Australia

November 23, 2016

Best in Bali

HECTOR’S DIARY His fortnightly diet of worms and other non-religious experiences Wine country, Western Australia Nov. 23, 2016 CHRISTINA Iskandar, who is busy expanding the Diva Empire in Australia from her Sydney hometown base, tells us of a lovely little charity revenue stream she’s putting in place. It’s at the invitation of a major greetings… Continue reading

America, Australia, Bali, karma

Bad Bars, Bali Children Foundation, Chilling Out, Christina Iskandar, Culture, Divas, Donald Trump, Echo Beach, Glass ceilings, Indonesia, Mara Wolford, Melbourne Cup, Merah Putih, Politics, Refugee Learning Nest, Sociology, Suryani Institute for Mental Health, Travel, Wheelie Bins
November 8, 2016

Dystopian Delights

HECTOR’S DIARY His fortnightly diet of worms and other non-religious experiences Bali Nov. 9, 2016 THERE were no visibly ruffled kebayas at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival session featuring American author Lionel Shriver on Oct. 29. No one loudly rattled their worry beads or furiously flounced out. This was in stark contrast to the… Continue reading

America, Animal Welfare, Australia, Bali, Books, Festivals, Indonesia, Lombok, Tourism, Ubud, Writing

Belgium, Books, Censorship, Chocolates, Culture, Death squads, Dystopia, Election fatigue, Gay penalties, Gianyar, Gill Westaway, Ines Wynn, Kori resort Ubud, Lionel Shriver, Mad Max, Marcel De Rijk, Politics, Puri Mas Lombok, rabies, Richard Boughton, Robert Epstone, Sara Sanders, Solemen Indonesia, St Regis Doha, The Mandibles
October 11, 2016

Head for the Hills, Gabblers

HECTOR’S DIARY His fortnightly diet of worms and other non-religious experiences Bali Oct. 12, 2016 WELL, the Diary is ready for the feast. This will not be in Hotel California style. We’re not much into steely knives and we certainly don’t want to kill the beast. Not that what we’re talking about is a… Continue reading

Australia, Bali, Books, Festivals, Indonesia, Road Toll

Elizabeth Travers, Geoffrey Gold, Jack Daniels, Lionel Shriver, Neu! Reekie!, Paul Grigson, Sami Shah, Solemen Indonesia, Tim Hodge, Un’s Restaurant, UWRF 2016
September 18, 2016

That Greens Walkout: No, Senator, it was a Stunt

AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Sep. 18, 2016 PAULINE Hanson is an idiot: I mean in the general conversational meaning of that term, not the clinical diagnosis of that unfortunate condition. Her views on all sorts of things are ignorantly laughable, some are just plain dangerous, and all of them attract support from small, irritably disaffected corners of the… Continue reading

Australia

Australian Senate, Pauline Hanson, Richard Di Natale
September 13, 2016

No Nooky Nonsense, Please

HECTOR’S DIARY His fortnightly diet of worms and other non-religious experiences Bali Sep. 14, 2016 THE view that the state should legislate morality and sexual conduct is hardly novel. Those who think they know better are ubiquitous. They appear in all societies, proselytising a prescriptive view of how their fellow citizens should behave. This… Continue reading

Australia, Bali, Indonesia, Indonesian Law, Ubud

Adultery, Catherine Stewart, Constitutional Court, Garden Drum, Indonesian studies, jade richardson, Latika Bourke, Le Moulin Creperie, Made Wijaya, New Colombo Plan, Rio Helmi, Writing Courses
August 30, 2016

Shibboleths Revealed

HECTOR’S DIARY His fortnightly diet of worms and other non-religious experiences Bali, Aug. 31. 2016 Expatria, the spreading collection of dots that peppers the map of Bali like kibbutzim, as if it were the beginnings of an overbearing expropriation, had an unpleasant frisson of ferment recently over the tragic death of a policeman in an… Continue reading

