Melia Bali Hotel & Spa
First Winner of "Peed Agung"

The tourism business people of Bali do not only put priority on the motif of economy, they also get personally involved in every single Balinese art and culture event. It was discernible in the current Festival Nusa Dua. Numerous cultural attractions were presented by hoteliers on the opening of Festival Nusa Dua. Melia Bali Hotel & Spa Resort for instance, took part in this prestigious art festival in Nusa Dua and became the winner of the Peed Agung parade.
"It’s really a surprise for us," revealed the first winner. "We just made intensive preparation for a week," said I Wayan Udiasa, Vice Head of the Parade Committee of Melia Bali Hotel & Spa Resort.
According to him, the accomplishment reached by Melia Bali was inseparable from the solid cooperation of his team with the motto ‘teamwork makes everything possible’. "We attempt to give the best performance in the parade. Assuredly, it is impossible to separate from the support of all departments and our General Manager Alfonso Romero," he observed.
"We’d like to express our sincere gratitude to God on what we have achieved. However, we will keep on working and remain creative to reach the best. On account of support delivered by all parties, the name of Melia Bali is inseparable from the champion in the Festival Nusa Dua, either in the competition of penjor, peed, cooking and so forth," said Udiasa to Bali Travel News.
In the Peed Agung parade, Melia Bali presented several creations of Payung Pagut, Balinese costume as uniform as well as Balinese traditional gamelan music. Team of Melia Bali also paraded an ogoh-ogoh (papier mache demon) in the form of turtle entitling "Save Us, Penyu" or "Save Us, Turtles". "The turtle ogoh-ogoh we presented implies profound meaning, starting from our care of the turtle slaughtering that was performed by humans over and over again. Therefore, we analogize a monkey to human as ‘the turtle slaughterer," he explained while adding that Melia Bali would like to put on show the hotel’s products that care and take part in conserving the environment and culture in harmony with the Tri Hita Karana concept.
Also added, the Festival Nusa Dua is an excellent medium to promote the tourism of Bali, particularly the Nusa Dua area. Nevertheless, it is expected that the execution of the upcoming festival will involve more local community so the existing creativity and potency can be more known, not only by the locals but also foreign tourists.(BTN/Rai)