With birdsong filling the air we walked through the tropical garden exploding with natural beauty, past organic vegetable gardens, along a wooden walkway towards a traditional joglo.
We found ourselves completely immersed in nature and enveloped in spectacular elegance!
Villa Nag Shampa is a magnificent eight-bedroom villa that immediately took our collective breathe away. Darting across the lush gardens, charming wooden walkways connect the eight bedrooms, five gorgeous pools, generous living areas, enormous yoga sala and exclusive spa facilities. All this is set in the middle of wildly beautiful jungle.
Avant-Garde Interpretation of Indonesian Heritage
It’s not just the natural environment outside that blew us away, either. The interior design ethos is simply wondrous! The villa works with traditional structures while breaching boundaries in so many ways.
Each pavilion is crafted as a traditional Indonesian joglo, with impressive proportions and luxurious furnishings. We were fascinated by the craftsmanship of the hand carved motifs on the ceilings and doors, and by the eclectic collection of sculptures and artwork throughout the estate.
The eight bedrooms are all stylishly appointed with exotic bathtubs, wide balconies and daybeds. Every joglo has it’s own private area to relax and appreciate the natural environment. My personal favourite featured a private pool looking out over a deep, misty jungle ravine.
Achieving Nirvana
Reaching “nirvana” is to make earthly feelings like suffering and desire disappear. It’s often used casually to mean a place of happiness. If you love chocolate, going to a Cadbury factory would be considered nirvana. It may take a Buddhist monk years of meditating to reach nirvana.
Well, I can honestly say we reached nirvana staying at Villa Nag Shampa. We spent our days in a transcendent state – exploring gardens, eating and drinking together, enjoying daily massages and practicing yoga.
Through a series of walkways, all joglos lead to a central yoga pavilion situated above the main pool. It was a truly wonderful experience waking to the sounds of the jungle followed by an invigorating yoga class to start the day.
Fresh, Organic and Local
We were spoilt for choice with an extensive menu prepared with local ingredients, many sourced from the villa gardens.
An abundance of fresh fruits, juices, turmeric tea and perfect omelettes for breakfast were delicious. Our favourite meal was the Barramundi with pesto crumb, and velvety beurre blanc sauce. And we all enjoyed curry night, with the delicately spiced chicken curry and organic garden vegetables.
Exploring the Neighbourhood
Only once did we tear ourselves away from the serenity of the villa.
A short drive through rice fields brought a small contingent of our group to the jungle, where there were elephant rides and quad-biking on offer, firefly gardens and the delightful village of Delodsema, with its undulating streets and traditional family temples.
After checking out we drove 30 minutes into bustling Ubud, where we had lunch and explored the markets and unique boutiques.
Incense of Love
Did you know that nag shampa / nag champa is known as “the incense of love” – a sacred incense that purifies any environment, energetically transforming a space into a meditation area, naturally clearing out any negative energy and filling it with positive vibrations?
We think Villa Nag Shampa is aptly named. The villa infuses you with positive energy and transforms your state of mind. The experience of staying here is far more incredible than words, images or even video can describe.
Ministry of Villas’ team thoroughly enjoyed staying at Villa Nag Shampa and we unreservedly recommend this incredible estate to families, yogis and yoginis… or anyone planning to host a special event for a large group of travellers!
