Our Hidden Bali Experiences can be arranged at any time to grant you access to authentic culture that honors tradition and avoids commoditization. Building on more than 20 years of experience of leading culturally sensitive tours in Bali and based on deep relationships with local people and communities, these are intimate 3-day or 4-day tours arranged to fit your travel itineraries and led by expert guides for small groups of 2 to 6 guests. Each experience is themed around a specific aspect of Bali’s heritage, including the Textile Arts, the Culture of Bali, and the Natural World.

The Textile Arts Experience
The Indonesian archipelago was once the crossroads of the world. For over 3500 years, people have come here seeking fragrant spices, and textiles were the central barter objects in this story of trade, conquest and ancient tradition. An exploration of Bali’s textile art traditions grants us access to this story. Spice trade influences juxtapose with indigenous motifs throughout the archipelago: echoes of Indian trade cloths abound; imagery relates to defining aspects of the local environment; history and genealogy entwine. Uses range from traditional dress, to offerings, to the
paraphernalia of marriages and funerals.

Our gateway to this world is through the island of Bali, where we steep ourselves in the island’s rich traditions while based at the Umajati Retreat near Ubud. Here we will receive insightful introductions to the local culture, and visit several weavers with which Threads of Life is working to help women create high-quality textiles that balance their desires for sustainable incomes and cultural integrity.

Threads of Life’s relationships with weavers over more than a decade gives this tour access to aspects of the weaving arts few have the opportunity to see. We will meet weavers in their homes amongst the lush rice fields of Sidemen, and in the ancient and storied community of Tenganan Pegeringsingan. Experiencing the weavers’ lives through these visits, and seeing their textiles, will be the highlights of a tour that offers unique insights into the forces at play in Bali’s contemporary culture.

The entrance to Umajati Retreat at sunset

Our Hidden Bali Experiences can be arranged at any time to grant you access to authentic culture that honors tradition and avoids commoditization. Building on more than 20 years of experience of leading culturally sensitive tours in Bali and based on deep relationships with local people and communities, these are intimate 3-day or 4-day tours arranged to fit your travel itineraries and led by expert guides for small groups of 2 to 6 guests. Each experience is themed around a specific aspect of Bali’s heritage, including the Textile Arts, the Culture of Bali, and the Nature of Bali.

The Nature of Bali Experience
Bali, famous for its cascading rice fields and sacred volcanoes, sits in the middle of the second most bio-diverse country in the world. With all these natural riches, Indonesia is also the world’s fourth most populated country. It is for balance between these two – nature and humanity – that the Balinese strive. Their native Hinduism enshrines the concept as Tri Hitha Karana, wherein people seek for balance within community, balance between humanity and nature, and balance between humanity and the Divine. The beauty of Bali’s landscape, tended and sculpted by generations of farmers, bares testament to this commitment; and with these landscapes under pressure from the forces of development, it is the island’s social institutions, particularly the subak rice farmer cooperatives, which are at the forefront of defending the Tri Hitha Karana values.

We must visit this countryside on foot to experience the nature of Bali up close, to touch the spirit of its landscapes, and to contemplate what balance between humanity and nature means here. The Nature of Bali Experience is a walking tour of Bali, wrapped in the comforts and hospitality for which the Balinese are renowned.

Our gateway to this world is through the town of Ubud, where we steep ourselves in the island’s rich traditions while based at the Umajati Retreat. Here we will receive insightful introductions to the local culture as we walk through the Balinese ricefields. We will learn from Balinese about the use of plants in medicine, cooking and ritual, and start to see beyond the mesmerizing beauty to the cultural landscapes beneath.

Threads of Life’s relationships with Balinese over more than a decade gives this tour access to the important part that nature plays in the life of Bali and that few have the opportunity to see. Meeting people in their homes and in their work will be highlights of a tour that offers unique insights into the forces at play in Bali’s contemporary culture.

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