Welcome To The Jungle

Check out time at the Four Seasons Jimbaran Bay was noon today so we lounged for a bit, went for breakfast, and went swimming in the main hotel pool. It was the one thing we hadn't done so we took a plunge (look closely at the top of the waterfall).
After our swim we still had a bit more time to kill so we took our last stroll down the beach at Jimbaran Bay. The waves were swelling and the surfers were out in full force.
Our car was waiting at the hotel at noon and we were on our way to Sayan. The 40 k.m. trip takes about an hour and a half... for a number of reasons. Most of the way there, the road isn't wide enough for two cars and considering there is a scooter on both sides of the road and one in between the cars, it makes for a tight squeeze. That or someone decides to unload their load of gravel in one of the lanes. I totally had thoughts of Taiwan only they drive on the other side of the street here. Scary. (I, Ryan, thought the drive would be a meandering country road into the mountains, WRONG!)
I was kicking myself for not having the camera ready in the car. We passed a scooter with two adults on it and a two year old standing on the seat in between them and the driver had a bawling baby strapped to her chest with what looked tote bag. Of course, no one was wearing a helmet. Mental. Oh, and I was also going mental. Our driver asked if he could turn on music. Sure! we thought. "Do you like Balinese?" he said. sure... we. thought. We have a really slow internet connection, otherwise I would make a link for you. If you want to hear what we listened to for 90 MINUTES, google Balinese Legong. Sweet mother of god... it sounds like a child with a xylophone.

We drove up into the mountains and turned off of a busy, litter-filled street and down a long path to the Four Seasons Sayan and again paradise. Wow, wow, wow... totally different than Jimbaran Bay but just as lovely. Here are some pictures of the hotel. The architecture of the place fits in perfectly with it's surroundings. They have rice patties surrounding the rooms and suites, and the top of the hotel is an enormous lily pond. It is unbelievable. This property is much smaller with around 63 villas while the last place had over 200. That said, they still drive you around in buggies. It's hard to get a good shot of the main building but hopefully these pictures give you an idea.
Our villa wasn't quite ready when we arrived so we went for lunch. Talk about an amazing place to eat... and one of the best places to have a non-virgin Chi Chi I've ever seen.
After lunch our villa was ready and a buggy pulled up to drive us there. We could have easily walked but they insisted. Um, I wouldn't even be able to do it justice with words so you'll have to look for yourself. Amazing.

We plunged for awhile and then look at stroll around the grounds. It poured here for about and hour which was actually really refreshing. With the heat it felt like you were in a hot shower. Somehow it makes getting soaked a lot easier to stomach (as opposed to walking a dog that hates rain 2 k.m. to work when it's gray, overcast, and freezing) and all we had to do to 'press' our shirts for dinner was to hang them outside for a few minutes. Tomorrow we've got a few things planned so we're excited. Ryan is hellbent on seeing a monkey, (maybe one will come on our terrace and steal something), so we've got to figure that out as well. More to come.