I am on a beautiful beach caressed by a gentle surf, reading about the problems of the world in the International New York Times but really more interested in which of the nearby restaurants will do the best lobster dinner.
A smiling young man comes by and offers to clean my sunglasses. Now there are some places where this is a high-risk proposition, but this is Bali, and the beach fronts the Four Seasons Hotel, so my glasses are in good hands.
It is a long way to Bali but worth it for this beach. Days are quiet, perfect for interludes of swimming and reading - the free Wi-Fi under the soaring palms works superbly - until the late afternoon surf gets up a gear and draws Balinese kids who skid around on their boards.
By this time a raft of beach restaurants, or warungs, have laid out tables and they are firing up their barbecues with coconut husks. The sun goes down and the sky is a palette of dramatic colours. Add a Bintang beer, or two, and what more could you want? Well, that lobster dinner. It's crayfish actually, which is smaller but tastier, and a generous platter of lobster, red snapper, calamari, clams, with rice and a couple of drinks costs $45 for two. Some people complain that the smoke from the BBQs gets into their hair, clothes and handbags, and I have to say you can see the smoke for miles if not Australia, but the trick is to wear washable clothing. It's a bit like the bloke who told me the best place to eat a mango is in your bath.
Back at the Four Seasons our villa has plenty of places to scrub up, including a huge tub, an outdoor shower with water gushing from a bamboo pipe, an indoor shower and last but not least our own plunge pool with an infinity edge giving a panoramic view of the bay and the Indian Ocean.
It is totally private, the main building and the pavilion are both thatched and the high stone walls give it the feel of a small temple, the notion reinforced by the fact that indeed we have a little temple, or shrine, standing in the luxuriant garden of exotic plants and palms. Every morning the housekeeping crew place an offering of fruit and flowers wrapped in banana leaf in the shrine.
Each villa in the Four Seasons has a little temple, while the hotel itself has one where the staff can leave offerings. Bali is 95 per cent Hindu and the people live their religion daily with every home having a small shrine. Another 10,000 temples are sprinkled around this little island of four million gentle, smiling people, whose devotion and rituals seek a balance between humanity and spirituality.
And while the capital, Denpasar, and the main tourist hub of Kuta beach, have grown tremendously since I took my two-year son there on his Asian pool tour, navigating the traffic is more bearable because the sea of small motorbikes runs quietly (Harley-Davidson owners please note) with hardly a horn ever heard. Out in the country the uncrowded roads rise to majestic temples and volcanoes, and offer vistas of rice paddies where ducks gaggle under their flags.
The duck walk must be seen once. It starts in the morning when a farmer, with a flag on a tall stick, walks his ducks to a rice paddy for a day's foraging and leaves the stick. The ducks will remain in sight of the flag until he returns, for they know that where the stick goes there is food.
Best way to see it is on an early departure to the craft town of Ubud, where Four Seasons has another hotel, this one with a setting both spectacular and whimsical not unlike the sister hotel in Chaing Mai, Thailand, the latter built around a working rice paddy.
Four Seasons Ubud, like the one at Jimbaran Bay where we are staying, has several restaurants offering authentic local dishes as BALI DWIPA Balinese culture was strongly influenced by Indian, Chinese, and particularly Hindu culture, beginning around the first century AD. The name Bali dwipa ("Bali island") has been discovered from various inscriptions, including the Blanjong pillar inscription written by Sri Kesari Warmadewa in 914 AD and mentioning "Walidwipa." It was during this time that the complex irrigation system subak was developed to grow rice.
Some religious and cultural traditions still in existence today can be traced back to this period. The Hindu Majapahit Empire (1293-1520 AD) on eastern Java founded a Balinese colony in 1343. When the empire declined, there was an exodus of intellectuals, artists, priests, and musicians from Java to Bali in the 15th century.
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well as fare for the weary traveller such as steak frites, hand made by the resident French chef.
En route you might like to play the lush Bali Handari golf course, one of seven on an island that lends itself to challenging designs by the likes of Greg Norman and Peter Thomson.
There's also good diving on the west coast, but most visitors are happy to go to the beach, perhaps for a bargain massage, to read a book and dream.
Where we were, at Jimbaran Bay, dreams come easily, especially the recurring one about coming back to magical Bali. For more information visit fourseasons.com/Bali.
