Bali Starling: Where to See Bali’s Rarest Bird, Including Near Ubud
The Bali starling nearly vanished. Here is where you can see Bali’s rarest bird today, including release villages near Ubud, Nusa Penida and West Bali.
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The Roosters That Sit Out by the Road Each Morning
Walk down the lane a little after seven and you will pass them before you understand what they are. Three or four bells of woven bamboo, set out on the grass at the edge of the road, each one about knee-high. Inside each bell, a rooster. Copper and black and bottle-green, standing very straight, watching…
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Mount Agung, Bali: How to See, Honor and Climb the Island’s Sacred Volcano from Ubud
Mount Agung from Ubud: why Bali’s sacred volcano matters, the best viewpoints, Besakih, Agung vs Batur, and the current climbing closure to 18 Nov 2026.
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The Week the Rambutans Start to Blush
Halfway down the lane, a branch leans over a neighbor’s wall, heavy with something that looks at first like a cluster of small green sea urchins. Soft spines, all of them, the size of a hen’s egg. You have walked under it every morning this week without looking up. Then one morning, one of them…
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Bali Cost of Living in 2026: What a Month Really Costs in Ubud
Bali cost of living in 2026, priced line by line for Ubud: rent, warung meals, scooters, visas and the levy, with lean, comfortable and villa budgets.
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The Fence Nobody Sees Going Up Today
Nothing about this morning looks like a holiday. No parade, no gamelan from the banjar hall, no traffic jam of offerings on the main road. The roosters go off as usual. The broom starts up in the courtyard as usual. And yet every family shrine in the village is wearing fresh white and yellow cloth,…
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Gili Trawangan from Ubud: Is It Worth the Trip, and How to Do It Right
Gili Trawangan from Ubud, honestly planned: which Gili island fits you, the door-to-door boat journey, how many nights, what to do, and whether it beats Bali.
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The Woman Who Sells the Color for Every Offering
It is still dark when she sets up. A bare bulb on a wire, a low wooden table at the edge of the market, and then the sacks come open one by one. Orange first. Then yellow. Then white and pink. By the time the sky turns grey, her corner of the market is the…
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Salak (Snake Fruit) in Bali: How to Peel, Pick and Taste Bali’s Sweetest Fruit
Salak, Bali’s snake fruit: what it is, the Sibetan varieties worth tasting, how to peel it, how to pick a ripe one, harvest season and salak wine.
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The Wall That Comes Up the Lane One Basket at a Time
You hear them before you see them. A soft scrape of a shovel at the top of the lane, then footsteps, unhurried, coming down past the gate. Two women walk by, each with a round bamboo basket of grey sand balanced on her head. Their hands hang loose at their sides. Their necks don’t move…
