Ubud, Bali, Indonesia:  We’ve been here just over 2 weeks and have settled in to our community and a routine. Our bungalow sits in a rice paddy in Penestanan, a traditional village of artists and bead-workers who live and work in their walled family compounds.  Population: approximately 2000, which is quite large for a Balinese village. It’s certainly off the beaten path, and giving directions to someone trying to find us goes something like this: take the main road from Ubud towards the Bintang supermarket, go 100 meters.  On your left, take the Campuhan Steps all the way up the hill. Turn right at the top, walk straight past our yoga studio, past our regular eatery, the Yellow Flower Cafe, go left, walk down a handful of stairs past 3 rice paddies and our bungalow is on the right.

Because we are situated within a traditional Balinese family compound, we have loosely become part of this family during our stay here. Kadek, the owner of the land, comes to check in on us daily – is our motor scooter working properly, do we want to find another restaurant nearby, do we know how to get to the beach? When we walk by Kadek’s house, everyone smiles and says good morning, and his dog Whiskey comes by for cheese each night. Sometimes he even hops on board the scooter as we’re heading out for the day…