In Bali, non-Hindu tourists increasingly visit Balinese Hindu temples and other sacred sites as part of cultural tourism. Some also participate in practices made accessible to visitors, such as Melukat purification ceremonies, meditation, yoga, making offerings, and selected religious rituals.

It is the early 1700s, during the height of piracy, when raiding ships is highly lucrative. Pirate crews are generally more egalitarian than society on land, but growing bounties on pirates have made it increasingly dangerous for them to return ashore.