We had had a taste of Bali's nightmare traffic as passengers and didn't fancy taking the wheel ourselves. We therefore engaged a young driver called Putu for our planned tour, for less than the price of a hire car in most countries. We showed him our proposed itinerary, but he evidently felt that there were a few extra places we needed to see, the first being a batik shop. It was interesting to see a demonstration of the application of wax, which resists dyes, to make a pattern on fabric, but Putu learnt that we weren't high rollers and that he wouldn't be earning a commission from a sale of the outrageously priced goods. He then took us to the Pura Pasek Desa, a temple, where we donned the obligatory sarongs to cover our legs. Most of the Hindu temples in Bali are triumphs of stonemasonry; with imposing gateways, ornate carving and sculptures of extraordinary creatures, usually wrapped in black, red and white chequered aprons. A number of tall shrines called merus, with up to eleven tiers of thatched roofs, are always a feature.

The first stop on our list was the Setiadarma House of Masks and Puppets, at Mas. It occupies several restored buildings, each with a different theme, surrounded by lovely gardens. The seven thousand exhibits from Indonesia and Asia are of high quality and very well presented. Masks, whether frightening, amusing or just weird, are used in traditional dances, and can be extraordinarily ornate and colourful. Every kind of puppet representing all sorts of characters is on display, the shadow 'wayang kulit' being particular to Javanese and Balinese culture. There were few other visitors, and it is a mystery how the museum is funded as entry is free. Next was Gunung Kawi, Bali's most significant ancient site. One first has to negotiate a steep path and, trickier, a myriad of souvenir stallholders, down towards a river which flows through a lush valley with picturesque rice terraces on either side. At the bottom are two groups of 8m high shrines chiselled into the natural rock face, which are thought to date from the 11th century. We succumbed to one of the stalls on the way back up, where a nice lady prepared a fresh coconut for us to drink and sold us a candle holder skilfully carved from a coconut shell.

We finished the day at the Tanah Semujan guest house in Ubud, which we'd booked online, leaving Putu to go home for the weekend. The owner told us that the six-room establishment had been built within the last few years. It is a striking example of how much effort is put into the appearance of the most modest of buildings, with its skilfully executed blend of brick and concrete in the style of traditional masonry. Each evening the owner's father put out offerings to the good and bad spirits - something we saw all over Bali. We were treated to breakfasts of pancakes or eggs with fresh fruit on the terrace overlooking a pretty garden. Ubud is the cultural heart of Bali, crowded with tourists and choked with traffic, yet still a captivating place. We walked into the centre and the length of Monkey Forest Road, lined with restaurants, salons and shops selling fabrics, clothes, artworks and trinkets. Scooters are ubiquitous, and every few minutes there is a call from the shadows: "taxi?" At the bottom is the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary, where for a fee you can enter and be attacked by greedy macaques. One at the entrance ripped apart a large paper carrier bag, so we deposited it at the kiosk for safe keeping and warily continued inside to look at the statues and temples. We returned to the sanctuary of our guest house via a pleasant back lane between paddy fields.

Next morning we spent a couple of hours in the peaceful Museum Puri Lukisan, which aims to exhibit the best of 20th century Balinese art. Most of the pictures and woodcarvings are interpretations of classical legends, surreal landscapes or scenes of everyday life. Afterwards we walked out of town along paths through the surrounding rice fields to an organic restaurant for lunch, then back down the other side of a river to the mayhem of the town centre. In the evenings we went to open air performances of traditional dances, both played to full houses. The first, at the Dalem Tamen Kaja temple, was the love story of Rama and Sita from the Hindu epic 'Ramayana', accompanied by a lively male 'Kecak' choir, so called after the chattering sound they make. This was followed by a short 'trance dance' in which the bare-soled rider of a hobby-horse kicks up sparks from a bed of burning coconut husks. Second, at the Royal Palace, was the 'Legong of Mahabrata' and other pieces, danced by men and women to mesmerising music played by a large gamelan orchestra of exotic xylophones, gongs, drums and flutes. The dancers wore extravagant costumes, masks and make-up, and moved in a precisely choreographed, graceful, yet strangely mannered style.

Putu arrived early on Monday, and we were soon on our way to Sibang to visit an organic chocolate factory inside one of the world's largest bamboo buildings. The day's first temple was the large and elegant Pura Taman Ayan, which is set amongst lawns and surrounded by a moat. We called at a coffee plantation where we sampled a variety of blends, including a speciality bean which, rather dubiously, is roasted after passing through the digestive system of a luwak, a small furry animal. As the road climbed into the hills we entered a district where the cooler climate and wetter conditions are conducive to the cultivation of fruit and vegetables, particularly strawberries. It is also the location of Bali Botanic Garden, which must have been a wonder in its prime in the 1960s but is now looking a bit neglected. One can still have a pleasant amble and see some unusual trees and plants, including orchids; but what makes it really worth visiting is the set of dramatic white and gold statues of characters from the Ramayana legend. It was time for another temple: the small Pura Ulun Danu set on the edge of scenic Lake Bratan. Amongst the stone sculptures is a pair of charming serpents carrying sunshades. The road continues into the mountains then follows a ridge skirting round Lakes Buyan and Tamblingan to the village of Munduk, where we were booked to stay two nights at Meme Surung, a guesthouse converted from a pair of Dutch colonial homes.

Agus, one of the staff, led us for a morning's walk, starting with the rice terraces to the east of the village. We also saw nutmeg, clove, coffee and cocoa trees, which are gradually replacing rice as more profitable crops. The cloves were just ripening, and we passed several migrant pickers working from ladders made out of single bamboo poles up to 12m long. The cloves were then spread out on mats to dry in the sun. After passing groves of bamboo of various sizes, we headed west along the edge of a channel which is cut into a steep hillside to carry water to the paddy fields. We reached Red Coral Waterfall then followed a path down the valley, including a flight of nearly three hundred steps, to the foot of Melanting Waterfall. We returned through woodland and isolated villages to complete an invigorating circuit. Later we walked up to the Puri Lumbung Hotel where we had dinner after watching the sun sink over the distant hills.

We were driven home via the Jatiluwith rice fields, an almost impossibly immaculate landscape of maze-like terracing and watercourses which demonstrate to perfection this ancient technique. We couldn't return without seeing one more temple: Luhur Batukau, situated in forest at the foot of Mt. Batukau, at 2,276m, Bali's second highest mountain. We stopped for a simple lunch at the hot springs near Sigaran before completing our tour.