Moving out and onward to Ubud. Villa Madu was sending a car for us and the kids were going in that with some of the luggage, Luke was riding his bike and following them and Jack and I were swinging by the airport to pick up Pam for her first taste of Bali.
I was feeling surprisingly good after our late night. I got up at around 8 and had a last dip in the beautiful pool. We had breakfast at the Villa so we could just chill and get organised for our departure.
As much as we had loved our stay we were all excited to be moving on.
Scratch that because Matt told me a few days later he wasn't happy to be moving on at all. He's one of those that sweats buckets in the humidity (yes 'the mother hen' had been reminding them all about the importance of keeping their water intake up) but I think the combination of his sweating and a couple of nights of drinking had taken it's toll on him and maybe he had just gotten too used to the Rock Star lifestyle we had been living. He really wasn't his self again for a few days after we left The Maharaj.
The wonderful Putra I was going to miss the guy..and I still do!. Oops I hope that's the peace sign :0)
He has worked at The Maharaj since day one, 11 years ago. I'm sure the owners appreciate that wonderful staff like him are hard to come by and make all the difference.
Bye Putra, thank you so much for everything your care and attention truly made our stay exceptional.
The very nice Manager Arya who had swung by every day to check that everything was Hunky Dory.
Jack and I hung around at The Maharaj for a half an hour until it was time to go to the airport. As it turned out we should have left then because Pam's flight was half an hour early. She flew with Garuda from Melbourne and was standing there in the area directly outside the doors all alone. I'm sure she felt very conspicuous with all the drivers gathered around.
Welcome to Bali Pam! Here's hoping you love it as much as we do.
On our arrival I was very happy, Villa Madu is beautiful. It feels like a sanctuary in the jungle.
Villa Madu's entrance.
The kids were just chillin' when we arrived.
We had landed on our feet again with the staff here. What a treasure Nurdi is and has been working for Adrienne the owner of Madu for I think around 15 years (don't quote me though cos' I think it may even be more). When the kids arrived before us she had a hot snack for them and then 'sat' for Min to sketch.
By the time Pam and I arrived she was back in the kitchen cooking us a snack and when she saw that Pam had a headache (a common occurrence for her after a plane flight unfortunately) she offered her a head massage. Nurdi is very bubbly and friendly and we later found, a Wonderful cook. I cook her fried eggplant in kecap manis all the time now at home and think of her often.
The Master bedroom that we gave to Pam because she had missed out on The Maharaj and hopefully ensuring that Bali was wonderful right from the very start for her.
She had never showered in the jungle before (not many of us have) and that took a bit of getting used to.
My jungle explorer :0)
The gardens are just beautiful at Madu and the butterflies, some almost as big as swallows just hovered. Pam tried to get a photo of one without luck .
Everyday here we spotted some kind of wildlife that we hadn't encountered before..
From my bathroom window each morning I saw an 'electric blue' bird with a red beak, just stunning and on that first day I reckon I saw a bird of paradise in a palm across the valley, could have been mistaken though because paradise, paradise, paradise kept running through my head like a mantra :) It was a big beaked, large black bird with a beautiful tail.
Another TV room that was never used by us! I'm happy to say that none of the kids suffered withdrawal systems from their computer games either. So many better things to keep you occupied whilst in Bali.
The entrance to my bathroom and bedroom.
Another very comfortable bed. There isn't any air-conditioning at Madu and it got quite warm some nights but not to the point I couldn't sleep. There is a ceiling fan above the bed but it's amazing how much these mosquito nets can block the air flow. I slept soundly.
The balcony outside my room.. living in the tree tops.
That's Luke's day bed/bed which he thought was ok but didn't offer a great deal of privacy. He maybe wouldn't have been so happy in it if his girlfriend had joined us on the trip but it was nice and cool when he found the fan controller behind a cupboard and he got a good breeze through the windows. He had his own bathroom to the left of this picture.
The villa remained completely open to the elements during our stay, although it is possible to close it completely. The only nightly visitors we were aware of were a few Tokay's and big ones, around 10 inches long that lived in the rafters of the sitting room. We were wondering why Nurdi was checking behind all the pictures the next morning and it was to shoo any tokay away that might have decided to hideout. Adrienne later told me that the handy little critters always go to the loo in the same spot which is very obliging of them.
Pam, Matt and I were feeling beat so decided to dine in that night, on our Sarong leftovers. The others took a wander into town and had a bit of a bite to eat at Nomads which they thought was just ok. I have had a really good meal and cocktails there in the past though and thought it was really good.
The Sarong's leftovers were still fantastic and we three went off to bed pretty soon after eating. I thought I would keep an ear open for the kids return but as soon as my head hit the pillow it was lights out for me. Luke told me the next day he came into my room and tried talking to me but couldn't even wake me. Ahh well the sleep of the contented.
Selamat tidur.
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