Australia, Bali, Books, Expatria, Festivals, Fine Dining, Indonesia, Ubud, Writing

Appeals, Bali, Biblical floods, Candi Dasa, jade richardson, Janet DeNeefe, Jo Hocking, Ku De Ta, Made Wijaya, Murder charges, Perth, Quinoa, The Ark, UWRF 2016, Vincent’s, Wayan Sudarsa
August 1, 2016

Something’s Missing

HECTOR’S DIARY His fortnightly diet of worms and other non-religious experiences Bali, Aug. 3, 2016 Young Australians and alcohol have a habit of not mixing very well. It’s a part of the national kaleidoscope that fractures the preferred public image of the land down under and reveals the reality of Australia today. It’s not only… Continue reading

Animal Welfare, Art, Australia, Bali, Indonesia, Ubud

Alcohol, Aussie louts, Australian Council on Healthcare Standards International, BIMC Hospital Nusa Dua, Elizabeth Henzell, Indus restaurant, Janet DeNeefe, Jetstar, Lyn Dargan, Marta Valbuena, Michael Johnsey, Odd gallery, Robert Eliot, Villa Kitty
July 20, 2016

Blots on the Landscape

HECTOR’S DIARY His fortnightly diet of worms and other non-religious experiences Bali, Jul. 20, 2016 Where to start? We’ll leave aside (for the moment) certain segments of the bar scene where duty of care, which shouldn’t be an entirely foreign concept, is spelt WTF, and winks and nods at malfeasant bad behaviour, if… Continue reading

Art, Australia, Bali, Books, Environment, Festivals, Food, General Interest, History, Indonesia, Indonesian Law, Ubud

Adrian Vickers, Australia, Bali, Bar riskers, Dog racing, Made Wijaya, Marian Carroll, NSW Premier Mike Baird, Sand extraction, Sophie Digby, Tim Hannigan, Ubud
June 21, 2016

Gaia Waives the Rules

Hector’s Bali Diary His fortnightly diet of worms and other non-religious experiences June 22, 2016 This seemed to be the consensus among the worriers, at least, those who observe ephemeral climatic events as a message from someone or other (and of course, themselves) about the dangers of human environmental iniquity. But climate is cyclical… Continue reading

Animal Welfare, Art, Australia, Bali, Charity, Economic Development, Environment, Social Development, Ubud

Australian election, Australian Sex Party, Bali Arts Festival, BAWA, Garuda, Governor Made Mangku Pastika, Mercy Corps, Miss Mermaid Bali, President Joko Widodo, Ric Shreves, Ross Fitzgerald, Surf2Save, The Melting Pot, Tolak Reklamasi, Tommy Michael Costa Rica, Tomy Winata, Ubud, visas on arrival, Waterman’s Week 2016
June 7, 2016

Go For It

Hector’s Bali Diary His fortnightly diet of worms and other non-religious experiences June 8, 2016 It’s always fun to read Alistair Speirs’ little homilies in NOW! Bali. They seem to carry a reminder of Episcopalian morality, which isn’t strange, really, given that Speirs is from Edinburgh, the Sassenach capital of Scotland. My Auntie Lizzie… Continue reading

Animal Welfare, Australia, Bali, Charity, General Interest, Public Administration, Sexual Health, Social Development, Tourism

Alistair Speirs, Australian tourism, Bali Children Foundation, Bali DIVAS, Bali NOW!, Bali Update, Bank Indonesia, Carlotta, Chinese tourism, Christina Iskander, Coca-Cola Amatil, Cocoon Beach Club, Condoms, East Bali Poverty Project, Hotel Dynasty, IKEA, Jocelyn Johinke, Polly Petrie, Quicksilver, Sydney, Timor-Leste

About Me

Former journalist now confined by age and indolence to blogging about this and that, now from Western Australia, previously from Indonesia (that’s the 8 degrees in the title) and before that, Queensland. I don’t do a newsletter so ignore that prompt below.