Exploring Ayutthaya Historical Park

I started my day with a short walk around the nearby streets to orientate myself.

Tuk Tuks in Ayutthaya have a distinctive shape and form

After breakfast I checked out of my hovel and dropped my bags at the new place. I was able to check in straight away.

The view from my new room

My new room includes ensuite and fridge.

The main objective of today was to explore the ancient city. Ayutthaya was the capital of Siam from about 1350 AD until 1767 when it was destroyed by the Burmese army with much raping and pillaging and destruction of the city. So today the ancient city lies in ruins, although some parts have now been restored. The modern city of Ayutthaya was built apart from the ancient city.
The ancient city is nowhere near as impressive as say Angkor Wat but the ruins and still standing towers have some grandeur to them.It is also of great significance in Thai history.

Ruins, reclining Buddha in the background

On the map it, the historical park, did not look very big, so I decided to catch a motorcycle taxi to the main entrance and then to walk around. A decision that I later regretted as broken toes and lengthy walks on hot days are not my cup of tea.
Walking around did however give a great perspective and on a later occasion when I retraced my journey by motorbike it was very tempting to just zoom around and not stop and take things in. I walked around a seemingly endless procession of Wats and the buildings associated with them. Some were modern temples in daily use and well maintained, some were the ancient ruins. At one location is a massive reclining Buddha.

It's big.

I later saw pictures of this surrounded by water when the area flooded a couple of years ago. The city is actually built on a large island which is formed by the confluence of 3 rivers. The rivers are navigable and one can see huge barges towed by tugs making their way up and down stream to or from the Ocean. This was one reason for putting the capital here, it was a major shipping and trading port.
The ancient city is impressive and gives an indication of what grandeur it had in the past. It is sad to see it in ruins, but lets face it the city was sacked over 350 years ago and was then lost to civilisation until quite recently. We are lucky to see it at all, in any condition.

I walked and I walked and I walked. It was hot. My mind could not take in any further images. Eventually I gave up and had a late lunch in a restaurant overlooking a large pond. It was pleasant in the shade and the cold beers and food were very welcome.

One way of seeing the Park

Restaurant views

I cabbed it back to my accommodation, well that is to say on the back of a motorcycle taxi.
I showered and rested and in the late afternoon decided to fill up my water bottle. There was a filling station, a bit like an ATM, basically at the end of the street where the hotel was located. Maybe 100 metres away. Filling a water bottle is cheap and environmentally friendly as you re-use your plastic bottle, the water is filtered and generally UV treated so safe to drink even for Westerners.
As I walked by a house near the end of the street there was sounds of merriment. Glancing in to their courtyard I could see a group of Thais having drinks. Earlier I had noticed a white man outside this house having a cigarette and we were on nodding terms. One of the ladies called out to me and said hello. I paused and replied and we had a brief conversation. Before I knew it I was sitting down and sharing drinks with them. The lady who called me in spoke quite good English and we had a little chat along the lines of where do you come from? how long are you staying? etc. We were soon joined by my cigarette smoking companion, who is also called Nick, and it turned out that he married one of the girls at the party and was now living here in Thailand. He is American.
The party continued and when the Whiskey ran out I felt that it was my duty to buy another bottle so I never got to dinner that night, but had a great night with my new found friends. During the course of the evening I was invited to accompany them the next day to a lakeside resort to go swimming. I hesitated as I did not want to overstay my welcome, but decided to join them anyway.
The Bludger was pretty drunk when he got home that night and it was obvious that one of the ladies at the party had taken a shine to him, even though she could not speak English and I cannot speak Thai.

Thailand 2012 - arrived in Thailand

After waking up I went to the Airline Counter and was able to book my next flight into Bangkok. No problems, they also arranged to pick up my bag from lost luggage and book it through to Bangkok. I was a bit skeptical about this but it did indeed turn up at the other end.
So breakfast was Kaya Toast, coffee and a half cooked egg. I learned later that they deliberately under cook the eggs. A delicacy. Shortly after I was boarding and I arrived in Bangkok without incident. As it happened the Immigration did not bother to check if I had onward travel arrangements.
I had decided not to stay in Bangkok, so from the airport I got onto the rail system and made my way to Hua Lamphong Station. I made a couple of errors on the way and ended up having to go back several stops.While I waited for the return train I spoke with an American girl who was standing nearby. It turned out that she was a women's health officer in Afghanistan. She told me a little bit of the conditions there and how happy she was to be in a safe country for a short time. In Afghanistan she moved in armed convoys and I wondered how effective you can be in such circumstances. She put on a brave face but I could sense the underlying fear of going back.That girl had True Grit and I admired her.

