Having 'got the low-down' from many people going to Bali for four weeks instead of the 'usual' two seemed like a wonderful idea. Also at the suggestion of a work colleague booking villa instead of hotel accommodation through an internet site and saving $3000 also seemed like a wonderful idea!
Hmmm...maybe a recorded TWO THOUSAND + visitors to the particular villa we were looking at that was available when NOTHING else was in Ubud should have alerted us to the notion that maybe there was a reason for this....Also communication with the owner of the villa was, to say the least, BRIEF (on her part anyway!) and she came across as unhelpful and arrogant and a little bit vague other than asking if we were adventurous and listing the accommodation as 'alternative'. Hell.. we rode camel's across the desert in Rajistan not to mention travelling 3AC on the train system from Kolkata to Delhi and Agra to Varanassi - wouldn't that be considered as a little bit adventurous??
Talk about gild the lilly....The Villa aka 'The Jungalow' was down (and up) almost VERTICAL and HIGH, three sets of moss-covered stairs in Sayan Ridge and it had been raining consistently for days (or maybe weeks) prior to our arrival. Apparently, the guest(s) before us had fallen and injured her elbow. Now as we all know one of the joys of holidaying in Bali is being able to choose the eatery for the evening before meandering back to your holiday abode feeling pleasantly full of food and Bintang. Our first night feeling pleasantly full of food and not completely full of Bintang we meandered back to The Jungalow to find the LIGHTING was not working. We made it down the vertical, slippery, moss-covered steps by the light of my son's ipod! We spent the second day of our four week holiday sourcing another hotel..Now some might say we were woosies and they might well be right! We survived eight days and seven nights. Sometimes the lighting worked and sometimes it didn't. It was definitely different waking up to the sounds of the Ayung River and the birds and being surrounded by greenery. This was spoilt during the last few days by a man and his not-so-pleasant chainsaw going at it from 8-4! Eight days was plenty sufficient time to stay and move on. On a positive note one of the BEST meals we had during our four week stay was prepared by the housekeeper Wayan for a princely 60,000RUP.
Down a side street near the Zen Spa next to The Yoga Barn which was frequented from far and wide by those wanting to practice yoga and meditation and a stone's throw from The Monkey Forrest Road was our next stop at The Aura Retreat in Ubud. Our room overlooked rice paddies and we spent many delicious hours supping tea or gin and tonic (depending on the time of day!) watching the bebeks and their master(s) going about their daily grind. The staff were wonderful and nothing was too much trouble. Breakfast was a joy. Freshly made - you could really feel the love in the banana pancakes or eggs. Seeing the monkeys, having a cooking class at Honeymoon Cottages and white water rafting (after having stayed at The Jungalow we blitzed the 1kilometre of stairs up and down!) Because we tended to be back in our room by 9.00/10.00 we hired a dvd player as there was only local tv available but hey that was okay. We had booked for nineteen days but decided to cut this short for The Boy and head to Tuban, Waterbom Park and possibly the beach and to be honest we were trying to save a few dollars.
Did I say 'trying to save a few dollars' and wasn't that what got us into strife in the first place??? Trying to save a few dollars by booking villa accommodation through the internet? S-i-g-h some people just don't learn do they? Well, 'we' booked on-line through Agoda and at first glance we would be making a saving because The Radiant in Tuban was cheaper than The Aura in Ubud and we could spend our hard-earned $$'s on shopping or food or something. So we pressed the 'YES' button and found that we had been charged an extra $37 PER NIGHT in taxes for the 'joy' of booking on-line through Agoda!! Never mind, despite calling Agoda some 30minutes later when we realised my/our stupidity and trusting their promise to 'call back within twenty-four hours'. To my/our suprise this did not happen and when we FINALLY got through to a consultant we were told that it was too late to change or cancel our booking.
Okay..we sucked it up and dealt with it and went to The Radiant. Seven months old and as different from The Aura as you could get. Cold and clinical like the 'buffet' breakfast we suffered for a couple of mornings before giving it away. We discovered an amazing supermarket - Pepita's that had Baker's Corner attached and we had ourselves yummy coffee and pastries for brekky instead. Close enough to walk to Kuta for shopping and restaurants. Our standard room was standard (bathroom was AWFUL) and room very small but came with satellite television and dvd player. It was listed as a 'garden room' and it faced a brick wall which had plants growing in front of it and next to the car park/entrance to the hotel! The suites and (possibly) superior rooms were much nicer but incredibly expensive. To be honest we absolutely counted down the days before we left!
Our last stop in our four week holiday was The Haven in Seminyak. Because we had initially booked a package with a travel agent and in order to not lose our flights which had been booked and paid for in November 2009 we were advised to keep some sort of booking with Creative Travel. The Haven is a HUGE hotel with a zillion rooms on four floors plus villa's and suites. The bathroom was HILARIOUS because it is a glass sliding door and wall that is only frosted three-quarters. You wouldn't want to be shy with your partner! Rooms were never cleaned until late afternoon but the staff really tried hard to be of service without being obsequious. A short walk to the restaurants and Bintang supermarket and 10minute walk to the beach although a shuttle service was available. The chairs around the pool were 'reserved' from like 8am even though the 'reserves' sometimes wouldn't front-up until lunch-time. VERY CHEEKY!!! Beautiful lap-pool and lovely, clean fluffy towels. There was an abundant choice of breakfast dishes from cereal and fruit to different types of eggs, and Western and Asian food. Our stay was pleasant enough though after almost three weeks of eating at restaurants I was desperate to get home, eat mashed potato and lashings of gravy and sleep in my own bed. My fellow travellers, The Boy's would have been happy to stay on for another couple of weeks if only to avoid winter (and work!) back in Perth.
Maybe if the villa had worked out for us we would have had the mix of restaurant and home-cooked food which would have made a difference to our four-week stay. And of course the isolation of The Jungalow...Would we stay for four weeks again? ABSOLUTELY...Just need to do a bit more homework about places to stay! And we would DEFINITELY stay at The Aura Retreat in Ubud again.
Thanks for reading!