Friday 29 July 2011

Days 267-270-Gardens, The Balinese Style

The Spa Rooms at Maya Resort Ubud

I love tropical gardens. They are the gardens I grew up with. And even as I get older, saggier, greyer, these gardens remain in their prime, more beautiful than ever.  

The Spa Room at Maya Ubud Resort 

A great tropical garden is lush without being opulent, unyielding yet civilized, wild but not unkempt.  I love that it is not dainty. Or delicate. Or cute. It is Wilderness on its best behaviour, untamed and idyllic, all at once.
  
Biyukukung Suites and Spa Resort At Ubud 

In Bali, the science of building one has been perfected to such an art that often you are confused as to where the garden ends and the jungle starts. I have also caught myself asking on occasions,

Is this garden a padi field?

View outside a shop window in Ubud

or is this padi field a garden?

Grand Balisani Suites Hotel, Seminyak

This is not a garden vibrant with colours nor can it boast as many flowers but there is no less poetry 

Grand Balisani Suites Hotel, Seminyak

in its sounds

Grand Balisani Suites Hotel, Seminyak

in its motion

Maya Ubud Resort

or its scent.

Grand Balisani Suites Hotel, Seminyak

You'll see love in a makeshift pavillion 

Maya Ubud Resort

dignity in a stone planter engulfed in moss

Maya Ubud Resort

strength in the parasitic creepers.

And when  

Biyukukung Suites and Spa Resort

Apsara outside spa at Grand Balisani Suites Hotel, Seminyak 

  even apsaras cannot resist but dance and offer you flowers 

Ganesha, corridor Maya Ubud Resort

Taman Ayung Temple garden

Grand Balisani Suites and Hotel, Seminyak

Biyukukung Suites and Spa Resort

 and the Gods descend to keep company, 

offering protection, prosperity and promises



you know this surely must be heaven on earth.

47 comments:

dalesdreams said...

It does look like heaven on earth!

Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous!

My goodness, can your photography get any better? I think not. :)

rosanna said...

Beautiful, blissfull, enchanting Bali.

Flora said...

Today my feet are so tired that I would settle the last photo of the foot bath!
You make beautiful photographs which convey all the charm of the places you visit ... Of course, Bali helps a lot!
Ah, thanks for telling me the serial killer ... Now I am more suspicious of miniaturists :-)
Mini hugs, my blessed friend
Flora

malu2 said...

Que maravilla, paz y tranquilidad!!!!
Susan es lo mas parecido al paraiso?
creo que sí!!!!!

Virginia isabel said...

estas en el paraiso. que envidia.
besujis!!!

My Realitty said...

The sight of plumeria (is that the white flower with the yellow center) carries me back to my childhood. I lived on an island in the South Pacific which I have not thought of for a while. Thank you for tranporting me by your exquisite photographs. c

Daydreamer said...

Dear Sans, PARADISE is a Garden.... and I am SURE it is as green and eternal and WILD and lush as your Gardens in these pictures! And the Gods are frequent visitors, of course.... for who would not wish to spend as much time as possible in such a place? I have to confess that in the depths of the COLD northern winters I have bought lush tropical greenhouse plants because I CRAVE that feeling!!! But no matter how I try, my little indoors collection of tropical plants can only pretend to be a wild jungle....
As for the lack of flowers... the Traditional Italian gardens specialize in greenscapes..... where the plantings are about the leaves and shapes more than the flowers.... and they have created some of the most magnificent gardens in the world!
I love your descriptions and pictures of these Balinese gardens, and I thank you for sharing them here! I will come visit here often if I may..... :)

Sans! said...

Hey Dale, how's your day been. It's Friday and I have taken the day off, now at Cathay ( do you remember the cinema near my home?) waiting to watch Captain America :).

Do you really think these photos are great? I wasn't happy with them at 1st . I like the 1st one though. And the last .

Piikko said...

Good morning Sans! How are you today?:) Soon I'll go to sleep after my night shift but before that I thank you for these the most beautiful photos. Thank you!!:)
Hugs, piikko

Sans! said...

Rosanna, we may have all come home with worms :(. Will email you on the gory details. Hope you are home resting and not plunged straight into work.

Sans! said...

Haha Flora . See if you can get hold of the movie. It is actually quite beautifully shot. I had enjoyed it very much. Think I saw it twice, once on the big screen and once on HBO.

