Bali beyond the crowds
While on a family holiday Kate Wickers discovers there is more to the Indonesian island than surfing and finding your inner peace
When my surf-mad sons suggest Bali for a family holiday, I’m not sure. I’d heard mixed things – too touristy, too much traffic – but I’d also read Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel Eat Pray Love (and seen the movie), in which the heroine finds inner peace in Bali. I wouldn’t mind a bit of that I thought, so we book in for a kind of surf and turf — which combines a beach stay at Four Seasons Resort Jimbaran Bay with Four Seasons Sayan, near to Ubud, Bali’s cultural heart.
The roads from the airport are traffic-congested and I resist the urge to moan to my husband, Neil.
Jimbaran Bay, by contrast, is wonderfully quiet, with a wide crescent of soft white sand that remains peaceful, even during peak months. The Four Seasons is built tastefully to reflect a Balinese village (with wood and lava stone draped sexily in jasmine and hibiscus), which tumbles down the hillside to the
The roads from the airport are trafficcongested and I resist the urge to moan
beach. I begin to relax.
Our lovely villas are connected by stone-walled gardens with bales (Balinese-style pagodas) and plunge pools. My sons love the novelty of the outside shower, with water cascading from a bamboo pipe in to a lush gecko-riddled garden, while Neil and I appreciate the finer aspects of the décor found in the swirling floral wood carvings of the wall panels, and the craftsmanship in the vaulted thatch roof. All give a wonderful sense of place.
At 6:30am the boys rise to catch a wave with Tropicsurf, conveniently based at the resort. They travel by boat to Butik Peninsula, perfect for beginner to intermediate surfers; and to Airport Rights for its reliable swell. Neil and I are also up early for a cookery class with Chef Kristya Yudha, which begins with a taste of local life at Jimbaran fish market, located at the northern end of the bay, where hundreds of kilos of fish are hauled from flamboyantly painted boats. It’s a frenetic scene as the catch is hawked – immense tuna swing from hooks, squids sprawl, gargantuan prawns are piled high on ice, and I’m surprised to spy the iridescent scales of parrot fish amidst the trawl. “Nicer to snorkel with than to eat,” whispers Kristya.
Back in the kitchen there are five traditional Balinese dishes to cook: grilled red snapper wrapped in banana leaf among them. Aromas of lemongrass, Bali lime (small with an intense flavour), sweet basil leaves, ginger and chilli soon fill the air and by lunch-time we have a feast ready to share with our hungry sons. It’s the lollipop chicken satay that they gobble up the fastest.
Sundara beach-club, with its squishy canopied day beds, is ultracool, and a hit with my teenage sons, who are impressed with the 20-metre infinity pool and the mellow DJ tunes. A Japanese you-tuber is busy making a film and it is comedy gold to surreptitiously watch. Every evening there’s live music – from reggae to blues – and we soon slip in to the happy routine of sunset cocktails and a game of cards on Sundara’s gorgeous terrace.
We take a trip out to Uluwatu, on the south-western tip, to see the surfers in action off the legendary Blue-point beach. Single Fin café has a huge tiered terrace – the perfect perch for a slice of pizza and a cold bintang beer and to view the mesmerising cascade of surfers, who ride high and fast on mountainous crests, before crashing in to the blue, punctuated by a collective, “whoaaa” from the rapt crowd.
Further along the coast at Padangpadang we climb down monkeyriddled steps to a gorgeous cove. The surf break here is world famous and even on “flat” days the beach teems
with devotees. For sunset we continue on to Pura Luhur, one of the island’s most iconic temples, perched 70m above the ocean on serrated cliffs. A footpath winds around the headland and gives dizzying views down to the beach where macaques fish in the shallows.
Jimbaran beach by night is aglow with the flickering candles from the warungs (Bali’s renowned seafood restaurants). We dine at Menaga, on delicious jumbo prawns and red snapper served with nasi goreng fried rice, cooked on coconut-fuelled grills. It tastes even better with the sand between our toes and by the time we’re on dessert (homemade coconut ice-cream) the tide has rolled in and the Indian Ocean laps at our feet.
Travelling to Ubud, once we’ve by-passed built up Kuta (the brashest of Bali’s resorts), we soon see ricepaddies, and pass through small villages, each stone-walled house with its own family shrine.
Sangeh Monkey Forest (not an animal park but a 17th century Hindu temple complex surrounded by a garden of sacred nutmeg trees) was, according to local legend, created by the monkey king Hanuman. Mosscovered paths lead to Pura Bukit Sari, a grey-stone temple also blanketed in green velvet, with a fierce eye-bulging statue of Garuda at its core.
Our last three days are spent at Four Seasons Resort at Sayan, located on the banks of the Ayung River. Its design echoes the environment – teak bridges, lotus ponds and organic vegetable gardens, with villas nestling in abundant gardens. The main circular building, with a stunning lily pond roof, is inspired by a simple rice bowl.
I leave my husband and sons to swim at the pool with river views and head off for an “afternoon nap” at Dharma Shanti Bale – a beautiful open-air yoga pavilion with a rice paddy outlook. Here, I’m suspended in a silk hammock while I listen to the life story of the Buddha. Deeply soothing, I’m asleep within minutes.
The next day is a contrast – on a rafting adventure we navigate our way through rapids, under the expert advice of our guide (“Oars to the right! And paddle!”), hopping out at a dam to watch our craft flip over the sheer waterfall, before boarding again. We float past holy springs; gardens of marigolds (grown to sell); and local men up to their waists in rushing water, transporting timber on their heads.
We join Chef Wayan at Sokasi – an intimate open kitchen on the riverbank – for a seven-course family feast. We’re served melt in the mouth bebuk betutu (slow-roasted duck), which is cooked for 12 hours in an underground clay oven, and Ubud’s famous babi guling (spit-roasted suckling pig) and we are taught how to make Bali’s signature base genep (thousand spice paste) – a wonderfully tasty concoction with an exaggerated name.
July is festival season and the temples around Ubud pulse with both cremations and weddings. The town is equally as busy – thronging with day-trippers, lured by its Boho reputation. Need your chakra (body energy) balanced? No problem. Looking for some crystal healing? You’re in the right place. The town is chock full with meditation centres, yoga studios, cultural centres (try your hand at batik painting), healers and organic cafes. With my family in tow I have to make do with a moment of quiet contemplation at Pura Taman Saraswati temple, where a pretty pond overflows with lotus blossoms. I’m booked in for my very own Muladhara Chakra Ceremony back at the Four Seasons. Among other rituals, including a massage using locally grown ginger and cinnamon, this requires me to sit on a kind of chimney and have my bottom smoked – it’s nicer than it sounds and worth it alone for the gobsmacked expressions on my sons’ faces when I tell them what I’d been up to. I don’t remember that scene in Eat Pray Love but it’s a moment that I will happily settle for. ■ Qatar Airways (www.qatarairways. com) from Edinburgh to Bali, with a short stop in Doha, is currently the quickest and cheapest option, with fares starting at around £500 per
person. Other options include Emirates via Dubai from Glasgow. Rates at Four Seasons Resort at Sayan (www.fourseasons.com/ sayan) start from £390 per suite per night. Rates at Four Seasons Resort at Jimbaran Bay (www.fourseasons. com/bali) start from £553 per villa
per night.