It is important to know something about every culture you come in contact with, especially when staying in their local hotels, motels, hostels and possibly villas Bali. It allows for growth intellectually, in some ways culturally and possibly religiously.  Knowing where a person comes from goes a long way into knowing what made a person or a group of people the way they are now. The Balinese people are known for their hospitality as well as their general welcoming attitude towards all people no matter what walk of life they belong.  Some may even welcome you into villas Bali to share meals and a place to stay. There are many reasons for this toleration.  The island of Bali has seen many visitors going all the way back and farther than the 9th century AD.  Many were explorers looking for trade routes for buying and selling goods while others were looking for new lands to claim in the name of their homeland.  The Dutch were no different.

In 1597, Dutch mariners were the first of many Europeans to visit the island paradise of Bali.  Only having around 90 men survive where almost 250 had began, their journey was an arduous one to be sure.  When they landed in Bali, the Balinese king welcomed them to his land. Their captain, a man named Cornelius Houtman, had been offered a warm welcome and was allowed entrance into the inner working of the palace and of the king.  Imagine the lush gardens, wondrous wildlife, and other such splendors that could be seen if your Bali villa rent was in this time and place. The sailors, seeing the prosperity of the island royalty and the arts that abounded, they fell in love with the island.

They were astounded by how the raja lived.  The king, or Dalem, had 200 wives, a group of 50 dwarf attendants, as well as two white buffalo which were used to pull his royal chariot. Seeing the wonder of the land after visiting places like Kuta, a group of sailors refused to leave on a return trip to Holland.  It is said that upon leaving the island, Captain Houtman had declared Bali to be called “Young Holland”. Seeing Bali for yourself, whether touring or looking out of your hotel or enjoying the views from any villas Bali, you can envision how it looked hundreds of years ago.

The 18th century saw the beginning of Dutch colonization along many regions of Bali.  In 1710, the Balinese royalty were involved in some inner turmoil which began with the capitol of the Gelgel kingdom being moved to Klungklung, or modern day Semarapura. Many of the lesser rajas were beginning to separate themselves from the power of the kingdom of Gelgel.  The Dutch seeing this, believed it was an opportunity to employ the old strategy of divide and conquer. Imagine all of this going on in the past of the very island you are visiting while enjoying the comfort of a Balinese hotel or Bali villa rent.  The royalty infighting and the peasants suffering.

So maybe while enjoying a quiet evening in your Bali villa rent, you can try to see how the Balinese people have come so far in their growth as a people.  To take what was a beautiful island paradise divided into principalities that was overseen by rajas, and then introduced to the Dutch way of life.

Bali is well known for its art influence on many foreign artists who visits its majestic shores.  Artist from all over the works still come to Bali to take pictures or paint the gorgeous scenery that abounds even from the patio of many Bali villas for rent. But one that stands out among all of them is Adrien-Jean Le Mayeur de Merpres. Born in Belgium in 1880, La Mayeur came to Singaraja, Bali by boat in 1932, after painting various scenes in places such as Varanasi also known as Benares, India. Le Mayeur was fascinated by the richness of the Balinese culture that had survived Dutch’s push for colonization, including the traditional way of life the Balinese people, their temple rituals and the dances portraying their history and local lore in motion.

Le Mayeur decided to stay in a rented house in Banjar Kelandis, Denpasar. He wanted to be surrounded in the beautiful colors and light filtered through the splendor and beauty of a rather untouched island paradise. You can see the awesome majesty of the island with your own eyes even from the bedroom window of your Bali villa rental.

While staying in that home, he met and became acquainted with Ni Nyoman Pollok.  Ni Pollok was a 15-year-old legong dancer. To some she was considered to be the best legong dancer in Bali. Le Mayeur’s art studio, his rented house, was where he was inspired by Ni Pollok and her friends who came by daily to model for Le Mayeur. Quite a few of Le Mayeur’s painting went into an exhibit in Singapore in 1933 and did very well.  This exhibit made his name more widely known in the art world.

He returned to Bali after his successful showing, bought some land off of Sanur beach, while it was still considered a quiet fishing area, and built a house, which was one of the most intriguing show of Balinese architecture. His house also doubled as his studio.  He continued to use Ni Pollok and her friends as muses and models.  Soon, the relationship between Le Mayeur and Ni Pollok grew, first was a friendship, then a romantic relationship and in 1935, Le Mayeur and Ni Pollok married.  They continued to live in his Sanur home. You can take a short walk from your hotel room or Bali villas for rent to visit what is still his home.

