As he continues to wind down after eight years in one of the world’s most stressful jobs, former US President Barack Obama and his family are now taking a five-day break in Ubud, the spiritual capital of Bali made famous by the iconic 2006 memoir Eat, Pray, Love.
And they’re staying in none other than the $7,500-per-night RoyalVilla, a epic three-bedroom, three-storey residence set on the grounds of the Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan on Ubud’s outskirts — the same stately residence where Julia Roberts lived with her two children for three months while shooting Eat, Pray, Love the movie alongside Spanish heart-throb Javier Bardem.
After landing at Bali’s Ngurah rai International Airport on Friday at 5:55pm, Obama, his wife Michelle, their daughters Malia and Sasha, a few other Obama family members and a small team of security staff members were chauffeured from Bali’s international airport up to Ubud, a 40km drive that can take up to two hours on Bali’s serpentine one-and-half-lane roads.
On arrival at the Four Seasons at Sayan, most guests disembark at the reception for check-in. However, Obama and his entourage were driven to the edge of the 18-acre resort where a concealed clock tower staircase overlooking a gentle bend in the Ayung River and jungle canopy brimming with birdlife descends into the Royal Villa.
“The jungle is not just visible,” says Four Seasons Sayan general manager Uday Rao. “If you close your eyes, you can hear the river flowing by and bird songs.”
The staircase leads to an open-air living room that pairs off on either side to huge bedroom wings. One bedroom has a kingsize bed while the other has two queen-size beds. Both rooms have walk-in dressing rooms, wraparound balconies, outdoor showers, handwoven fabrics, warm teak furnishings and are resplendently decorated with Indonesian works of art.
The villa is the same one Julia Roberts reportedly stayed in while shooting a movie in the country. Picture: Ian Neubauer
The villa is the same one Julia Roberts reportedly stayed in while shooting a movie in the country. Picture: Ian NeubauerSource:Supplied
The Villa has plenty of space for the eating part of Eat Pray Love. Picture: Ian Neubauer
The Villa has plenty of space for the eating part of Eat Pray Love. Picture: Ian NeubauerSource:Supplied
The grand design continues on the ground floor, home to a sunken living room, a colossal master bedroom and a formal dining room crowned by a nautical-themed chandelier. All three rooms on the ground floor are fronted by soaring floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors that open onto a private garden where the Obamas will spend their days lounging about on canopied daybeds and swimming in a heated infinity-edged pool edged by lush green lawns that tumble toward the river.
From the pool, a wooden deck leads to a gazebo covering a 10-seat dining table made from a giant slab of polished ironwood balanced on boulders hauled from the river below. Boulders were also been hollowed out to act as giant built-in ice buckets in the gazebo’s open-air Teppanyaki kitchen, where private chefs and butlers will serve the Obamas Indonesian-themed feasts in a setting fit for a king.
Obama’s arrival in Bali on Friday on a small private jet contrasted starkly with that of Saudi Arabian King Salman during his six-day break on the famed Indonesian resort island in March.
On that trip, King Salman was accompanied by a 1,500-strong entourage and 459 tonnes of luggage and equipment, including two bulletproof Mercedes Benz S600s. There were around 2,500 Indonesian police and military personnel standing by to receive him.
But Obama refused an offer for VVIP security measures from the Ngurah rai Military Air Base by Commander Colonel I Wayan Superman. This would have seen the entire airport put on lockdown during one of the busiest times of the year.
“There will be no airport closure for other flights,” Mr Superman told The Jakarta Post. “However, we will give priority to his plane.”
Ubud, Bali is a favourite spot for Aussies looking for a little relaxation. Picture: Ian Neubauer
Ubud, Bali is a favourite spot for Aussies looking for a little relaxation. Picture: Ian NeubauerSource:Supplied
Indonesia soldiers fall into formation for security preparations in Denpasar on Indonesia's resort island of Bali ahead of a visit by former US president Barack Obama. Picture: AFP PHOTO / SONNY TUMBELAKA
Indonesia soldiers fall into formation for security preparations in Denpasar on Indonesia's resort island of Bali ahead of a visit by former US president Barack Obama. Picture: AFP PHOTO / SONNY TUMBELAKASource:AFP
Obama also refused on offer for the traditional welcome dance for state visits, a lavish performance featuring up to 50 Balinese girls carrying bowls of flower petals they cast into the air during the dance.
The former US president did however accept an offer for a personal greeting from Balinese Governor I Made Mangku Pastika, who exchanged a few pleasantries with the Obamas before they were transferred to their hotel in Ubud.
On Wednesday, Obama, who lived in Indonesia with his mother and Indonesian stepfather for four years from 1967 to 1971, will fly to Yogyakarta, the nation’s cultural capital on the neighbouring island of Java. From there he will continue to Jakarta, where he’ll meet with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Friday and give a keynote address at the diaspora Network Indonesia Congress on Saturday — his first public address in Asia since leaving office earlier this year.
But for now, the former leader of the free world and his family are going to do pretty much the same as the million Australian tourists who visit Bali every year: bask in the sunshine, gorge on delicious Balinese food and soak in the world-famous hospitality of the Balinese people.
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