After several months at the T Houses in Lodtunduh, which was always our temporary residence while we looked for something better, we have moved closer to town to the Chili Cottages in Nyuh Kuning. It is a well sought after area – quiet, safe, neat and close to town. It is just a 15-minute walk to Ubud from here through the monkey forest.
We occupy the family villa, and the standard of accommodation is not much different from the T House, just in a better area. This villa is situated among lovely manicured gardens behind Chili Café. Like our last place, we share the gardens and pool with a few other villas, although so far they have mostly been empty.
The garden shelter is a great place to chill out, especially when the cleaners come in.
The grassy area in front of our villa is a fabulous backyard being well used at the moment to play World Cup Football.
There is a good-sized pool, but it lacks the shallow kiddy pool we had at the T House. It does have a wide step they can stand on to play. The boys in their floaty vests are pretty confident now to swim in deeper water.
The villa has walls! A closed in house was one of the essential criteria that Clare had when we were looking for a new place to live. This way you get a lot fewer bugs coming inside. We have resident geckos (which eat the other insects), mozzies that sneak in, and the occasional spider, but that is about it. This is a very significant change compared to the creatures of Bali.
The bedrooms are air-conditioned, so we can seal them up and there is no need for mosquito nets.
The boys share the other room.
The house has only two bedrooms, so we turned one of the living areas into a room for Olive, as she was not that keen to share with her two brothers.
There is only one bathroom, with is a downgrade from the three we had in the last place, however, the bonus is having a bath. It is closed in, but you can open all the windows to get a feel for the tropical open bathroom.
There is a cosy living area, and we have a TV now, which even has the Australia Network showing Play School and some AFL games!
The kitchen is outdoors and separate from the house. A very basic ‘typical Balinese’ setup, which is fine as most of the time we eat out or get food delivered.
We have a little outdoor eating area too, great for breakfast and lunch, but unfortunately in the evenings, the mozzies swarm around us. This forces us, as the sun sets, to head indoors and close up the house.
We are very happy with the decision to come here, fortunately… as we have paid all our rent in advance (the Balinese way). This will be our home until the end of the year. So if anyone is keen to visit us, it is a great neighbourhood and there are plenty of nice villas here and in the surrounding area.