I felt that I was swimming against the current of time. Bali changes, Ireland changes, North America changes. People age and drift apart. The flow of time seemed to be accelerating and no person or place could fight the current for very long. Time and tide change all.
History is a chronicle whose function is to iterate change.
I drove up to Ubud again and finally found Nyoman at the homestay. He looked little changed and we embraced, both of us a bit embarrassed. The conditions would then be better for the employees, who were, in fact, all members of his family. In any case, no tourists wanted to stay in the place anymore. The traffic noise was unbearable.