Nothing.......
Sunday..but posted Nyepi Eve
As we didn't really do much today, apart from pop to the supermarket, order Babi Guling for Nyepi and laze around the pool , I thought today's report would be a generic thing and let you know about the villa, amenities, surroundings etc
Mrs W sourced the Villa on ownersdirect-dot-uk and after she had spent around 4 weeks narrowing the search down to around 5 villas, we then held a family meeting. A lot of them were in the price range of 5 to 600 USD per night, and we didn't really want to pay that much
Mrs W eventually came up trumps by locating one of the shortlisted 5 in Umalas from the above mentioned website, and then proper arrangements commenced. At $300us per night, and, with 11 of us staying, this was more like the price other family members became happy in paying. We swapped many emails with the owner in London, and she turned out to be a breeze to deal with. The owner has a leather goods importation business, and spends many months here tying up deals and obviously enjoying life
We agreed the price of $4500us for the 15 nights, asked for an Avanza to be available for 2 weeks , and were really happy to find out that housekeepers and a general helper (Wayan) would be there to help us out.The money was paid via international bank transfer plus a $800us bond in case of damages
We had booked our flights with Jetstar by means of a sale page,and had secured them at $496 Brisbane-Darwin- Denpasar return. At the time I booked these , I was still thinking we would all be going to the Novotel at TB, until, logistics and costs came to the fore
The Villa , once booked, became a constant source of Google searches to work out exactly where it was, what it was near etc. We even locked in a Google Earth search to trace our way to Kuta/Legian/Nusa Dua etc this was very useful
We held another family meeting at a local park two weeks before we all flew out, and tried to pull together some sort of agreement on cost sharing . However, some of that has certainly gone out of the window since we have been here.
So 5 of us fly out on Saturday lunchtime, followed by the other 6 the following day. The flights were all on time, and completely problem free. Arriving at Denpasar , there were NO queues, through immigration in record time, and Wayan came to pick us up at the airport
Arrived at our Villa, which is off Jl Umalas II , off Jl Raya Kerobokan, and impressed as soon as we entered the welcoming doors. It has 2 bedrooms upstairs, and 2 upstairs, with a 5th room that can also be turned into a bedroom.All 5 of these rooms have aircon, but the massive living area and kitchen only have ceiling fans, which, to be honest only serve to circulate the hot air more quickly.
The TV reception is very good, complete with 60 channels, 57 of which I can't really understand and 3 with sport.Sport is good. There are TV's in each room, and also bar fridges and room safes. All in good working order. In the kitchen, it has a big fridge/freezer, microwave, jug, toaster, gas hob, and electric oven...all good quality
The living room is huge, it has sofas to seat a dozen people easily, and 42' plasma on the wall....oh...forgot...DVD players in each room too
There is a smallish , but adequate kidney shape swimming pool, with an adjacent spa
The housekeeps are totally unobtrusive, and Wayan can't do enough to help.Always happy to take us somewhere, pick up meals, pick us up from restaurants etc... totally A1 guy and everything with a smile and a joke
One slight whinge is that there is a creek that runs at back of the Villa, and depending on weather, and in particular rain, determines the stench level when you are in the Pool
Being a Pom, if there was anything else to complain about I would, but i can't !! Damn
The Villa is set in a rural area, and some delightful scenery, the Padis populated with every willing workers, returning a smile and a comment or two.We are 5 minutes away from all the best eateries in Seminyak, and I have enjoyed meals at La Lucciola , Ku De Ta and Cafe Mano
I still miss the Novotel though for its intimacy and staff, so be interesting, after this, as to where we , ( or should I say she), wants to go in future
Driving hasn't been too much of a drama, I guess I have been lucky because it's a pretty quiet time of year, and the Avanza seats 8 easily, and is very good on fuel
I think thats about it for now, tomorrow is Nyepi, so i have a very long lazy day to recount the story of Nyepi eve
Apologies if this JHR has been a bit mundane, but, if anyone has any questions whatsoever about anything, please feel free, and I'll aim to give you the courtesy of a reply!
Off to bed now
Love from Wharfie xxx and thanks for reading