By Tom Richardson, Owner of Richardson’s Books
The retreat wasn’t the plan. Sarah handed over the envelope on my 42nd birthday a week at Bali Palms in Tabanan. The immediate thought: there’s no time for this. Bills were piling up, decisions had been avoided for three years, and the bookstore couldn’t afford a week without its owner.
But Sarah had watched the unraveling for months the 4 a.m. wake-ups, the endless coffee, the sleepless nights running scenarios about closing or modernizing Dad’s store.
“You haven’t stopped moving since your father died,” she said. “Maybe you need to go somewhere you can’t run away from yourself.”
Nine months after that trip to the real Bali far from the crowded beaches and tourist restaurants of the south the bookstore is thriving with changes that once felt impossible to make. This is the story of how a reluctant week in Tabanan’s rice fields helped process three years of grief and unlock the clarity needed to save a family legacy.
What You’ll Discover:
- Why choosing real Bali over southern Bali’s tourist areas creates space for genuine transformation
- How traditional Balinese healing addresses the root causes of burnout and decision paralysis
- The unexpected connection between rice field walks and business clarity
- Practical integration strategies that work nine months after returning home
- Who truly benefits from this type of cultural immersion experience
- What to expect when trading hotel comfort for authentic village life
The Crisis: Inheriting Legacy Without Permission to Grieve
When the Bookstore Became a Burden
Three years ago, Richardson’s Books passed down after Dad’s sudden heart attack at 68. Forty years he’d built that store, knew every regular by name, hand-sold books with a passion Amazon’s algorithm could never replicate. It was his life’s work.
Previous life: software company manager, two states away, different plans. But when he died, there was no question. Moving back and taking over meant promising to keep it alive.
What wasn’t clear then: that promise meant stopping personal life entirely. Every decision became: What would Dad do? Would this disappoint him? Am I destroying his legacy? Managing the store, but never grieving the man. Just moving, working, keeping doors open as foot traffic declined and online sales ate into thin margins.
The Failed Attempts at Finding Solutions
Several approaches had been tried before Bali:
- Business coaching: Helped with numbers and five-year strategy, but couldn’t touch the emotional weight of changing anything Dad established
- Grief support group: One session in a church basement before leaving, feeling completely out of place
- Weekend escapes: Hiking trips provided temporary relief but changed nothing by Monday morning
- Self-medication: Too much coffee during the day, poor sleep at night, running on fumes
The reality: every business decision came from fear and unprocessed grief. Paralyzed. Sarah could see the drowning, so she booked Bali. Agreement came mostly from lack of energy to argue, and maybe because some part knew the options had run out.
Arrival: From Denpasar Airport to a Different World
The Journey to Tabanan
Landing in Denpasar at 2 a.m. after a twenty-hour journey, my neck ached and my mind raced through inventory issues left for the assistant manager. The airport transfer to Tabanan took ninety minutes along dark, winding roads leading away from the coast into the hills.
Unlike the busy hotels and villas of southern Bali, this place was quiet no tourists, no traffic, just darkness and a sense of calm. Arriving at Bali Palms just before dawn, I was too exhausted to notice the beautiful traditional Balinese compound surrounded by rice fields; all I wanted was bed.
First Impressions: Resistance and Exhaustion
Selena, the Guest Experience Coordinator, greeted arrivals with a calm, knowing smile. “You look tired,” she said simply. “Running a bookstore,” was the reply. “You’re far from the bookstore now. Let’s get you settled and talk tomorrow.”
The room was simple no air conditioning, just ceiling fans and open windows letting in the cool mountain air. No pool view or sea breeze, just quiet. Eleven hours of sleep followed, waking to gamelan music and the wind through palm trees. For the first time in years, no immediate reach for the phone.
