Desak Yoni

I was born in 1972—or so a teacher told me, as neither of my parents recall my exact date of birth—in a small village north of Ubud. Even as a child, I daydreamed of flying away from this island, a small dot among the thousands in the Indonesian archipelago. When I was twenty I felt there was no other choice but to leave Bali to free myself from the burdens of poverty and tradition. I have traveled extensively abroad, married, brought up sons, and worked in Australia while pursuing education at college and university—my most recent a Masters degree in International Business from Newcastle University, New South Wales, Australia. I returned to Bali in 2012 after almost twenty years of living abroad, hoping to achieve a better quality of life, rebuild my family and create employment for my kin. Since returning, I have experienced at first hand the challenges facing Balinese women in the parallel universes of modern tourism and traditional life, where families struggle to maintain a balance between adat duties and the temptations of the island’s holiday playground, illicit drug and sex scene. Tumultuous experiences, family dramas, tragedies and rare moments of joy that never seem to last long enough have inspired me to write this book. It has been a cathartic journey of self-discovery.