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Courier-Mail
an hour ago
- Business
- Courier-Mail
Aussie tourist shares Bingin horror: 'They started knocking our hotel down while I was in it'
Don't miss out on the headlines from Lifestyle. Followed categories will be added to My News. Sledgehammers are piercing the air in Bingin, Uluwatu's hippie sister. This beloved beachy community, known for its boho vibes, clifftop shacks, sprawling homestays and local warungs sits just north of Uluwatu. Though it has become more busy in the last twenty years, it's still less busy than Uluwatu, which has beach clubs, luxury hotels and now plans for a great big road carved into the cliff. Bingin is also home to one of the most mesmerising waves in the world. Bingin is one of the easiest barrels on the planet, and because of this it draws thousands of surfers every year to try their luck at it. However, this week authorities started demolishing more than 45 "illegal" businesses on the cliffside. This includes a mix of Western-backed joints and locally-run places that have been passed down the generations since the 1980s - from restaurants and bars to homestays and villas. Footage has emerged of demolition crews smashing down local bars with hammers (parts of the cliff are too steep for bulldozers) as distraught employees look on. As for the tourist experience on the ground, one Aussie surfer in Bali told Escape (under the condition of anonymity for fear of deportation) he was in a hotel with his partner when demolition began. "I was in the first hotel they targeted. No warning they just started knocking down and breaking sh*t while I was in it with my fiance." See also: Incredible photos show what Bali was like in the 1980s Eviction notices were sent a month ago, but due to their strange request that business owners tear their own joints down, locals hoped it was just bluster. Turns out it wasn't. X Learn More SUBSCRIBER ONLY After a few weeks of social media outrage, online petitions and community protest, the Badung Regency Government ignored business-owners' pleas and gave the green light to the demolition crew. Aside from devastating the local culture and economy, this has sparked outrage among surfers all over the world. 11-time world champion Kelly Slater said on Instagram that this detracts from "the culture and beauty of what attracted everyone there in the first place.' Bingin has one of the best waves in the world. Picture: iStock. Mr Slater also said: 'Awful to hear and see that the beachfront at Bingin in Bali has been bought up and all the local (eateries) and other businesses will be demolished to make room for some kind of beach club and not sure what else?' 'Bali has been completely mishandled and ruined by foreign interests in recent years." Bingin Beach is only reachable via super steep staircases plunging and weaving down through the cliffside buildings that are being demolished, so the state of future beach access is unclear, reports. There has been much social media protest, so far to no avail. Pictures via Instagram (@savebinginbeach and @niluhdjelantik) Social media account Uluwatu Community, which is protesting the demolition, also raised the question: 'Rumours are spreading: is this really about law enforcement or about clearing prime land for bigger investors with deeper pockets?' 'It seems the idea of an 'undeveloped' cliff no longer fits into certain visions for the future.' It also said that Bingin residents and business owners have hired lawyers hinting that a legal battle may just be getting going. Social media account Save Bingin Beach wrote: "Why doesn't the government take the side of the locals? Why are family-run warungs and small businesses being destroyed while money-hungry beach clubs are allowed to stay?" They added: "Why does Bingin's natural beauty have to be sacrificed just to make room for unnecessary developments? This isn't progress – it's greed." See also: This once-secret Bali beach is about to get a glass elevator, and tourists are furious Aussie travellers are now scuttling to find new accommodation, with one holidaymaker posting on Facebook: "If you have accommodation on the beachfront / cliff in Bingin I urge you to contact them… hotel / villa owners are dealing with a lot at the moment and some are not being proactive in contacting their guests to let them know they will not be able to stay there…" Bali surf shop @ mourned the demolition on Instagram. Others warned of similar things happening to them in the past at other locations in Bali. "Be careful" one Facebook user wrote in a Bali tourist community page. "We bought really nice accommodation to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary, got to the resort and the pathway was being built on the beach at Seminyak. No access to the beach at all and the noise kept us awake all night every night!!!" Others guessed authorities were: "Making way for the next new concrete monster" like they did in Dreamland (another nearby beach). "I remember when Dreamland was really a dream in 2007," another Facebook user wrote. "Small local warungs near the shore, in front of a beautiful big wave breaking outside on a big swell and when the tide was low. I really miss so much that