This was our first Bali traditional dance show. We were surprised by the 20 men playing traditional instruments, creepy masks, intricate colorful costumes, animals (a weird lion and child monkey), a death scene, cheesy audience-member- dragged-up-for-a -dance moment, and buggy eyed dancing girls. It was so far removed from what we were used to! English pamphlets helped 'explain' the story but let's say we were terribly confused still. We went to a second dan...

Ubud is touted as the cultural center of Bali so we excited to see the handicraft artisan villages with stone carving, silver and gold jewelry, wood carving, painting, and batik. When we got to Ubud, everything seemed to be catering to foreigners - cooking schools, Starbucks, Dairy Queen, Polo, sports bars, restaurants with reggae / punk / country live music, spas on every corner, yoga, evening traditional dance performance troupes, etc. Bali men would be squ...

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...