoputri conferred on Saturday medals of honor to 13 people who had made significant contributions to the country.

Coffee culture in Bengkulu The pungent aroma of coffee filled the afternoon air in Curup, a cool hill town some 85 kilometers northeast of Bengkulu, the capital of the province of the same name."Bengkulu coffee is 100 percent pure, not mixed with corn flour or anything.

RI loses veteran banker, top comedianThe Jakarta Post, JakartaNoted comedian Darto Helm passed away at the age of 61 on Saturday, at around 6:30 p.m., after suffering a series of strokes over the past eight years. He is survived by his wife Sutiah and their two daughters, Dian Rudianti and Triana.

Golkar eyes long-term benefits with PDI-PM. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post/JakartaThe Golkar Party is set to form a coalition with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) to support Megawati Soekarnoputri's bid for presidency, as it would serve the party's long-term interests, a...

Mega honors leading nationalsThe Jakarta Post, JakartaAs part of the annual Independence Day celebrations, President Megawati Soekarnoputri conferred on Saturday medals of honor to 13 people who had made significant contributions to the country.

* Houses for the 21th century, edited by Geoffrey London, texts by Anoma Pieris, Geoffrey London, Amanda Achmadi, Philip Goad, Paul Walker & Justine Clark, Pirak Anurakwachon. Photography by Patrick Bingham-Hall. Published in 2004 by Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.

Readership surveyThe Jakarta Post's readership survey is on pages 9-10 in today's issue. We hope that you will take the time to give us your input. The survey is also available online at www.thejakartapost.com. -- Editor

'Wayang Kancil' amuse children and adultsLeony Aurora , The Jakarta Post/JakartaMost children who visited the Puppet Museum in Kota, West Jakarta, on Saturday were already familiar with the clever mouse- deer, or kancil as it is locally known.

New Italian eatery serves fine, and fun, cuisineTantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, JakartaAlthough home to a vast array of delicious cuisine, Central Jakarta's Kota area was not a place where the hip and happening would be caught dead on a Saturday night (unless, of course, they did get caught in...

Getting out and about in Manado and beyondTantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta, Manado, North SulawesiThe once pretty face of Manado has never been the same since reclamation projects altered the shoreline along Manado Bay to make way for big shopping complexes.

Cak Nur, Goenawan win freedom awardsSari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post/JakartaNoted Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid and poet Goenawan Mohamad were granted the Achmad Bakrie awards from the Freedom Institute (Fins) on Saturday, for their devotion to socio-religious work and literature respectively.

Customer-made: A home design to suit all tastesMaria Endah Hulupi, Contributor, JakartaThe customer is always right, right?True, but translating a home owner's wishes without breaking a set of design principles can be a tough task.

Up-and-coming puppet master Nanang HapeHera Diani, The Jakarta Post, JakartaIn the Mahabharata epic, ascetic Kanika gives two hints to King Duryudana, the eldest of the Kurawa knights, on how to stay in power.

Inscrutable you: Graham makes sense of IndonesiaDewi Anggraeni, Contributor, Melbourne, AustraliaThe People Next Door: Understanding Indonesia Duncan Graham University of Western Australia Press, Western Australia, 2004 Paperback, 189 pp For decades, sociologists and political scientists in the...

Indonesia keeps its own time in ever-hectic worldMaggie Tiojakin, Contributor, BostonIn some parts of the world, where a 15-minute service delay could turn into a million-dollar lawsuit, punctuality is every bit as important as the relationships it sustains.

Asylum seekers hospitalized INDONESIA: Nearly a dozen Afghan asylum seekers have been hospitalized following a hunger strike in which some stitched their mouths shut to protest the United Nations' refusal to grant them refugee status, officials said on Saturday.