little piece of heart." Aussies have also been warned to let the local community do its thing and not get involved, as foreigners caught protesting in Indonesia risk two weeks in jail followed by immediate deportation and a ban from the country. Should a big development now pop up in this prime piece of real estate it could hardly be considered a coincidence. As surf magazine Stab points out, ownership of nearly all of the Bukit has emerged in an informal and at times legally-ambiguous fashion. So why single out Bingin? Stab reports: "The developers lean heavily on the thin reed that these businesses are violating spatial planning laws and building regs. In plain terms: the land families have occupied, built homes and businesses on for generations, back when Bingin was still jungle, is officially not theirs. It's always belonged to the state. The government, after decades of apparent disinterest, has decided to enforce that technicality." Bingin locals like Mega Semadhi have urged the government to involve the community in the reshaping of the land - or at least keep the land a truly protected green zone. "I realise coastal land belongs to the state," Semadhi said. "But these buildings have been standing since the 1970s, long before current laws and regulations existed." "For years, they've been trying to engage in dialogue, urging the government to regulate development to prevent excessive growth and maintain Bingin's authenticity. But this is the result: unilateral evictions, with no real protection for the local community." "If demolition must be done, I beg you: Give the Bingin community the opportunity to collaborate with the banjar/traditional village/government agency to continue managing this area, as they are the ones who have developed, maintained, and made Bingin known internationally." "Or, if not, make Bingin a truly protected green zone. Let only coconut and pandanus trees grow, not the new beach clubs that are mushrooming in Bali." "Bali is Island of the Gods not Island of Beach Club," he added. Footage of locals and tourists gathering together for one last time to watch the sunset yesterday before yet more demolition occurs provided a shred of hope for some. Lucky Fish Lounge, a Bingin bar, posted the following from @tropicamuse on Instagram: "A day after the demolitions began, I walked down to the beach. I wasn't sure what to expect. But what I found surprised me: Locals had gathered for a sacred ceremony - not to celebrate, but to pray, to hold on, to hope for the best." "Tourists, too, had come - maybe for one last time, to sit, to watch the sunset, to soak in the beauty before it's gone. Yes, some businesses are already leaving. Furniture being carried out. Doors closing. Others are staying, still hoping, still standing." "Traces of demolition are there. But so is the beauty. So is the spirit. If this place means something to you - go. Support the local businesses while they're still standing. Let the memory stay with you." The fight to reverse the decision (or at least involve the local community more in its transformation) is apparently ongoing. The petition to save Bingin from forced demolition has 18,141 signatures and counting at the time of writing, and can be signed here. The petition page claims that reports that local businesses are unwilling to pay local government taxes are inaccurate and says: "On the contrary, local businesses have demonstrated a high level of cooperation and a willingness to comply with all applicable requirements." According to the petition page, the local government has not issued the necessary permits to allow these businesses to register and fulfill their local tax obligations. "Meanwhile," the petition page alleges, "a well-known property developer and operator of one of Canggu's most famous beach clubs has begun promoting property investment opportunities using the image of Bingin Beach, despite the lack of official development approval, let alone consultation with the local community." Originally published as 'They knocked the hotel down while I was inside': Aussie tourists reeling as Bali hotspot destroyed
Daily Record
4 hours ago
- Daily Record
Inquest into Jay Slater's Tenerife death resumes today as family desperate for answers
The 19-year-old was holidaying on the Spanish island before his death. The inquest into the tragic death of teenager Jay Slater, who died last summer in Tenerife, is set to continue. The 19 year old lad from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was on holiday on the Spanish island and had attended the NRG music festival with mates at the Papagayo nightclub in the resort of Playa de las Americas on June 16 last year. It's believed that he went to a holiday let flat in the wee hours of the following morning before disappearing, and was reported missing on June 18. Evidence suggests he left the flat hours later, tried to walk back to his own flat and tragically fell into a ravine. A massive search was initiated before his body was discovered in a steep and inaccessible area by a mountain rescue team from the Spanish Civil Guard near the village of Masca on July 15. Several witnesses who were with him on the night he vanished or at the holiday let flat failed to attend the