WORDS FROM THE CHAIRMAN
The third Sanur Village Festival is only a few moments away. In the meantime our team is amidst preparing an opening ceremony that will become one memorable event. We're quite eager to give away some secrets on how beautiful the opening of this year's Sanur Village Festival s going to be. But surely, you could wait just a little longer because indeed we do not want to spoil the surprise – of what awaits you as among the best festivals in Bali . In this opportunity, I also want to be grateful to all the journalists and the media who have participated in the press conference held at the office of the Yayasan Pembangunan Sanur several weeks ago. Your presence at the Sanur Village Festival is positively welcomed. Don't forget to come and let's rejoice once again, from August 6-10 2008 .

GET READY TO FLY
AT THE KITES FESTIVAL
Kites are indeed culturally rooted among the general Balinese community, and especially in Sanur. The Sanur Village Kite Festival had previously been held 2 years ago and the Sanur Village kiting event has already been held twice. This time the event will be carried out in 2 stages, namely an exhibition and kites event. The exhibition invites kite experts from various kiting clubs in Bali by exhibiting their kites in the air for 3 days and the height of the event will be the judging of the flying kites on August 9-10, 2008 .

CLOSER ENCOUNTERS
ON CITY BIKES
Partake in an intimate journey of the Sanur scenes through Sanur Village Cycling. A morning trip starts at 9 a.m. with participant reservation and preparations at the Club Aqua office. Three hours of cycling starts at 10 a.m. from the beach area, passing the Bali Beach Hotel, and with brief stopovers at Le Mayeur Museum and Pesamuan Ceramic, while The Village Restaurant serves for break time. The trip cycling continues to Pura Necara Blanjong, Pura Pengembak, and ends back at the starting point area. An afternoon trip starts at 2 p.m. with the same route and duration.

The Sanur Village Cycling Tour, from August 6-8, 2008 accommodates 20 participants per trip daily, led by one team leader and 3 instructors along an approximately 4.5 kilometer-long route. The tour is aimed at introducing riders to Sanur Village 's life scenes on a safe and enjoyable adventure.

Highlights along the route include many historical sites that offer interesting insights for riders. These include the Bali Beach Hotel, Sanur's first modern tourist accommodation built during the Japanese war repatriations in 1964; and the Le Mayeur Museum (House of Le

Mayeur), house of a famous Belgian impressionist painter, who was also the first expatriate artist to live in Sanur. Other Sanur highlights encountered on the way include Pesamuan Ceramic that offers its unique range of handcrafted decorative tiles and borders designed by well respected Australian artists Philip Lakeman and Graham Oldroyd. Necara Blanjong Temple is among Bali 's most ancient temples. It is the place where the oldest known inscription, the ‘Prasasti Blanjong', is kept. This edict proves that around 10 centuries ago Sanur was an important trading village. Pengembak Temple , or the Mertasari / Semawang Temple , is one of Sanur's most ancient temples. It tells of the founding of a Buddhist monastery that still hosts the sacred ‘Baris Cina' dance, with warriors wearing Portuguese-like 16th century helmets, perhaps the sign of early European contact.

THE MOTION OF FINE ARTS EXHIBITION
Sanur can be considered to be one of the historical milestones of Bali 's art scene that has made way to many gifted artisans. Prominent artists who have lived in Sanur have written their pages in Indonesia 's art development history. To name a few, the prominence of Le Mayeur and Donald Friend as well as a lineup of other artists joined together in the Sanur School of Art are artists who have taken their parts in the artistic aura and they have also noted Sanur as an artistic oasis frequently acting as a stopover by so many artists, art researchers, aficionados, and the whole society. In the second Sanur Village Festival art exhibitions boasting a considerably wide and free ‘Sanur A[r]mosphere' theme able to attract 170 artists to take part in the exhibition held in 6 venues. In this third Sanur Village Festival, the Green theme goes into accord with environmental awareness. The venue is to be focused within the ex-side market of the Segara Village Hotel Sanur that faces the beach. This exhibition takes place at least for two weeks with an opening a week prior to the opening of the Sanur Village Festival and closes a week after the Sanur Village Festival. The curator of the exhibition will be Arif B Prasetyo.