Waiting for the train in Hua Lamphong

I made it to the station and bought a ticket to Ayutthaya. Third class, 15 baht about 50 cents for a journey of some 90 Km. That journey ended up taking 3 hours and I was hot tired thirsty and sore by the end of it. My idea of traveling the country by train took severe punishment. In fact I only did one more train journey.

Lunch in Hua Lamphong. Have to keep the fluids up.

In Ayutthaya I took a taxi to a place that looked good on the Lonely Planet guide. It turned out to be shut, so I ended up walking about 2km to an alternate place. I should mention that I had a broken toe and walking was not much fun. At the new location I took the first accommodation option open to me. An airless room, with a fan. I "lumped" it rather than liked it but by now it was evening and I had a bed for the night. I had a meal nearby and took a walk to orientate myself. During the walk I found a much nicer place to stay and booked in for the next 2 nights. Fate was guiding me at this stage.
The Bludger was tired and retired for the night.

Thailand 2012 - getting out of Darwin. Oct 26

Doing my best to get out of Darwin and onto a flight to Bangkok.
Last minute cleaning of my apartment before handing in the keys. As normal it took much longer than expected but the place was spotless. Despite that the Real Estate Agent came back with a list of issues and kept some of my bond money. Dust on the external balcony was one of the issues. They had inspected 3 days after I left and a huge storm had been through. Petty.
After dropping the keys I had a bit of last minute business to do, waiting on a bill, which I ended up not paying, and needed some travel cash. Then I dropped my bag at the Airport and put it in a luggage store. This was to negate having to lug it around for the afternoon. The car was then driven to the storage facility and I made my way back to Palmerston Bus station where I was able to catch a bus that took me close to the airport. I hoofed it the rest of the way.
That got me to the airport in time to check in and I was looking forward to relaxing and taking it easy.
However there was a problem. The airline would not let me on to the flight because I had no onward travel ticket out of Thailand.
From my point of view this was crap. It was my intent to travel overland from Bangkok to Singapore and fly home from there. As my date out of Singapore was flexible and at this point unknown I had not booked anything else. The airline would not budge and I had no opportunity of booking something at this stage. Bureaucracy was getting in the way of a holiday and almost causing grief on day 1.
However a compromise was found and I was allowed to travel as far as Singapore where I would change flights and have a 10 hour stop over. During that time I would easily find some onward travel that would please the airline.
The flight was uneventful and the "normal" delay not worth mentioning.
In Singapore I stayed in the Transit area and hit the Internet to find some travel options. For those who have never been to Singapore airport it has 3 Terminals, with a 4th on the way, all interconnected, with shops, restaurants, pool, Hotels, free wifi and pretty much all that you need to live on. If you had money you would never need to leave the Transit area. Anyway I found a ferry ticket from Satun in southern Thailand to Langkawi in Malaysia for about $10. This should be enough to satisfy the airline and I decided that I may even use the ticket.
So with that done I checked into the Transit Hotel and had a few hours sleep. It was late and I was tired and managed to find a Mojito in a bottle at a supermarket and take it to my room. The Mojito was quite drinkable although made from Vodka not Rum. I don't get that, it cannot be a Mojito surely?

The Bludger slept.

Bali Day 4

With my stomach almost back in control I decided on a long walk. Turning left out of the hotel I headed towards what I believed to be the beach. Just for the hell of it I had a massage along the way. A very good one. I eventually came to the end of the road and what turned out to be the ocean. The waves were large and signs indicated that the beaches were closed for swimming.
I turned left in the direction of Legion. A long walk, but a nice walk. I would have liked to have a dip in the ocean as by now the day was hot, but common sense prevailed, the surf and undertow could be dangerous. I walked on and eventually came to the Seminyak club. A nice looking spot by all accounts.

Continuing on I came to Potato Head. Potato Head is the current trendy place to be. It has taken over from Ku De Ta as the hip and happening place. Being a westerner and being well dressed I was able to walk in without being stopped by the security guards. I saw others being asked for identity, or maybe the bouncers were just checking that they had enough money to be there.

