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When I arrived at the familiar Nurah Rai Airport in Denpasar I walked up and down the swarm of drivers waiting with signs and hungry eyes for customers and money. I couldn't find Gusti, my friend and driver. When I called him he was surprised and said I was so quick. I chuckled and said yeah, starting to be a local. I have been travelling to Bali for 7 years now and I yearn for the peace and connection I find in Bali whenever I am away from here. A sense of place, of home, although I wasn't born here nor were my family. This sense of home in a foreign place is an immensely interesting concept for me and something that I will set off on many a solo journey to find. I can smell the smoke from the small fires the locals are burning on the rice fields. It is the hot, dry time of year where all is in anticipation of the monsoon. Frangipani trees are laden in blooms and as I watch their flowers fall, Dragonflies flit about in the early morning sun. Swallows and Swifts dart about catching Insects rising off the rice fields and Roosters crow to meet the break of day. I woke to the sound of scooters going up and down the small path outside the compound, carrying goods and produce here and there. Today I will go to visit my dear friend Puspa at her Warung. Puspa was overjoyed to see me again and she embraced me and introduced me to her friends who she was chatting to in the street. She made me Makan, Indonesian for food. Of course I ordered Nasi Campur and a Young Coconut. Puspa went fossicking in the neighbours garden and brought me over two small branches. She asked if I knew what they were, one I said was Sweet Leaf and she said yes, Daun Manis in Indonesian. I said that we eat it for Makan and she said yes but it is also very good for sore throats and coughs. The other plant was a Coral tree cutting that they use for fencing and quick shade, it is also good for coughs mixed with Bawang Merah, Red Shallot and Rock Sugar in a blender. When I gave Puspa some money as a gift from my family she had tears in her eyes as she laughed and said, you are always so kind to me. There was a hint of questioning in her voice and I said simply, we are family! As I sit in the open air building waiting for my breakfast I admire my surroundings of established fruit trees. There are Jackfruit, Durian, Mangosteen, Banana, Cacao, Mango and Coconut. Franpipani flowers line the paths where the Balinese Boys have freshly swept. Bamboo scarecrows designed to scare the birds off the heavily laden rice crop make a melodic tok tok sound. I listen for the call of the Giant Kingfisher so irridescent Blue with an oversized orange beak. I realise that when you are calm you really see so much more detail. The flower bud on a Durian tree, the Dragonfly resting on a twig, the Rice Farmer cutting grass for his Cow. I saw a flying Lizard catching insects and scurrying up the trunk of a Coconut, a family of Squirrels racing around in the trees and deftly manouvering along the powerlines. Their bushy tails flicking in the air, a real life comedy. A giant Snail slowly moving about in the fallen leaves, a pale yellow conical shell. While I wait for my breakfast, no one is in a hurry, I contemplate where I will walk and what I'll discover this morning. I'm in search of traditional Batik clothes, I know of a small shop far away so it is in that direction i shall venture. Workmen up the road building new villas sing along to Balinese music blarring out of a stereo. They smile and wish me good morning as I pass. I reply Selamat Pagi to surprised and happy faces, feeling more like a local every day.