By the way, the massages were so affordable that we went to a spa everyday :).

Eva - tatalamaru said...

Menudas imágenes, que envidia. Son unos jardines preciosos y transmiten paz, invitan a la relajación.
Un beso

Eliana said...

Amazing place! Beautiful photos!

Gemma said...

Estos jardines son preciosos,felicidades por poder disfrutar de ellos.
Un beso

The Old Maid said...

Love the photos - I too like the gardens no matter if there are tons of flowers there or just green in different shades - my favourite garden in Poland is...Japanese Garden in Wrocław and since when I visited it, it was late summer there were not many flowers there, yet all the shapes and shades of green were just GREAT!
Thank you for taking us in another fantastic trip dear Sans:)
Love your music as usual;)

BiWuBär said...

Ahhh, visiting your blog is like a holiday break... and in this case a little like wandering along these lovely gardens with you. These gardens are very different from our European gardens - who would ever have guessed this (LOL) - but I've always found Asian garden, especially Japanese, very relaxing for the eyes and the soul. Thank you for those inspiring pics!

Greetings
Birgit

P.S.: As you know, I consider google translation being not helpful at all, but it did tell you the truth in my previous post! It was indeed a cucumber - a typical cucumber around here, we use it for salads or à la nature (we call it "Schlangengurke" = snake cucumber);O)

Ascension said...

......Ahora ya lo se, el cielo en la tierra es Bali.
Que preciosas imagenes, que cantidad de ideas para hacer cositas minis.
Eres un "pozo sin fondo" jejejeje, lleno de continuas sorpresas.
De nuevo encantada de saludar a tus pies jejejejejeje, los debes tener muyyyyyyyyyyy relajaditos con la cantidad de baños que le estas dando.
Solo te falta el baño ese de los pececitos picandote en los pies jejeje
Feliz fin de semana tesoro
besitos ascension

CWPoppets said...

Hmm, beautiful! My life is quite stressful lately and your photo's and this music gave me a five minute break. Thank you!
Hope you did get rid of the worms quickly.

rosanna said...

Lovely bones is truly a good movie but it's not the only place where you can see a dollhose belonging to a miniaturist killer.
There have been a few episodes of Las Vegas CSI where a roombox was always left on every crime scene depicting exactly what the killer had done. Creepy but useful for investigations ;o)
I'm patiently waiting for the gory details you promised ;o))
Good night and have a nice weekend, Rosanna

Dark Squirrel Victoria said...

Beautiful photos! It looks so peaceful and relaxing. I love the roofs on the spa huts.

Hugs
Victoria

Plushpussycat said...

Yes, Sans!, it IS heaven on earth!
Jennifer

Jorge Cubells said...

hola Sans, que fotos más bellas has puesto, que paz trasmiten... estaba viendo este video y me ha recordado tu blog, te lo envio, espero te guste, saludos
Jorge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=TDmLSuXt-ZE#at=122

Kathy said...

Thank you for showing how beautiful everything is.

Margriet said...

First...I look at your wonderful photo's...then I come back after a few hours or a day and read your story and look at the photo's again....
Then finally I visit your blog again to look again at your photo's and make a comment....I can't get enough of your blog!! :-)
BEAUTIFUL!!! love the last photo!

Margriet said...

Oh.....I enjoy the music on your blog very much too ;-)

Norma Bennett said...

Such beautiful photos San's, thanks so much for sharing. It's been an AGE since we were last in Bali, and that's something that needs to be recified :)

Sans! said...

Maria Luisa, es que su hija va a Bali porque luna de miel? Usted debe tener se unió a ellos .. jejejeje!

Sans! said...

Virginia, al principio estábamos un poco consternado por los precios de los hoteles (especialmente Maya), pero es bueno que había tres de nosotros a compartir los gastos. Pensamos que el paraíso, incluso por un día valió la pena:)

Sans! said...

Carol, I googled "plumeria" and it is indeed another word for frangipani, the more common term here. I have a frangipani tree in my sort of garden and I always collect the flowers if I have a dinner party. Frangipani is the official icon now for Balinese resort holiday! :).

You lived in the South Pacific ? That's exotic too!! Do you have pictures of your old home?

Sans! said...