inquest when it began at Preston Coroner's Court in May. The court was told they could not be located or were unavailable, despite extensive efforts to bring them in as witnesses. Debbie Duncan, Mr Slater's mum, tearfully requested the coroner to adjourn as the family still had questions for the last people to see him alive. Dr James Adeley, senior coroner for Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen, agreed to adjourn until Thursday July 24 to make a final attempt to locate the witnesses. The hearing in May heard from witnesses including toxicology expert Dr Stephanie Martin, reports Wales Online. The court was informed that analysis revealed traces of drugs – including cocaine, ketamine and ecstasy – and alcohol in Mr Slater's body. Home Office pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd stated his post-mortem examination identified the cause of death as head injuries and there was no evidence of restraint or assault on Mr Slater's body, with the pattern of injuries being consistent with a fall from height. Detective Chief Inspector Rachel Higson, from Lancashire Constabulary, revealed that police had analysed Mr Slater's phone data. On the night out, he had received messages from friends advising him to go home as he was "off his head". Phone location data indicated he travelled to the holiday flat then departed the property at around 7.45am the next day. Statements from local Spanish witnesses claimed they were approached by Mr Slater asking about buses or taxis to take him home. Further messages from friends warned him about the "boiling" heat of the day but activity data on his phone ceased at 8.51am, suggesting the battery had run out. Marieke Krans from Dutch rescue charity Signi Zoekhonden assisted in the search. She described the area where the body was discovered as being about a three and a half-hour walk from the holiday apartment and was "really steep, really dangerous", and it was "easy" to lose your footing. The coroner suggested to the hearing that one explanation for Mr Slater's death could be "he has walked into the middle of nowhere and fallen off a cliff". The inquest is set to conclude on Friday.
ITV News
4 hours ago
- ITV News
Inquest to resume into death of teenager Jay Slater in Tenerife
The inquest into the death of teenager Jay Slater in Tenerife last summer is due to resume. The 19-year-old, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was holidaying on the Spanish island and had been to the NRG music festival with friends at the Papagayo nightclub in the resort of Playa de las Americas on 16 June last year. He is believed to have gone to a holiday rental apartment in the early hours of the next morning before vanishing, and was reported missing on 18 June. Evidence suggests he left the flat hours later, attempted to walk back to his own apartment and fell into a ravine. A huge search was launched before his body was found in a steep and inaccessible area by a mountain rescue team from the Spanish Civil Guard near the village of Masca on 15 July. A number of witnesses who were with him on the night he disappeared or at the rental apartment did not attend the inquest when it started at Preston Coroner's Court in May. The court heard they could not be traced or were unavailable, despite extensive efforts to get them to come as witnesses. Debbie Duncan, Mr Slater's mother, tearfully asked the coroner to adjourn as the family still had questions for the last people to see him alive. Dr James Adeley, senior coroner for Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen, agreed to adjourn to Thursday 24 July to make a final attempt to trace the witnesses. The hearing in May heard from witnesses including toxicology expert Dr Stephanie Martin. The court heard that analysis showed traces of drugs – including cocaine, ketamine and ecstasy – and alcohol in Mr Slater's body. Home Office pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd said his post-mortem examination gave cause of death as head injuries and Mr Slater's body showed no evidence of restraint or assault, with the pattern of injuries consistent with a fall from height. Detective Chief Inspector Rachel Higson, from Lancashire Constabulary, said police had analysed Mr Slater's phone data. On the night out he had received phone messages from friends telling him to go home as he was 'off his head'. Phone location data suggested he travelled to the holiday flat then left the property at around 7.45am the next day. Statements from local Spanish witnesses said they were approached and asked by Mr Slater about buses or taxis to take him home. More messages from friends warned him about the 'boiling' heat of the day but activity data on his phone stopped at 8.51am, suggesting the battery had died. Marieke Krans from Dutch rescue charity Signi Zoekhonden helped in the search. She said the area where the body was found was about a three and a half-hour walk from the holiday apartment and was 'really steep, really dangerous', and it was 'easy' to lose your footing. The coroner told the hearing that one explanation for Mr Slater's death could be 'he has walked into the middle of nowhere and fallen off a cliff'. The inquest is scheduled to conclude on Friday.
