Two funny things happened in Bali related to frangipani and gamelan.
The night we – the media group that came for the lifestyle tour of Sweet & Low in Bali – arrived, we were greeted at the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel with cold, scented face towels. Our first question, of course, was what the scent was and we were told it was frangipani, like the lei we were given at the entrance. All of us girls – Cosmo editor Myrza Sison, Good Housekeeping editor Becky Kho, Food managing editor Cherie Mijares, publicist Joyce Ramirez, myself – and our host, Sweetlink president Nelson Co, were so enamored with the flower and the way it was displayed all over the hotel. I mean, the flowers were really everywhere, planted all around the hillside property and displayed in wooden bowls, on our nightstand in the room, in our hair, in singles or groups, all-white or in the mix of reds and violets.
It was frangipani this, frangipani that.
Anyway, the next morning, we were given a tour of the hotel, which meant quite a lot of walking on the rolling terrain. When we entered one of the villas, we walked to the terrace and the sweetest thing we’ve ever smelled assaulted our senses.
"Oh, is that frangipani?" one of us asked.
"No," said Ardi of the hotel’s publicity department. Then he pointed to the wooden railing and said, "I think what you’re smelling is fresh paint."
The gamelan incident happened to Nelson on the first night. Over breakfast the next morning, he said that he couldn’t sleep because he kept hearing music in his bedroom and he couldn’t find the source. There was no piped-in music in the hotel room and neither were there musicians along the corridors.
It was gamelan here, gamelan there.
You couldn’t walk 10 meters without hearing strains of this indigenous Indonesian music.
I said, "Maybe someone was playing in your closet."
A day later, someone solved the mystery. There were indeed unseen musicians in the gardens below his room.
That’s the Ritz-Carlton Bali Resort and Spa for you. It’s so damn Balinese you couldn’t mistake it for a resort in another part of the world.
When we arrived on a Monday night, we couldn’t see beyond the dark lily ponds in the lobby or outside our windows. In the morning, it was like removing blinders from one’s eyes because the views were truly spectacular. The Indian Ocean spreads out on the other side of the hotel, framed by terraced pools, ponds, and white umbrellas in between.
The hotel is located in Jimbaran Bay, the most expensive piece of real estate on the island. It’s 70 hectares of landscaped tropical gardens and putting greens. And I mean landscaped – not a blade of grass or lotus flower out of place.
Designed by the architectural firm Wimberly, Allison, Tong & Goo of California (which also designed The Palms Country Club in Alabang), the hotel’s accommodations are split between 338 guest rooms and 47 suites in a four-story building, and 48 ocean-front villas.
Their attention to detail is evident in the things you see all around, starting with the lobby whose ceiling tells the story of Ramayana, painted in the Kamasan style. Kamasan is a village in East Bali, which used to produce the only paintings made on the island and artists used Hindu-Balinese legends and epics as their subjects. Today, another area of Bali is renowned for its art – Ubud.
Another Balinese style that both the Ritz-Carlton and its next-door neighbor, the equally chichi Four Seasons Jimabaran Bay, employ is the alang-alang thatched roofing or plaited grass bunched with bamboo poles to form a pointed center. Plaited grass is so popular as roofing in Bali and also as export to the US and other parts of Asia, that the demand now exceeds production.
In the rooms and villas, you’ll find pieces of Balinese art such as wood carvings and antiques, and the distinctive Balinese doors (they’re like palettes of subdued colors).
The villas are another thing to gawk at. Aside from the views of the ocean, they have outdoor daybeds and showers, chaise lounges and plunge pools. You know how luxurious your accommodations are when you have your own emerald plunge pool.
Just a few months ago, the resort built a wedding chapel overlooking the Indian ocean. It’s a glass building that can accommodate wedding guests of up to 40 persons – perfect for intimate gatherings. The receptions areas – whether you choose the lawns or an indoor one – can accommodate hundreds of guests. Nearby is a modern-design bridal villa, complete with a large living room, dining, and changing rooms for the bride and groom and their entourage.
The chapel is used for Christian weddings and they also have an outdoor one for Hindu weddings. Ardi explained that Hindu weddings can be quite long and complicated. Sometimes they even take so many days to do. First the groom has to take the woman from her house and then a week or so later, the Hindu priest performs the ceremony, then there’s another day for the big reception.
"So the wealthier you are, the longer the wedding ceremony?" I asked.
"Well, the higher the status, the bigger the reception. In Indonesia, we have many castas. Is it the same in the Philippines?"
"No," I said. "It’s just rich and poor."
If you believe that flowers have psychological power, then fill your house with frangipani or champaca. Its five petals are supposed to symbolize the five qualities for psychological perfection: Sincerity, faith, aspiration, devotion and surrender.
