Bambu Indah

After a zillion hours of travel, missing luggage and a nauseating drive from the airport to Ubud, we arrive at our destination, Bambu Indah. I should tell you all about it and its owner, John Hardy, but my internet connection is unpredictable, so I will just try to get some pix of this amazing place up instead:

Bambu Indah

The first structure you see upon arrival is the giant lobby and restaurant building – all open air, all built of bamboo using traditional building methods. It is breathtaking.

Bambu Indah Lobby

Upon entering the lobby, there is a woven structure within the larger structure that is the main office. the restaurant extends behind it.

Bambu Indah Lounge

This bamboo structure is the centerpiece of the grounds. It is 2-story open air with a grand view of the rice fields below the bluff edge. It serves as a lounge and they start the day there with yoga each morning.

Bambu Indah View

This is the view from the first floor of the lounge/yoga building. You can barely make out the rice fields in the distance.

Bambu Indah, Udang House

Each “room” is actually it’s own house…authentic Java homes deconstructed and then rebuilt on this site. Our house has a glass floor above water – for real! You can see shrimp and fish swimming in it and it is subtly lit at night.

This is truly an inspiring and beautiful location. The views are magnificent, the feeling is calm and tranquil, and the sounds are of rushing water and birds. YAY!

Raleigh to Bali…it’s not easy to get there.

We had some troubles getting to our ultimate destination…with the start, of course, being that flight #1 to Atlanta was delayed to the point where we would miss flight #2 to Tokyo. Luck shined on us and we (meaning Aly) used our vast travel knowledge to jump before it was too late and get rerouted through Minneapolis. But then luck turned on us again when it decided our luggage should not get on that same flight. After our 11 hour flight to Tokyo, we took the 6 hour flight to Singapore and that’s when we knew we had nothing but the clothes on our back. Had an overnight stay in a super swanky airport hotel, but had to change rooms 3 times after 1am and 28 hours travel time to get it right. Whew, drop into bed finally and catch a few z’s before our 9am 1 hour flight from Singapore to Bali.

Singapore airport was like crazy organized, efficient, quiet and beautiful. Bali airport, wow, chaos at it’s finest. Here’s a pic of what we saw as we were leaving the airport – and I would have needed to take like 4 more pics to panorama the scope of sheer numbers this picture poorly represents:

Scooters Galore

So, now we are at our destination, without our luggage for at least one more day. But it doesn’t matter, as the next post will prove…