It is known as the Island of Gods - and what happens in Bali might leave the spiritual guardians of this dreamy holiday destination weeping tears of dismay or gazing down with contentment that all is well in this Hindu domain. These are the events that made headlines around the world, or which were quietly played out behind a veil of tropical serenity. More than four million tourists, both rich and budget-conscious, visit the island each year; it is inevitable that things go wrong. Drugs, surfing, murder, love, death on the roads, hangovers, bombs, relaxation…they are all part of a cocktail of life in a land of looming volcanoes, hillside rice paddies and idyllic beaches Bali was the backdrop for two extraordinarily colourful weddings that ended in tears - the ‘marriage’ of Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall and the ceremony that saw an English model joined in matrimony to a Prince who never was. There are the drug smugglers, such as the infamous Bali Nine, Schapelle Corby and the English grandmother Lindsay Sandiford, and the story of an American hold-up man who hit the convenience stores with a knife and a Balinese wife who plotted the brutal murder of her British-Australian husband. Then there are are the terrorists who killed more than 200 tourists and local people in an infamous bombing and the shocking story of the ‘Body in the Suitcase’ Murder, when a wealthy US socialite was brutally murdered by her daughter and her boyfriend.
