Bali Agung Nirwana

We left Cilik's for Amed, and had lunch at Bali Agung Nirwana, east of Tejakula near the village of Les. I did not take any photos, but this photo is from its website, which is written by someone who knows what they're doing but usually just goes a bit far, and has a fixation with "250 percale, brushed Egyptian cotton sheets and 50% goose down pillows". For example:

By the way, the little girl top right that features throughout our web site is "Putu", a 7 year old from the village. She exemplifies our motto "Paradise, Purity, Perfection". She is making an temple offering called a Canang ("Cha-nung"), and her expression seems to say "You can't touch this". Perhaps a bit like our villas, when you compare them with other accommodations in Bali!

It is a beautiful place, but I was disappointed. The website is a lot for a place to live up to. It is certainly a beautiful hotel, but seven staff per guest is a bit much for me, and something about the place was just too concentrated on justifying the huge room fees (A$265 a night in August, though for an extra A$120 you can upgrade to:

a) Daily American / English buffet breakfast with jug of freshly squeezed orange juice.
b) Beds graced with our finest sheets (610 percale, Italian designer, brushed Egyptian cotton) and pillows (90% goose down).
c) Fresh sheets daily, fresh towels twice daily [a weird bonus at a place so ostensibly committed to the environment].
d) Full maid service plus personal butler / waitress from 7am to 9pm.
e) One hour each per person per day of spa treatments / massage.
f) Specialist hair and body treatments provided in your bathroom.
g) 10% off all restaurant / personal dining bale food.
h) Soft cotton dressing gowns.
i) All personal laundry included.
j) Complimentary (finest, fresh ground) coffee and tea.)

I was glad to have had the homeliness of Cilik's over this place. There were some particularly ugly fat Germans with sunburn staying there, eyeing us suspiciously, which didn't help the ambience. Nor did the fact that the particularly heavy seas kept crashing over the sea wall (a common problem I think in August) which had killed off the grass and flooded the little restaurant.