37 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2013

By Ben Garcia

A visit to Kintamani (a 45-minute drive from Kuta City) wrapped up a weeklong stay courtesy of Garuda Indonesia. From the airport at Ngusa Rai, Denpasar to my hotel located near the famous resort of

Nusa Dua, the drive offered an outstanding and fascinating spectacle. The group I was with visited the tallest peak there called Kintamani, right after the Asia Pacific Economic Summit in Nusa Dua. On the way to the peak (about 1,500 feet above sea-level), we were treated with breathtaking scen-eries of picturesque rice fields, coconut trees and stone carvings of Hindu gods along side streets. Before ascending Kintamani, we were ushered to a place called ‘Shadewa’ where villagers offered services and time to enter-tain foreign visitors. Actors showcased their prowess in folklore dances and plays.

“The performers are farmers and natives of this area Batu Bulan (Gianyar). They do this before going to their farms for extra income,” the tour guide said, adding that the place is also famous for stone carvings and temples. Shadewa (Barong & Kris Dance) is a musical play which represents an eternal fight between good and evil. The character ‘Barong’, a mythologi-cal animal which represent good, and Rangda (evil) was the center of the story. After the show, the bus headed to a coffee and herbs plantation a thousand feet above sea level a couple of minutes away from Kintamani. Our tour bus of mostly journalists from different parts of the world were served with all types of coffee and herbs including ginseng at the planta-tion. After the coffee break, the bus headed directly to Kintamani, where we

arrived just before lunch. Kintamani is located on the western edge of Gunung Batur. We went

straight to Penelokan, a north-south road point where visitors get a panoramic and majestic view of Gunung Batur region. At first glance, you will be hypnotized by the region’s splendor. The breathtaking view of the mountains, lakes and villages will captivate you and you’ll definitely love to stay longer. According to our tour guide, most of the time, the surround-ing areas are hidden by clouds, so some tourists stay in the area for hours just to have a clear view of the region’s beauty. But we were lucky because the sky was clear and little clouds were blocking the stunning view of the wonderful region.

The name Kintamani is derived from a native dog of Bali. It is surrounded by captivating nature and ten ancient villages namely Kedisan, Buahan, Abang, Trunyan, Songan, South Batur, Middle Batur, North Batur, Sukawana and Kintamani. From the grand view of Kintamani, the bus took us to another tourist destination called Pura Tirtha Empul (Tirtha Temple). The temple is holy to many Hindus. It is near Ubud or Tampaksiring district and is famous for its holy water. Visitors are allowed to take some water from the spring believed to have medicinal values that can heal skin diseases.

“If you are getting married, the couple usually comes in this holy temple and takes a holy bath to cleanse themselves from impurities,” the tour guide explained. Tirta Empul Temple was built in 962 AD during the Warmadewa dynasty (from the 10th to 14th centuries) at the site of a large water spring believed to have appeared when a Hindu guru was dying of dehydration. Visitors can only enter if they don a traditional sarong. On the upper left

side of the temple is a modern villa built for President Sukarno’s visit in 1954. It was formerly a residence of Dutch officials.

Not far from this place is another tourist location called the Elephant Cave Temple. The temple, a stunning place to visit, is located at Ubud Township. Known as Goa Gajah to the Balinese, it has served as a place of worship (complete with a holy bathing pool) and general sanctuary since the 9th century. The temple is sounded with centuries-old trees and rain-forests. The actual elephant cave is small but cool and serene from within. Inside the cave are displays of stone elephant gods and the head of the Hindu elephant god venerated by some Hindus as a symbol of wisdom and knowledge.

At the entrance of the cave are stone carvings of menacing demons believed to be carved to ward off evil spirits. If you have enough time, you can enjoy trekking in the mountainous and rocky areas nearby. Souvenir shops can also be found in areas frequented by visitors, but they are expen-sive compared to shops in the famous cities of Bali like Kuta, Ubud, Nusa Dua, Jimbaran and Padang Bai. Since the Bali bombings of 2002, Kuta has become more famous and attractive to foreign visitors. A monument was erected near the site of the bombing, and the actual site is now a parking space, while the other bombing site has a new restaurant frequented by lo-cal and foreign visitors. The city has moved on and is thriving. It has become more vibrant and bustling, and clubs and businesses are everywhere.

Indeed Bali is a place to visit, a venue to relax and enjoy life to the fullest.