Not exactly sure how to describe Potato Head. It is a beach facing bar and restaurant and accommodation area. The prime activity seems to be reclining on day beds and drinking. Not a bad way of spending a day but the day beds are very close together. The clientele are almost exclusively scantily clad pretty young things both male and female with some decidedly older people trying to be hip and with it. As far as dress standards go, James Bond says it better than me. "that's a nice little nothing you are almost not wearing". Not being a pretty young thing I decided to leave before I was taken for a pervert, or forced to pay for an outrageously expensive drink. The odd thing was I could not find an exit, except back to the beach. Of course there had to be one, but not being a guest I had no idea where to look.
Continuing on I came to Ku De ta. Golly gee willikas I had walked all the way to Kuta. This was not the Kuta that I remembered from my first visit in the mid 80's. Which at the time was grass huts facing the beach. In fact I did not recognise this area at all. Ku De Ta was quiet and I had no desire to linger, so I managed to find an exit, was asked if I needed a taxi as I left, which I politely declined and ended up on a road paralleling the beach. I took a punt, made a left turn and walked up the road for a few minutes and saw a sign pointing to Seminyak Square. Before I knew it I was back at the location of Vivai. I now understood where I was.
So I took a lunch break at one of the restaurants in the complex. A few drinks and a nice Steak and chips went down well. I knew where I was now and decided to continue my walk back to the hotel.
After a short while I began to realise that Bali Belly was not gone, in fact it was starting to come an urgent thing to deal with. By this time I was in the middle of nowhere. No toilets in sight. No Taxis in sight. Nowhere to "relieve" myself. I pushed on doing that stilted stiff legged walk, designed to minimise movement in the lower abdomen, that those in extremis seem to adopt.
My brain was calculating how long I could hang on and how far I had to go. The results were not encouraging. Eventually with what I thought was only a few hundred meters to go I saw a cab and flagged it down. The remaining trip was further than I had thought, continued walking would have been a disaster. I hobbled to my bathroom.
Relief.
Pure blessed relief.
No mess.
No disgrace.
Relief.
Stomach eased.
This was my last day, with a late night flight ahead of me, so I rested the rest of the afternoon and packed my bags.

Brutal is the plain honest truth

Late afternoon I wandered out and had another massage. The same place as the morning, it was worth going back. Pretty close to the massage place was Naughty Nuri's. This place is legendary. The original restaurant is in Ubud in the hills north of Denpassar, this their second restaurant is an experiment. Their claim to fame is fantastic slow cooked ribs which are finished on an open grill before serving. Their real claim to fame is wicked Martinis so strong that they would fuel a Space Probe. I have an experience of the original Naughty Nuri's and no memories of much of the rest of the evening.
I had ribs which were pretty dry and "ordinary" and a couple of Martinis, but was careful not to have excess. I left , caught a cab back to my hotel, picked up my bags and headed to the airport.
The Bludger got home about 4am, had a couple of hours kip and headed for work.

Bali Day 3 - Lovina and back

Bali Day 3.
This morning I awoke with a rumbly stomach and all the signs that I had potentially contracted Bali belly. Not the best way to start the day before a long car trip. I made my way to breakfast but ate sparingly and mainly took the opportunity to fill up on fluids. By the time the taxi driver turned up I had vented what I could and was as ready as I was going to be for the journey.
We left Seminyak, and to be honest I had no real idea where we were going, other than later in the day we would make it to Lovina Beach.
Our first stop was a Temple. A small entry fee and I was able to wander around at my leisure. I am writing this up a month later and too be honest I have forgotten which temple it was and what it was devoted to. It had lovely grounds and a huge sign suggesting that menstruating women should not enter the temple. It also had a toilet and I made good use of that. It was a nice day and very serene and a pleasure to be there.

A nice Balinese Temple

You may need to schedule your visit

Our next stop was a water temple. The Lake Bratan and Ulun Danu Temple at Bedugul. Bedugul is in the mountains and comparatively cool. It was once more a pleasant spot with the lakes and the mountains and lovely lush grounds. On the downside it is very much a tourist attraction, even for the Balinese, and it had more a feel of a botanical gardens with amusements included. Boats for hire, performances, which I missed, from local acts and a very private ceremony in one of the smaller temples, that attracted a lot of visitors and some security to keep the visitors out. A religious ceremony that foreigners would not and should not be invited to. I saw some of the ladies afterwards in their lovely costumes and one of them flashed me a smile. My heart went boom,(stop it Bludger there is no hope there), and she passed on by.

