Take a Virtual Vacation: Bali 2024

In which Laura leads 14 writers on a restorative, creative journey to explore the healing heart of Bali.

Offerings Are Everywhere

One of the first things a visitor to Bali notices, after the tropical air, the hundreds of roaring, beeping motorbikes carrying entire families, and the incessant, wild flow of traffic, are the offerings you see everywhere. These small square flat green boxes, 3-4 inches wide, start with a base of young coconut or palm leaves, […]

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What I Learned About Sacred Masks

Today, we got to visit the expansive home and studio of our guide Surya’s mask carving teacher, Cok Raka Tisnu, vice-chair emeritus of the music and dance department at Udayana University in Denpasar. His family’s royal compound, which houses several generations of his family, stretches for an entire city block in the village of Singapadu.

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Monkeys!

On my first writer’s retreat in Bali, 12 years ago, I brought along by wife Karyn, who taught yoga in the mornings, and our 15-year-old daughter, Eliza. One of my fondest memories of that trip was Eliza’s excitement about all the cute monkeys in the Ubud monkey forest. I still have a whole bunch of

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The Demon Museum

The Balinese New Year’s Day, Nyepi, occurs in March or April of each year. Three days before Nyepi, all the villages take all the ceremonial objects they own and carry them to the beach in a procession to be purified by water—including Barong and Durga masks because they have living spirits in them. The next

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Coffee, Cacao, & Cloves

Munduk, the site of our third stop in Bali, is well-known for its many trekking and hiking options. And when I bring a group here, hikes are always a priority on the agenda. Yesterday, we went on a long meandering hike through local coffee plantations, neighborhoods and rice fields. Once again, we were guided by

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From One Lake to Another

Our final hike on this Bali trip was between two volcanic lakes in West Bali. Four of us went on the hike, along with the two wonderful guides who’ve been with us all week: Ketut and Putu. Other members of our group stayed back at the hotel to write, relax, hike back to the waterfall,

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And It’s a Wrap

In our final writing class session, I read this quote from Joseph Campbell: “You must give up the life you planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you.” Then I asked everyone to think about something they wanted to let go of and one thing they wanted to integrate from Balinese

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