JP/18/BRIEFS

New shopping at Bali Collection NUSA DUA: An exclusive shopping complex called Bali Collection, within the Nusa Dua resort complex, will be officially opened on Dec. 15.

The complex will house a Sogo department store, numerous branded boutiques and shops selling fashion and luxury goods.

Located on the site of former Galeria Nusa Dua, the complex has undergone a major face-lift, both inside and out.

Visitors should feel the new ambience there while shopping or relaxing. For more information, please call Dian hadiani on (0361) 662*** -- JP

'Bali Blues' to be launched DENPASAR: The first English-language publication to depict events surrounding the Bali bombings from an Indonesian perspective, Bali Blues, will be launched at Kayu Api on Friday, Dec. 16.

The book follows the lives of several Kuta residents -- a hotel manager, beach vendor, pecalang (Balinese traditional guard), a bar girl, an Australian expatriate -- as they struggle to survive in a once-prosperous community now devastated and thrust into the international spotlight through a horrifying act of terrorism.

Written by Jeremy Allan, a Canadian by birth who has lived in Indonesia since l980, the book attempts to explain the social transformation of the nation through books, magazine articles and video presentations.

Allan is also the author of Jakarta Jive, a sensitive portrayal of lives disrupted by economic crisis and social unrest in Jakarta during the turbulent end of the Soeharto New Order era.

Allan now lives in Bali, where he is in training for a bicycle journey across the Indonesian archipelago to research his next book, Indonesians.

For more information please call Ari Widianingsih on (0361) 221930, fax: (0361) 221328, e-mail: ari@mediamakara.com