Agung Pacung is another fantastic guide who can offer local insights you will not find in a book.

BBC: Changing lives and perceptions in Ubud

Agung Rai was born to a family of farmers who can trace their history back to the 14th century.

BBC: High spirits in Bali

Summarecon Agung is an Indonesian homebuilder and there are 240 million people in Indonesia with more money to spend on real estate.

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But only 40% of regencies and cities bother to inform the centre of the measures they are taking, according to Mr Agung.

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The temple helps to unify the members, ' says Agung Rai.

BBC: High spirits in Bali

His other major agribusiness asset is pt Tidar Kerinci Agung, a palm-oil producer in West Sumatra that began as a joint venture with Malaysia's Robert Kuok, who has since exited.

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'The people show such respect, ' says Mr Agung Rai, a guide and ambassador of sorts for the district surrounding the town of Ubud, the geographical and cultural heart of Bali.

BBC: High spirits in Bali

Because of their quality and rarity, the early modernists' works are appreciating steadily: In 1996, for instance, a painting by Anak Agung Gede Sobrat fetched 11 times the estimate at Christie's auction in Amsterdam.

CNN: When Bali Cast A Special Spell

As we head back out into the paddy fields, he lights a clove-scented cigarette and points to the shadowy, still-active volcano that shares its name with him - Gunung Agung, the tallest, most sacred mountain on Bali, from which rivers are said to flow and the volcanic soil gains its rich fertility.

BBC: High spirits in Bali