Venerably called the Island of Gods in popular media, Bali has been on the forefront of many travellers minds and bucket lists these past few years. Widely circulated images of perfectly manicured rice fields, paradise beaches and stunning traditional temples shared on social media immediately come to mind. Is Bali truly the tourist paradise and premier digital nomad, health and investment hub that many advertise it to be? Is there a dark side to one of the world’s top tourist destinations? Should you visit Bali, and what is it really like living and being (legally) employed on the island as an expat?

I am ashamed to admit that it took me nearly 7 years from when I first touched down in Indonesia, to visit the Gilis - the three pint sized islands located just off the coast of Lombok. I promised myself that I would not complete this year’s trip to Indonesia without taking a few days off to see the islands and going on diving adventures with turtles. I stayed true to my intentions. It was a four day experience I will never forget!

Munduk Cabins is unique in that it offers and combines the serenity and coziness of the cabin experience with five star luxury. The last time I stayed in a cabin, I was in the Peruvian Amazon participating in a plant medicine retreat. I generally expect very little from the word ‘cabin’, but boy were we in for a treat.

This past week I was invited to spend three days at the Keliki Luxury Lodge in Bali - a truly memorable experience, which I was pleased to share with my partner Daniel. Keliki Luxury Lodge, a scenic sanctuary nestled between the lush Indonesian jungle and Bali’s famous rice fields - a brain child of five French friends with a shared dream: to build a space of exotic tranquil elegance and impeccable service.

To refresh the memory of those who know me (or those of you who don’t), Almaty is where I spent the first ten years of my life. I grew up here. Over the years that I have been away the city had grown. Once a darling little post soviet era city - the hub of arts and culture of the country, Almaty has become a Westernized cultural gem, a blend of the old and the new with a little something for everyone.

My flight to New York City was a welcome change, during a year where I nearly didn’t travel abroad. Between the demands of my work in the scenic dept. on set for Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities and everything else stacked up on my plate, I haven’t had much time to myself in the past 12 months. I flew to Manhattan with my partner eager to take some time off, take care of some business and share in the cultural magnificence of one of the greatest cities in the world.

One of my earliest childhood memories - crawling up the marble stairs of the Kasteev Museum of Art in Almaty, Kazakhstan. My father and mother often showed their sculptures and paintings in the great hall and brought me along, letting me loose on the gallery floor. Museums to me were enormous halls of wonder which I could peruse without much supervision and on my own terms. Before I learned how to read and fell deeply and irrevocably in love with the world of literature, museums and galleries were my primary sources of education.

Toward the end of the crawlspace I felt the air change into musty fog. It felt like I was in a cloud. As I crawled out of the rabbit hole and stood upright I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was standing at the foot of what must have been a 60-80 foot high and 310 meter long misty dark cave of absolutely gargantuan proportions. We were … quite literally, inside of a mountain.

Los Angeles is a mighty strange place to end up in after Southeast Asia. Bali and LA couldn’t be any more different from one another save for the beautiful ocean-side sunsets they both share. Being back in one of my favorite cities in America was a bit of a culture shock.

It was also surreal to once again be back on Western soil. Everything was bigger, faster and louder, even driving out of LAX I could feel the energy shift. Two days earlier President Joe Biden had been sworn into office. It was a new America with a completely new administration.

Viceroy Bali is located on a land where the lush rice fields Bali is so famous for meet the jungle, aptly named ‘The Valley of Kings’. The dream of Viceroy began when Margaret Syrowatka discovered the land with her brother on a motorcycle trip through the ricefields in 2003. Before the land was acquired by the Syrowatka family, the land belonged to the Balinese Kingdom of Peliatan.

“Imagine what it would be like, to meet the first sunrise of the year from the top of a volcano”... mentioned in casual passing conversation a few years back, the thought lingered in my mind as only a dream.

The sight of these magnificent ‘underwater spaceships’ with a wingspan of up to 29 ft. (8.8 meters) just left me completely in awe .. and even a bit teary eyed. They are playful, curious and gentle giants. Unlike much of the other marine life, mantas are interested in you and will once in a while swim up and engage in an underwater dance of sorts, hovering above you and ever so gently, voluntarily brushing up against your body.

If you are a lover of secret paradise beaches and epic lookouts, Penida offers some of the most breathtaking views I have ever seen. In fact, you’re just not going to see many beaches in Bali that come even close to what’s next door on Penida.

Mindlessly staring at the floor in front of me I saw a withered little thing make it’s way around dozens of feet in the crowd. She was just a puppy, noticeably weak and terribly shy. She looked like she hadn’t eaten for days and was barely able to stand up once she slumped over beside a garbage bin.

The roads here feel a bit like real life Mad Max .. often complete with costumes and interesting characters. I have seen things mounted on and transported by scooters that I could never fathom in my wildest dreams, like: trees, mini kiosks, 8 dogs all at once - each sitting on a pedestal like bucket top strapped to the sides of a Vario, 24 foot poles, a scooter on top of a scooter …. the list goes on … however after we managed to fit what I remember being 7 grown skydivers into a teeny tiny little African tuk tuk in Kenya one December, I have more of an imagination for these things.

“How do you feel about taking an ayahuasca journey in the Peruvian Amazon?" Three weeks after my friend Jokke Sommer had expressed an interest in seeking out and experiencing the sacred plant medicine in the depths of the Peruvian jungle, I touched down in Cusco.

In a secret Kaba Kaba jungle valley a mere twenty minute drive from the bustling tourist centre of Canggu, lies Bali’s newest gem - Ulaman Eco Retreat. Offering a luxurious, tranquil and picturesque getaway from urban life, the 11 room eco sustainable resort had its soft opening at the end of May of this year, which is when it fell at the top of my radar of places to visit.

These days Lovina is empty of tourists, much like the rest of Bali. Solitary fishermen and dolphin guides roam the streets adjacent to the beach vying for a client among merely a handful of visitors who come down to the shore to catch a glimpse of nature at play. At Lovina Beach, a tall statue of a dolphin made of stone towers above the neighborhood reminding everyone of why they’re here.

The landscape looked almost surreal, sprawling green fields and plantations laid out for miles below us. Towering above them and overlooking the turquoise blue waters of Danau lake was the Batur Volcano.