This afternoon as the first day of the Ubud Writer and Reader Festival got underway, news broke of a 14-year-old Australian boy arrested in Bali for drugs possession.

Silly looking drinks are legal. Drugs are not.

According to reports, the boy was arrested on Tuesday in possession of a few grams of marijuana that he'd allegedly purchased from a street dealer for 250,000 rupiah (around A$30).

Apparently in Legian, Bali on a holiday with family and friends, he's now in lockup in Denpasar facing (in theory) a maximum sentance of 12 years in jail* (see update 1 below). There is no separate prison for minors in Bali.

While drugs may be freely available on the street in tourist areas such as Kuta, Legian and Seminyak, visitors should be under no misapprehension that they are legal. They are not.

Indonesia has, even by Southeast Asian standards, severe drug laws and it is not at all uncommon for someone to sell you drugs then subsequently dob you in to the police. Police busting private parties are likewise not uncommon and the regimen of entrapment you may be used to in your home country is probably quite different in Indonesia.

So while we hope the above situation is brought to a very swift solution (sent home with a warning) we'll just take a moment to say, as we have in the past elsewhere, don't do drugs in Indonesia.

It's simple really.

If you're offered drugs on the street, walk away and enjoy the rest of your holiday.

Update 1
This story in the Sydney Morning Herald quotes the boy's Indonesian lawyer as saying he could face a maximum penalty of 6 years rather than 12 as that is the max-allowed sentance under juvenile provisions.

Update 2
The Sydney Morning Herald has an exclusive claiming a witness saying it was a police sting, with plain clothed police waiting outside the massage place for hours. It all sounds very odd and certainly overkill for a minor with a very small amount of pot on them.

Despite at least what I perhaps expected, yoga isn't everywhere in Bali. I thought I wouldn't be able to chuck an incense stick without hitting a studio, but they're actually quite few and far between across the island. Today I'll cover two spots in Sanur: the delightfully herby crunchy Manik Organik, and newer, New York-ier Hot Yoga Studio Leona.

Manik Organik

Get them while they're young.

The Manik Organik yoga space is really something special. Tucked away behind the busy restaurants of Danau Tamblingan, the airy, fan-cooled second floor studio is made mostly of bamboo and other natural materials, and looks out over green trees and flowers, with mirrors on the reverse walls.

Classes here are usually taught by Indonesian teachers, with the occasional Westerner running workshops or sessions. Classes are mostly your basic hatha, but check the schedule or give them a call to find out exactly what's on during your stay. Most classes are held at 09:30 and 18:00 daily, but with variations, so do check. Cost is 90,000 rupiah per session, or a pack of 10 goes for 750,000.

I've found this spot to be among the least pretentious among the studios I've seen, with a lovely calm atmosphere. The attached cafe does great food, too -- I love their beetroot, ricotta and rucola sandwiches and my kids love their blueberry muffins.

Manik Organik
Jalan Danau Tamblingan 85, Sanur
T: (0361) 855 3380

http://www.manikorganikbali.com

Hot Yoga Studio Leona

This is not the yoga studio. This is La Tartine. Do not stop for coffee. Walk straight past to the yoga studio behind!

Hot Yoga Studio Leona is less about back to nature and more about getting a serious work out. As you can tell from the name, this is the Bikram-inspired, heated-room yoga we're talking about. The temperature of the room is maintained at 37 to 39 degrees Celsius, and the same series of poses is always practised -- the poses vary slightly from studio to studio, but are generally more or less the same (50 postures are held in this 90-minute class).

The studio is only a few months old and after one short-lived opening, it shuttered but has now reopened again, and this time it seems classes have really taken off -- their promotional 50,000 rupiah classes no doubt helped. The price is now 80,000 rupiah, and is eventually set to rise to 120,000, which is still awfully cheap by say Singaporean standards (where I was recently quoted a price of S$53.50 for a single, drop-in class.) It's an extra 10,000 for a towel, and 5,000 for a small water bottle -- take two of those if you  haven't brought a large one with you (as you should, of course, if you're travelling green in Bali.)

The environment is lovely, with a spacious heated room surrounded on three sides by mirrors --the fourth side looks out onto some garden and one of the rooms at the attached Hotel Puri Tempo Doeloe. The change rooms and showers have been done out with attention to detail too, making coming here a real treat from start to end.

As for the hot yoga itself: you'll either love it or hate it. The first class is the toughest and as the teacher will tell you, your aim is to simply stay in the room. Come a few times, and I'm warning you: it's addicting.

Hot Yoga Studio Leona
Jalan Bypass Ngurah Rai 209, Sanur
T: (0361) 286 542
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hot-Yoga-Studio-Leona

Tags: hot yoga, yoga, yoga studios

Time to sharpen up that bubur ayam?

On holiday in Bali and want to get a dental or eye check up? Even if you don't, it's good to have contact details on hand for a good dentist and optometrist while travelling just in case something goes wrong - and the prices are great!

Dr Retno has a neat, nondescript office that's easy to miss opposite McDonalds on the bypass in Sanur. I've seen her for a tricky filling and several cleans, and my kids have both seen her for checks, while Ms 4 has even had a quick and successful clean. Dr Retno's manner is very calm and reassuring and she seems to know her stuff: apples and carrots are good for your teeth, for instance (she teased this from Ms 4, though we had to go back later and check on whether seaweed is good as well).

