Peace and papaya ... Alila Ubud's infinity pool.
I'm naked, I can't see and I'm having warm oil poured over me. I have most certainly reached a higher level of consciousness. And it's only 10 o'clock.
Already this morning, high in the hills of Ubud, we have practised tai chi barefoot in the sculpture garden overlooking a tangled ravine. Breakfast was wholesome (if you don't count the mini-pastries) and accompanied by the singing of a hundred tiny birds.
I've chosen a "conscious living" experience during my stay at twin hotels in east Bali, which means a busy regimen of healthy living, relaxation and pampering.
The last of the oil dances over my forehead and the tingling sensation stops. The therapist breaks the spell by removing the eye pads, gently tugging on my hair and pressing her palms to my shoulders. The Shirodara treatment is over. I open my eyes to a green glow. In the open-bale hut, the air is full of the colour of the jungle.
I feel no shame in admitting that we spend the rest of the day lolling around the hotel. My mother and I are here to relax and Alila Ubud is the perfect place to do so.
The hotel was designed by Australian architect Kerry Hill, who draws no line between inside and out, nature and structure. The rooms, spa, restaurant and reception are open to the elements and the intelligent use of natural materials, such as stone and wood, fosters harmony.
It's the rainy season and the daily lunchtime downpour means rolling down the bamboo shutters at the cabana lounge. Over a beef and green-papaya salad, my conversation skills plummet. Instead I stare, slack-jawed and oily-haired, at the fat drops of rain dimpling the surface of the infinity pool above the Ayung River.
As the afternoon rolls on and the rain stops, grey monkeys appear, walking, playing and stealing any fruit foolishly left on balconies.
The next day, thoroughly refreshed, we are ready to venture beyond the rice paddies that line the hotel's private road, into Ubud, Bali's creative heart, for some shopping.
On the way we visit a local healer. Nyoman Damai and his wife live in a typical Balinese compound with living areas and a temple. We're delivered to the business end, an open consulting room surrounded by medicinal herbs and plants that flourish in the tropics.
The healer takes hold of one of my mother's feet and presses a blunt stick onto various pressure points. He rattles off a list of health complaints, including the stomach bug that has kept her up all night.
He's positively gentle with my mum compared with how he drives the stick, thumbs and elbows into pressure points on my feet, legs, hands and chest.
Clutching bags of capsules filled with herbs that Australian customs officers are going to love, my mother and I finish the consultation and giggle like schoolgirls all the way to Ubud. For the rest of the day, we're high and energised.
This is the perfect state to be in for our transfer to Alila Manggis, 40 kilometres away on the coast near the village of Candi Dasa. Alila Ubud is very much a retreat; its sister hotel at Manggis is more of a resort. Where Ubud is moody, introspective and green, Manggis is bright, beachy and the perfect place to "chillax" (chill out and relax). The next morning starts with moving meditation - a private yoga class held alongside a pretty temple at the water's edge.
Yoga teaches humility and this is exactly what I feel once I've left the confines of the hotel and am sitting with Pak Sugita, Alila's organic gardener, watching him prepare fresh coconut milk at his home.
I spend three hours with Sugita and his family, helping to prepare a ceremonial cake, learning how to make coconut oil and knocking back jemu, a health-giving drink made from turmeric, white ginger and rice, ground on a volcanic stone.
My Alila experience ends much the way it began. This time, rather than oil on my forehead, it's the sound of waves and a gentle breeze as I succumb to the rolling and kneading of a Balinese massage.
FAST FACTS
Garuda flies to Denpasar non-stop from $650 return from Melbourne and Sydney. Jetstar flies non-stop from Melbourne and Sydney; one-way fares from Melbourne from $373 and $369 from Sydney (excluding tax). Australians obtain a visa on arrival for $US10 ($15.40) for up to seven days and $US25 for up to 30 days.
Book a Two Faces of Bali experience with Alila Ubud (+62 361 975963, ubud@alilahotels.com) for $US780 October-June and $US900 July-September. This includes two nights at Alila Manggis and Alila Ubud for two people in a deluxe room, transfers, breakfast, afternoon tea, massage and dinner for two. Choose the theme from conscious living, cultural learning, active spirits, couple celebration and culinary journey. See alilahotels.com.
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