I wouldn't say that life is necessarily "simpler" in Bali than what I'm used to in the West, but the community focus was refreshing. Social ties are very strong, and I encountered groups of smiling, laughing people everywhere that I went. Art flourished, and the focus was clearly on living a beautiful life. I felt content, and found myself wishing that my own community back in the United States could be more like what I was experiencing here. I guess part of it too was the overall slower pace. In Bali, as elsewhere in Indonesia, time is more fluid. They call it jam karet. "Rubber time". No reason to hurry - what's the rush?

Of course, the fact that most of the island is breathtakingly beautiful also contributes to one's overall mood. As in much of southeast Asia, the spectacular volcanic terrain is very fertile, and much of the wetter land area is terraced to accomodate rice paddies. The idyllic landscapes of Bali beg to be photographed and painted - no wonder everyone is an artist here! Riding through the mountain roads revealed valley after valley of scenic beauty, and the desire to stop at every turn to take photos made for some very slow journeys. (Alas, many of my photos did not turn out too well. I guess my first trip to Bali coincided with the rainy season, making for some very wet motorcycle rides in torrential rainstorms. And my wide-angle camera lens grew cloudy with tropical fungus, rendering it basically useless. My gear fared better on my second trip some years later...)

Like most tourists interested in soaking up some of the local color, I spent much of my time in Ubud. Here I would experience many magical gamelan performances and shadow plays, reward my taste buds with delicious flavors, and stroll among the forests, rice fields, temples, and tourist shops. Ubud is a beautiful village in a beautiful setting, overflowing with art and artists - even in the cemetery I was approached by a young artist selling small paintings. Ubud served as my "home base" for both of my visits to Bali, and I stayed for several weeks. When the tourist crowds and cultural experiences got a bit overwhelming, I enjoyed escaping into the quiet Monkey Forest to hang out in the overgrown temples with the resident troupe of macaque monkeys that earn their keep by mooching off of the tourists. (Invariably there would be a local lady set up with a table and chair at the entrance to Monkey Forest selling "monkey food" - right under the sign warning visitors not to feed the monkeys!)

During my first visit to Ubud I stayed at the basic Manikan House homestay, which was dirt cheap but more than adequate for my needs as a single backpacker. My host family was very friendly, often offering tastes of the food they were cooking for dinner, and letting me observe the various daily rituals. The master of the house invited me to place bets on roosters in the local cockfights - a cruel bloodsport that really gets your heart racing. I told myself it was a "cultural experience", although in the end I guess I'd rather watch human beings beat each other up for sport than see roosters get tricked into a death match, and I was left with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. However, we did get to take home one of the losing roosters and had a nice (if stringy) chicken dinner.

On my second visit to Ubud, we opted to splurge and stayed at the beautiful Greenfield bungalows. For about $30 US equivalent per night, we had a little raised bungalow situated right on the edge of an wide expanse of, you guessed it, green fields (of rice). A cozy open-air sitting area was sheltered by the loft-style bedroom overhead, connected by a small ladder. It was idyllic! (There's that word again - "idyllic". Hard not to overuse it when describing this place...) Quiet, peaceful, with an amazing swimming pool, and food served on a central terrace with another amazing view. Jam karet indeed - after a few relaxing days at the Greenfield it was difficult to even think about going out for sightseeing. A nearly perfect experience which unfortunately was a bit marred by some aggressive stomach problems. Guess we shouldn't have sampled that intriguing green liquid in the local market the other day...

Bali boasts a couple of incredible volcanoes: Agung and Batur. I believe the last major eruption of Agung was in 1963, with much cultural (and political) significance. And Batur's latest eruption was in the 1970s, producing some small lava flows that are fun to poke around on. West of Batur is Bratan, an older and more eroded mountain with beautiful Lake Bratan near its summit. Bratan is a cooler getaway for many locals, and home to a beautiful temple that is built out on the lake and accessed by boat. Among the tourist gimmicks at Lake Bratan are a couple guys who keep a phython (with which you have your portrait made) and a few captive flying foxes, offering nice close views of these giant bats.

And of course there are beaches. The water is nice and comfortably warm, and the snorkeling is great. Bali's reefs aren't nearly as spectacular as what I would later find in Komodo, Sulawesi, and Sumatra, but wonderful nonetheless. The variety of fish is astounding, and I was excited to see giant clams! My friend Rich and I spent a couple of very enjoyable days out at Tulamben, along the northeastern coast. The draw of Tulamben is a shipwreck just offshore, which is somewhat accessible to snorkelers! You just swim out a hundred meters or so, and suddenly you come across the ship's mast jutting up to just 10 or 15 feet below the surface. It's exhilarating to look down and see the hulking skeleton of the ship in the dark blue water. Who knows what could be lurking down there!

Those days were really fantastic - no hurry, snorkeling all day, playing chess in the shade during breaks, great local food, strong arak to drink at night... No worries! I suppose I could have stayed in Bali for much longer, but after a couple weeks I felt I should move on. I had barely begun my exploration of Indonesia, and there were many other places that I wanted to see. So I slowly made my way down to the southeastern coast. I couldn't resist stopping at Goa Lawah, the "bat cave" - a sacred cave which, according to legend, houses a giant snake that feeds off of the thousands of bats that call it home. Kind of makes you shudder, although these days it seems to have become home to the most aggressive tourist trap on the island - well, maybe not quite as extreme as Tanah Lot, but pretty close. By the time you actually get to the bat cave, your nerves are on edge from fending off the sourvenir merchants. It was pretty cool to see the cave walls crawling with the little furry beasts, but at this point I was ready to find some less well-travelled roads. A ways further down the coast and I finally made it to Padangbai, the jumping off point for Lombok and ... Komodo!