Sayonara to Sayan

Yes, we have already said goodbye to Sayan and the sacred Ayung river but there was a couple of topics that I wanted to explore a little more with y'all.  We were very impressed with a couple of things about the resort up in the hills. One item relates to the resort itself which is really a marvel in terms of the layout and construction of the buildings and the second item was an event that occurred on our last evening up there.

The river valley up at Sayan is a very steep. Geomorphology geeks would call it a classic v-shaped valley. The river at Sayan is very fast and the erosian is happening mostly in a down-cutting manner which has formed the steep valley walls. This obviously makes it a challenge when you are building a resort but when confronted with that challenge, the architect that designed this place was definately up to the task and produced a really novel and beautiful result. I can only explain it with the help of Mrs. Gym's photos, as follows:

Here is a good photo of the Ayung river as it tumbles
down the valley and cuts a v-shaped path to the sea

The main building's roof is almost level with the top of the valley walls so you enter the building from the roof and essentially it is set up the opposite way of a normal building built on the street of any city because the reception area is on the top floor.

To get to reception and the front desk you cross a bridge
from the top of the valley to the roof of the main building

from the roof you enter through the ceiling of the reception area
to the top floor of the main building

looking down to the bottom of the valley from the upper floor

looking at the steep valley floor from the lounge

this picture shows how the main building is anchored to the steep valley wall

looking up at the main building from the path to our villa
 (it was  65 steps to every meal)

pathway to the villa from the main building

The main building was not the only building constructed in this upside-down manner. All of the villas were entered via a covered stairwell from the roof.

here is the entrance to our villa

once inside the entrance you descend down the well into the villa

Another interesting feature of all of the villas, as well as the main building was that the roofs were all covered with water features.

this is part of the pond on the main building

this is the water garden sits on top of our villa

On our last evening in Sayan, a Bali dance group put on a little show for the hotel guests in the lounge. Neither of us had seen this kind of performance and it was kind of the climax of our visit to the resort. One thing we both noticed is how expressive the hands and eyes of the dancers are while their mouths remain closed. They dance on the balls of their bare feet and each movement is in concert with notes being pounded out on an almost exclusively percussionist orchestra (there was one lowly flute in the background).

The band - all these guys are banging on something,
the lone flute player  is around the corner at the back 

first dance, it is hard to see but the feet and hands are really expressive

the eyes are very animated too but the mouthes remain closed

check out the headgear

Bird of Paradise dance

her eyes are shifting back and forth so fast she will end up with one of those
back of the eye-socket aches one sometimes gets when one is  hungover

note the hands here on this one

very colourful, huh?

I wrote this entry from the beach resort at Jimbaran Bay. We have actually been on the coast here for two nights. I will describe this area for you in my next posting.

It is a sticky, 33 degrees C here in Jimbaran Bay. I think that is about a 45-degree difference from our home in Calgary. I hope all y'all stay warm and drive carefully.