When exploring these regions you want to travel lightly. Have an idea before you leave home, if this trip will include five star stunts or only bungalows in the midst of the jungle or at the local beach and pack accordingly.
When you want to break out of the tourist mode and get off the beaten path during your trip, simply have a home base at one location for a few days where you leave your big bag behind and then only pack a small back bag that you take along when you venture out into the unknown.
They key is to be as mobile as you can. This will help you to make rewarding decisions, when opportunities arise, such as spontaneous invitations by locals.
Before leaving eastern Bali, we passed by Tenganan. This is one of several ancient villages in Bali, which is usually called "Bali Aga". That means that the village predates the introduction of Hinduism and inhabitants still practice unique ancient traditions, unlike other Balinese villages.
An important part of Bali Aga culture is the complex Tie-dye technique used to make Bali's traditional geringsing double ikat. Bali's Tenganan village is the only village that today still produces geringsing fabric.
The Bali aga normally live in isolated areas in the mountains, Tenganan being close to Candidasa is the only Bali Aga village that embraces tourism more easily. All others shy away from tourism which saves their culture.
Making our ways through hilly landscapes and rural villages we were heading to our new home base in Ubud, another magical place in the mountains. New adventures would await us, as we stayed just next to the sacred monkey forest.