Completed in 2007, Villa RaJa is one of Bali's newest and most luxuriously appointed private villas. Yet the moment you enter it's as if you've taken a time machine back to Bali's golden era of architecture.
Turning 90 degrees against the decorating tide of white on white, owners Ralph and Janet Hogan set out to create an architectural masterpiece to showcase the myriad traditional textures, styles, arts and crafts for which Bali is so rightly famous.
Crafted by two of the island's most talented traditional builders, this is a structure of great beauty with a timeless patina which weaves state of the art technology into a fabulous fabric of antiquity. 400 year old timbers, richly carved paneling, textures of coral, pebbles, limestone and marble decorate every aspect of the building.
Like the country which inspired it, Villa RaJa is itself an unforgettable cultural experience.
Accommodation
The villa features 4 bedrooms including an unforgettable master bedroom, with soaring 6 meter ceilings and sweeping views of the surrounding rice paddies. The huge antique carved bed head frames a king size bed and was once a prestigious house facade in Java. One visitor likens spending a night here to "sleeping in the world's sexiest art gallery," with waxed, black ironwood floors, massive teak beams and, encircling you as you sleep, the unfolding saga of the Ramayana in beautiful, softly lit Kamisan paintings.
The bedroom opens onto a spacious walk in robe (complete with safety box), and an exotic, free-form en-suite bathroom that's straight out of the Arabian nights. This in turn opens into the soft Balinese sunshine and an eye-popping Gaudi-esque outdoor shower, patterned entirely underfoot and on all sides with a dazzling collection of 1920s terrazzo tiles rescued from mansions being demolished in Java.
The other 3 bedrooms are just as beautiful and all come with en-suite bathrooms and walk in robes. The romantic Loft forms the upper floor of a separate smaller timber Jineng which overhangs the huge 20 meter pool, rimmed with carved black stone slabs from Java and fed by spouting, 2 meter stone statues. The Orchid Room on the ground floor overlooks the rice paddies and a charming orchid shade house while the Purple Room situated upstairs has views onto the villa complex and rice fields beyond.
Location
Nestled in the heart of the charming village of Canggu, where the locals go about their daily rituals of preparing for temple celebrations, growing rice and living a traditional life, Villa RaJa provides a genuine experience of the real Bali that you will never find in more built up tourist areas.