Dr Sucipto in Denpasar also has an excellent reputation in Bali and may be the more appropriate route to go for complicated procedures, but we haven't had any experience with him directly. One of us though has seen one of his colleagues at his large practice and were happy with our treatment.

Both dentists need to be booked several weeks in advance, but might fit you in more quickly in a genuine emergency. You could definitely book in ahead of a trip to Bali to have a clean -- my most recent visit to Dr Retno was 350,000 rupiah for a good clean, while the kids' visits were 100,000 rupiah a pop.

Dr Sukmawati is located in Denpasar as well (on a one-way street -- a bit tricky to find but cabbies should know Prodia Lab, which is opposite) in a busy clinic/eyeglasses shop/chemist. She too has a lovely manner with children and a good sense of humour, taking Ms 4 through her paces for an eye check up as well as myself. If your eyes however are worse than mine -- I clocked in at 7.0 -- you won't be using her machine for a vision check, as it only goes up to 6.5. But I do believe she'll then use the old-fashioned method to check the extent of your blindness.

The bill? Just 100,000 rupiah a pop for each of us. Yes, at many optician shops a vision check is free, but by seeing an eye specialist you'll get that extra bit of reassurance as she'll check you out for other warning signs of eye problems as well.

You can generally get in the same day or with a day's advance notice to see Dr Sukmawati.

Dr Retno Ngurah Rai Bypass, opposite McDonalds, T: (0361) 288 501
Dr Sucipto Jl Diponegoro 150 / 32, Ruko IDT (Genteng Biru) Denpasar
T: (0361) 222 541
Dr Sukmawati 135 Jalan Diponegoro, Denpasar T: (0361) 237 066, (0361) 234 023

Tags: dentist, optomestrist

I drive or cycle through a major intersection in Sanur most days. It's where the bypass meets Jalan Danau Buyan, but most people, tourists and locals alike, know it more as McDonalds corner as there is a very prominent McDonalds on the southeast corner.

On the northwest corner is a police box.

At least once or twice a week I see the police booking foreign tourists on motorbikes at this corner. It's the main throughfare from Kuta to Ubud and fertile grounds for the men in uniform.

Indonesian motorbike license

Here are a few tips to avoid being booked:

1. Have an International Riding License. Note Riding, not Driving. You'll need to get this in your home country and this is a basic requirement for riding in Indonesia.
2. Have a local Tourist Riding License. You'll need (1) or a license from your home country to get this, and you'll have to spend an hour or so at the licensing centre in Kerobokan to get one (get a cab there, as it is in the middle of nowhere). It is valid for one month.

If you're not willing or able to do either of those, then you're going to be riding illegally, in which case  you're best to try and avoid being noticed, or if you are seen, you want them to assume you must be an expat and so will already have a license and not be worth stopping. This means you should:

1. Wear a helmet.
2. Wear a shirt. (Riding shirtless is a dead giveaway that you're a tourist.)
3. Don't wear a bikini (see 2).
4. Obey the road rules -- that is, drive or ride sensibly

If you are pulled over and are breaking the law, expect to be hit up for an on the spot fine. 50,000 rupiah is pretty standard, but the unwary get taken for a lot more -- we've heard of people handing over up to 300,000 rupiah! Always ride with a 50,000 rupiah note in your pocket (for quick handing over). If at all possible, don't get your wallet out.

At all times conduct yourself in good humour. You have broken the law and are in the wrong. You can kick up a hue and cry about it, but if you're riding around unlicensed, or without a helmet, you do deserve to be fined.

Get it over and done with and get on with your holiday. Better still, get a license, wear a helmet and avoid the whole problem.

One way the Vietnamese keep the dog numbers under control

The simple answer is yes. Bali's rabies outbreak began in 2008 and by the end of 2010 more than 100 Indonesians had died of the disease. Many of those who died were bitten by dogs but had not sought treatment and once physical symptoms appear the disease is 100% fatal.

Attempts to get the outbreak under control have been bumbling to say the least. Half-hearted attempts at wide scale culls have occurred (against the wishes of the island's small, but very vocal, animal rights supporters as well as general UN guidelines) and after a few false starts, a vaccination program aiming to vaccinate 70% of the island's dogs is gathering some momentum.

In the meantime people continue to be bitten and die, while foreign governments have issued travel warnings regarding the problem.

So what should you do? While, in the scheme of things, the risk is quite low -- the streets are not awash in roving hordes of rabid animals -- we would say that getting your rabies shots, especially if you have young children, would be prudent. You will find collarless dogs on many of Bali's beaches and kids all too often are attracted to them.

Dogs that have been vaccinated will have a red collar or sash around their necks, or a red tag hanging off their proper collar, but given many people run their own dogs unleashed (and sans any kind of collar) on the beach, it's very difficult to know for sure if the dog is safe. Our personal approach is to not let our kids near any dogs unless we know for certain that it has been vaccinated (that is, it's a friend's dog).

So far there has been no firm evidence of rabies crossing over to the island's massive monkey population, but were that to happen, it would definitely increase the argument for getting your shots.

Tags: bali, rabies