We decided to spend 2 nights of our 6 night trip in Bali at a ‘luxury’ resort. Initially we were tossing between Mulia and Ayana… would’ve LOVED to stay at Mulia but couldn’t justify spending so much more on an already expensive trip so we looked into Ayana instead. We knew Ayana had a sister resort (located in the same area actually), called Rimba which is a recent establishment with a contemporary style. That was what appealed to us more, the modern look of the place compared to the rustic Balinese design of Ayana. The fact that it was easily $100 cheaper/night AND you get to access all of Ayana’s facilities already won us over.

What wasn’t accounted for… was me impulsing on a trip to the spa! It was worth every rupiah though; body scrub, full body massage and a bath tub of rose petals… #cuepostholidayblues

jimbaran bay room

Reading through tripadvisor reviews a lot recommended to get the Jimbaran Bay room atleast rather than the standard room which looks out onto the driveyway/carpark. The name is a little misleading though because no Bay was in sight, you just look out to the main pool area and the greenery beyond that. I believe you’d have to stay at Ayana if you wanted the real Bay views.

The shower was one of the interesting features of the room, it is a shower-bath combo where the bath is actually circular. You can imagine how much room it would take up in such a small space.

buffet breakfast at to’ge  (rimba)

On the morning of our first full day at Rimba, we just made it to To’Ge before buffet breakfast wrapped up. It wasn’t included in our room rates (wasn’t significantly cheaper even if it was), but it was approx aud$30 for buffet breakfast. You really need to be starving to get your money’s worth, for us we got there a little later just so it was brunch for us ~ two meals in one go!

lunch/afternoon by the pool

Okay, so the brunch idea didn’t quite work out since after a trip to kubu beach (to come in a later post) we found ourselves chilling by the pool and indulging in drinks, pizza and ICE CREAM. We love how the staff roams around with a mini eski filled with a few selections of ice cream – what a dream come true for Alfred having ice cream delivered to him (if only it was free!). We also saw them offering to clean sunglasses for hotel guests. This is probably the first time ever where we’ve seen such interactive hotel staff! Chatting to guests, allowing a guest to speak on the staff radio for fun, flying kites… these little things really added to our experience there.

So many cool areas to chill out by the pool at but sadly we didn’t get to many, we really should’ve stayed here for a week! (and worry about being broke afterwards)

Kite flying!

unique roof top bar & restaurant

This was the one time where we did not bring a camera along and the place was simple a little too dark for our iPhones. We headed up there for ‘supper’ and simply chill while looking out the resort (mostly dark). They had a yum cha a-la-carte kind of thing going on there where waitresses come around with assorted snack sized dishes for you to pick out from. School prawns, sliders, sushi… and unlimited serving of cassava chips ( we were obsessed with that the whole trip!). We can imagine this place would be pretty cool at sunset too!

last day – breakfast room service

Before we changed our accommodation one final time, we decided to take the morning easily.. sleep in a little and call room service! Really feeling ‘baller’ at this point, french toast for me and a big breakfast for him!

lobby: day and night

We’re so glad we stayed here, the bit of savings went towards food + drinks during our ‘2 day confinement’ at Rimba…you wouldn’t let yourself leave anyways! We wish we could’ve stayed longer to enjoy more of the facilities and pool-hop more 🙁 Wouldn’t mind going back here for some down time if you ask me! 😉

More about our time at Rimba/Ayana coming soon…