1/02/2011

Karlamanda Villas


The only private luxury villas in Kuta, Karlamanda Villas are located in Tuban-Kuta. Minutes to the beautiful sparkling beaches of Bali. Each villa with 3 bedrooms, living room, fully equipt kitchen and pool, designed in modern minimalist blended with Balinese style.

These villas are only a short stroll from the famous long sandy beaches of kuta, minutes from Tuban Beach (south kuta) with clear calm water, protected by an off shore coral reef and only a two minute boat ride for those surfers willing to take on the Kuta reef challenge.
All attractions of Kuta within easy strolling distance, such as shopping malls, street markets, Waterbom park, restaurants and bars etc. The villas are only 7 minutes from the international airport by taxi.

Babysitters (By Request)
Please notify the Manager in advance should you need a babysitter. You will be charged a small overtime fee for late-night babysitting.

Beaches
The beach at Kuta Beach, whilst great for watching, with white sand and excellent surf, can be dangerous and you are strongly advised to take notice of the flags on display. The beach can be accessed by walking 5 minutes away from the villa.

Car Parking
We have parking space for 1 cars/ vans. In addition, parking on the main road is plentiful and reasonably secure.

Kitchen Equipment
The kitchen is equipped with modern Western appliances ranging from juicers to microwaves.

Laundry
Sheets and bath towels are normally replaced every day. Should you wish to have your towels changed more frequently, please place them in the laundry basket in your bathroom. Please place any personal laundry in the laundry bags provided and fill out the laundry list in your bedroom cupboard. There is a charge for laundry, as we contract this externally, which will be invoiced to you at the end of your stay. A list of charges is available in each bedroom. Please leave 48 hours for the return of laundry before your departure.

Massage Service (By Request)
We operate an excellent call-in service which you must experience. Please contact one of the house staff for an appointment.

Security
The villas have 24 hour security. The guards, called Satpam in Indonesian, will help you in any way they can. Be warned they speak only a little English! Should you wish to call out for them, use the expression "Bli" which is also the Balinese expression for getting the attention We do of course have every confidence in the reliability of our house staff. Nevertheless, we would ask you not to leave valuables lying around as temptation. Each room is equiped with it's own safe and we urge you to leave valuables in it for safekeeping. At nighttime, we would advise you to keep your bedroom door locked with the key in the lock, as an extra precaution.

TV Cable
The villa is installed with cable TV which carries all the major international cable channels. Reception is available only in the TV area.

Internet
The villa has Wireless Internet Connection facility so don't forget to bring your personal laptop and use the computer as much you want.

Voltage and Electricity
Bali runs on a 220 volt system. You should note that the grid is subject to power weakness during peak times (6pm to 10pm) and some types of electrical equipment may not run at the reduced voltage level experienced during this time.

Insect & Precautions
Mosquito coils are provided at the Villa for your convenience and are lit every early evening in the outside living areas. These coils should help very much to keep the majority of the pests away. Your room will be sprayed before bedtime or when you leave the villa. We recommend you close your bedroom and bathroom doors before leaving to prevent insect's entering. A can of insect spray is provided in each room.

Water Supply
We have a water supply, which due to installation of modern filtration equipment, is theoretically potable. We would however advise you to drink only water from the Water Dispensers located in the kitchen, and from the Aqua bottles placed in your room each day.

End of Your Stay
It is recommend to call your airline 72 hours before your departure to confirm your flight. If you need any assistance the staff will be more then happy to help you. Please check to ensure that you have packed all of your belongings. Double checked and empty the safe deposit box. Pay all of you outstanding bills that have not already settled, which may include: laundry and dry cleaning, telephone calls (available in living room area), internet, food, villa rental etc.

You will be expected to pay for any items in your villa that you may have broken or damaged. We also understand that exceptions may be warranted. This will be handled on a case by case basis, and can be discussed with your villa manager.

As a Thank you to the villa staff you may wish to reward them. If unsure of amounts please consul with our manager, any tips will be distributed equally among all the staff. In order to help us to improve the quality of our service & facilities for your next stay, we would appreciate some or your time to fill in our guest feedback from before your departure. We wish you a fantastic vacation in Bali and hope you will enjoy your stay at Karlamanda Villa. Please feel free to introduce your friends to Karlamanda Villas.

Villa Services:
- Air Conditioning
- Balcony/Terrace
- Bathtub/Showers
- Complimentary bottled water
- Daily hot breakfast
- DVD player
- Flatscreen tv
- Fully equipt kitchenette (microwave included)
- Hairdryers
- Laundry service
- Swimming pool
- Wireless internet