Days 1-2: Going Through the Motions in Real Bali
The Uncomfortable Adjustment Period
The first couple of days involved going through the motions. Sunrise yoga (not flexible). Healthy Balinese breakfast and meals (delicious, but missing the usual coffee routine). A lot of talk about “intentions” and “opening your heart” that felt uncomfortably foreign to someone used to spreadsheets and profit margins.
The villa didn’t have the convenient amenities you’d expect from tourist accommodations. No room service, no elaborate dinner buffets, no organized transport to popular sights around the island. Instead: simple living, community meals, and lots of unstructured time.
Thoughts kept returning to the store. Had they restocked the new fiction table? Was the espresso machine working? Fingers kept reaching for the phone out of habit, even without Wi-Fi in most areas of the compound.
The Conversation That Changed Everything
On the second evening, Selena found me sitting alone on the villa porch, looking as uncomfortable as I felt inside. She sat quietly beside me and asked, “What’s really going on, Tom?”
Maybe because of the distance from home or the exhaustion of carrying it alone, I opened up about Dad, the bookstore, and the overwhelming weight of trying to honor his legacy while watching it fail.
She listened without trying to fix anything, then said, “Tomorrow morning, before the sun gets too hot, take a walk through the rice fields with one of our local guides. No agenda. Just walk and see what comes up.”
“That’s it?” I asked.
“That’s it. Sometimes the mind needs space before the heart can speak.”
Day 3: The Rice Field Walk That Unlocked Everything
Meeting Wayan in the Cultural Heart of Bali
The next morning brought a meeting with Wayan, a man in his sixties with weathered hands and an easy smile. Together, we headed into the terraced rice fields as the sun burned off the morning mist. He pointed out rice growth stages, explained the ancient Subak water system, and showed the small shrines where farmers make daily offerings.
Over 60% of visitors stay in southern Bali, while less than 10% explore village regions where authentic culture thrives. Walking those fields revealed why the real Bali experience matters: this was living culture, unfolding at its own pace. The rhythm of the narrow, winding path forced a slower pace, allowing something to settle within me.
Traditional Healing: Skepticism Meets the Balian
Agreeing to Meet a Traditional Healer
That evening, telling Selena about the walk led to her suggestion of meeting with a traditional healer a Balian the next day.
First instinct: decline. Background is practical, believing in therapy and medication and evidence-based approaches. The idea of spiritual healing felt too far outside the comfort zone.
But something about the way she described it intrigued. In Balinese culture, she explained, healing isn’t just about body or mind it’s about restoring balance in whole life, relationships, spirit.
According to a 2025 study in the Jurnal Kajian Bali, traditional Balinese healing integrates herbal medicine, ritual purification, and energy work to restore harmony, addressing spiritual and energetic roots of imbalance rather than just physical symptoms. This is the work of a Balian Usadha, a traditional healer whose knowledge often comes through lineage, passed down through generations.
“Look,” Selena said, seeing the hesitation, “you don’t have to believe in anything. Just show up with an open mind and see what happens. Worst case, you spend an hour sitting with a kind elder and nothing changes. But guest safety and authentic experience are our priority every healer we work with has been carefully vetted through years of relationship building.”
Agreement followed.
Melukat: Water Purification and Letting Go
The Sacred Spring Ceremony
The next day, Selena arranged something called a melukat a traditional water purification ceremony. Going with two other guests to a sacred spring at a nearby temple meant an early wake time.
Standing in a sarong in cold spring water at 6 a.m., having a priest chant prayers while pouring blessed water over the head honestly, it felt ridiculous at first. Very far from normal life of inventory spreadsheets and publisher catalogs.
But as we moved through the different fountains maybe a dozen spouts, each with specific purpose and prayer something unexpected happened. Each time the cold water hit head and shoulders, it felt like washing away something specific. The fear of failure. The guilt over potentially changing Dad’s store. The exhaustion of trying to be someone else.
By the end, tears came again, but this time it felt cleansing. Releasing. One of the other guests, a woman from Germany, offered a hug afterward even though both were soaking wet. “Whatever you just let go of,” she said, “I saw it leave you.”
