Bali is, to many people, the land of a thousand gods, a thousand temples, and a thousand dances. Others see the island as a place waiting to have its beauty, culture and way of life discov­ered. Still others arrive here and undergo an experience that etches a lifelong impact, drawing them back again and again to its shores.

Ask around enough and you are sure to hear the response: "Come to Bali for its culture, its beauty". That message about this fabled island is one from the heart, for the Balinese are truly proud of the splendour of their island home.

Bali , located eight degrees south of the equator, is the most westerly of the Lesser Sunda Islands . This region contain just a small portion of the 13,700 islands estimated to make up the Republic of Indonesia , the world's largest archipelago.

Bali is an attractive destination for tourists. You could spend a lifetime here and still feel there is much more to be seen, heard, experienced and eventually understood. No matter how often you watch a barong performance, or the kecak dance, or listen to gamelan music, something deep inside you tells you that it will always be a unique experience of discovery and rediscovery.

There are many other dances to excite you. The gambuh is a classical form of dance-drama. The topeng is a traditional masked dance. Then there are the baris (or "warrior's dance"), the legong ("Dance of the Heavenly Nymphs"), the kebyar (a flashy modern dance) and the sanghyang dedari (ritual trance dance).

To first-time visitors, fed on leaflets and travel brochures, Bali appears as a holiday retreat with beautiful beaches and a scorching sun. It can even be mistaken for a place perpetually on holiday. But Bali is far more than that.

One goes to Bali for an experience of a life-time, to come face-to-face with a remarkable people with their customs and traditions, their beliefs and hopes, and their eternal search for peace.

The pace on the island is slow, time seeming to melt away like a cube of ice, slowly but surely. You never seem to have enough of Bali . There is always a yearning to see more. You feel the power of its mysticism and get drawn in like a magnet to its beauty. It could be the start of a quest for the true meaning of the balance of the cosmic forces.

You can be spellbound by the delicate movements of the dancers, stunned by the roughness of the demons, following the trail of the spirits closely, wondering what creatures will next appear on the scene. You wait with bated breath for the final conquest. And when the perfor­mance is over, you want more. This is but a small part of Bali 's charm, whose hypnotic effect lasts a lifetime.