Bali Style

Bali oozes style. A relaxed, devout style that stands above and beyond the tropical-mythical style of Thailand or the French colonial beauty of Vietnam or the regal sultanate aesthetic of Malaysia. Bali’s style and aesthetic is accessible and can be felt and seen everywhere. If you ever find yourself looking at Asia style or décor books, you will notice most of the beautiful images are from high end resorts or private residences. Not so in Bali, its style is uniquely intertwined within Balinese daily life and placed in plain sight for all to enjoy. From the ornately decorated doorways of temples 

to the massive statues in the middle of streets and turnarounds

to the ornate stone carvings on building pillars and walls

to the ceremonial mini-structures where daily prayer offerings are made every morning and throughout the day

to the daily offerings seen everywhere

Even taxis make sure we are well protected

Shopkeepers could be seen folding bamboo leaves into little trays that hold the offerings at all times of the day and placing them either on the ground in front of their shops or in small temple structures within their shops

And of course there is the natural beauty of Bail to enjoy as well

We spent a majority of our time in Bali in Ubud, the cultural center of Bali. We were looking forward to exploring the temples, terraced rice fields, and sample the cultural arts. We found Nick’s Pensions online and our jaws dropped as we followed the receptionist through the tiered and meandering rice fields

passing brick cottages tucked into the rice fields

down through a terraced walk way towards a jungle ravine

to our brick cottages
The rooms are clean, simple, and minimal, but with that ever present Bali sense of style!The view from our little porchIn front of our villa was a bridge that crossed the jungle river and lead out to a small alleyway to Monkey Forest RoadNick’s also had a pool to cool off in

and a place to get free wifi

In the mornings the staff would always place a new offering at the front steps of our villa. Such a lovely way to start the day

One of the impressive aspect of Bali is their love of stone statues, found again everywhere; and the musicians found along the walkways at Nick’s were among our favorite, mainly because the staff would embellish the statues differently everyday and today was hibiscus.

Due to some rather strange circumstances we made up in our heads we decided to spend the last two nights in another hotel on Monkey Forest Road and again the beautiful Balinese details of the Lumbung Sari Hotel was immediately visible from the hotel entrance

as well as our balcony

and the small grounds of the hotel

We came to Bali looking for tropical paradise and relaxation. What we really found was pure inspiration from every corner.

Free Flow!

We could be standing in the middle of the most crowded intersection in the world with neon lights, traffic, noise, and signs in foreign languages; and Mike will still be able to pick out the advertisement for a buffet or all-you-can-anything. So how he saw the Free Flow Dim Sum sign among the lush overgrown bushes, on a corner of a busy intersection I will never know, but there it was FREE FLOW DIM SUM at the Sanur Harum Cantonese Restaurant at the Sanur Paradise Plaza Hotel, which I initially thought was a shopping center.The southern beach areas in Bali are very touristy, with most dining establishments catering to western palates with well known Indonesian specialties thrown in on the 'local dishes' side of the menu. With all the exposure to western tastes we can say Bali does make a mean club sandwich and pasta dishes! Over the last few months of traveling we had developed quite the method for making our complimentary breakfasts last for most of the day, but for free flow dim sum we decided to eat lightly and prepared for a big lunch - free flow only happens between noon and 3pm. So we planned our attacked and headed over a little after noon for 3 hours of dim sum!

As we walked up to the entrance of the hotel, we came upon an open space lobby with a lush water garden that stretched back towards the hotel rooms.The Cantonese restaurant was situated close to the front of the hotel and as we walked in we noticed two things. 1: we were the only people in the restaurant except for a large group in a separate room in the back. 2: there was a row of steamer trays along the back the restaurant in between the private party and the dining room. Immediately we thought jackpot - steamer trays full of dim sum all to ourselves! However we were informed the steamer trays were for the large party in the back and was quickly handed a sheet of dim sum items we could mark up for our free flow. To our delight the dim sum items listed were your typical steam/fried dim sum items, along with some new items. There were the familiar siu mai (steamed pork and shrimp dumplings)

fried shrimp dumplings and sesame bean pattiessteam pork bunsand a wrapperless siu mai

Of the new dim sum items our favorites were the bacon wrapped fried shrimp and pork dumplings drizzled with a hoison bbq sauce

and the wonton knotted pork dumplings

We finished our dim sum and was asked if we wanted to start another sheet - oh that's right it's FREE FLOW so we quickly marked up another sheet with the items we liked the most and sat sipping our complimentary jasmin tea while we waitedFree Flow Dim Sum Rules, so much so that we returned only a few days later - those bacon wrapped dumplings were delicious!As we were leaving we noticed one of the largest and most ornate Garuda statues we have ever seen in the hotel courtyardGaruda is a mythical bird-like creature in Hindu and Buddhist mythology who is able to destroy the universe and has a wing span that can block out the sun. We saw Garuda statues at most businesses, small and large, some like the one at our resort, were carved from one piece of wood. This one was by far the most intricate and colorful we had seen.So beautifully detailed that Mike said he wanted to tattoo his chest like Garuda'sLet's hope he's kidding.