By Hannah Black The lifecycle of Silakarang reared its head this past week, causing huge amounts of work and stress for the whole village. Island-wide last Monday was a one of the last auspicious days before the holy day of Galungan on May 12. Everyone was prepared for a big day, but in my village [...]

By Hannah Black Last Tuesday morning I walked out of my house and up to the main part of my family compound only to find my in-laws chatting and drinking coffee with three people who don’t live in our compound. On any other day this would be completely normal, but it was Nyepi, Bali’s day [...]

By Hannah Black Last week I developed a cold, which had been threatening to come on for ages. I fought and fought, but more family members and my colleagues had it than those who didn’t, so I was pretty much fighting a losing battle. I woke up on Sunday morning with an aching back and [...]

By Hannah Black Looking out into the jungle from my back porch this morning listening to buzz of chainsaws, I started worrying about the possibility that my private little space on this jam-packed island may not always be so exclusive. With two villas already under construction only 300 meters down river, I dread the seemingly [...]

By Hannah Black This may sound condescending, but when I arrived in Bali, I was amazed by the stylishness of the young people. Coming from New York via the UK I never expected Bali to be such a trendy place. I’m not sure exactly what I did expect, but it sure wasn’t 1970s New York [...]

After a crazy week leading up to a doubly mad weekend, I’m more worn out than I have been since my days of Thursday to Monday university benders. Obviously there was very little debauchery involved in last weekend’s party binge (I wouldn’t be writing about it in the newspaper if there had been), but it [...]

I had one quite magical evening last week, an evening when I really felt like I had stepped out of my everyday life and into a rare and fantastic occasion. I have my neighbours to thank for such a special evening as they had hired a dalung, or shadow puppet-master, to entertain guests and as [...]

While lounging in a fantastically comfy bean bag on the beach in Sanur a few nights ago I decided I really must spend more time at the beach. Sipping my beer, chatting with friends and watching our kids play in the sand, I felt calm, cool from the sea breeze and extremely happy. Sanur in [...]

By Hannah Black A couple of days ago I was talking to a friend about the KungFu yoga class (yes, you read that correctly) I’d just joined, and I realised I was talking about how strong the energy in the room was. “Hold on a minute,” my brain screamed at me. “Brakes on, rewind, forget [...]

Last weekend I met up with a friend and her soon-to-be husband for dinner. The plan was for my husband, Ongky, and I to give her and her fiancé advice about all the preparations for the wedding, and although I told her I didn’t think I would be much help, they insisted they would buy [...]

By Hannah Black After three years of being compared to and told about my husband Ongky’s cousin’s wife Sonya, I have finally met her face to face. She and her husband Kadek live in Australia with their daughter and although they come back to Bali as often as they can, we tend to be away [...]

By Hannah Black On my way home from yoga class I thought to myself: What a healthy holiday I’ve had. While friends and family back in the UK and America have been packing themselves full of “Christmas cheer,” I have spent my days swimming, going to yoga classes eating fresh food and going for all [...]