Let Kuta Karnival 2005 spice up your holiday

Let Kuta Karnival 2005 spice up your holiday

The Jakarta Post, Kuta

The annual Kuta Karnival returns this year encouraging everyone
in the Balinese community as well as visitors to get ready to
enjoy a summer of fun with family and friends.

Bearing the extravagant title "A Celebration of Life, Tat Twam
Asi, Kuta Karnival", the fun starts on June 25 and goes through
until July 3, and is being held to coincide with national school
holidays as well as the peak season for tourists from around the
world.

This will be the third year of the Kuta Karnival, which was
established and organized as a response to the Oct 12, 2002 Bali
bombings that claimed more than 200 lives.

The Karnival aims to commemorate the lives that were
tragically lost and to be a light of hope for the future.

For 2005 the timing of activities for Kuta Karnival has been
changed from October to June and July. This decision was made
after lengthy discussions by the organizing committee in
consideration of the fact that the Galungan Hindu holidays will
fall this year on Oct. 3, 4, and 5. In addition, the Ramadhan
fasting month for the Muslim community also starts on Oct. 3.

The new timing will actually allow more domestic and foreign
visitors to attend the Karnival as June and July are school
holidays.

In the context of Bali's tourism agenda, June/July and
December/January are the peak months for tourists.

This year's carnival will reach its peak on July 3 with a
spectacular street parade that will involve floats, dancers,
gamelan, Big Bikes, Scooters and motorcycle clubs, decorated
dokar (horse carts) and other contributions by local businesses
and Balinese community groups.

Participants of the parade will circle the route around Kuta
Beach to Melasti, then Jl. Legian through to Ground Zero (Bali
Bombing Monument) where they will stop for a minute of silence
before moving onward to Jl. Bakung Sari and finishing in front of
the Bali Anggrek Hotel, along Jl. Pantai Kuta.

The parade will be flagged off at 3 p.m and will take about
three hours to complete the route.

"A vibrant parade will be a measure of the success of Bali's
annual Kuta Karnival, therefore, we hope this year that everyone
in the community will actively participate and get more and more
involved," said Made Morgan, Parade Coordinator for Kuta Karnival
2005.

One highlight of the Kuta Karnival Parade will certainly be
the two hundred traditional Balinese dancers dressed in colorful
and glittering outfits dancing to live gamelan music. After the
procession, the group of Balinese dancers from Sekar Jagat will
hold a colossal dance performance entertaining thousands of
spectators.

"The whole world recognizes Bali as a place where traditional
arts is still alive and kicking," commented Raka Bawa, a member
of the organizing committee and a noted puppet master.

On the final two days, the weekend of July 2 and July 3,
approximately 60 of Bali's best restaurants will present their
specialities in a spectacular setting along the beach road in
Legian.

Organized as a family fun weekend, the event will feature food
stalls and a children's arena with entertainment, balloons,
clowns, face paintings and games as well as a horse riding
exhibition on the beach.

While experiencing a culinary journey across 12 different
countries, visitors will be entertained with various attractions
on a beach stage including live music, DJ chill out sessions,
fashion shows, a world champion bartenders performance, among
others. Around 10,000 people attended last year's festival and
certainly there will be many more this year.

For water sports fans, numerous competitions and contests are
being organized in conjunction with the Kuta Karnival, including
beach volleyball and soccer, surfing and body boarding.

Attended by national and international participants, these
will be the highlights of the week.

A special skate park will be built on the beach, and
skateboarders will be able to compete with international skaters.

Surfing

Kuta has never been far away from its great waves, and this
year's Karnival will see a series of surfing competitions
involving surfers of diverse ages and nationalities.

The surfing competitions, offering millions of Rupiah in
prizes, are being held in conjunction with the nine-day Karnival.

Confirmed events include Kuta Lines Open, Rip Curl Grommet,
MOD Legend & Retro, Surfer Girl Ladies and Body Board, Reef and
Surfer Girl Open (6 stars), Quick Airshow and Billabong Teams
Challenge.

"Several surfing events are open to public, and international
surfers are welcomed. However, for the Billabong Teams Challenge
and the Reef and Surfer Girl Open (6 stars), only Indonesian
surfers can enter," stated Paul Anderson, the event's surf and
skate coordinator.

MOD Om Pro Legend has become one of the most attractive events
on the surfing calendar, enlivening Bali's record as a world
surfing haven. Surf legends from the l970s and 1980s including
Peter McCabe, Terry Richardson, Andrew McKinnon, Mitchel Ray and
Terry Fitzgerald will attend this event at Uluwatu's waves, so
together they can reminisce when the OM Bali Pro was the first
international surfing competition ever initiated in Indonesia
some 20 years back.

For more Information:

Kuta Karnival Public Relations:

Ketut Nugra (0811 385385653), Retha Dungga (0818 567425), Gilda
Sagrado (0855 3708888), or contact the Media Center of Kuta
Karnival at Alam Kul-Kul Resort, Kuta.