Category Archives: Indonesia

Balinese dance is an integral part of life on this tiny Indonesian island. Bali has a richness of unique culture that is immediately apparent to its many tourist-visitors. The productiveness of its lush, terraced rice fields and its relatively equitable division of food and labour have allowed the people time to develop and expand their […]

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If you want to be a successful traveler, it pays to do your homework. For example, checking the expected temperatures all around a region – not just on the coast – and packing accordingly! This was not the first time I’d been caught out by weather in Asia: last year, my husband and I “forgot” […]

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One of the many joys of travel is the food. I love food!  I also love markets, and the insight they give into the everyday lives of the local people. Combine those two components: food and markets, and I am in my element! So, I was very excited to read that the special package deal […]

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In Bali, rice is synonymous with food. The word nasi (rice) also means “meal” in Bahasa Indonesia, the lingua franca of the region.  But, rice is so much more than that: it is an integral part of the Balinese culture. This little Indonesian island has been inhabited by Southeast Asian Austronesian people since at least 2000 BCE. From around the 1st century CE., […]

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The breadth of human culture is amazing to me: as much as there are similarities in the human condition the world over, there are also such differences in how people express themselves. Sumatra is just one of the over-17,000 islands that make up the Indonesian archipelago; just one of the 922 permanently-populated islands. With its numerous ethnic […]

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