Le Mayeur’s early, pre Bali work were impressionist style paintings of places like Africa, Italy, South Pacific, India and France. Once he reached Bali, his painting became more of a romantic view of the daily life of the Balinese people and the true beauty of the island, its women, mostly Ni Pollok. Le Mayeur, continued his painting with his wife, Ni Pollok, as his model. He enjoyed using her as his muse and model because of her passion for dancing and traditional life lived by her ancestors can be see through her eyes. You can still see that in many of his painting the grace the walls of his home, maybe even on the walls of many Bali villa rental, or perhaps hanging on the walls in some of the hotels that showcase local Balinese artwork. You will have to find out for yourselves.

After the introduction of the Dutch people and their ideas of divide and conquer, the Balinese people had some adjusting to do since their kingdom as a whole was starting to crumble. Around 1846, the Dutch took their dominance of Bali one step further.  In order to take over the rest of the island, they used the pretext of ridding the Balinese people of the problems of slavery, opium smuggling and arms running as well as using Balinese salvage law to lay claim to shipwrecks to impose more control on Bali and place military forces on the northern part of the island.  This was the way it was in many islands in the south pacific, Indian Ocean and Caribbean.  Many Bali villa may currently stand where smugglers had once raced to hide their stashes. In 1894, seeing another opportunity to advance in their colonization of Bali, backed the Sasaks of Lombok in a rebellion.  In the end, the northern part of Bali became completely under Dutch control. Now that the north was firmly secure, they began eyeing the southern portion of the island.  Again, salvage law created their foothold.

In 1904, the Balinese people had been eager in salvaging a Chinese ship and the Dutch demanded a payment of 3000 silver dollars for damages but the raja of Badung refused to pay.  Seeing this as disrespect, by 1906, the Dutch had mobilized their warships in Sanur, landed and begun to cut a swath of bodies, some died by puputan, “fight to the death” or ritual suicide, rather than to live in dishonor, and some were cut down by Dutch bullets.  After each encounter the bodies were plundered, villages abandoned, and palaces burned.  You an be sure that if that were to happen in Bali while it was such a large tourist hub, no matter if you were staying in a small home or a lavish Bali villas for rent, you would not want to be anywhere near any of this. By 1908, with the death of the remaining raja in Klungklung by a Dutch bullet, the Dutch had complete and total control of Bali and it was the end of the Majapahit era on Bali. The Dutch East Indies was finally complete. But after all of the fighting and ritual deaths that occurred in order to gain total control, the Dutch lost Indonesia to the Japanese in World War II, after just a few decades.

In 1945, the first Indonesian president, Sukarno, brought together the Indonesian people as well as other island people, in order to proclaim independence from Dutch rule.  It took many lives and 4 years but on December 29, 1949, the Netherlands recognized Indonesia and it neighboring islands as the United States of Indonesia. After all of the blood shed, tears, rebellion, and picking up the pieces you would think the Balinese people would be reluctant to allow foreigners into their beautiful island. But they aren’t.  They openly greet others into their islands daily.  You can walk around the different parts of the island, and find many private and commercial Bali villas for rent.

In some tourist areas, like Singaraja in the north, there are still traces of the Dutch in the architecture of the building and the wide, paved streets.  There are even monuments to those who lost their life.  There is even one placed in the spot where the Badung raja’s palace once stood, over a hundred years ago.  So if you are staying in the northern part of the island, make sure to leave the comfort of your room or Bali villa in the tranquil northern coast, and talk a walk through history to a time when  life wasn’t easy and strife was common place.

Bali lies eight degrees south of the Equator and seems to float in the warm seas of the Indian Ocean. She is a lush, green, fertile testament to the combination of rich volcanic sols, consistent rainfall and a life-friendly climate with a year-round temperature which hovers around thirty degrees Celsius day and night.

The past decade or so has seen a dramatic rise in the number of tourists directly arriving to Bali and many seek a Bali villa for a more exclusive holiday experience. There are many Bali villas for rent and the choice depends on size of party, desired location and budget.

Being eight degrees south means that day length has very little variation throughout the year and the sun rises around six am and sets around six thirty pm. Dawn comes quickly, taking between fifteen minutes and half an hour to go from darkness to daylight and in the evening, the sky begins to darken around six fifteen and is black as night at six forty five. This is quite a phenomenon for those of us who live closer to the poles accustomed to our long summer twilit evenings and gloomy winter afternoons.

The Earth bulges slightly at the equator and on a clear, cloudless night, the view from a Bali villa can give the impression of being closer to the stars. This is obviously an insignificant amount compared with the vast distances to even the closest of heavenly bodies but the impression is quite marked. The Earth spins faster at the equator so one may also feel one’s progress through the heavens more keenly!