1/13/2010

About Bali island

Bali is an Indonesian island located at Coordinates: 8°25′23″S 115°14′55″E / 8.42306°S 115.24861°E / -8.42306; 115.24861the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. It is one of the country's 33 provinces with the provincial capital at Denpasar towards the south of the island. With a population recorded as 3,551,000 in 2009, the island is home to the vast majority of Indonesia's small Hindu minority. About 93.18% of Bali's population adheres to Balinese Hinduism, while most of the remainder follow Islam. It is also the largest tourist destination in the country and is renowned for its highly developed arts, including dance, sculpture, painting, leather, metalworking and music. History Bali was inhabited by Austronesian peoples by about 2000 BC who migrated originally from Taiwan through Maritime Southeast Asia.Culturally and linguistically, the Balinese are thus closely related to the peoples of the Indonesian archipelago, the Philippines, and Oceania.Stone tools dating from this time have been found near the village of Cekik in the island's west. Balinese culture was strongly influenced by Indian and Chinese, and particularly Hindu culture, in a process beginning around the 1st century AD. The name Bali dwipa ("Bali island") has been discovered from various inscriptions, including the Blanjong pillar inscription written by Sri Kesari Warmadewa in 914 AD and mentioning "Walidwipa". It was during this time that the complex irrigation system subak was developed to grow rice. Some religious and cultural traditions still in existence today can be traced back to this period. The Hindu Majapahit Empire (1293–1520 AD) on eastern Java founded a Balinese colony in 1343. When the empire declined, there was an exodus of intellectuals, artists, priests and musicians from Java to Bali in the 15th century. The first European contact with Bali is thought to have been made by Dutch explorer Cornelis de Houtman who arrived in 1597, though a Portuguese ship had foundered off the Bukit Peninsula as early as 1585 and left a few Portuguese in the service of Dewa Agung.[6] Dutch colonial control expanded across the Indonesian archipelago in the nineteenth century (see Dutch East Indies). Their political and economic control over Bali began in the 1840s on the island's north coast by pitting various distrustful Balinese realms against each other.[7] In the late 1890s, struggles between Balinese kingdoms in the island's south were exploited by the Dutch to increase their control. The Dutch mounted large naval and ground assaults at the Sanur region in 1906 and were met by the thousands of members of the royal family and their followers who fought against the superior Dutch force in a suicidal puputan defensive assault rather than face the humiliation of surrender. Despite Dutch demands for surrender, an estimated 1,000 Balinese marched to their death against the invaders. In the Dutch intervention in Bali (1908), a similar massacre occurred in the face of a Dutch assault in Klungkung. Afterwards the Dutch governors were able to exercise administrative control over the island, but local control over religion and culture generally remained intact. Dutch rule over Bali had come later and was never as well established as in other parts of Indonesia such as Java and Maluku. In the 1930s, anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, and artists Miguel Covarrubias and Walter Spies, and musicologist Colin McPhee created a western image of Bali as "an enchanted land of aesthetes at peace with themselves and nature", and western tourism first developed on the island. Imperial Japan occupied Bali during World War II during which time a Balinese military officer, Gusti Ngurah Rai, formed a Balinese 'freedom army'. The lack of institutional changes from the time of Dutch rule however, and the harshness of war requisitions made Japanese rule little better than the Dutch one.[10] Following Japan's Pacific surrender in August 1945, the Dutch promptly returned to Indonesia, including Bali, immediately to reinstate their pre-war colonial administration. This was resisted by the Balinese rebels now using Japanese weapons. On 20 November 1946, the Battle of Marga was fought in Tabanan in central Bali. Colonel I Gusti Ngurah Rai, by then 29 years old, finally rallied his forces in east Bali at Marga Rana, where they made a suicide attack on the heavily armed Dutch. The Balinese battalion was entirely wiped out, breaking the last thread of Balinese military resistance. In 1946 the Dutch constituted Bali as one of the 13 administrative districts of the newly-proclaimed State of East Indonesia, a rival state to the Republic of Indonesia which was proclaimed and headed by Sukarno and Hatta. Bali was included in the "Republic of the United States of Indonesia" when the Netherlands recognised Indonesian independence on 29 December 1949. The 1963 eruption of Mount Agung killed thousands, created economic havoc and forced many displaced Balinese to be transmigrated to other parts of Indonesia. Mirroring the widening of social divisions across Indonesia in the 1950s and early 1960s, Bali saw conflict between supporters of the traditional caste system, and those rejecting these traditional values. Politically, this was represented by opposing supporters of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and the Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI), with tensions and ill-feeling further increased by the PKI's land reform programs.[7] An attempted coup in Jakarta was put down by forces led by General Suharto. The army became the dominant power as it instigated a violent anti-communist purge, in which the army blamed the PKI for the coup. Most estimates suggest that at least 500,000 people were killed across Indonesia, with an estimated 80,000 killed in Bali, equivalent to 5% of the island's population.[11] With no Islamic forces involved as in Java and Sumatra, upper-caste PNI landlords led the extermination of PKI members. As a result of the 1965/66 upheavals, Suharto was able to maneuver Sukarno out of the presidency, and his "New Order" government reestablished relations with western countries. The pre-War Bali as "paradise" was revived in a modern form, and the resulting large growth in tourism has led to a dramatic increase in Balinese standards of living and significant foreign exchange earned for the country.A bombing in 2002 by militant Islamists in the tourist area of Kuta killed 202 people, mostly foreigners. This attack, and another in 2005, severely affected tourism, bringing much economic hardship to the island. www.sekarwangi.com