Words, sights and music

Last July we hosted fourteen writers from various parts of Bali, Indonesia (Java & Papua), Australia and the world for a week-long writer’s retreat, after which I was honored to have three of our Australian guests deciding to extend another three days to work further on their manuscripts and marvel at the ever-shifting mists of Kintamani. It was quite a feast of words when they shared their work in the evenings.

Jan Cornall, my writing mentor since 2004, brought the group together, and it seems she’s keen to make the event annual. Read about her writers’ journeys at artsHub.

July and August were busy months full of drama, but I’m proud to say our staff handled the peak season well, particularly the inevitable complaints when high European expectations don’t match up with our humble Mountain hospitality. Our saving grace was art. The artworks by Kerry Pendergrast, Sandy Infield and Nyoman Triarta livened up the atmosphere and stole our guest’s attention away from the hotel’s wear and tear.

Next full-moon, I’m also inaugurating the “Lakeview Art Trail” which is a 20-to-30-minute walk around the hotel appreciating the different works of art that have taken residence. Some are for sale, in case you were wondering.

September has been somewhat more relaxed, and has allowed us to slowly but surely go through the urgent and necessary repairs around the hotel. We’re running with 18 rooms-capacity only at the moment while we fix things up room-by-room, but guests can already feel the difference, especially our fluffy new white bath towels with Lakeview logo embroidery. On Monday we get bouncy new pillows (four at each deluxe bedroom to make it easier to read in bed). The new sheets and duvets are on the way too.

Singer-songwriter-musician Dhananjaya (my little brother who is bigger than me in stature) has also twisted my arm into getting a set of speakers that allow for two microphones and two guitars to be connected so we can have musical soirees more regularly at Danu Lounge. Every Thursday in October, November and December we’ll have live acoustic music.

I’m hoping that by the time Jan returns with her group of writers next July (8 to 15 July 2012, mark your calendars folks!) we’ll have all the existing rooms revamped and refurbished so I can join them to sit back, meditate, and write about this golden opportunity I’ve been given to sit in the driver’s seat of Lakeview Hotel, my grandfather’s legacy. In the mean time, I’ll share what little creative writing I get done through this blog, starting with this haiku:

mountain wind soothes lake
silver mirror of moonlight
nest for night-calmed clouds