Many Bali villas for rent have swimming pools and the tropical climate makes them almost essential if one is not used to the constant high temperatures and almost one hundred percent humidity. One of the most satisfying parts of a Balinese vacation can be bobbing up and down at the edge of the pool, drinking a glass of cool beer or chilled wine. Being that Bali is much warmer than, all wines are best served chilled, not only the whites and rosés. This can be felt as a mistake by those of us from cooler latitudes but once you have tasted a chilled glass of Syrah or Cabernet Sauvignon by or in your pool there is no going back!

Bali is a small island with a huge personality, sitting in the Indian Ocean between Java and Lombok. It is the most popular tourist destination in Indonesia and home to almost four million people. Indonesia is the most populous Indonesian nation and the fourth biggest country after China, India and the US and yet Bali is more than 90% Hindu which gives the island a unique flavour.

It has long been the home to an expatriate community who were mobile between Australia, India, the US and Europe. These people would visit Bali for an extended period, often staying for the maximum the old visa allowed, which was two months. This created a market for medium term housing and began the requirement for villas in Bali.

Bali villa rentals range from simple one bedroom cosy hideaways all the way to multi-dwelling compounds with several swimming pools and a staff which make them mini-hotels in all but name. It all depends on budget and numbers of people in your party. The most impressive villas overlook scenes of magnificent beauty; facing huge sweeps of ocean or the steps of fractal-like rice terracing cut into the spurs of the tumbling mountains. Some of these villas Bali are ultra modern, with electric everything and hewn from steel and stone. Others are traditional, wooden based and steeped in the traditional construction and decor of the region.

Some villas have a full retinue of staff, others simply a cook/cleaner and a gardener/driver. This is the minimal level necessary for comfort and although many people are initially dubious about having staff in their ‘home’, Indonesians are very good at merging into the background and only being visible when they are required. Often the cook/cleaner will work from 8am till 3pm or 4pm and then melt away; and the driver will garden in the early morning and late afternoon and stay out f the way until summoned for driving duties.

Renting a villa in Bali is an opportunity to experience a standard of living which is well out of one’s normal everyday experience and Bali villa rentals can provide guests with a superb vacation experience for a very reasonable price.

When the rain comes in Bali, after a long spell of dry weather, it is a blessed relief. It is the smell which first heralds the coming of manna from the skies. It is the smell of gratitude from the flora which covers almost every square metre of this glorious island. It is a smell of rich soil and leaf mould, the swelling roots of trees and the joyful leaves reaching for sustenance. Bali villa rentals usually consist of the villa itself and immaculately manicured gardens. These provide endless hours of pleasure for guests; species of plants found in hot-houses or cut in bunches in one’s home country grow with reckless abandon in the gardens of the villas in Bali.

Heliconias, a relative of the banana, range to over one hundred distinct species, many of which are native to Indonesia. Some species are reminiscent of the Bird of Paradise; great arching inflorescences of individual flowers in reds, oranges, greens and yellows. These are an astonishing exhibition of the incredible ingenuity of nature. Some Heliconia species are small and delicate with tiny flowers which seem to defy the roar of the jungle and the risk from mega fauna. Some of these provide the food for forest hummingbirds and their particular high-sugar nectar diet. Others are huge weighty vessels; suitable for the diets of larger animals. Some fruit bats build nests which they weave from Heliconia leaves. Some are food for monkeys who also love the sweet nectar to be found inside some species. Bali villa rentals usually do not come supplied with monkeys but these can be arranged for a further fee! (Only kidding – it is currently illegal to keep monkeys as domestic pets in Bali!) When the rain comes the Heliconia drink it up. It bounces off their leaves and many members of the Heliconia family have an upward facing flower which acts as a cup to capture rain water for birds and insects.

Heliconia is exotic but what about species which are more common in the western household? One class of native Indonesian plants which grow everywhere here and yet are seen as delicate houseplants in the west are the many species of vine. Some have been around for years and have affectionate names; Devil’s Palm, Taro Palm and the ubiquitous Rubber Plant are all Indonesian natives. Seen in homes in Europe or America these are coddled and cosseted specimens, highly nurtured weaklings, proudly displayed as they force their tiny leaves out of their pots and up, up up to heights of nearly a metre at best. In Bali you may be in for a shock. The very same plants in their natural habitat have few limits on growth. Single leaves in Bali which are bigger than entire plants in Europe. Climbing up the walls and of villas in Bali and growing in hedgerows and ditches by the side of the road are plants which are sold for a fortune in garden centres in London, Lyons, Las Vegas and Lazio.

Bali is an Indonesian island that offers an extensive collection of ecological wonders. From rolling volcanic mountain chains to lush jungles and beautiful coral reefs, Bali features an unforgettable experience to all of its visitors. If you want a vacation away from the norm, try booking a trip to Bali. You can enjoy heart pounding activities such as bungee jumping, surfing , or scuba-diving or relax and indulge in Bali’s exclusive spa and massage services. If you do not want to sacrifice creature comforts for an adventurous vacation, look into Bali’s premier villas that will make an ideal home away from home.

