MUSRO (Music Room) is a Bali legend.
It has raised the bar in the Bali night life scene.
It is well known for the rich, famous and beautiful (and those that want to be) gather. MUSRO BALI as it is affectionately called has set the standard in music, events & service.

Conveniently located in the center of Kuta – Bali, MUSRO provides various entertainments that are mystical, artistic and erotic entertainment for enjoyment.
MUSRO BALI aims to produce a vibe atmosphere combining club, cocktail, lounge, karaoke, theatre and disco as well as other social environments.

In existence for almost 10 years, the cabaret performance can be claimed as the only one held at MUSRO BALI. It is thematic daily event that is difficult to beat in terms of unique nightlife entertainment. Cabaret show and live bands are performed 6 nights a week at 9.000pm onwards.

For patrons wishing to be the stars of their own songs, MUSRO KTV has 23 private Karaoke rooms with ladies to accompany you of your choice.

The fantastic layout lends itself well to both those who are in the mood to party full throttle. MUSRO BALI is ideal for private and/or corporate functions as this venue has so much to offer! Birthdays, bachelorette parties, product launches, social events and anniversaries: MUSRO BALI will customize packages to suit specific needs and requirements. MUSRO BALI is guaranteed to be the most popular celebratory destination for 2011!.

Cabaret – Live Band – KTV – Sexy Dancers – Dinner – Free WiFi – Sports Channel.

The beautiful people frequenting the bars of Jl Dyana Pura are in for a real treat every evening EVERY day thanks to a simply stunning ambient LED lighting design concept first seen in Europe and Australia and now proudly brought to Bali as a “First for Asia” by the talented designers of this terrific bar.

A hugely technical computer controlled environment mixer changes the internal bar colour and also the total environment. When Kudos want to create a cool, ice blue tint, a warm Bali sunset glow, a beautifully fresh air green naturalness or an azure ocean deep tranquillity they can do it – at a touch of a button. Kudos is aimed at for boys who like girls, boys who like boys and girls who like girls –all with an appetite for partying

This is definitely a bar that’s going to set the pace for others to follow –but its going to be hard for any bar to match up to this!. The attention to detail is mind-blowing. The bathrooms designs are the result of a special commission given to one of Chinas most talented design houses and cost a small fortune but its attention to things like that that will surely attract the well heeled visitor to bali. And you can reach it within a few minutes walk from the Annora Villa in Seminyak.

Jalan Abimanyu 66 Seminyak
Kuta Indonesia 80361

Location
Jl. Dhyana Pura – abimanju Arcade no 7
Phone:0361 – 730907
Fax: 0361 – 739840
Email: antiquebali@dps.centrin.net.id

Address Jl. Gunung Salak No. 44, Kerobokan, Bali
Phone +62-361-789 2804
Email Address ciak@infomaniak.ch

Obama introduced his 2012 budget this week. There is plenty to chew on in the reports even if you agree with me that the GOP will punch holes in it like they’re working in a Jarlsberg swiss cheese plant.

Of particular concern to wealthy individuals are the following details ( via Bloomberg ):

• The plan would allow Bush-era tax cuts to expire at the end of 2012 for individuals making more than $200,000 and married couples making more than $250,000

• Wealthy taxpayers would have their itemized deductions limited starting in 2012, including deductions for mortgage interest, charitable contributions and state and local taxes

• Extend tax credits for college expenses and expand them for child care. A more generous Earned Income Tax Credit for families with three or more children would be made permanent.

The end result (at least on paper) is the following:

“In all, the budget proposal would impose about $730 billion in new taxes on businesses and wealthy individuals over the next decade, while cutting about $400 billion in taxes on middle-income families, the working poor and other businesses, for a net tax increase of about $330 billion.

“Those numbers, however, don’t include additional tax revenue from letting Bush era tax cuts for the wealthy expire at the end of 2012. Letting those tax cuts expire would generate an additional $709 billion over the next decade, according to the budget proposal.”

Again, this is just the opening salvo in what is sure to be a lusty battle in Washington. Republicans are committed to a $100 billion reduction in the budget and programs cuts that go much farther.

One other item investors may want to be conscious of is the SEC funding request being made by the President for 2012. According to a story in Investment News , Obama is seeking to raise the SEC’s budget by $300 million to $1.4 billion.

He will face stiff opposition from the budget hawks and free marketeers now that Madoff and the credit crisis are beginning to recede from memory. The Republican budget actually has a funding cut to the SEC of $188 million for the fiscal 2011 allocation!

These are the proposals folks, don’t pillory the messenger. Update your clients accordingly.

As perhaps one of the unintended consequences of allowing outside developers to make programs for smartphones, a number of apps now let users avoid calling and texting charges. Skype, which lets users make voice calls to other Skype users for free, can now be found on a quarter of all iPhones, and its use on all phone platforms more than doubled in the second half of 2010. Instant messenger apps, which can act as a text messaging service, held at least one (and often several) of the top 10 spots in Apple ( AAPL: 363.99*, +4.09, +1.13% ) , BlackBerry, Android, and other app stores for all of 2010, reports app-store tracker Distimo. In all, the use of calling and messaging apps increased 87% last year, second in growth only to streaming video apps, according to research firm Allot Communications.

