Kissed by Sungai Gold

Kissed by Sungai Gold

THE rooster seems to have forgotten that I am on holidays and sleeping in at the luxurious Sungai Gold villa.photo
Every morning as the sun peeps through the darkness, Mr Rooster is up, strutting his stuff for the village to hear.
He is Cepaka’s wake-up call. “I’m up,” he seems to be saying.
“Perhaps you should join me. Wake up and let’s all welcome in another beautiful day in Bali.”860457-villa-sungai
Cepaka is a tiny village an hour to the north of Denpasar. It is as authentic a village as you will find. The crumbling, pot-holed streets are narrow. Children, dogs and families congregate in the streets. The men squat together in small groups, deep in discussion.

Even without the benefit of understanding the local language, I’m sure they are not discussing the daily stresses of having to meet rising mortgage payments. Perhaps the conversation here is more about the health of the rice crop or plans for an upcoming local wedding.

Share Cepaka’s secret with the world

Their daily routine hides Cepaka’s secret. It is not a dirty secret. It is a secret that needs to be shared with the world. The secret is hidden from passers-by along the river that winds its way through the village. It is Cepaka’s other world.
It is a 5-star world with 11 individually owned villas perched along the riverfront. I’m told that Australians own all the villas and that Cepaka considers itself an “Aussie enclave”.
I didn’t get to see the other villas (I didn’t notice them until my driver pointed them out) but I was lucky enough to call Sungai Gold my home for three nights in December.villabali81920130101190509
I say “home” for a reason.

That’s how Little Made described it to us when we arrived. Sungai Gold and Villa Sungai share a staff of 12 villagers, and both are owned by Gold Coast businesswoman Pamela Hayes. Little Made is the man in charge on the ground. The little part of his name is apt. He welcomes us with a smile so infectious that you find yourself breaking out in support automatically.
Very seriously,  he explains that he wants us to treat Sungai Gold as our home. He wants us to tell him immediately if we are unhappy with anything, so he can fix it. It is here that you get your first glimpse of service, Sungai style.

Staff treat you like a family member

Apart from the beautiful setting, amazing food and luxury, the thing that sets Sungai apart is my new family’s commitment to service. You may be treated as well at some other places, but you will never be treated better.

Little Made hands us Sungai’s signature cocktail and introduces us to each of the staff members. Most live in the village. All have caught Little Made’s smiling affliction.
Villa Sungai is the bigger of the two properties. It sleeps eight, with three indoor bedrooms and one outside bedroom that during the day doubles as a communal daybed. Sungai Gold has one bedroom and a similar daubed set-up that could be dressed as a second bedroom with its own bathroom.

Hayes built the bigger villa more than a decade ago. The smaller Sungai Gold has been open for about two years. The villas can be booked together or separately.
The design of Sungai Gold lets the outside world into the villa. Only the oversized bedroom is indoors. All the other rooms the two dining rooms, the bathroom, the lounge room and pool are open to the environment.860693-villa-sungai
This is no more obvious than in the bathroom, which opens into the outside from the main bedroom. The rain showers really do let the rain in. One night when nature called I sat in contemplation in the company of a large gecko and a gorgeous frog.
The villa colour scheme is white with whitewashed distressed timber furnishings. Buddha statues take pride of place and daytime life evolves around the 10m lap pool which has an infinity edge that allows you to look down to the river and further across to a wall of dramatic green foliage.

Lost in total seclusion

You can’t see anything else, or anyone. It is total seclusion. You can hear the odd cow, some village dogs trading insults and, of course, that bloody rooster.
I did salute his work every morning when my soft-boiled eggs were delivered fresh to our table. Mr Rooster obviously has the hens in prime condition.
It is impossible not to praise the food at Sungai. If you called it restaurant quality you would need to qualify that it was as good as most places that would charge more than $40 a main.
You can eat breakfast, lunch and dinner on site. If you want to have a meal away from Sungai, someone will drive you wherever you want to go.
Because there is no public transport to Sungai, the villas have two cars to ferry guests around the island. And they will wait and bring you home when you are ready.
The bigger of the two villas would suit a family that didn’t want the constraints of a hotel room or a group of friends sharing common areas.

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