One of Bali’s most exclusive villa options is the Villa Asmara. This sophisticated and cozy villa is nestled amongst the secluded rice paddies of the sleepy town of Cemagi, and is conveniently located fifteen minutes away from the extraordinary temple at Tanah Lot. If you enjoy golfing, you’re in luck! The villa is a simple 20 minute car ride from stunning Nirwana Bali gold course. You can also enjoy the exceptional dining options and fashionable boutiques in the bustling tourist town of Seminyak.

The Villa Asmara is centered around a serene saltwater swimming pool. The villa also offers two air conditioned suites with king sized beds and en-suite bathrooms. The two air conditioned master suites include king sized beds, en-suite bathrooms and spacious spa tubs. The villa features a modern gourmet kitchen which is fully equipped with all of the latest appliances. The lounge area includes a widescreen plasma television and a large DVD library. The second floor features a breathtaking view of the ocean and a cozy guest bathroom. The villa also includes a lush tropical garden, ornamental lily pond, tennis court, and a pool table.

The villa’s professional in-house gourmet chef will prepare fabulous breakfast, lunch, and diner options that will please every guest. You can choose between mouth-watering Asian cuisine, western, or a traditional Balinese culinary delight. The rest of the villa’s staff is friendly and accommodating and will provide you with warm services including scented towels, fresh fruit platters, and gourmet coffees. The villa’s service team includes a gardener and personal driver, a personal chef, housekeepers, and a security guard.

If you want to avoid the loud noise and hustle of popular tourist locations, try escaping to the serene and relaxing environment of the Villa Asmara. This secluded villa offers the privacy and security that you crave. Whether you are a honeymooning couple or family with small children, you can enjoy all of the comforts of home in this Indonesian paradise. The Villa Asmara will make your enjoyable vacation memorable and relaxing and can provide you with a serene environment to indulge in after a long day at the beach or visiting local sites, shops, and restaurants.

Everybody deserves to experience a memorable and adventurous vacation once in their lives. If you dream of lush jungles housing colorful birds, warm and crystal clear waters with tropical fish, and sweeping black sand beaches, Bali is your premier choice for an enjoyable and unique vacation. This Indonesian island is the perfect getaway for couples and families. Whether you want to indulge in relaxing spa and massage treatments or participate in heart pumping activities such as surfing, bungee jumping, or scuba-diving, Bali can accommodate your every need. Now you don’t have to sacrifice the comforts of home to enjoy an exotic getaway. Bali’s exclusive villas offer everything you need for a memorable vacation.

One of the most luxurious villas Bali has to offer is called the Villa Prasada-Canggu. This elegant villa is nestled on a quiet bend of a river in the tranquil village of Canggu and is conveniently located one kilometer from Echo Beach and 20 minutes from the popular tourist town of Seminyak. The villa is situated among a peaceful expanse of rice paddies on a privately accessed road to ensure your peace.

Echo Beach is a safe beach to swim in and offers a variety of delicious restaurants. Guests can also enjoy a hardy breakfast at the Villa Prasada-Canggu made from fresh ingredients provided by local farmers and farms.

The villa’s spacious five bedrooms are perfect for accommodating ten guests and offers a contemporary feel while preserving the best of Balinese architecture. The villa’s open pavilion is carved from beautiful wood and offers a comfortable spot for friends and family to relax. The pavilion opens up onto a wooden deck with sun lounges that overlook a serene salt water pool and Jacuzzi. The large Balinese
Bale on the other side of the pool offers a great environment for relaxing, reading, or indulging in an invigorating massage. The open living areas can also easily host a wedding or party of up to 60 guests.

The accommodating dining area is in a separate building and is accentuated with exquisitely carved wooden walls. The dining table sits up to 12 people and overlooks the pool and rice paddies beyond.

The lush gardens give the villa a tropical and secluded feel. It also offers a large filtered pond that houses many species of tropical fish and the relaxing sounds sooths guests.

Each bedroom in the villa offers a unique feel and creative décor. The Master Suite is a separate four-room building with its own private gate, deck, and garden overlooking rice paddies. There is a double bedroom, sitting area, dressing room, and a large bathroom featuring twin showers and a relaxing two person bath.

The other four bedrooms are in a separate building and consist of three double rooms, and one twin room. Each room offers state-of-the-art amenities including a large fridge, coffee making machine, and hair dryer.

If you want to experience the luxuries of Bali without missing the comforts of home, enjoy the Villa Prasada-Canggu’s serene environment.