So it was with a flower in our hair that we had dinner at Ritz-Carlton’s Kisik restaurant for a rijstafel (literally meaning Indonesian rice table) meal, which used to represent the affluence of the Dutch during their three centuries of colonial rule in Indonesia.
And it was with frangipani oil that we had our massage earlier that day at the Ritz-Carlton Thalasso & Spa facilities. I’m no stranger to different kinds of massage, but there’s something different to the way the Balinese do it. It’s like a graceful dance. Even when they’re kneading the sorest and tightest knots on your back, there’s something soft and gentle about the whole thing. So it’s no surprise that in Indonesia, massage is considered a homeopathic treatment in every home and is practiced from birth to death. Like in Boracay, they have traveling masseuses in Bali, too.
The hotel’s spa facilities have violet as the color theme. Violet combines blue and red, "the balance of the physical and spiritual, and a reminder that we need both aspects within our lives for balanced health. Violet is the color of the crown cakra, the energy of the higher mind. It stimulates inspiration and humility. Violet is antiseptic and purifying, on the spiritual and physical levels. It is the color of dignity, honor, self-respect and hope, bolstering self-esteem."
Before the massage, Nelson, Becky and Joyce, who’s an expert in spas around the world not to mention weight and health related treatments, tried Ritz-Carlton’s Aquatonic pool, which is probably the top reason why the hotel has been reaping spa and hotel awards left and right this year (including from Travel + Leisure, CNN Worldwide and Conde Naste Traveler).
Water is an integral part of Balinese culture and rituals. For instance, they believe that one must take a bath before doing one’s prayers, and that means several times a day; they also believe in cleansing temple artifacts in the sea; and sprinkling offerings and worshippers with holy water and sanctifying daily offerings at home and on the ground.
The Aquatonic pool is filled with 700 million liters of seawater (and vitamins and mineral salts). So you can imagine how happy a Balinese would feel in it.
There are 12 different exercise zones in the pool. Underwater jets help you tone and firm muscles, ease stress and promote circulation. It’s actually hyrdroaerobic exercise because the currents go against you as you walk to each station, and you’re burning a lot of calories. So you can imagine how happy a weight watcher would feel in it.
Joyce later said it was very enjoyable but real hard work. During the hour or more that it took them to complete the entire pool route, felt like they were exercising in the gym. Becky said the currents were so strong that you could stand in the middle of the pool and lean against the water!
Sweetlink’s Nelson Co said that was why Sweet & Low was being reintroduced to the media in Bali. It’s a lifestyle choice to be healthy, to reach out for a sweetener instead of sugar.
"It’s not just for diabetics, but for everybody who wants to control their calories and weight. Sweet ‘N Low is America’s No. 1 sugar substitute brand. Made with acesulfame K and aspartame, whose synergy makes it sweeter than table sugar, you can even use it for cooking because it doesn’t break down in high heat."
Sweetlink in fact has developed recipes with chef Gene Gonzales of Café Ysabel using Sweet ‘N Low.
Aside from the sugar substitute, Sweetlink also imports a salt substitute called Nu-Salt. It looks, tastes and cooks like salt but it’s sodium-free. They also have the sugar-free snack bar Corny (no puns, please) and the maddeningly delicious sugar-free Nussenia chocolate hazelnut spread. I’ve tried all four before, and as a diabetic, you just want to kiss people who invent products that make your life a little bit less boring (from not indulging in sugar and salt) and guilt-free (from indulging in sugar and salt).
Over breakfast at the hotel’s Padi restaurant, Nelson brought out bottles of Nussenia and Winsenia spreads. Of course, I had to try the non sugar-free as well. The Winsenia chocolate spread was the hands-down winner.
A running joke when we were inspecting hotel facilities was about the brochures. All photos feature either couples having a massage, a lady submerged in water filled with petals, or a buffed guy under the showers.
We knew there were a lot of honeymooners in the hotel, but were there any single people or new divorcees at all? The answer was no. Bali may not be a place to heal one’s heartache. It would be so damn depressing being surrounded by all the beauty and having no one to hold hands with. It is, however, a place for inspiration even when you’re alone.
At the Four Seasons in Jimbaran Bay, we were told that a novelist once rented a villa for months and finished her book there. Maybe it was being so close to nature, feeling the tropical wind in her face and sand beneath her feet, being in the middle of an island that worshipped gods and had exquisite rituals befuddling to outsiders, that she became highly creative and finished her book. Or maybe it had nothing to do with Bali at all (after all, JK Rowling wrote a large part of her first Harry Potter in a coffee shop).
I like the former better. It’s a nice thought – that when you go looking for inspiration you find your muse even if it’s in another part of the world. And that in such perfectly peaceful surroundings, you can create a world of chaos in your mind, and then detach yourself from it and be back in paradise.