Babi guling is a whole pig stuffed with a spice mix of turmeric, lemongrass, kefir, chilli and probably some special home secrets. It was slowly hand cranked, roasted over coals of coconut shells and basted with coconut milk for 6 hours. Imagine beginning this pig feast in the middle of the night so that the pig is ready to be delivered to the store by 10am! The meat is tender and succulent. The crispy skin is caramelized goodness! A meal is served with sou...

As we were zipping from one isolated beach to the next, I caught a glimpse of these umbrellas in a patch of grass and asked what they were. Made told us that some families are too poor to properly cremate their dead. Instead, they bury them until they have saved enough money for a proper ceremony in which they would exhume the bones. These few scattered umbrellas covered the little bamboo tripods marking the burial sites. There was no noticeable family name...

All Balinese, men and women, are named by their birth order. Wayan is firstborn; Made is second, followed by Nyoman and Ketut. A fifth child begins the pattern with Wayan again. 'Ni' is added to a woman's name. We hired Made as our driver for our Day Tour. South of Kuta, Jimbaran used to be a tiny fishing village but now it has seafood restaurants lining the beaches with some 5 star resorts looming in the background. I enjoyed the energy as fishermen br...

Bali massages are about long strokes and light pressure. Even though they advertised that they were trained in deep tissue, reflexology, Japanese shiatsu, and other forms, it all came down to basic moves up and down the back. We found terrible massages for $2.50 for an hour to the best one for $9! It even included a shower pre and post massage! A daily massage practically was the norm here for us!

We met an Irish retiree, who moved to Bali 7 years ago & had spent only $5000 on rent to date. A US geologist decided to permanently move here 20+ years ago after his company had sent him to Bali on a contract. It got us thinking that we could easily live off of the income from a rental house in Canada. Wonder if we could retire here? Zipping back and forth along the main street, green dilapidated vans honked at you. John barely squeezed into the front s...