Maybe she did. What’s certain: walking away from that spring felt physically lighter, like finally setting down a backpack full of rocks after carrying it for years.
The Rest of the Week: Discovering Real Bali Through Community
Learning Traditional Crafts from Locals
The rest of the week fell into a rhythm that wouldn’t have been predicted. Resistance stopped, participation began.
Learning to make canang sari those small daily offerings woven from palm leaves and filled with flowers, incense, and rice. Sitting with women of a nearby village while they taught the patterns and explained meaning behind each element.
Nobody rushing. Nobody checking phones. Just hands working, conversation flowing, and a sense of being part of something practiced the same way for generations.
Joining a workshop with a pottery family Selena had connected with years ago. The grandfather, who barely spoke English, showed how to shape clay on a traditional wheel powered by his foot.
The results were terrible the bowl looked more like an ashtray but he laughed warmly and helped guide the hands. His grandson translated stories about their five-generation tradition, how they’d adapted over time but kept core techniques alive.
Research from UNESCO (2024) shows that responsible cultural tourism can increase community income by up to 25% without causing cultural degradation when done through authentic relationship building rather than exploitative tour packages. Experiencing it firsthand sitting with families, learning their crafts, sharing meals made the difference between tourism and genuine cultural exchange crystal clear.
Witnessing an Authentic Temple Ceremony
One evening brought an invitation to observe a temple ceremony in the village. This wasn’t a performance for tourists like you might find in southern Bali’s hotels it was an actual community event, and guests were observers at the edge, watching respectfully.
Wearing the sarong and sash, staying quiet, just witnessing. The gamelan music, the elaborate offerings, the devotion on people’s faces beautiful in a way that couldn’t have been appreciated while snapping photos for Instagram.
The Journal of Social Science Studies (2015) notes that while some cultural attractions are modified for tourists, the most meaningful destinations find ways to preserve original ceremonies while creating separate, respectful experiences for visitors. Being invited to witness this ceremony felt like a privilege, not a product exactly what makes the real Bali different from staged performances.
Thoughts turned to community in a different way. The bookstore used to be a real gathering place reading groups, author events, kids curled up in the corner with picture books. When had the focus shifted from that to obsessing over sales numbers?
Simple Pleasures: Coffee, Sunrise, and Stillness
The villa life settled into simple rhythms. Morning coffee without checking email first. Watching sunrise over the rice fields instead of immediately diving into work. Evening meals with other guests, sharing stories, making friends who understood what it meant to need this kind of break from ordinary life.
No fancy restaurants, no elaborate dinner service, just honest food shared in an open-air space where locals and guests ate together. The team at Bali Palms created something carefully designed to feel un-designed authentic hospitality rather than manufactured luxury.
One morning, waking naturally with the sun instead of an alarm, then taking a walk through the compound before breakfast. The moment of standing still, watching mist lift off the rice fields, hearing temple bells in the distance that’s when it became clear this wasn’t about escaping life. It was about remembering how to actually live it.
Nine Months Later: The Real Results
Major Business Changes Made from Clarity, Not Fear
Flying home nine months ago, Sarah picked up from the airport barely recognizing the person who returned. “You look like you actually slept,” she said, amazed.
First few days were an adjustment. The airport chaos, the email inbox, the noise and pace of normal life rushing back. But Selena’s advice about integration had been taken seriously. Every morning, before opening the laptop, five minutes just breathing and sitting with coffee in silence. Not a rice field in Bali, but a small anchor of peace.
More importantly: the changes that had been feared for three years finally happened.
Business transformation implemented:
- Reduced floor space by a third, added small coffee bar
- Hired part-time events coordinator for weekly author readings and book clubs
- Shifted 40% of inventory to used and local press books
- Partnered with three local schools for summer reading programs
- Completely overhauled online ordering system
Every decision felt terrifying and right simultaneously.