USA Today
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Ethan Slater debuts his 'Wicked' Lego figure, teases 'epic' sequel at Comic-Con
SAN DIEGO – "Wicked" star Ethan Slater didn't need Lego sets filled with witches, princes, woodsmen and yellow brick roads. When he was a kid, it was all about the unmarked trunk overflowing with bricks of all colors. But as an adult getting to play with his own Lego minifigure, Slater is pretty wowed. The 33-year-old Tony-nominated actor, who played Boq Woodsman in the Oscar-nominated first "Wicked," was on hand at the pop-culture festival Comic-Con, held at the San Diego Convention Center, to debut a bunch of new Lego sets inspired by the upcoming sequel "Wicked: For Good" (in theaters Nov. 21). Join our Watch Party! Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox Taking a peek at all the sets for the first time, Slater unsurprisingly spends the most time with the set featuring Boq and his Munchkinland home alongside toy versions of Elphaba (played in the movie by Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande). He notes that Boq's gray wardrobe is new for fans in the next movie, and points out the "Beware of the Wicked Witch" sign, part of the Wizard of Oz's propaganda against Elphaba on the side of the Lego building. "Elphaba's one of Boq's only friends, and on the side of his house is the smear campaign against her. Terrible," Slater says. As for the new movie coming soon, Slater teases an "epic conclusion" where "it's everything coming to a head." All the characters, from Elphaba and Glinda to Boq and Prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), "have made these huge decisions at the very end of the first movie. How do they live with or transcend the consequences of those decisions?" Slater says. "So what we're going to see is all of these characters a little bit older. We already know them so well that to see how they grow in the second movie (creates) an even deeper connection to them." He gets a kick out of the "Wicked" wall art set, which features figures of Dorothy and her crew from "The Wizard of Oz," including Toto. "The first role ever was when I was 4 years old, I played Toto to my sister's Dorothy," Slater says. "I'm going to pretend that Toto is also a mini fig of me. It's the cutest I've ever looked." He also has fun playing with a set including Glinda using a magnifying glass. "What is she looking for with this? What is she looking for here? Does it really work? This is so Detective Glinda. That's actually a spinoff coming soon," Slater quips. Back in the day, Slater avoided big themed Lego sets in favor of diving into his "huge bucket" of Legos and "taking the world that was in my head and trying to build a version of it," he says. Yet these new "Wicked" Legos do justice to the work of him and his co-stars. "The special thing about making 'Wicked' was being in this world and it was so intricately designed," Slater says. "The work in all of these Lego sets that make it just as intricate and lets you experience it and be creative with it, it's just a really beautiful thing. It feels really true to what we did."
