Villa Raja

It's been almost a month since we got back from Bali and the wonderful Villa Raja, a 4 bedroom house we rented in Canggu.

via villaraja.com

It was a wonderful oasis of calm and relaxation in an otherwise hectic place.  The traffic in the southern tourist part of Bali is absolutely horrible which did restrict our movements a bit as every trip into Seminyak had to be weighed up against the possibility of getting stuck in a traffic jam that could make the 15 min drive into over an hour!

Combine that with the lovely pool, good food and company and we ended up staying in the Villa more than I thought.

Our bedroom!  via villaraja.com

The staff were wonderful and our chef's cooking so good that we ate in six nights out of seven. 

Eoin banging the gong for breakfast

The slippery slide and pool were a hit with both adults and kids alike.

We ended up having lunch in Kuta (not as bad as I thought but no desire to go back),  trips into Seminyak (fancy shops mixed with broken footpaths and uber-exclusive beach hotel and bars).

With Catherine at the Legian Hotel

We had a wonderful morning at a beach bar called Potato Head relaxing in a day bed and trying out cocktails and tapas.

Cocktails at Potato Head

We did manage to tear ourselves away for a couple of day trips.  The first one didn't go quite as planned.  We'd read in the guide books about an out-of-the-way beach called Geger Beach just south of Nusa Dua so we headed off with the driver for an afternoon of lounging in beach side deck chairs and warm blue waters.  Unfortunately two things went wrong.   Firstly the way there is through the worst of Bali's traffic and secondly Bali's largest resort is currently being built at Geger. 

We were expecting this.....

But we got this!

The most frustrating of it was that the driver was obviously aware of both issues but neglected to mention them till we got there.  So the whole afternoon was a bit of a debacle but we managed to laugh it off and enjoy a nice lunch of nice campur at a beachside warung about 10m from the building site!

Ulun Danu temple at Lake Bratan

Our second excursion was into the mountains and the north of the island passing through some lovely countryside, stopping off at a coffee plantation and ending up by a temple on a lake amidst lovely gardens.

Lex, Di, Me, Kara and Karl at the coffee tasting

Overall we had a wonderful trip.  Some things about Bali were better than I expected and some worse.  You hear so many mixed accounts of Bali and differing opinions.  But that's part of what I enjoyed about it.  It's enchanting, frustrating, aggravating and vibrant.  Love it or hate it certainly isn't boring!

Ubud

Bedside flower arrangement

Flowers, monkeys, broken pavements, hot days and cool nights.  And so many shops....

Ubud isn't a "village", it's definitely a town.  Or maybe more accurately a series of villages that have spread out, joined up and become a town.

At Ubud palace

I'd done a lot of reading (maybe too much) before arriving and I'd scared myself with horror stories of rabies-carrrying monkeys and incessant touts.  But it wasn't like that.  Sure there were offers of 'transportation' and 'massage' regularly.  A polite 'no' was all that was needed.

 Our hotel, Alam Indah, was gorgeous. It was situated on the other side of the Monkey Forest from Ubud making it very quiet as the road was a dead end.

Breakfast

We stayed in the Gardenia Suite overlooking the swimming pool.  We met some other Australian families and the boys loved Mali, their Bali friend.

We had dates down at the swimming pool in the afternoons and the boys swam while the adults had afternoon tea.

The Gardenia Suite

We walked through the Monkey Forest the first morning. 

Like I mentioned I was nervous about being scratched or bitten but we were very careful and were fine.  The monkeys were very amusing except for a scraggly looking, twitching one that followed us around for a bit.  I was sure that one had rabies.

Nasi Campur in Ubud

A long, hot walk through Ubud followed.  It was bigger than we expected so we quickly exhausted the boys energy and patience.

I'm tired AND bored.

 That evening we went across the road to Laka Leke Restaurant where we had a lovely dinner while watching Balinese dancing.  The last dance included audience participation so up went Ralph. I also have video of this but I don't think the world is ready for it yet.
 

All Balinese dancing needed was some 'Jazz Hands' to improve it.

The next morning we'd booked to canoeing on Lake Batur with C-Bali.com. Lake Batur is a holy lake in the crater of an active volcano (!).  We canoed around the lake for two hours visiting a temple on its banks.  It was a great morning out and was great to do something slightly adventurous with the kids.
 

Alex squished between the C-Bali folks.

On our last morning in Ubud we went shopping and picked up a couple of paintings at an enormous art gallery.

I then bought a little handwoven basket that was repurposed by the boys.  I'm not quite sure what they are supposed to be, but we thought it was amusing.

So that was the first few days of our holiday.  Our time at Villa Raja will have to be a seperate post!

T
xxx

Dining room done!

Well the dining room is finally finished.  I must admit that it took longer than I thought.  Mainly due to my procrastinating when it came to painting.

I'm pretty happy with the way it came together and as well as the more expensive items I managed to get some bargains and even some freebies.

 

Lovely Belgian vintage table from Collectors Corner.

 

 Pine dresser found in shed and painted Chalk Blue.

 

Japanese fabric bought on our honeymoon at Kinkakuji temple, Kyoto.  It's taken me 11 years to find a place to put it!

 

My beautiful new sofa prize from Contempo furniture. So comfy - thanks Contempo!  The ready-to-hang curtains were purchased online from Pret-a-Portiere.  It was a bit on a gamble buying them unseen but they turned out perfect.

 

Our lovely bookcases were made by Maytain Cabinets.  Not cheap but definitely worth it and it definitely "makes" the room.

 

The jute rug, french oak dining table and cafe chairs were all puchased through Porchlight Interiors.

Dining room light from Pottery Barn.

Book case lights from Emac & Lawnton.

 

And finally we carpeted the stairs with jute that (almost) matches the rug.  This wasn't so much a design thing but more practically to stop the boys from slipping down the stairs when running around in their socks.  Must say though that I'm happy with it now.

So the dining room is all done.  I've taken a few weeks off and recovered.  Now it's onto the boys room....

T

xxx

Winner!

The only thing I've ever won is an esky over 20 years ago, so you must excuse my excitement that I actually won something!

Every now and then I enter an online competition as long as it doesn't involve the dreaded "In 25 words or less...".
This time I actually won a gorgeous chair and sofa from Contempo Furniture.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with it. The chair is no problem, there's lots of places for that but the sofa could be a bit trickier.

It's a wool-blend in a natural creamy colour - not the best for cat hair and little boys. So I'm really hoping that it'll fit in our bedroom. It'll be great to have somewhere to escape to when the boys are watching TV or have their friends over for light-saber fights.

Big thank you to Contempo Furniture and Style Magazines!

T
xxx

Beach Boys

It was off to the beach today. I hadn't really done anything special with the boys over the school holidays (I'm still working) so I though I'd get in a day trip before school started back on Monday.

So together with the Grandparents we headed off to Broadbeach.

First stop was the awesome kids playground. Crowded (due to its awesomeness) and LOUD as usual.

Looking south from Broadbeach

Escape to the beach where the only noise was the surf and seagulls.

Alex braved the wintery water and had fun jumping the waves. He was on his own as none of the rest of us were brave enough to keep him company.

Eoin sensibly stayed on dry land.

We don't often get to the beach in winter but today was wonderful. Sure, it was a bit too cold to go swimming but the plus side was that you could sit in the sun and play in the sand for hours without it being unbearably hot and constantly worrying about getting burnt. I love being able to enjoy the winter sunshine rather than having to scurry for cover in the summer.

But most of all, I love seeing the boys running around on the beach, healthy and happy.
T
xxx