West Bali Photography Tour

image via Singapore Trekker

I recently heard about Singapore Trekker a company that offers photography and adventure tours in and around south east asia. The idea is to travel with like-minded photography enthusiasts, explore exciting destinations off the beaten track; learn and share new and advanced photography techniques. And for adventurous types the company offers scenic treks to the Himalayas, Tibet, Bhutan, India and more...

In addition to organizing these tours their beautifully designed site has a number of intriguing guides loaded with great photographs. They are offering a trek in Bali at the end of the month advertised as a way to "explore an unseen side of Bali – The Island of the Gods. Photograph Mt. Batur at sunrise, visit a Buffalo race training camp and explore the less visited areas of Palasari and Rambutsiwi (West Bali)"Might be fun and a good way to get back into photo taking.  Information: info@sgtrekker.com

Staying Put

We rented our first house here in Bali about three months ago and at the time we were feeling like real adventurers so we decided to pay 3 months up front and then at the end of April move to discover another part of the island. In Bali it is often financially advantageous to pay a year upfront however being relatively new to the island we were not sure of where it is we wanted to settle down for a whole year. Ubud? Changu? Sanur? Did we want beaches, or art, or restaurants, or sunsets, or wilderness? We weren't sure. So we committed to 3months in our lush villa and left things to figure themselves out. And although it was a lot of fun looking at beautiful villas in Ubud. 

Ultimately we have too many good memories in the pool, on the balcony, in the lookout fort, and in our outdoor living room drinking Bintangs. So we decided to stay put. Horray for 3 more months in Sanur!

Happy Spring

Happy 1st day of spring! here are a few things I plan to make this spring:

1 Indoor or outdoor hammock with pillows

2 Container garden hopefully from cloned tropical plants

3 Tan line tee 

4 Reading tepee for Theo

Our Favorite Spots

Now that we are fully moved in and starting to feel at home in our villa I have a few favorite spots. Including: 

the balcony tree look out fort, perfect for reading and listening to npr on my phone 

this chest of drawers which i'm using as a vanity / phone and ipad charging station

the fish pond, theo loves feeding them and dropping stones in, poor things I hope fish can't have heart attacks 

and of course the best spot of all, the pool!

Our First House

We have moved into our villa! It was not simple so I hope the psychological theory that the harder your work for something, the more you appreciate it, holds true. The first night we were welcomed by a tropical hurricane which knocked out the power, phone lines, water and took down a few trees on top of michel's new motor bike just for good measure. Kade, the extremely nice girl who works brought us candles at midnight which was a heaven sent because Theo was up with a fever, because of new top teeth and the place was black as oil. In the morning everything looked fine though, even Michel's bike once the trees were pried off. 

Our new house is one of six encircling a beautiful stone pool. Each villa is draped in tropical plants, bamboo three stories high, and old trees. The houses seem quiet old, each with a stone fence and wooden doors. The owner is a sustainable development architect and the houses are filled with unique touches like our bamboo stairs which are separated from the outside only by screens and lattice allowing the wind to flow through and up the house.

Theo is absolutely enamored with the koy pond. 

La Taverna Sanur

We just finished our last breakfast at La Taverna, this afternoon we are moving into our new Villa!

Villa for Rent

I am madly in love with this villa. I feel like jumping up and down and yelling wildly to claim the place and frighten off would be renters. I manage to stay calm however telling myself; this villa is too beautiful, has too much character, is too exactly what I dreamed of when first thinking about moving to Bali and must therefore be way too expensive. We follow the house manager, a sweet Balinese woman named Bo Made, to a couch at the far end of the pool where she tells us more about the house, landlord and residents in the other villas. We find out daily cleaning is included and we can afford the monthly asking price! Now all we need is to convince the owner of this place that we are perfect for it! I fight the urge to sneakily remove the for rent sign as we walk out.

House Hunt Begins

There are so many twisty dirt roads and secluded paths that even on a moto finding the right place, seeing inside and contacting the owner to ask about prices and availability seems daunting. 

We've decided to start by looking in Sanur as we already know and like the area and having the hotel as homebase simplifies things a lot. We were tipped to a villa for rent on Jalan Kesari so we decide to start there.

First we find a clean modern complex which is nice but feels too much like a condo that could be anywhere. We are looking for something that feels like Bali. Next we stop in a bar to enquire about meeting another villa owner.

We continue walking a little way and come across a for rent sign outside a small wooden door haloed by tall tropical plants. Inside is a massive pool surrounded by swooping trees, a sweet balinese lady and six beautiful balinese villas. The vacant one has three bedrooms an amazing living room and an upstairs balcony. Have we found our new home?