Want to buy your way into paradise?  Check into one of the elegant, Balinese-style villas with stone walls, marble floors and thatch roofs on a beautiful hillside overlooking Jimbaran Bay and the Indian Ocean.  I have been sending clients to the Four Seasons Bali for several years and they always return raving about the experience, but until now I did not really understand why.

This is best described not as a hotel, but as the replication of a local village of walled villas.  The streets are more like alleys, the width of a golf cart, which are used for transportation, if desired, though most people seem to prefer to walk.  Once you check into your villa, you will have no reason ever to leave your "Paradise on Earth".  Your villa consists of a main building, with a marble floored bedroom, dressing area, bathroom with a huge oval tub on a marble base, two sinks and indoor shower, and the bathroom opens to a garden with an outdoor shower.  The marble-floored, living area is across a patio area from the bedroom. The wall serves as the background while the other three sides are open to an entry garden, to your bedroom and to your private plunge pool.  Sofa, chairs, a buffet table housing the mini-fridge and storage for the flatware and crystal, a dining table and 4 dining chairs all overlook the panoramic view of the bay below. We are not talking rattan furniture either, but top quality teak and big sofa pillows.

It's a distance of only six steps from the bed to the pool.  The bedroom doors slide wide open, both to the private plunge pool deck and toward the living room area.  The deck has two chaise lounges under a big white sun umbrella.

A call to room service and the waiter is there to set the table and deliver lunch.  Why ever leave the villa?  Pre-book your morning manicure and pedicure and follow that with an hour and a half's massage.  You will start at 9a.m. and finish about noon.  Three hours of services for about $90!  Did I not promise you paradise?

Should you forget your own name, don't worry.  Somehow every member of the staff will know it and use it every time they see you.
 
 

	ABOVE LEFT: To the right is the bedroom, dressing room, and bath. To the left is the living area. LEFT: The marble floor living area with three open sides. ABOVE: Your private garden and outdoor shower.