Surf, sun, beaches, shopping, food, and culture, or, as Elizabeth Gilbert wrote in Eat, Pray, Love, a place of healing. Yet even if you add it all up together, they will still fall short of capturing the essence of Bali and the reason it has become Indonesia’s most popular destination. There is something about this island that must be seen with one’s own eyes, felt through the senses, and stored in the vaults of memory.

Sunset and chill at Seminyak Beach in Bali

Ordinarily, I’m not the kind of traveler who circles back to a place. Like many, I’d rather put the cost of airfare flying abroad toward discovering a new city or country. But something about Hoi An’s Old Town lingered with me, an appeal that made the idea of returning feel less like repetition and more like certainty.

Rows of beautiful shophouses like these fills the streets of Hoi An's old town

There’s a different kind of travel that isn’t measured in cities visited or landmarks ticked off but in rhythms experienced, landscapes witnessed from water, and cultures absorbed at the pace of the river’s flow. River cruising isn’t about traversing oceans.