Ok, so we had been at this place for six weeks. That’s a whopping 42 days (well 41 to be precise), but who’s counting anyway.
So we have stayed in two different types of accommodation here, starting in room 317 in a deluxe room;
Deluxe Room
Well, what an incredible room. Everything is handmade from solid wood. The bed itself is HUGE, certainly big enough for both Tina and me and not realise the other was in the same bed. For those who are looking for a nice soft bed, you will be sadly disappointed. It’s quite firm; I quite like a soft bed. But even though this wasn’t to how I would like it. It was still soft enough to get a good night sleep.
One thing you will notice almost instantly is the face the bathroom has an almost floor to ceiling window. Yes, pretty much a viewing window for the person having a shower, or on the toilet (not ideal). One thing we found though is the showers differ from room to room. We stayed in 3 different deluxe rooms. Two of which had a shower so powerful, it was painful to take a nice shower. Also, we found the water did take a while to warm up, but once up to temperature, it was okay. So gentleman out there, do the chivalrous thing and let your lady go first. You will thank me for it.
Every room at the Astagina Resort Villa & Spa has a flat screen TV and DVD player. This was ideal for us, as we spent probably 40% of our time in the room writing and preparing our magazine. It was a nice mix of Asian and western TV. In terms of finding the right channel it was quite laborious to flick through all the channels to find the movies (we have recommended this to the hotel going forward). The DVD player we experienced was pretty good. I guess the only trouble we had was playing DVD’s that you buy over here. I warn you now, you will be hard pressed to purchase a legitimate DVD anywhere in Bali, so your values will be tested.
Finally, let’s discuss the WiFi at the hotel. If you are looking for high-speed wireless internet, you will be disappointed. There were many times we had to speak to reception because the network kept cutting out. At best we were getting 1mb/s, at worse we were getting a shocking 0.05mb/s. I could visit each of our followers and tell them in person what was going on before Instagram would upload an image.
In particular, we were in room 220. Great room, separate shower. But the internet just wouldn’t be picked up. Even after IT came to our room. Long story short we had to have the balcony door open 24/7, just to get a basic internet speed.
But as you can see from the images, the deluxe rooms are just stunning.
1 Bedroom Garden Villa
Well, we had been here a few days now, and we missed cooking. Where the deluxe rooms didn’t even come with a microwave, we asked to move rooms. A few days later we were in room 605.
So let me set the scene for garden villa 605. It is right at the back of the resort. It is wooden in structure and right next to where the workers arrive and leave on their mopeds. If you have been to Bali before, you will realise that everyone uses their horn for safety and awareness. So as early as 7.00am you will be woken by this, sometimes earlier if the walkway is being cleared.
The room itself, it’s huge! The bedroom and lounge area if as big as a deluxe room including bathroom. However, when you step foot into the kitchenette, you have the toilet attached (no door or anything dividing). This is not good for two reasons for me;-
- Unless you have a special relationship. You cannot prepare food, or anything if you have an urgent nature call. All cooking comes to a standstill. This leads to my second issue with this.
- If you end up going for a number 2, this rightly or wrongly could have health hazards if preparing food. It even appeared like they once upon a time had a door of some kind separating the two.
So the kitchenette itself has a single ring burner, enough utensils for two people and a deep frying pan. So if you are planning on cooking anything other than a one pot meal, you will end up with cold rice or pasta.
As you can from the images, the shower unit is open next to the toilet. We only used the bath to do some washing, but the shower here seemed always to run cold (lukewarm at the very best. It’s a shame, but, after a boiling day, a nice cold shower is very welcomed.
BRING DEET SPRAY OR SIMILAR. THE GARDEN VILLA HAS A BEAUTIFUL WATER FEATURE. BUT HARBOURS ALL THOSE LITTLE DISEASE CARRYING MOZZIES. THEY DID ONE DAY DO SOME MOZZIE FOGGING. NOW THAT’S AN EXPERIENCE YOU NEED TO SEE.
