Well… it seems that Jules has been more active and keeping up the blogs than me. I have my reasons for my laziness. But I thought I’d better write it down before I start forgetting details of the trip! The trip does feel like a lifetime away now that I’m back at work!!

As you gathered from Jules’s posts, the trip was amazing. Was it worth the 16 hours flight to get there? I think so. Just wish that we had a bit more space to stretch when we were on our flight there but that’s fine… one day I’ll win the lottery and we’ll be flying first class all the way.

I timed it that we get to Bali mid afternoon. I find arriving around that time is good at combating jet lag as I tend to stay up as it’s still light and when it does get dark, I get tired and fall asleep around bedtime and get up in the morning ready to go.

The heat just blasted on us when we got off the plane and we’re walking towards immigration, Jules commented on the architecture of the airport. I have to agree that not many airport go for the traditional temple look. Most airport are modern looking building of concrete, glass and metal… so was Ngurah Rai… but every now and again you see the red stone brick walls of temple like gates. All through the corridor there were statues of Hindu gods and figures.

When we got the immigration, for once, it’s Jules who has to queue. Since I hold a passport of an ASEAN country, I don’t need to pay for a visa and just had to go through the ASEAN queue which took a couple of minutes. Bali is a very touristy place… and the queue of Mat Salehs trying to get in was pretty huge. I bet most of them are Australians.

Once we picked up our bags, we found Gusti waiting for us to take us to our hotel in Ubud. He will appear again on future posts.

I chose Ubud because the last time I was there, I really liked it. I remember it being the art centre of Bali. We stayed at Nyuh Kuning (yellow coconut) just at the outskirts of Ubud. Although I do love Ubud, I wasn’t sure how much further it has developed and I didn’t want to be in the middle of a busy town.

As you may have noticed from J’s blog, we stayed at Alam Shanti for the first three nights.

Alam Shanti is part of of the Alam family which owned Alam Indah, Alam Jiwa, Kebun Indah and also Alam Gili on Gili Trawangan. I came upon it by chance when the original hotel I want to stay at was fully booked. I have to admit that Alam Shanti is a tad more expensive than the other hotel but it was our honeymoon… and it was wonderful!

We were greeted with smiles and refreshing fruit drink to cool us down. We sat at the open reception area and just admired the view. All the staff just let us be until we’re ready go get off our but again and actually make our way to the hotel… don’t rush… just relax… is the attitude there.

Alam Shanti is the fourth and newest build of Pak Ketut in Ubud so the garden is still growing… but it’s still a marvelous garden. Walking on the paths to our room we passed many fruit plants, flower bushes and little fish ponds. It made the whole place feel so peaceful.

And I was totally blown away by our room! It over looks the paddy fields with farmers working on the field… and a duck shepherd herding his ducks for morning swim and off to the duck pen in the evening.

If we had booked the Gangga room together with our Yamuna room, we would have the pool to ourselves! Our own private pool. There’s another pool for all other guests to use but ours was almost just outside our door. It did feel so private… it did feel that there’s no one else around us… apart from the staff, farmers and the ducks… It was perfect.

Yes, there was just the two of us… but I am sure that our bed is bigger than the smallest bedroom in our flat! And then there a daybed in the room and two daybeds in the balcony. I kept jumping from one bed to another… because I can.

Did I say that the staff are amazing? Actually, you have to be a ninja to be staff member!

We stepped out to find out about how to go to town and when we got back to the room, the curtains were drawn and they’ve placed insect coils by the door.

We went for breakfast at the reception area the next day and when we got back 20 minutes later… the whole room has been cleaned and our laundry taken away… and it returned neatly in a bag on our bed when came back in the evening.

You don’t really see the staff… but they are there when you need them.

Like when Jules got a really bad tummy bug on our third day… they left us alone but went out of their way to find medicine for him and one of them kept telling me to get rice porridge for Jules as this would calm his tummy… but Jules won’t eat but he was grateful for the medicine.

To tell you the truth… we didn’t really bump into many guest either. I know that they are fully booked but they lay out of the place just give you the feel of total privacy!

Alam Shanti is just so beautiful… was it worth the money paid? Yes! Yes! Yes!