The Virtual Vacation

Girls in waiting. Photo by Laura Davis.

The Final Performance

August 26, 2025 Our final night in Bali, we gathered for a performance of music and dance from the village of Munduk. Their gamelan orchestra is one of the best on the island. And it was wonderful to experience an intimate show in a small hall where the dancers and musicians were right in front […]

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Morning blessing. Photo by Nancy Kramer.

Since I’ve Come to Bali

In our final writing class, I had people review their time in Bali by having them respond to this series of sentence stems for three minutes each: Since I’ve come to Bali, I did this to enable everyone to review and remember the sensory details of this land and personal peak experiences they’d had over

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It’s All About the Dance

August 24, 2025 One of the things I love most about Puri Lumbung, our final hotel in Munduk, Bali is that it’s not just a hotel for guests. It’s all a place the community uses, too: they grow and harvest rice here, and it’s the where dance classes are held for the local children. I

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Photo by Joan Rita Rippe

The Free Day

August 18, 2025 Joanie had quite a shock when she went down for breakfast today at our hotel. As soon as she was served, this fellow swooped over like he owned the place and stole her breakfast, not once but twice: In response to the monkey’s incursions, this Balinese man took up arms to scare

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Purification in a Holy Spring

For me, one of the highlights of this trip to Bali is the purification ritual we do in the fresh spring waters of Pura Mengening (pure water) Temple. This temple has been used for purification by the Balinese since the 11th century. For starters, the setting is spectacular. We left our hotel early and drove

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Putu’s Impossible Dream

August 15, 2025 I posted this story in last year’s Virtual Vacation blog. I hope you enjoy this inspiring story. Today we left our beautiful, peaceful resort on the shores of the Indian Ocean and drove to Ubud for the middle section of our trip, which focuses on seeing local healers, experiencing traditional purification rituals,

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What’s in a Name?

August 14, 2025 One of the first things you notice in Bali is that many so people share the same name. Your driver is named Wayan but so is your waitress and so is the clerk who sells you a sarong in a shop. Or over the course of a couple of days you may

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Tirta Ganga. Photo by Laura Davis

The Water Palace

August 13, 2025 After a rich and emotional writing class this morning and some time to rest, we set out to visit one of my favorite sites in eastern Bali, a place I never get tired of: Tirta Ganga, a magnificent water palace built in 1946 by the last Raja of Karangasem. Tirta Ganga is

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The Writing Circle Opens

August 12, 2025 After we spent the morning floating on the surface of the Indian Ocean with masks and flippers, watching lots of colorful fish, our group returned for lunch and a lecture on customs and manners in Bali. We learned why you never touch a Balinese person on the head, why you never point

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