I also found a toilet here and made good use of it.
Along the way we had stopped at a the top of a mountain pass, at a Strawberry farm. I am not sure why we stopped, I think that it was an opportunity for me to eat. But food was pretty low down my list of priorities. I had a pot of tea to keep the fluids up. It did have a magnificent view across to Gunung Agung (Mount Agung) a large volcano - not quite extinct.
So we headed onward toward Singaraja and then to Lovina Beach. We stopped at the GitGit waterfall so that I could visit the falls. I was happy to do so, but was put under duress to hire a guide. I was given a rather pathetic story about how he took no money and all the takings were donated to a local orphanage. He wanted an outrageous amount of money. One of those situations where you end up having little choice, unless you want to create a scene. I bowed to the blatant rip off and allowed this man to lead me around. Shortly after it peeved me to see other tourists, without guides, walking around quite happily. Crappity crap.

However there was a plus side, the guide was happy to take piccies of me, it is not often that the person with the camera gets into the pictures, and he also provided 2 cold and very welcome beers, which he was happy to carry around for me. The waterfalls were nice, the break from the car was nice and if I had been prepared it would have been a nice spot to spend some time and cool off in the pools beneath the falls.
Next stop was Lovina, I had a cat nap in the car on the way. In the process missing some beautiful tropical rainforest countryside.
Many tears ago, (yes I meant "years" but I made a typo, in hindsight it is not a bad mistake to make. There have been many tears.), probably around August 1983, I spent several days at Lovina Beach. My memory is vague, and I have very few photos of that era to remind me. At the time it was a remote destination, the Lonely Planet Guide of the day had little information. I remember staying in a grass hut, a Losman, and that the beach was a volcanic beach. I took a boat out and snorkeled a reef a little bit offshore. You had to live and eat with the locals. There were very few backpackers and the only permanent "white man" was a person called "Kiwi John". One of the early pioneers of a Westerner living in Bali.

Black volcanic sand at Lovina beach

Anyway modern day Lovina Beach is a tourist resort area. Not as built up as Kuta and Sanur and Seminyak, but well on the way. It has a seafront walk, with a myriad of shops and people selling all of the traditional Balinese things, i.e. shells, massages, drugs, beach ware and whatever. Also some very nice looking restaurants, cafe's and assorted bars and eateries. Probably worth a longer trip next time.
Anyway I took a walk around and did not recognise anything and made my way back to my driver. Incidentally I never got his name. It was foreign and remembering unusual names is something that I have difficulties with. I need to see the name written down and I need to hear it several times. Even for common western names I have learnt when meeting new people to repeat their name several times under my breath or else I will forget it. That applies to "babes" also, it isn't a disinterest or sexist thing.
The trip started getting a bit creepy at this stage. Previously my driver had asked if I minded if he dropped in on his sister in law. I did not mind at all, the opportunity to see a Balinese family going about there daily business was a good thing for me. One of my likes of traveling is the opportunity to learn about other cultures.
It turned out that the sister in law was the sister of his wife. And she was single. And she was looking for someone. And I was placed right next to her when we had a coffee (Kopi). And one of her sons suggested that I should stay the night. And if I came again to Bali I would be welcome to stay there. And she was struggling to make ends meet. And she needed a "good" man.
The warning bells were triggered and ringing in my ears. The lady was quite nice, somewhat younger than I, so I made polite conversation. My thoughts were roaming back to last years Vietnamese encounter and how that had not turned out very well, so I went into "protect myself mode". I didn't make any overt suggestions of interest but was polite and hopefully interesting.
I was saved, if that is the word, by the passage of time. My driver told me that to get back to Seminyak we should leave now. It was almost 5pm and we got back to my hotel at just after 8pm. During the trip back I decided that I would not mention his sister in law and leave it to him to make a move. He never said a word about her. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it was not creepy after all.
 We parted on good terms. I had paid the equivalent of AUD 50 for the private use of a driver for the day, had seen some lovely places and not crapped my pants. He had a days pay and seen some of his family.
But for The Bludger the day was not over.
No a day of forbearance of food had left me hungry and I decided to risk eating.
After freshening up I walked a few minutes from the hotel and came upon a Restaurant called Piduh. It looked really nice, although almost empty, and one of its charms was 3 for the price of 2 cocktails. I sat down and ordered a Mojito. Nowhere near as good as the ones from Vivai. Pity about that. I ordered a meal and then was promptly ignored.
OK, the picture is, an almost empty restaurant with 2 bar staff and 3 waiters. I was ignored. My meal was brought out and I took the opportunity to ask for another Mojito. My first one had been emptied 10 minutes ago. No one noticed.
As I was eating a group of people came in. About 10 of them. An imperious acting woman demanded drinks and menus and acted as if she either owned the place, was a regular expecting good service, or was some sort of starlet. All 5 staff leapt to attention and pandered to their needs.
Situation: 5 staff, 1 group of 10 customers and me. After some difficulty I managed to get my free Mojito.
Once I had finished that I could not attract attention of anyone to get my bill. I seriously considered doing a runner. When I did finally get attention, the person who brought my bill turned his back on me and paid full attention to the group. I had to shout at him to get his attention to pay.
Basically I will never give this restaurant my money again.
I went home. Final trip to the toilet and sleep.
The Bludger was pretty knackered, too long in a car.

