The men are squatting, huddled against each other. Several keep their arms stretched in front of them, while others hold on tightly to fighting cocks. They stare blankly at your passing car. You gaze back, no less awed and empty-eyed. Body language is one of the less well known, although most obvious, aspects of cultural encounters. There are few instances where differences between a Westerner and a Balinese are more distinctly mirrored...more

The void between heading into the Balinese hills on your own bike, never to be seen again, and following a train of day-trippers freewheel downhill to the next cold towel stop has recently been filled. Over the past four years a small mountain biking outfit, Bali Trail Blazers, has been developing trails across the island's mountainous heart, aimed at the more serious off-road biker who doesn't mind the odd calf-swelling ascent or two...more

The intriguing proposition of a massage performed in a mango tree easily prompted my visions: an elaborate system of roped walkways, giving way to precipitous drops; intricately fashioned and strategically placed platforms resting precariously on fruit-heavy branches; and finally, disconcertingly, a dizzying ladder climb on the way up and scraped knees on the way down...more