For strategic users, the growing popularity of apps like these could lead to lower phone bills. By swapping a texting plan for an instant messaging program like Yahoo! Messenger or even Facebook could save the parents of a text-happy teen up to $240 per year. Using Skype or another calling service and scaling back to a smaller bucket of voice minutes could save another $240, with bigger savings for people who often call internationally, says Todd Day, an industry analyst for Frost & Sullivan. Someone who spends an hour each week talking to relatives in Canada could save an extra $22.60 a month per month by forgoing Verizon’s ( VZ: 36.14*, -0.32, -0.87% ) rates for Skype.

Of course, these apps aren’t flawless. Voice apps use Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, technology, which transmits your voice as data over an existing internet connection, either the carrier’s data network or WiFi. But a slow data network can interfere with call quality. So can a shaky internet connection, and both are common problems, especially for international calls. “[VoIP] is relatively painful and unreliable,” says Schwark Satyavolu, the president of plan comparison site BillShrink.com . “It’s not first-class voice service.”

Instant messaging apps, on the other hand, are less buggy, and eliminate the character limits of texting. They’re similar to text messaging software, and to desktop IM software consumers are used to, with bursts of text or even voice popping up on your phone. But they often come with ads — which users can typically banish for a one-time fee of up to $5. And for a messaging app to work, and for a voice app to be free, both people in the exchange have to be signed up with the same service. That’s tricky: Apps aren’t necessarily available on all platforms, and forget about connecting with the two-thirds of cellphone owners who don’t have a smartphone. “The beauty of traditional voice and text is that you can call and text anyone,” says Don Kellogg, a senior manager of research and insights for Nielsen’s telecom practice.

As it is, the savings could be short-lived. Phone companies aren’t likely to eliminate voice plans completely, whether customers use them or not. And eventually, data will get more expensive. A Verizon spokeswoman says the company plans to start charging users based on how much data they use “at some point,” but declined to divulge specifics. Other networks are likely to follow, at which point consumers using apps as a substitute for voice or text could easily see their bills rise, especially if they also stream video or use other data-heavy apps. “We always advise users to keep an eye on their data usage,” says Jen Harvey, a co-founder of Voxilate, whose app HeyTell sends voice messages (like the two-way radio technology of Sprint’s Push-to-Talk feature) at an average 10KB data apiece. (That’s roughly the size of a single email.)

In the meanwhile, consumers who are willing to put up with the occasional choppy call or ad-interrupted text message chain could save almost $500 per year — enough to fund that new iPhone and 10 months of the required $30 unlimited plan, which Verizon has said it will soon discontinue. “It’s another reason to get in on the unlimited data plan while it still exists,” says Day.

Regional government offices and courts outside of Jakarta normally experience significant inconvenience in attempting to access the tens of thousands of laws regulations, regulations and decisions in effect and governing our social interactions. It is no wonder that some judges and lawyers are prevented from engaging in pure application of legal analysis to factual situations due to the inability to find the law.

Most people don’t realize the fact that the Indonesian government is an extremely adept instrument for the promulgation of laws and regulation. There is a tremendous amount of law on the books. Ana most of it is adequately written though sometimes requiring a bit of a torturous effort towards a reasonable interpretation. Nevertheless, the law is capable of serving its intended function if read and applied in good faith.

The Indonesian government has been making significant efforts to disseminate the law throughout the entire Indonesian archipelago. Given that the construction of law libraries throughout the entire Indonesian archipelago. Given that the construction of law libraries has probably been recognized to be beyond the budgetary needs of the Nation at this time, the government can be praised to some degree for the steps it has taken towards the development of web sited of various departments containing an ever growing quantity of download able laws and regulations.

Unfortunately Indonesia’s low telephone density across the Nation and the number of those with access to telephone capable of carrying sufficient band width and clarity interconnect with the internet reduces the effectiveness of the government’s internet law dissemination program even further. But that does not mean these government programs are misguided. In fact they are great steps for the Nation.

Although over the last few years the government has made great strides toward the provision of means to access the law, it is still necessary to visit relevant government departments and meet with government officials responsible in particular fields of interest to request assistance in obtaining relevant materials decrees and other promulgation’s which govern legal relationships. Depending on the availability of officials, the accuracy and detail of answers provided is at times less than uniform and complete. Certainly more disturbing is the fact that access to governmental departments is still geographically limited to Jakarta, the Nations capital and the seat of government. This, for the more than two hundred million people living outside of the capital, reasonably efficient access tot he law is almost non-existent.

This is true not only for the ordinary citizen. It is also true for government officials including jurists residing outside of Jakarta. In my visits to regional government offices and to regional courts, the lack of legal materials relevant to even the most directly related aspects of official duties is alarming.

