Life In Sanur (Blog)
Sanur named in TripAdvisors Travellers’ Choice 2013 Awards
Somewhat surprisingly, chilled out old Sanur has been named in the 10 destinations on the rise (Asia) list. The cool thing about The Villa Sanur is that one of the two main kite festivals TripAdvisor mentions occurs just behind our house. For many months leading up to it the sky [...]
Latest The Villa Sanur construction pix
Construction is just about done. We're moving onto the furnishings and furniture next week. Unfortunately the main entrance, the gate, was not done well enough so our final construction task is to fix that properly over the coming few days.
White sand aplenty
All the land around The Villa Sanur was not that long ago beach and sea. When you need extra sand, just dig a couple of feet and there it is. As much as you need.
Learn bahasa Indonesia: The 20 most important words
This is the first in a series of posts we’ll do on learning Indonesian. The first formal post will explore the alphabet, then we’ll move onto numbers, explore words that are useful for restaurants, travel, and describing many things, and then we’ll delve into grammar. This first post however just [...]
Kommune: A cool beach bar, without the crowds
If you want a little of the coolness and glamour of some of those beachside bars and restaurants found in Seminyak and the like -- but without the crowds -- then there’s a hidden gem about 25 minutes from The Villa Sanur. If you like to surf, even better -- [...]
Construction moving apace at The Villa Sanur
The beautiful stone from Bukit has arrived and is going up nicely. The key to good stone is that it is hard and doesn't crumble. Soft crumbly stone is porous which results in it absorbing water and rapidly discolouring. The stone was delivered boulder sized, which the team has broken [...]
Construction begins in earnest at The Villa Sanur
It's been a few days since the last post. A lot of underground work has occurred, it's just not easy to show. Drainage improvements, underground demolition and the laying of some serious foundations to support the upcoming wall and roof are some of them. From here actual construction is about to really [...]
Front wall and rooms demolished
The front wall and pembantu house have almost totally gone, making way for the new outdoor living space. A new stone wall will be built at the lane edge, which will wrap its way around to the far right. Additionally, we've started cleaning up the pool area.
Demolition men
Two days into the final phase of renovation and we all have an appetite for destruction. Removing the old staff area, bale in the lane and some beautiful plants (that will hopefully grow back!) has taken two days and a lot of sweat. We've seen the first glimpses of the [...]
Shrine removal complete
If you've ever wondered how the shrines and temples are built in Bali, it turns out they're a little like lego. Each layer is placed on top of the previous one and connected together with a small layer of cement. If you're careful you can take them apart and reuse [...]
Shrine moving ceremony
Before we can begin the final stage of the renovation we need to move the shrines to ensure they don't get damaged. In the interim, temporary shrines are set up so the positive energy is maintained in the lane and in the villa and so the house Gods still have [...]