Elle
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Elle
An Exclusive Sneak Peek at the First Episodes of ‘Outlander: Blood of My Blood'
In a meadow splayed like a blanket between the peaks of the Scottish Highlands, Jamie Roy and Harriet Slater appear to be alone. The actors' voices are barely audible from within the crumbling cemetery where they've reunited—though the boom mics looming above their heads will solve that problem later. On the horizon, a torrent of machine-generated fog dissolves into the grass, dotted with clover and yellow violets that the surrounding crew members crush underfoot as they huddle beneath a cluster of tents. Together, they help take Scotland back in time: to 1714, the setting of the Starz Outlander prequel series Blood of My Blood , set to premiere on August 8. It's late June 2024 when I step onto this set with a group of other journalists, but the air is crisp enough to warrant a cardigan. Both Roy and Slater are well-outfitted for the climate: In the signature garb of Clans Fraser and MacKenzie, respectively, they look as traditionally Scottish as the hilltops surrounding them. As Roy later tells me, he teared up the first time he put on the costume of Brian Fraser (father of Outlander 's Jamie), one of the series' four lead protagonists. 'It was actually really emotional, seeing those Fraser colors on the tartan, wearing those for the first time,' he says. 'I was like, 'Wow. This is really happening.'' The scene I'm watching is one of several in which Roy and Slater's characters must meet in secret, as the romance between their characters—Brian Fraser and Ellen MacKenzie—is strictly forbidden. (As Slater puts it, they've 'kind of got a Romeo and Juliet vibe' going on.) Eventually, they'll overcome their clans' rivalry to become parents to Jamie, as played by Sam Heughan in the now-iconic flagship series. But, for now, they're still young, in love, and in danger. Sanne Gault Jamie Roy as Brian Fraser and Harriet Slater as Ellen MacKenzie. Hundreds of years later and hundreds of miles away—though, in reality, the two sets are within driving distance of each other—Hermione Corfield sits in a cramped attic flat. As the 20th-century Londoner Julia Moriston, she must navigate a romantic dilemma of her own. She's in love with a soldier on the frontlines of World War I, and she's never once seen his face. But, as Outlander fans will already know, the passionate letters she sends to Henry Beauchamp (Jeremy Irvine) don't go unrequited. Eventually, Julia and Henry, too, will come together, later becoming the parents of Caitriona Balfe's Claire Beauchamp, Outlander 's beloved Sassenach. As these exclusive first-look images from the first two episodes of Outlander: Blood of my Blood reveal, the earliest meetings between the show's lead couples—Brian and Ellen, and Julia and Henry—are pivotal moments. And they're as loaded with magic as the time travel that soon intertwines their stories. While Julia begins the series yearning for her soldier, we're first introduced to Ellen as a grieving daughter. Her father, Red Jacob MacKenzie (Peter Mullan), once promised his eldest child she'd never have to marry. But Jacob's sudden death makes Ellen a political pawn in the hands of her younger brothers, Colum (Séamus McLean Ross) and Dougal (Sam Retford), who each seek the now-vacant MacKenzie lairdship. Ellen has no interest in the marriage matches they lay out for her. Unbeknownst to them, she's already found her soulmate. Brian and Ellen initially collide by accident, but their first planned rendezvous takes place on a bridge revealed in the Blood of My Blood trailer—in a meadow not unlike the one I visited last summer. They begin the scene on opposite ends of the stone structure, uncertain how to proceed, given the scandalous nature of their meeting. (Without a chaperone, Ellen is endangering her reputation as a maiden.) But 'there is this magnetic connection between the two of them,' Roy says, and neither can resist creeping slowly toward each other until, at last, their hands touch. They're meant to be sworn enemies, but the fairies seem to have other plans. Sanne Gault Jamie Roy as Brian Fraser and Harriet Slater as Ellen MacKenzie. A sentiment repeated frequently throughout my visit is that Scotland 'is its own character' in both Outlander and Outlander: Blood of my Blood . But the country's infamous weather doesn't pay much heed to call times. Roy says he and Slater had been looking forward to shooting the bridge scene 'for ages, because it's been with us since day one': They rehearsed it throughout their auditions and chemistry reads. But on the actual day of filming, 'we had four different seasons,' he says. 'It was blowing a gale, then it downpoured, then it started to sleet.' The river running beneath the bridge—all but a murmur in the finalized episode—was loud enough that both Roy and Slater had to use earpieces to understand each other. 