Kintamani, Tirtha Empul and the Elephant Cave Temple wrap up Bali tour

Bali should be the new destination on everybody’s list

Photo shows the Elephant Cave Temple. A view from Penelokan overlooking Gunung Batur region.

Photo shows the Pura Tirtha Empul. Photo shows our tour guide showing us the coffee beans.

Photo shows the famous king bath at the Elephant Cave Temple.

MINI celebrated its ‘not normal’ brand campaign at this year’s Dubai International Motor Show with a series of uncon-ventional activities that included a fun photo booth in

association with Oreo.In typical MINI style, visitors to the stand were encouraged to act

differently by dressing up in a whole host of fun and funky acces-sories to make their photo ‘not normal.’ Once captured, the photos were uploaded onto facebook.com/MINI.middleeast page and projected on the large LCD screens on the MINI stand promoting the unconventional nature of the MINI brand.

Friend to football fans and to MINI, ex-FIFA captain Fabio Can-navaro a MINI Cabrio driver himself joined the brand on their stand for the Middle East launch of the MINI Instagram page, and to participate in having his ‘not normal’ photo taken.

Other special guests to the stand included the new MINI John Cooper Works Pace man, MINI Cooper S Ray Edition, MINI Cooper S Cabrio and the Middle East’s best-selling MINI Country man with a John Cooper works aerodynamic package.

And the fun didn’t stop in the photo booth. Guests who had their photo taken were given a MINI goodie bag with their photo booth image on it, which also contained samples of Oreo, the world’s favourite cookie.

MINI launched their ‘not normal’ global marketing campaign in June to highlight brand’s individual, high-energy attitude to life and the strong emotional and personal connection between driv-ers and their MINI’s.

The Dubai Motor Show is taking place from 5-9th November at the World Trade Centre, Dubai and MINI can be found at stand number SSA30 for visitors wanting to take part in the brand’s fun photo booth action.

MINI the ‘not normal’ brand is pictureperfect at the Dubai International Motor show With summer nearly over every fashionista

worth their salt is thinking about their au-tumn/winter wardrobe. The latest collection

from Max is the perfect combination of high fashion and affordability drawing inspiration from high fash-ion catwalks.

For women, this season’s collection stems from ‘tartan grunge’ and rich warm colors taking cue from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala adding our own animal print twist to the mix. Mesh inserts and overlays and panel blocs are all presented in the collection. The Scottish Highlands are another source of inspiration with kilts, tartan skirts and print on print combina-tions. Embellished collars and hems are also trends to keep an eye out for at Max this season. It’s all about the detail.

This winter Max men’s wear experiments with specific key trends across the season starting off with the ever popular tartan trend of-fering items like, blazers, printed sweaters cardigans and shorts.

Influenced by rock music, studs add detail to basic wardrobe items; tees, sweaters and denims in black, ivory, grey marl and ink. There is a huge influence by military prints with a modernized take including, animal prints, camouflage military styled shirts plaid shirts and mili-tary uniform styled jackets and trousers. The New York ‘90s are back with bomber and baseball jackets, sneakers, thick sweaters, hoodies, coats & baggy tees.

For girls floral jeans, polka dots, lace and stripes make up the key trends. Country chic, tartan, monochrome and plaids are all important will all be seen this autumn and are a perfect way to update any young fashionistas wardrobe.

Our adorable infant boy’s collections are full of cute pieces for your little one. They are heavily inspired by the great outdoors,our key themes this season are Snow

Valley, Varsity Sports and lovely graphic tees with chunky knits or plaid flannel shirts.

Our infant girl’s collection is as cute as it gets! Key items for the season in-clude, festive dresses and a-line woven

tops all of which are ideal to be layered underneath our adorable duffle jackets

and coats. We also have a mixed palette of classic reds and deep purples combined

with herringbone and tweeds, as well as rich purples with turquoise.

This season our boy’s collection is packed with great pieces in excit-ing themes. We have the season staple of varsity and lots of it, with cut and sew polo’s, padded gilets and washed chinos, collegiate and argyle themes featuring lots of chunky striped polos, elbow patch shirts and paneled jeans. We also have some edgy looks for your aspiring rock star with our Rock Rebel collection, with a classic monochrome palette with a splash of red and forest.

This season our girls collec-tions are really looking outstand-

ing! Classic a-line shapes mixed with lovely textures such as herringbone and tweed. Our My Little Kitty collection consists of gold, ebony and ivory with gorgeous prints and girly shapes.

Max unveils autumn collection

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