Living the high life in Bandung

It sounded like a fairly routine work trip with three colleagues yesterday: two meetings at different offices in Jakarta, then a three hour drive to Bandung in the afternoon to be ready for a 9.30 meeting this morning.

An unexpected encounter with this exotic beauty was just the icing on the cake during my visit to Bandung

I had been quite keen to visit Bandung, the capital of West Java. It is higher and cooler than Jakarta and surrounded by spectacular mountains, including the very recently active volcano Mount Tangkuban, which reopened on Saturday after being closed to tourists since 3 September. Normally, it would have been tempting to stay on for the weekend to have a look around, but that wasn't an option this weekend with another 'adventure' already slotted in.

Thanks to Jakarta's infamous traffic, it was after 8.30 p.m. when we arrived at Hotel Padma. Out of the car, into the hotel foyer, and you could almost hear the sound of four jaws dropping. This was not our regular standard business hotel. We passed the restaurant on our way to our rooms and agreed to meet there in five minutes for dinner. The whole way to our rooms there was a chorus of wow, wow, WOW! It even warranted a 5.30 wake-up this morning, so I had time to head out and explore.

Dawn at Hotel Padma

From the restaurant

From the pool deck

I have posted this lovely semi-aquatic plant several times, eg Kebun Raya, but have still to discover its name

The plant above was used here to border the pool terrace

This shows how the hotel is positioned on a forested ravine

Heliconias

African Tulip Tree

Bananas

Potted bromeliads

And my 'exotic beauty'? The exquisite Jade Vine Strongylodon macrobotrys

Clerondendrum

A final view looking across the ravine from my room before heading off to work.  If you are passing this way, all this for less than $150 for the room, which seems amazing for the standard of accommodation.

My digs in Old Bangkok

'Position, position, position' is everything in real estate, and while the same holds true to a large extent with accommodation, there are many other important qualities needed to make a memorable stay.

I have only been to Bangkok once before and that was quite some time ago, and I attribute the fact that it wasn't a particularly great experience to having picked a bland, budget chain hotel straight from a package tour brochure. It also seemed to be a long way from everything. Over the years I have become a bit smarter in my selection process, and it has worked well again for me on this visit. 

The Old Bangkok Inn is the other end of the spectrum from my recent 'opulence on a budget' discovery, The Phoenix in Jogyakarta that I wrote about here. It is more a B&B than a hotel, but it has a charm all its own and ticks lots of my boxes.  

Unless that lotto win is forthcoming, I will always be a budget traveler, so cost is an important consideration. I also prefer 'small' (multi-storied chains are way too much like a work trip), somewhere with character (ditto re work trips), that's well located, safe and has helpful staff (really important when you are traveling solo and need advice or someone to discuss travel options with). 

Old Bangkok has ten rooms that start at just under $100, including a great breakfast. It is really well located near the Democracy Monument and the Queen's Gallery, and virtually opposite Wat Ratchanadda and the Golden Mountain.  And, I kid you not, as I was writing this, there was a tap on the door from one of the staff who had heard me coughing and brought in a hot honey and lemon juice!

I love the urn-shaped wire light fitting on the reception desk.

That's my room dead ahead (and more great wire light fittings).

There's a small courtyard through the french windows, but this room (Lemongrass) is 'cosy' - probably not ideal for two (with two suitcases)

Antiques given a contemporary twist in the bathroom

On the outside looking in,

and on the inside looking out!

I came out one morning to find this gorgeous arrangement beside the reception desk (that's the gracious owner Nantiya in the background). They looked too perfect to be real.

Closer inspection revealed them to be white lotus blooms where the outer petals had been folded inwards. Talk about attention to detail!

Divine!

A touch of class

Wow! Only a week to go and I will be winging my way back to Jakarta. I just don't know where the time has gone, but I have been flat out with the flu, maintenance issues round the house, my day job, of course, and catching up generally. I still have a huge backlog of photos of great places and gardens I managed to visit in my last two weeks in Indonesia that I am dying to share with you, from my super-mini break in Bali after my conference, to three days R&R in Jogyakarta immediately before I flew home.

Just to get us in the mood and ready for more adventures in South-East Asia, this is the fabulous hotel I stayed at in Jogya - The Phoenix. It was so wonderfully atmospheric, I felt like I had been transported into the setting of a Somerset Maugham story.

Of course, the reason for me being in Indonesia in the first place was work-related, and my three days in Jogya were a little treat to myself. But, despite my oppulent surroundings, I remain a budget traveller at heart and love the challenge of finding great accommodation with character that doesn't break the bank. On the website this morning, the rooms here are on special from 501,000 IDR, which is only about $50 in Australian or US money. With so much to see in Jogya, including the wonderful temples of Borobudur and Prambaran, and the Sultan's Palace (all in coming posts) and reasonable flights from Australia, it is really worth a visit.

Hope you enjoy this photographic visit to The Phoenix!

My room was the closest balcony you can see on the right.

Doorway to the lobby area

Trolleys with cigars and brandy for the gentlemen and white wine on ice for the ladies. I  stayed in theme and enjoyed  pre-dinner gin and tonics in the terrace bar in the background, until I got hooked on their delicious non-alcoholic punch.

Love the magnificent urns adjoining the courtyard.

The fountain in the court

The restaurant

Fabulous attention to detail with the repetition of the phoenix motif on the door handles,

the table linen,

the banners overhanging the bed,

even the planters.

Lunuganga

After my 2004 visit to Sri Lanka and Bevis Bawa's Brief Garden, which was the subject of my last post, from time to time I came upon references to Lunuganga. My first thought was that Brief Garden had been renamed and reopened as a boutique hotel, but I soon discovered that Lunuganga was the country estate of Bevis's brother, Geoffrey. On my return last year, I was able to visit both gardens from my base at Waterside in Bentota.

Our fabulous accommodation at Waterside, Bentota

Crinums growing on Waterside's front lawn.

Geoffrey Bawa was Sri Lanka's and one of Asia's most influential architects. He created the large garden at Lunuganga from what had been an abandoned rubber plantation of about 25 acres. It is an incredibly romantic tropical garden where jungle, paddies and indigenous plants meet Italianate design. The property is situated on a promontory overlooking a lagoon on an estuary of the Bentota River. There are several houses on the property, but I especially love the main residence with its wonderful veranda and views overlooking the water.  Lunuganga is rendolent of the elegant and gracious lifestyle of a man committed to creativity and beauty.

Not far inside the entrance is the Garden Room, with the Glass House in the background

There is the same wonderful placement of urns and garden sculpture to provide definition to the different  garden rooms and vistas that I saw at Brief Garden.

Estate workers cleaning out the Water Garden

This leopard sculpture by Lydia Duchin marks the Water Gate, the departure point for excursions on to the lake and neighbouring islands.

The Hindu Pan

The urn on the right was designed by Bevis Bawa and Australian artist, Donald Friend

From Cinnamon Hill looking towards the main house.

The southern terrace

The southern view (with orchid in flower on the tree)

The Northern Terrace. The frangipanis, planted in 1947 when work first commenced on the garden, are as large as I have seen.

The front veranda of the main house