'Half the time mine wouldn't work,' he continues. 'So I would see Harriet start to say something, her mouth would move, and then it would stop, and I'd be like, 'Oh, okay! My turn!' So that was quite funny.' 'Luckily we both knew each other's lines,' Slater adds. By the time they'd survived multiple rain delays and filmed several angles, the actors were both so cold that Roy wasn't sure he could speak. 'I couldn't feel my face at the end of each take,' he says. 'I wasn't even sure if words were coming out.' During their lunch break, he had to massage his mouth for 'half an hour, because I couldn't actually chew my food.' Of course, the weather cooperated just in time to give the scene the air of enchantment it needed to convince audiences Jamie and Ellen are indeed headed for a life-changing love affair. The wind whips up as Brian steps forward; the gloom parts to wash them both in sunlight. '[Jamie] has this line where he introduces himself for the first time, and he says, 'I'm Brian Fraser,' and [at one point] the sun just came out from behind the cloud behind him,' Slater tells me, laughing. 'It was almost like he was the Messiah.' Sanne Gault Jeremy Irvine as Henry Beauchamp and Hermione Corfield as Julia Moriston. Julia and Henry's first meeting is no less fateful, though it was perhaps easier to film. Shot on a set of steps in Glasgow's Park District, the scene depicts the couple passing each other by chance in 1917 London. But the 'magnetic draw between them,' Corfield says, is as potent as the one between Brian and Ellen. When Henry speaks aloud a line from their letters, Julia turns around, recognizing her soon-to-be husband in the flesh. 'We were both wondering how that was going to play,' Corfield admits. 'Because, on the page, it's quite interesting just seeing two people not saying anything, walking past each other on a step, and then one person says something and they both go, 'It's you.' It worked because of the romance between them.' Adds Irvine, '[Henry] tries his luck and says something, and it is her. We were joking, myself and Hermione, saying, 'How many other women has he been saying that to that day?'' But Outlander has always existed in a world where anything can happen. When Irvine asked showrunner Matthew B. Roberts about the logic of the scene, Roberts told him, 'Look, this is a romance that's got to have some magic about it.' Irvine continues, 'I didn't really understand that until I saw the episode cut together. I went, 'Yeah, this is something slightly out of this world.' If you believe in fate, and destiny, and soulmates, then this is how it happens.' That magic only intensifies when Julia and Henry's saga intersects with Brian and Henry's. On holiday in Scotland in the 20th century, Julia and Henry inadvertently tumble through time after encountering Outlander 's infamous stones of Craigh na Dun. They separately land in Scotland circa 1714, and they soon meet both the MacKenzies and the Frasers as they fight their way back to each other. Sanne Gault Jeremy Irvine as Henry Beauchamp and Hermione Corfield as Julia Moriston. Corfield was thrilled when she learned that, like Outlander , Blood of My Blood would feature a time-travel plot. 'It's a challenge to play someone that's time-traveled,' she says, 'I don't know any other job where you can possibly say that you are both in the [20th century] and also 1700 Scotland. So it was a challenge, but when I first started reading all the scenes taking place [in the 18th century], I was really excited.' It helps that the lead quartet have become close friends. 'We became actual mates before we had to become colleagues,' Irvine says. 'We spent a few months up here getting ready for the role and doing what production called 'boot camp,' learning all the things that we need to learn for the roles. In that time, we all became very close.' They often spend their evenings and weekends off set together, either singing karaoke in Glasgow or picnicking along one of the country's many lochs. 'We started this project in the depths of winter in Scotland,' Irvine continues. 'When you're doing that, you've got to go and have fun sometimes.' Sanne Gault Hermione Corfield as Julia Moriston. Sanne Gault Jeremy Irvine as Henry Beauchamp. This summer, Roy, Slater, Corfield, and Irvine are all back in the meadows of Scotland, already filming the next chapter. 'I feel very privileged to be shooting a season 2 before season 1's even come out,' Slater says. 'I'm very aware of how rare that is.' Roy shares in that sentiment. 'When we finished the last season, there was no guarantee,' he says. 'It's a spinoff. We don't know [if it will work]. So to get that call that says, 'Hey, we're going to do this again, and you get to revisit these characters and this story?' It is really just a privilege. I hope we get to do it for as long as possible.' Breaking Down the Outlander Family Tree
