Left on June 14. Returned June 29.
Flight - Pacific Blue from Perth. Boarded late & took off late. No explanation. Surely it should be common courtesy to inform paying customers of the reason for a delay of an hour or more? Used Hadi for VIP VOA as husband already had his 2 month visa & we didn't want to be held up late at night. He dropped off his boards at left luggage, as usual.
Accommodation - 3 nights at LA WALON in Poppies 1 - fine but tired room. Brekky adequate. Staff nice. Good location for shopping, restaurants. Big fridge. Friend Meredith finally arrived from Melbourne via KL & Jakarta on the third night, did a huge food shop next morning then .....
... 4 nights at TAMU SESEH VILLAS - superb. M bought a 2 b/r villa on ebay for AUD$630. A bargain. It's a piece of heaven staffed by angels. I was so pleased husband & I could spend a night together there in luxury before he left for the Indonesian equivalent of Woop Woop to live in a bamboo hut on the beach. The villas are a short stroll from the very small fishing village of Seseh (between Canggu & Tanah Lot).
Cannot praise TS enough. Everything was excellent from the moment Gede collected us. My only very petty complaints are that there wasn't a full length mirror & I didn't like the original artwork. Picky, aye? The fridge was well-stocked but as we self-catered, apart from dinner, Joko was happy to empty it for us. I took dried fruit & nuts, cheeses, olives, crackers & dips from home in a cooler bag with a frozen litre pack of juice. We bought mixers, water, juices, fruit, yoghurt, bread, baguettes, toms, avocados, eggs, little red onions (shallots), arak etc etc etc at Bintang (which is the only early-opening supermarket, I think). M took lots of excellent chocolate too. Felt silly taking food from home but we were glad we did. Especially the superb thin skinned, incredibly juicy, seed-free lemons (must be a lemon/lime hybrid?) that drop into my garden from the tree of my Sri Lankan neighbours.
The staff will happily supply utensils, pots & pans - just ask. No griller. Microwave, full size fridge. Martini glasses, cork screw etc. Bathrooms just stunning. Lots of attention to detail everywhere & it's big. All meals are available there - just need to let them know a few hours in advance. All good to very good - the stuffed chicken for 2 was a standout.
There are rice field views with the ocean in the distance. We could laze in the upstairs bale & maybe watch TV or DVDs from the library (we didn't at all - read a bit but our eyes were constantly drawn to the incredible green view). We could lean on the edge of the big horizon pool, laze on the pool lounges, hang out on the couches in the huge living area, sit around the large dining table or at the high kitchen bench. Cane blinds could be lowered if the sun got too bright/hot. Free mountain bikes for the energetic (not us). It's a perfect place to relax.
On our last night M & I had the Goddess Experience for Rp100K (++) in our huge outdoor bathrooms. Rai filled our baths with fragrant oil, covered them with pink & red petals, surrounded them with candles. With scented oil burning, relaxing tea (although we preferred G n Ts of course) we were in heaven. Then we used the green tea body scrub (enough for the next day, too) then jasmine body lotion. Bliss. TS have their own range of shampoo, conditioners, lotions & potions.
There are DVD, CD & book libraries in each villa with many more available - just ask to see the lot.
I could go on & on (LOL, I have). The place has a beautiful, happy vibe. There is a booklet with profiles of each of the staff (including Retro the spoiled rotten 'guard' dog who loves cake & has a bowl of soup from the bicycle vendor every day), details of their environmental efforts & info on everything you could possibly need to know about attractions, restaurants etc in the area & beyond. I had taken a tennis ball to play with Retro but he really was only interested in our J Co Donuts. Lazy mutt. An Aussie architect co-owns the place - the staff adore him and the 10% service charge is actually distributed to the staff in full. They will happily call a Bluebird Taxi if you want to go out. No pressure, no stress. Oh, some stress if you take Travel Scrabble & play against someone even more competitive!! M won.
Went to Echo Beach one night - blah. I'm sure M will elaborate.
Four nights just enough. We were happy & relaxed ready to face the real world. Luckily we were moved to the 3 b/r villa for our last few hours as the new occupants of Villa 3 were expected - wowee!!! Beautiful. Also had a look at the 1 b/r villas & they are stunning, too. Our bill for 7 dinners & 2 treatments was under Rp1million. Yes, yes, yes I'd stay at TS again .. and again .. and again.
Because my husband spends 2 months a year surfing in Indonesia & at least another month surfing in Oz, we always stay el cheapo so the luxury of TS at a bargain price was so very special for me.
Next, Seminyak Suites, food, shopping & crutches.