Hoping to return to the 'land of smiles'

The Indonesian island of Bali impressed us on our recent vacation with its natural beauty, historic temples and the friendliness of its people.

A driver we hired to take us from the central part of the island to the popular southwest coast proved to be not only a delightful person but also a local expert and diligent learner. After we expressed a desire to visit a restaurant, the driver, Mus, took us to a local warung - a small, family-owned eatery - set amid green rice fields.

As we talked, we were surprised to learn that Mus had taught himself a number of phrases in Mandarin after listening carefully to Chinese tourists. We had not expected to see many people from China outside of the big southern resorts, but this was confirmation that independent Chinese visitors are starting to make inroads.