Afaranwide

NEWSLETTER 38: Jan. 25, 2020

Kung Hei Fat Choy – or Happy Chinese New Year!

Taking it Easy in Sanur

We love to travel and explore, but even Afaranwide needs a break sometimes and luckily we both agree that Sanur in Bali suits us down to the ground. We mostly do nothing, spend far too long on loungers on the beach broken by guilt trips to the hotel gym. Colin goes diving, Sue goes wandering, then it’s back to the lounger. No maps, no adventures, just blissful downtime. This is so unusual for us that Sue was moved to write about it. And she’ll be doing a review of our hotel next week. READ MORE

When Mick 'Married' Jerry

Sanur is less well-known than other places in Bali such as Seminyak, where the clubbers go, or Ubud, which attracts arty types. But on Nov. 21, 1990, all eyes were on Sanur when Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall married at Villa Batujimbar, one of a number of up-scale boutique hotels that line the shore. Hall, a model, left Bryan Ferry for Jagger, and by the time the ceremony took place the newlyweds had two children, and they were to have two more. However, they eventually parted, and in 1999 the marriage was annulled at the High Court in London on the grounds that the ceremony was not valid. Hall went on to marry media tycoon Rupert Murdoch in 2016.

Tragedy as Virus Takes its Toll

The sad story of the coronavirus which has forced 13 cities including Wuhan, Huanggang and Ezhou into lockdown continues. As we write, 41 people have died from the virus and 1,293 cases have been confirmed. The tragedy comes as millions of Chinese are on the move to be with their families for the Year of the Rat celebrations. Here in Hong Kong two patients are being treated in isolation wards and two holiday camps have been converted into quarantine facilities. The hugely popular New Year fireworks were already cancelled for fear of protests, and now the carnival and Lunar New Year Cup football tournament have also been cancelled. Travel advice is changing hourly, so check what your government is saying before travelling.

Japan Goes Back to its Roots

Japan will be in the news non-stop this year with the Tokyo Olympics this summer, and it is famously concerned about over-tourism – see Sue’s Kyoto post. However, a few changes quietly taking place could be part of the solution, according to Skift Asia Weekly. Some overworked young Japanese are moving out of the city rat-race back to their village homes thanks to new legislation that allows them to let rooms short-term. This rural tourism could help disperse visitors across the country, while still bringing income to the country’s ageing and dwindling population and bringing abandoned villages back to life.

Fashion Advice for Ecotourists

Like many people, we love to see wildlife when we travel. However, a new report suggests that the clothing worn by ecotourists could affect the animals they’re watching. Researchers wore one of three different colours – orange, green or blue – when they studied water anoles (a type of lizard) in Costa Rica. The aim was to see how the animals reacted to the different colours. Those who wore orange – chosen because anoles have orange sexual signals – saw more of the lizards than those in green or blue. Lindsey Swierk, an assistant professor at Binghampton University, State University of New York, worked on the study. “We developed a hypothesis that wearing colours that are ‘worn’ by water anoles themselves would be less frightening to these lizards,” she said.

Tourism Outpaces World Economy

The tourism industry is continuing to outpace the rate of growth of the global economy, according to a United Nations agency. Last year 1.5 billion international tourist arrivals were recorded globally, a 4 percent increase on 2018, the World Tourism Organization said in a report. The sector is expected to expand at the same rate this year, helped by major events such as the Tokyo Olympics and Expo 2020 Dubai. “In these times of uncertainty and volatility, tourism remains a reliable economic sector,” said Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili.

We Know When We’re Not Wanted!

Despite our vast combined age, we had a new experience this week. We’d accepted an invitation to a media event in Hong Kong from a travel company which was announcing the results of a study they have carried out. Sue was pleased because she could gain access to someone she has wanted to interview for a while on a subject close to her heart. But then we got a second email – due to the overwhelming response, we’d been knocked off the guest list! Word of advice to PR companies: treat your contacts with more care. Some of us actually want to attend events and write about them.

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