The Mulia

June 4–6

Oh my, oh my, oh my! So this is how the rich live!!
We left the Pan Pacific Nirwana about noon on Wednesday, the 4th, and rode an hour-and-a-half to the eastern tip of the island to The Mulia. As we traveled you could see the look of the shops and buildings improved greatly until we were in "the high-rent" district. As we were about to enter the grounds of The Mulia, we had to go through a security area where they even ran mirrors under the bus. I haven't been through that kind of security since we went through checkpoints in Berlin (before the wall came down).
What a magnificent place!! There are no words. . .

 View as we arrived, looking toward the hotel

 The entrance fountain

 The lobby "ceiling"

The three women on the right are friends who came together on this tour (with their husbands) They are all from Idaho. Small world story - The woman on the far right has a daughter who moved into our ward with her family shortly after we took this trip - so I've seen her a few times since this.

View toward the Indian Ocean from the end of the enormous, multi-part lobby

 There were lots of public spaces, and hallways, each more grand than the next.

Our room was luxurious and beautiful:

The balcony was truly an extension of the room and people a couple of floors above us watched monkeys playing in the trees outside their rooms! (We only saw birds from ours)

When you open the frosted glass door to the toilet area, the lid automatically lifts and a small light comes on. When you sit, you discover that the seat is heated, and when you stand up, after using it, it automatically flushes. Once you exit the area, the lid closes itself.

These were the controls on the wall, for the bidet. You can adjust the water spray pressure and the position and at the end, warm air dries you. There was one couple in our group who said they have one like this at home. The rest of us couldn't stop talking about it - and we all took pictures!

We spent most of our time at this resort wandering around the parts of the hotel we had access to and enjoying the beach. (Evidently, there are parts of the hotel that are inaccessible to us regular folks so their VIP guests can have their privacy.)

 I got up early and enjoyed taking some pictures at sunrise - with hardly anyone else around. . .

Later, we went swimming — in the ocean and in one of several pools. The water temperature in the Indian Ocean was perfect! As beautiful as the Pan Pacific Nirwana was, I'm really glad we got to stay somewhere with beach access, as well. By the pool we had large lounge chairs with huge sun visors overhead so we could be out of the sun.

The man in the pic below, with his arms crossed, is part of the security that was evident all around the resort.

And, can we talk about the food!! Wow! There is a hotel buffet we ate at a couple of times that is unbelievable — a huge space filled with offerings to appeal to people from all over the world. Plus, a side room full of desserts (including a chocolate fountain) The hotel also offered several areas where you could order from a menu. And, all of it was fantastic!

After our swim we had lunch at a poolside cafe, The Soleil.
(Pic of their entrance wall is above)
No matter where you go, sometimes, you just can't beat a burger and fries. . .

When we checked out the next day, (June 6) we were reminded of the advice we read a few months ago — When you travel, take fewer clothes and more money! We were down to our last $20 as we headed for the airport and the L-O-N-G flight home. 

(It took days and days for me to recover from this trip. Later I read that you should expect your body to take one day to adjust for each time zone you went through. For this trip, that would be 12 days, and I think that's about how long it was. Nevertheless, I'd do it all again!!! Trip of a lifetime! I am so blessed!!)