De Moksha Boutique Resort – Eco-Friendly Luxury

I’m going to start with a picture, because a picture was what made me choose this place over all of the other lovely accommodations available in Bali.

Best Bathroom Ever!

Yes, the bathroom! After seeing the pictures on booking.com of that stone bathtub surrounded by lush foliage, I was sold. Little did I know that this resort was even more amazing than this bathroom. The hot water to fill this glorious bathtub is heated by cooling the air conditioner, so it is environmentally friendly too!

Location

De Moksha Boutique Resort is about 5km north of Tanah Lot. It took me about an hour to walk to Tanah Lot from the resort. It is located on a side road that is not well paved, so be ready for a few minutes of bumpy ride at the end of your trip. It is about 100-150 IDR to get to Ubud via Grab or GoJek.

Amenities

They are a 4 star hotel, with a lot of nice details including a large, deep swimming pool, spa with a variety of treatments, restaurant, and yoga daily. The staff will be able to set up any other activities you would like including cooking classes, tours, and classes. One class I would have liked to take was about the Canang sari (daily offering) as offering baskets were ubiquitous around Bali, and I wanted to learn more about it. The hotel offers airport pickup for 350,000 IDR each way. (Grab/GoJek are about 100,000, but it’s much more stressful to get a car… I almost missed my flight because there were no available cars.)

The resort has one large building with three rooms upstairs, a kitchen (that is off limits except for cooking classes), media room, dining table, and the pool. Down the hill, there is another small public pool and about 6-8 free standing villas, each with its own private pool. The grounds are beautifully landscaped with a diversity of plants.

This resort is very special in that it is owned and managed by a gay couple, and they employ some LGBTQ people. Finding a place that is LGBTQ friendly in Bali is not easy, as it is not at all socially acceptable to be queer in Indonesia and there are no social protections for gay folks there. By employing queer folks (and paying them a good wage) this resort is doing a lot of good. The owners are also politically active and went to school in America to study LGBTQ issues.

I also must mention Arma the dog, who made my stay even more joyful. She is a very well trained dog, never begging for attention, but happy for all the pets and scritches you give her. She would sometimes escort me from near my room to the breakfast area, and keep me company during breakfast!

Arma the dog!

The Beauty is in the Details

What really makes this place stand out is the loving attention to detail in every aspect of this space. There were gorgeous wood carvings everywhere, tasteful use of natural materials throughout. There was simple beauty wherever one looked, from running water and a koi pool, to the oil lamps leading to our rooms.

After spending almost a month in Indonesia, my perspective on plastics, waste, and conservation has changed. I saw first hand a world drowning in plastic and rubbish. It was nice to see De Moksha working to combat this by avoiding the use of disposable items … at breakfast we had metal straws! In the rooms there was a pitcher of water and glasses, with a cooler downstairs to fill our water bottles. The hot water was heated by the air conditioning. It meant a lot to come home to a place that was working towards a more sustainable lifestyle after spending the day walking around and seeing garbage everywhere.

This wood carving is in the downstairs area of the main house

View of the pool from outside of my room. You can see the leaf shaped roofs of the villas.

The yoga shala

Beautiful wood carvings

My room was through this door, off to the left.

This is the common area of the main house

My bed!

Entry to the main building.

Looking out over the rice paddies