Fiorella Connie Carollo

THERE’S MORE THAN GIGOLOS IN BALI Photo courtesy of Sofie Brabant Nobody tells you that Ubud, renown as the artistic and culinary capital of Bali, is above everything a place for women. You don’t find any mention of that in any of the established travel guides, though as soon as you spend less than two months here, you’ll find out - as I did the very first time I came here, in 2002. Couples and single men, occasionally are here passing through. But single women are more likely to fall for the lure of the island. Some come totally unaware. They think is a vacation on a famous tropical island and then find themselves falling under the tantalising spell of Bali. Most single women have come in search of something. They might not know what it is because they’re propelled by a drive. To some women it’s a matter of sexual drive, to others an instinct that urges, or a lust for adventure, suppressed for too long. To most it’s a desire to start again, after dramatic, unplanned ...

A BALINESE LESSON Foto Sofi Brabant Fiorella Connie Carollo “Back to Nature” shouted Madè as soon as I went past his room on my scooter. That was his mantra, in the spring of  2007. Made was in charge of the small house I rented from his uncle during my six-month staying in Ubud. He was a 23 y.o. boy, not particularly good-looking, got a diploma in Hospitality thanks to his elder brother’s financial support. The elder brother Wayan, while working as a room-boy in his teens, met an Australian donor who paid for his schooling up to University and then Wayan paid for Made’s schooling up to his Diploma. From the beginning, Made impressed me for his destiny as the “ugly duckling” of the family. In fact, while Wayan was indeed a good looking man, tall, with a “Colgate smile”, also smart and lucky, Made wasn’t that good-looking and lucky. He hadn’t found any Australians willing to sponsor him and unlike his elder brother who married his high-school sweetheart, Made...