Somehow it is obvious - and all the better - when a hotel is family run, as In the case of the lbah. In fact, It barely qualifies as a hotel with just eleven rooms, more akin to cottages each with its own distinct design.

The owners of the lbah refer to their hotel as a luxury homestay, although it is one of the most special on the Balinese spa resort circuit It achieves, completely. the owners' dream to create a resting place for the senses, mind and heart.

This meditative mood remains unchanged In the spa, a panelled salon in the eaves, designed to cater for just one person or couple at a time, so as not to clutter its healing purpose. There's nothing clinical here. Instead, the dark teak wood and colonial furniture lend the spa salon a sense of decadence, accentuated by the massage boudoir, subtly lit behind tall curtains and lined with mirrors and stone deities that watch over you as you lie naked under their gaze. Similarly, there is not even a whiff of the 20th century as you climb up the stone steps into your private jacuzzi overlooking the gardens below.This restful experience is best enjoyed at dusk when the /boh,with its heavenly mantra, transforms into a galaxy of flickering oil lamps.

the frangipani flower is the hotel's symbol. The blooms are arranged everywhere, in pots and to decorate statues , throughout the premises

The Ibah's owners are an Ubud royal family who have held this dramatic site above the confluence of two rivers for generations. Like the proprietor's grandfather who would walk the one kilometre from the palace In Ubud to holiday and meditate on this spiritual slope, his descendant has sought to preserve It as an oasis of tranquillity for the lucky few who stay here.

"Staying at the Ibah is like being in love," says Tjokorda Raka Kerthyasa, its erudite and passionate owner, "you cannot explain it until you experience it" Somehow the light breeze, darting carp, murmuring water, nodding plants and sun-flecked stone seem to offer ahealing power that in no extent of the Imagination can be anticipated.

The hotel is located in Tjampuhan which actually means where two rivers meets'. Balinese people believe that there is a flourish of chi (energy) at the junctions between two rivers which may help two explain why the spa experience at Ibah is such a meditative one. Bathing in a jacuzzi overlooking this vista is entirely memorable.