8º of latitude

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
July 5, 2016

The Sisyphus Factor

HECTOR’S DIARY His fortnightly diet of worms and other non-religious experiences Bali, July 6, 2016 The retreat of the resources sector is apparently hitting the accommodation and pembantu sectors in Jakarta, as well as business generally. For a country such as Indonesia, just as for Australia, depressed demand and sinking prices for commodities hit Continue reading

Bali, Bureaucracy, Business, Charity, Fine Dining, Food, General Interest, Indonesia, Wine

Alexsander Martins Paim, Arief Wicaksono, Brexit, Casillero del Diablo, Marian Carroll, Mike O’Leary, ROLE Foundation, Samantha Coomber, Vin+, Waterman’s Week 2016
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
May 26, 2016

A Load of Buluh

Buluh Abu Kacang is Made Wijaya, who used to be Michael White, an adolescent student of Sydney, before he dropped out ahead of finding time to actually drop in, and parlayed this feat into a successful Bali-based career as a landscape gardener. Over the many years since he has acquired considerable and valuable knowledge of Continue reading

General Interest
May 24, 2016

Ordure of the Day

Hector’s Bali Diary His fortnightly diet of worms and other non-religious experiences May 25, 2016 News that Bali’s beaches are the repositories of sewage is hardly novel, and it’s not by any means confined to the Legian beachfront, where the latest discovery by those who should ensure it doesn’t happen has stirred up a noisome Continue reading

Animal Welfare, Australia, Bali, Bureaucracy, Business, Death Penalty, Environment, Indonesia

Aceh, Alcohol, Australian Sex Party, beach follies, Beach pollution, Capsized ferries, drains, Legian, Rodrigo Duterte, Ross Fitzgerald, Rottnest Island Surferfest, Runaway deer, Surabaya, Sweania Betzeba Delisa
May 10, 2016

Keystone Kops

Hector’s Bali Diary, May 11, 2016 His fortnightly diet of worms and other non-religious experiences Exactly what went wrong on May 2, when the police arrived in strength at a location to arrest a French citizen, a man publicly known to be seriously mentally disturbed, needs to be fully explained. It hadn’t been explained Continue reading

Australia, Bali, Charity, Public Administration, Social Development, Tourism

Baggage collection, Bali Dynasty, Boeing 787, Brisbane Airport, Jetstar, Karl Marx, Lukman Hakim Saifuddin, May Day, Ngurah Rai Airport, Paradise Property, Police actions, Qantas, Robert Epstone, Rubber bullets, SoleMen, Waterbom, Zappaz
April 29, 2016

Here’s a Tip

Hector’s Bali Diary, Apr. 27, 2016 His fortnightly diet of worms and other non-religious experiences Now that the issue of destroying Benoa Bay so that rich people can get even richer is at the forefront of the public mind, and is the subject as it should be of robust dissention, it’s time to Continue reading

Bali, Economic Development, Environment, EU, Festivals, Food, Foreign Investment, General Interest, Indonesia, Lombok, Rabies, Tourism, Ubud

2016 Ubud Food Festival, Benoa Bay, Chinese bridesmaids, Chinese investment, European tourists, FAO, Fragrant Rice, Gerard Delhaes, Rabies control, Suwung
April 13, 2016

Lost in the Forest

Hector’s Bali Diary, Apr. 13, 2016 His fortnightly diet of worms and other non-religious experiences A Hollywood actor, Leonardo DiCaprio, visited Sumatra and said he thought it would be a great idea to protect the rainforest and the orangutans living in it, especially from palm oil plantations. This is an unexceptional statement. It is Continue reading

America, Australia, Bali, Environment, Indonesia, Politics, Pornography, Sexual Health

American Pie, Ardian Nugroho, Cheese, Don McLean, Drunken Monkeys, Free condoms, Leonardo DiCaprio, Steve Palmer
April 2, 2016

The Great Performer

BOOK REVIEW KEATING by Kerry O’Brien. 2015. Allen & Unwin, Sydney. ISBN 978 1 76011 1625. Many Australian journalists have a Keating tale to tell. Not all of them are denizens present or past of the parliamentary press gallery in Canberra, though naturally that was the former treasurer’s and prime minister’s chief stamping ground. Continue reading

Australia, Books, Politics

Kerry O’Brien, Paul Keating

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.