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Uluwatu Temple, Bali, Indonesia “Chark-a, chark-a, chark-a, chark-a”, and on… the chant goes. Almost hypnotic, trance-like, the thirty or so barechested Indonesian men sway with the rhythm. They’re sitting on the ground in a circle – and in the middle the drama is unfolding. Two young princes; a demon king; a damsel in distress; a ...

Visiting Bali, Indonesia There’s a dichotomy to Bali. It’s all, ultimately, about belief and perception. It’s about how you see the world, how you see your place in it, and how you judge the reason for it all. On this Indonesian island, there is a pervasive spirituality. The Hindu doctrines which have influenced it for ...

Spirituality in Bali is a bit like Star Wars. By that I don’t mean that the spiritual leaders look like Yoda (although I’ve seen a couple who do). But more that the people here believe in an invisible force that is both good and evil and controls all living things. Take the black and white ...

This story of a massage parlour climaxes, excuse the innuendo, when the worker states “finish massage” but the customer mistakenly hears it as a question – “penis massage?”. Awkward. The client is, of course, me. And this was just the end of a rather anxious hour. It shouldn’t be this way. The whole idea of ...

Not much really needs to be said about this – it kind of speaks for itself. On the road south from Denpasar to Ulawatu in Bali, this shop stands on an intersection. Either it is very clever marketing (it got me talking about it!) or it’s a very unfortunate translation. It doesn’t really matter I ...

For most of us, the extravagant life of luxury we see in television shows or magazines stays just that – a notion we understand, can see, can imagine but can’t touch. It seems so close and potentially so attainable but crossing the barrier through the screen or the magazine page to make it reality often ...