Balinese Hut at Puri Mas Paradise – LivingMini®

I love Lombok – an Indonesian island in the western Nusa Tenggara group, directly across the Bali Sea.

This was my first stop after my 6 weeks in Australia and I was primed for some invigorating culture and spicy food. And I found it at Puri Mas, a resort located in Mangsit, just north of the town of Senggigi. The resort was built by a Dutch ballroom dance champion who paid special attention to the details.

Although Lombok is a “soft” Muslim island, Puri Mas was infused with the Balinese spirit from across the straight. Hindu sculptures and Balinese offerings were littered throughout the grounds. The resort landscaping also highlighted rock gardens, water foundations, and flowering shrubs and bushes (and weirdly an unusually large number of non-native cacti).

The resort also sported an infinity pool, flanked by Bodhisattva statues, a private beach, and outdoor Balinese tents in which to relax in the evening, watch the red sunset and sip jackfruit and watermelon smoothies. Ahhhhh…heaven!

What was so supremely lovely though were the individual Balinese huts where we guests stayed. For a mere $50 a night, I had my own two-floor house with open-air living quarters below, and a hand-carved spiral staircase leading to bedroom featuring an impressive flower-strewn, canopied bed.

The bathroom was also a treat with an outdoor shower (my favorite!) with a towering sculpture and integrated shower as the center piece. The bathroom floor was a mosaic of small smooth river rocks that allowed the shower waters to drain away. The lighting was natural and it was incredibly spacious. Definitely a retreat!

Puri Mas is also a spa and offered a number of tantalizing daily specials like lavender foot scrubs, volcanic rock massages, and pineapple exfoliation. I didn’t indulge (since I had already exceeded my Indonesia budget), but I was sorely tempted.

I love this place so much, I almost didn’t want to write and tell you about it….it’s so special I was tempted to keep this secret hide-away to myself! But I will share, in hopes that you too will go and experience this amazingly perfect resort paradise.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 26th, 2011 and is filed under Hearth.