Bets, one of the most amazing tropical garden I have seen was in Sri Lanka. It was the residence of Bevis Bawa, a self taught landscape genius. He named the estate "Brief" because his father, a lawyer, bought the estate after a successful brief. But the more famous brother , Geoffrey Bawa built the garden that I really wanted to see . It's called Lunuganga which he styled after 15th century Italian gardens he saw when he was in Europe. I think its precisely for the greenscape that you had mentioned. Lunuganga is now opened to the public also as a hotel. So in my next trip, I hope to stay there.

Bets, have you seen this Robin Williams movie called "What Dreams May Come"? I can watch it again and again for the cinematography of what heaven (mainly gardens) and hell could be like. Let me cheat and use the words of a reviewer here :

"Watching What Dreams May Come is like observing a series of paintings come to life. Director Vincent Ward's view of heaven is surreal and spectacular, with special effects enhancing everything from the subtle greens of the mosses and grass to the crimsons, violets, oranges, and blues of the flower petals. It's a place where thought determines reality. Chris (Robin Williams) thinks in terms of a painting, so everything in his world is wet with fresh paint. His pallet is one of vibrant hues and magnificent vistas. Later, as we enter other compartments of the afterlife, we see images of celestial cities and angels, all of which will be familiar in style to anyone who has studied classical art. Likewise, hell is a grim, dark place, with the color leeched out almost to the point where everything is monochromatic. The sight of hundreds of lost souls capsizing Chris' boat is a chilling moment." http://www.reelviews.net/movies/w/what_dreams.html

So watch the movie if you can. I am 200% sure you will love it!

Sans! said...

Good evening Piiko or is it morning at your end? This is 2 mornings later and I hope you have rested very well! :) Did you dream of gardens and angels?

Sans! said...

Eva, me alegro de que usted está caminando estos jardines conmigo:)

abrazos

Sans! said...

:) Eliana- There were many Kodak moments in these gardens.

I wonder how many here remember "Kodak moments" the ad :).

Sans! said...

Feliz de que usted los está disfrutando conmigo, Gemma:)

Sans! said...

Ewa, before I wanted Balinese Gardens, I wanted Japanese garden. the two of them could not have been more different! But yes, I wanted a Zen garden with raked sand, stone landscapes and no fallen leaves. Until my housemates laughed in my face and asked if I want to tend to the garden everyday raking and sweeping leaves. That's when I thought tropical garden , let nature take care of it! :)

Sans! said...

I have been away for way too long and am way behind :). Forgive me therefore if my replies are short :).

Firstly, Birgit, I love all gardens but I have to admit I am partial to tropical gardens mainly because our trees are huge :). I also prefer trees in their natural state than manicured ones :).

By the way, yours is a most unusual cucumber by our tropical standard..teehee :)

Sans! said...

Ascensión, el cielo en la tierra es mi mundo pequeño y los amigos maravillosos (como usted) que hice, porque de este mundo pequeño.

muchas amor, besos y abrazos

Sans! said...

Christine, I have had a really stressful day today as well :). I am also looking for respite here from blog friends like you :)

Sans! said...

Rosanna, those CSI episodes were my favorites. This lady Frances Glessner Lee (1878–1962) also built room boxes of crime scene : http://www.nlm.nih.gov/visibleproofs/galleries/biographies/lee_image_4.html.

I guess dollhouses are not always "Pleasantville" material :)

Sans! said...

Victoria, I love those roofs too. Should be easy to reproduce them in minis :)

Sans! said...

Jennifer, you probably know Bali even better than I do :) having been there for way longer than all my trips put together :)

Sans! said...

Jaja Jorge, tengo que reírme cuando vi el video:). ¿Te gusta el cine indio también? Sólo me gustan las de el imperio mogol o Maharajah. Yo también ver algunas de las películas indias de los detalles arquitectónicos de las casas indias. Mi actor favorito es Hrithik Roshan:):)

Sans! said...

Good to see you Kathy O-O :)

Sans! said...

Margriet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)

Even though I am reading your comments 2 weeks late, you have made me so very happy ! :). I think I will come back again tomorrow to savour your comment again :)

Sans! said...

Norma, one of these days we should meet in Bali if we don't do it in Australia or NZ first! :)

Neomig said...

Heaven on earth it is! I put it on my wish list!
Neomi

Sans! said...

:) Neomig Welcome to Heaven on Earth :)

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