To perform their duties, government officials are required to exercise discretion which may not comport to the true intentions of legislative promulgation’s.

The exercise of discretion in the darkness created by the norm of near complete lack of access to existing black letter law has led to the feeling among the general population that fairness and morality are corrupted. The victims of these circumstances are average citizens who are left feeling powerless to defend themselves through demands for enforcement of laws to which they have no access and thus of which they may have no knowledge.

Economic and legal experts unanimously agree that the number one problem for Indonesian socio-economic development is the need to strengthen the rule of law. Many feel that cries for strengthening of the rule of law have become nothing more than cliché.

It is probably safe to say that almost every international development institution with a presence in Indonesia is involved in at least one program designed to promote the rule of law. But, what tangible tool is placed in the common person’s hands to empower the exercise of the human rights expected from a just civil society?

Expats have heard (and told) numerous stories about cultural snafus, missed appointments, differences in management style causing problems at the office, lost orders or down time on production lines due to serious miscommunications, labor problems between foreign management and local staff and many other problems. Many of these problems could have been averted or lessened had the expatriate manager and the local counterparts and colleagues been better prepared for the differences in work patterns that they would encounter.

How do you know how to approach people, how to set appointments, how to determine what various actions mean in a different culture, how to close a deal Indonesian style, how to deal with jam karet (rubber time), and a multitude of other questions?

Fortunately there are “seasoned veterans” who can help you find the answers to these questions. They may be people in your company, people that you meet in a business association, friends you make in social situations or paid consultants.

Just as you go to great lengths to find out what you need to bring with you in your household shipment, it would be wise to spend a significant amount of time, prior to your arrival, learning how Indonesians conduct their business affairs. Every hour you invest in gaining this knowledge will result in significant time savings and lessened frustrations as you learn to prevent or lessen miscommunications and problems before they occur. Don’t be hesitant to ask questions of those who have years of experience in Indonesia. Most people are eager to share some advice! However, if you don’t ask, you’ll never receive their helpful tips.

Your company has invested a lot in you by sending you to Indonesia, not only monetarily, but also with the plan that your presence will benefit the company in many ways. Make the most of that investment, for yourself and your company by learning the cultural norms of Doing Business in Indonesia!

When I started thinking about starting a business in Bali and trying to do research on the topic, I found there was so little information available anywhere. Since I started the Bali Expat website, how to go about starting a business in Bali is one of the most frequent questions I get asked.

In doing my research for the book, I heard of several people who lost their life savings from failed business investments in Bali. I thought that if I could write a guide to starting a business in Bali, it would at least serve as a starting point for people taking their first steps in starting their business.

It soon became clear to really make this guide both useful and interesting, I needed to get the experience of other expats who had already been down this road. Interestingly enough, the people who I interviewed for the book said “if only such a guide existed when I was starting out”.

Interviews and case studies

I interviewed five long term, foreign business owners who shared their knowledge of starting and building businesses in Bali and Indonesia. Each of them have a unique experience and perspective on starting a business in Bali. Their advice and and insights are truly invaluable.

Who is the book for

The guide is for anyone contemplating moving to and starting a business in Bali, or even in another part of Indonesia.

What is included

The guide is split into 6 sections:

1. A guide to getting started, including some ideas for businesses in Bali, business plans and researching your target market in Bali.A case study is included on how one person set up a business in a very saturated market in Bali, but was able to target a very specific niche and build a very successful business.
2. Section two covers issues specific to Indonesia and Bali, such as registering a business, business licences, franchises and tax.
3. Section three is devoted to marketing your business in Bali, including print media advertising and marketing your business on the internet. Don’t just expect to ‘build it and they will come’.
4. Section four is a set of five interviews I did with expat business owners, who have combined experience of 80 plus years of living in Bali and Indonesia.
5. Section five is a list of useful websites and clubs and societies you can join to network.
6. In section six I include a list of common abbreviations used in Indonesia that are mostly related to business, government and daily life.

The guide is just over 100 pages long and while it doesn’t go into detailed laws of taxes and registering a business, it focuses on providing straight forward, practical advice.

Some of the other things you will learn in the book:

* The importance of niche markets
* The functions of a notary in Indonesia and when to use a notary or a lawyer
* How to find business partners
* How to structure your company
* How to find out what licenses you will need

As a bonus, I’ve included a case study of a guest house owner who was fully booked even before he opened for business, using only his blog for promotion. He shows that even someone with little technical knowledge can start a successful blog, which doesn’t require too much work to run, but is an extremely effective way to market a business.

What is not covered

I sometimes get emails from people like, “does your guide cover starting a hair dressing salon in Bali”. It would be impossible to cover every likely scenario and aspect of starting a business in Bali. I can say however, you should be able to apply the information and examples in the book to your own situation and business. I am also happy to try and answer any question you might have by email, if it wasn’t covered in the book.