Bali Day 2 - Wandering the streets of Seminyak

Once again I was up early and had a leisurely breakfast. Once again I succumbed to the Omelet so I definitely needed some exercise to work it off.
I decided to take a walk and try to find some accommodation options for a future trip. I intend to re-visit the Seminyak area of Bali next year as part of a group. The party girl has already nominated times and places. The accommodation selected is a bit pricey for a single person. It is certainly OK for couples wanting a splurge. So part of my tasks while here was to look nearby for alternates that better suited my budget.
I wandered along my chosen path and got tempted by a massage along the way. My Masseuse was quite insistent that I should be having 2 massages, one to be conducted later in the evening in the privacy of my hotel suite. I declined the offer, much to her disappointment. A nice hour long massage is not a bad way to start the day however.
A little further along I then got tempted by a Barista and had a nice coffee in one of the cafe's that I passed. I felt very relaxed by this stage.
By the time that I got to the area to search for accommodation the day had warmed up and the thought of imminent dehydration was beginning to concern me. However I held off from having a beer and did some door knocking in the area. This part of Seminyak is just off the main road and has several private (and expensive villas). A little bit far from the beach, so it does not attract the beach crowd, but close enough if and when you want to get there. As it was I ended up back very close to Vivai restaurant the scene of yesterdays Cooking class. This was a fortunate coincidence not so much planning or design.
By the time that I had inquired at a few places, it was hot and basically lunch time. I popped into Zappaz Bar and Restaurant and had a couple of beers. Having a paying customer in the place seemed to be all a bit difficult for the staff, who were more interested in chatting to their friends, so I moved on. A nearby restaurant in the same complex as Vivai caught my eye and I settled into a chair and a Mojito and a very nice Nasi Campum (they insisted it was Campum not Campur) for lunch. This variant had Beef Rendang as the meat and was very tasty. Washed down with another beer also after the Mojito.

Nasi Campum - delicious

 After that I wandered back to my hotel and had a late afternoon swim in the hotel pool. The water was very cool and not very pleasurable.
That evening I had booked at Vivai for their Spit Roast Suckling Pig dinner (Babi Guling). I was a bit surprised when I was the first person at the restaurant, at 7pm. It will no doubt get busy later I thought, but in fact it never did. I settled at the bar and had a damn good Mojito. So good that I had another, and later on another and after that who cares.

This baby hit the spot

The staff began to bring my meal out to where I was settled. That was OK as it was all pretty much nibbles and finger food at this stage. A succession of Satay, Corn fritters (Perkedel) and other nibbly bits. Each was very well presented and very tasty. I felt like I was being treated like royalty.

Prawn nibbly bits

When the main course came out I asked to move to a proper table. I was presented with a huge plate of pork belly and crispy pork crackling and a plethora of side dishes to go with it. It was obvious to me that as the only person eating pork that night I was not eating off a spit roast. I was not upset by this however as the meal was delicious. Far too much to eat but I struggled on.
I have found that it is common practice in Bali to have to order suckling pig and in some cases even whole duck, a day in advance. This is due to the length of time to cook it and the expense of the meat. Restaurants simply do not cook these meals and hope somebody comes in and buys them. I was lucky that the chef at Vivai had accommodated my desire for Pork, and he had also done a fabulous job.

The Roast Pork with accompaniments. The camera angle does not do it justice.

A close up.

 After the "pig out" I returned to the bar area, where I was presented with 4 different ice cream samples for dessert. Rum and Raisin, Lemon and I cannot remember the other flavours. All freshly made on the premises (as far as I know).

