Tuesday 13 August and Wednesday 14 August

We had a nice and slow Tuesday, though we got up an hour later than the previous couple of days, and the difference at breakfast was noticeable – we had been almost the only ones there, but an hour later and it’s absolutely buzzing – this is another perk of the club lounge… while it was chaos in the main buffet area, in the lounge it was still nice and quiet (just not as quiet).

We had our babysitter booked in for 1.00pm, and our plan was to go for a 90 minute massage together and then have a couple of cocktails at the pool bar. After getting Jessie some lunch, Craig headed off to the spa and I took Jessie to the Kids Club, where the babysitter would be watching her. We walked in and the two staff members looked very confused, and then spent a lot time on the phone, while I sat with Jessie getting more anxious as time ticked by – 1.10pm comes and the staff say that the babysitter has had a problem and is on her way (seems they use an agency offsite), 1.15pm arrives and I tell them I should go and cancel my massage – they kindly let me leave Jessie there, as there was only one other child in for the afternoon (under 4s have to have a parent with them), and at the spa they tell me Craig has already started his and they would rebook me for 1.30pm. So I rush back over to the Kids Club and they tell me the babysitter is still on her way and that her motorbike broke down. 1.25pm… 1.30pm… 1.40pm and she finally arrives. She cannot speak a word of English, not even hello, and so I am suspicious that perhaps she was a last minute call in rather than the story they told me about the motorbike – I have to explain Jessie’s requirements to the staff members for them to translate. I then rushed out the door, not feeling entirely confident, but at least knowing the staff members were there too, and changed my massage to a 60 minute one, so that I would still finish up at the same time as Craig.

The massage was lovely, and with our oiled up skin, we jumped in the pool and headed to the bar (hopefully not leaving an oil slick behind us). The barmen were extremely high energy and excited to make our drinks for us, starting with a Boston Sour – lately I’ve become quite partial to Whiskey Sours when I go out (which most people tend to turn their nose up at – to be fair, here at the resort it comes under the “Gentlemen’s Drinks” menu hah!!!), and so this was a Whiskey Sour with a twist of champagne foam on top… absolutely delicious. We sipped our drinks and watched the Instagram hopefuls posing on the edge of the pool and being told off by the pool guys… some of them multiple times.

The barmen asked Craig how he got his scar on his shoulder (which, for anyone who hasn’t seen it, is reasonably gnarly), and he casually told them “a shark… in Thailand”, to which they responded by staring back at him in shock. I struggled to contain myself looking at their faces and burst out laughing… I think theirs were some of the best reactions Craig’s had from the various stories he spins about that scar.

That hour and a half went super fast, as child free time tends to, and we went back to get Jessie and headed back to our room – big dark clouds had rolled over and it was starting to get quite chilly.

I had a turn at heading up the lounge for cocktails and snacks before dinner, and spent an hour and a half reading and enjoying cocktails – the perfect way to end the day.

Our last full day here was another reasonably quiet one, but fun – we went for a walk down to the bamboo bridge at the bottom of the valley, where there is a river. They have an amazing jogging track that leads down to it, and it was paved and perfect for a pram. Going down was easy enough, and very serene – the gardens surrounding the pathway are immaculate, and the bottom of the valley was lovely – just enough light coming through the canopy of the rainforest to shine down directly onto the bridge, which was quite magical. Going back up was a little more sweat inducing – it was super humid, but we felt good for doing it after all the large breakfasts and snacks we’ve been having.

We spent the rest of the day swimming and revisiting the animal park – one thing I was a little disappointed about, which I didn’t notice the other day, is that they keep fish in a pond purely for guests to try their hand at fishing… which would be fine by me if they were eating them, but they’re keeping them in nets for three days to “heal” from the hooks, and then throwing them back in to be caught all over again. I was horrified and very surprised.

After the animal park we had a wander through the rice paddies and “agroforest”, which was really lovely – I hope to get back there tomorrow morning to take some photos, as they’re quite special looking.

We leave for Seminyak tomorrow at 12.00pm… we’re sad to leave this amazing resort and the serenity of the rainforest, but we’re looking forward to catching up with some friends from back home and to hitting the beach!

See you in Seminyak!

Laus ❤