The Weight of Paradise (presented at the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival 2012) 8 October 2012 at 09:23 Once upon a time, not very long ago, there were three friends who built a hotel in Bali. They were Timothy Withers, a sensitive Oxford drop-out; Betty Flowers, a tour agent; and Cokorda Nawang, the local prince. They all lived in the highland village Desa Pondok, in the former kingdom of Tarik Tamu. Timothy was a romantic, deeply in love with Bali and its strange, archaic culture. He lived in a bamboo hut on the edge of the rice fields, where he studied the lore of Bali, and struggled to write poetry. Simple as his little house was, there was a young woman to sweep it out for him, wash his clothes, cook his rice, and carry buckets of water on her head for his bath. This was something else Timothy loved about Bali: there were always plenty of Balinese around to do everything for him. Betty Flowers was large and flamboyant. She lived in a big bambo