Dean the chef joined me and we sat talking and drinking for some time. The restaurant was very quiet that night. When I left Vivai, I discovered that the other restaurants and bars were also quiet and my taxi driver who took me back to my hotel lamented how little work he had that night.
In fact during the drive back the Taxi driver convinced me to book him for the next day and have a tour of various parts of the island. I had been considering that so it was an easy decision. We arranged that he would pick me up at 9am the next day.
The Bludger was overly full but very happy.

Kokonut Suites - Hotel review

The hotel bar and restaurant is at the front of the hotel facing a main road. Breakfast was served here, I did not have any other meals or even a drink. The restaurant and bar area is covered but open to the air, it has fans overhead but no air-conditioning. A series of tables serves as the restaurant and some comfortable lounges in the bar. The decor was nice with lots of green. Traffic noise was a bit distracting but by day 4 I had learnt to ignore it. Balinese music played in the background.

View from the restaurant out to the street.

Breakfast was the help yourself buffet type. What I consider fairly standard for this quality of hotel. The bar area had hot drinks and cold juices and plenty of cold water. The cold buffet consisted of freshly prepared fruits including papaya, pineapple, 2 types of melon, plus a fruit salad and whole fruit such as orange, banana, apple, local fruits and a fruit salad. There is also a small selection of cold cuts including cheeses and pressed meat and a basic selection of cereals.
The continental breakfast area had toast making facilities with bread rolls and white and brown sliced loaves. A selection of pastries looked appetizing and a range of jams and condiments for the bread/ toast.

Fruit and bits and pieces

Eggs for the hot breakfast were cooked on demand. The chef made a nice omelette although possibly not the most exciting in the world. Nothing wrong with the quality and presentation I have merely been spoiled by some excellent omelettes in the past so tend to be over critical. With hindsight I think that some extra choices of ingredients such as spring onion, chives and herbs could have lifted the omelette. A selection of hot dishes included standard bacon and sausage plus a changing variety of local dishes. These were all reasonable and kept warm in a Bain Marie. Rice porridge was also available.
There was plenty of food even though the hotel was almost empty. Actually the hotel was fuller than I thought, I am an early riser.
My room was light airy and modern in look and feel. Sufficient accessible power outlets although you will need adapters to convert from the round 2 pin Asian outlets.  I was at the back of the complex on the top floor. It was quiet and private. A small balcony furnished with 2 cane chairs and small table faced south over rice paddies. However new development was occurring and it will not be long before the rice paddies are subsumed.

Taken at night - the living area

The bathroom was concealed behind a full-length mirror off the bedroom and was clean and well maintained. It comprised of a tiled bath with a shower hose, toilet and hand basin. There was plenty of hot water.

You wanted to know.

The bedroom had a king size bed, small study desk, hanging closet with an inbuilt safe. Bathrobes and thongs (flip flops) were provided. There was a phone by the bed and reading lights. The main living area had a comfortable lounge, large TV with about 50 channels and a coffee table.

Bedroom

A dining area and kitchenette completed the suite. The kitchen had plenty of cupboard space and surface area to prepare food, but lacked accessories. Beyond the basic crockery and cutlery were a stove top, saucepan, water jug, and microwave. Lacking even a sharp knife food preparation was limited to reheating and boiling water, not that I attempted either. If I had there were no facilities to wash up with afterwards. A fridge contained a well-stocked mini bar at reasonable prices. Two complimentary bottles of water were delivered most days. Overall the place was clean and comfortable. If you looked closely you could see evidence of poor workmanship and scuffed tiles, a cigarette burn in the couch but nothing to distract you from a good stay. Overall I also found the staff were all very friendly and helpful.

Kitchenette

The available facilities were fine. There is an onsite massage which I did not try. Also a large pool with tasteful surrounds. The water was too cool at this time of year, although I was there early evening when the day was cooling anyway. Maybe at midday it would be fine. A small gym near the pool and wireless internet that was generally good but had occasional drop outs. The Wi-Fi was not suitable for watching video but sufficed for email and Facebook. North Americans will consider the internet to be totally inadequate.

My view- next visit will not be as nice.

The hotel is sufficiently distant from the main tourist areas that you are not hassled by people with Viagra and other substances. Yet 5 minutes in  a taxi will get you to Seminyak Square, Kudeta, Potato Head or the beach. It took me 30 minutes to power walk or longer if I  strolled. There are plenty of eating options nearby. Commencing over the road at the Strudel, a meat eaters paradise. Turning left as you exit the hotel and walking along Jl Petitenget will lead you to a number of places all within a few minutes’ walk. There is a mini mart next door and massage places varying in cost quality and salubriousness.