The Ongoing Impact
Some regulars were upset. One older customer said Dad would be “rolling in his grave.” That hurt, but didn’t paralyze the way it would have before Bali. Thanked her for loyalty and explained the goal: ensuring the store would still be here in twenty years.
Most people, though, rallied around the changes. The coffee bar brought new customers who discovered the books. Events filled the store with energy again. The summer literacy program became community talking point.
The financial reality: Still not out of the woods. Amazon isn’t going away. It’s still hard. But growth instead of shrinkage. More importantly, decisions now come from clarity and peace instead of fear and grief.
Running the store in a way that honors what Dad cared about most, not just what he happened to do. And finally able to miss him without feeling crushed by his absence.
What Actually Works: Integration Strategies Nine Months Out
Daily Practices That Survived the Return Home
People often ask if the “Bali feeling” fades after returning to real life. Some of it does daily life isn’t like walking through rice fields at sunrise. Stress, too much coffee, and tough days at the store still happen.
But key changes remain: a morning ritual of silent coffee before emails, awareness of decision-making driven by clarity rather than fear, holding Dad’s memory with love instead of obligation, and permission to move forward without guilt.
According to the Global Wellness Institute (2025), wellness travelers engaging in traditional therapies report 40% more stress reduction than those sticking to conventional spa retreats. The true test is whether life feels different months later and it does.
Real Bali vs. Tourist Bali: Why Location Matters
The Difference Between Tabanan and Southern Tourist Areas
One thing worth emphasizing: the Bali experienced in Tabanan is nothing like Bali seen on Instagram or found in southern beach resort areas.
The statistics tell the story: According to the Bali Tourism Board (2025), over 60% of visitors stay in southern Bali, while less than 10% discover the village regions where authentic culture still thrives. That 10% gets something the other 90% miss entirely.
What makes Tabanan’s location different:
- Quiet, green, and slow instead of crowded and commercial
- Temple bells instead of nightclub music
- Rice fields and hills instead of infinity pools and sea views
- Real ceremonies rather than tourist performances
- Living with locals instead of hotel service
- Village compound instead of villa complex
The team at Bali Palms, especially Selena, made all the difference. No sales pitch or pressure, just space, gentle guidance, and authentic connections built over years. That authenticity truly matters.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I actually pack for a cultural immersion experience in real Bali?
Beyond the sarong, bring a small notebook and pen. So many moments of wisdom from locals or personal reflections happen unexpectedly during your wonderful visit to the country.
Writing them down helps process the experience and allows carrying those lessons home in a tangible way. Also bring clothes that cover shoulders and knees you’ll visit temples and village areas where modest dress is essential for respectful participation.
How is this different from just taking a regular vacation to Bali’s beaches?
Regular vacation to southern Bali beaches: relaxing, beautiful, definitely worth doing if that’s what you need. But it’s fundamentally about recreation and escape. What happens in Tabanan’s real Bali is about transformation and connection.
You’re not spectating from a villa or hotel room you’re participating in daily life, learning from locals, being part of a living culture. The unforgettable memories come from genuine relationships, not from sights you photographed. Different purposes entirely.
Will I have access to Wi-Fi and be able to check in on work emergencies?
Limited Wi-Fi is available in common areas, not in most guest rooms. This encourages disconnecting to be present. For genuine emergencies, brief check-ins can be arranged. But consider if it’s truly urgent or just the need to stay in control.
What’s the food situation for someone with dietary restrictions?
Meals are freshly prepared daily with local ingredients, and most dietary needs can be accommodated if informed in advance. The food is honest, healthy Balinese home cooking, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, and coffee or tea throughout the day. Those expecting branded or elaborate restaurant options might find it limiting, but it offers a chance to experience authentic local flavors.
Tom is a real guest who experienced this transformative journey with us. We’ve changed his name and some identifying details to protect his privacy, but this story authentically represents his experience at our retreat.