“Finding another door”: In search of surrender at Jimbaran Puri Bali.

“Sometimes, you have to surrender before you can win.” 

– Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram

When I first sit down with Marie-Hélène, resident manager of Orient Express’ Jimbaran Puri Bali resort, I’ve got my game face on.

My notebook holds a bullet list of questions I plan to ask, and as she answers them in her beguiling Portuguese-French accent, my mind has already begun to craft them into a review:

How long has the property been owned by Orient Express? (2004)

How many rooms and suites are there? (42 cottages and 22 villas)

What’s the history of Jimbaran Bay? (Fifteen years ago, it was wild forest; now it is a carefully developed stretch of beach home to three five-star resorts and a few other hotels.)

But then our conversation takes an unexpected turn.

Here in the shade of the Puri Bar (puri meaning “castle” in the Bahasa Indonesian language), as we sip on fresh carrot-pineapple juice and spear cubes of feta cheese with toothpicks, she brings up how important the Hindu religion is to the resort’s staff.

“There is always some ceremony going on, they’re always having to take a day off. We sometimes joke that it is their full-time job. This is just their part-time job. Religion first, then us. This is the only country to close their airport for a day,” she says, referring to Nyepi, the Balinese Day of Silence, which takes places every spring and marks the new year.

“You have to adapt your ways to their ways – it is a collaboration. We are not the boss. It’s better to collaborate. If it is not by the first door, you will find a second door. You will always find another door. We have to balance efficiency and constancy with the local culture.”

Marie-Hélène’s words strike a chord with me – her understanding, her acceptance even, that cultures don’t always come together easily. And to hear that this understanding is part of the resort’s fabric, as much as its commitment to service and fabulous breakfast buffets are, makes me fall in love with this place all the more.

* * *

Because surrender has been on my mind a lot lately. How necessary it is to life, and to travel especially – in navigating other cultures, and our relationships with people from other cultures. We can hold desperately to the way we think things should be, or we could surrender even a fraction of our preconceptions and open the door to understanding.

Surrender is about coming to a wall and deciding whether you’re going to merely bang your head against the bricks, or actually figure out a way to get over them – that act of “finding another door” which Marie-Hélène referred to.

There’s a line from the epic novel Shantaram that says: “Sometimes, you have to surrender before you can win.” And that phrase hasn’t left my mind this past month, as I’ve run into wall after brick wall, both in India and here in Indonesia, in relationships and in situations (my latest lost luggage ordeal is the perfect example of surrendering my need for control.)

Let it go, I keep telling myself. Just surrender.

* * *

And so to arrive at a place like Jimbaran Puri Bali, where I expected to ask a few basic things about the resort but instead find my latest life question not quite answered but addressed and illuminated, has given my time here a surprising amount of meaning.

It’s given my stay context as well – to get where the hotel is coming from, to see where western comforts have married Balinese customs:

The entire table of tropical fruits on the breakfast buffet, laid out with jackfruit, dragon fruit, passionfruit, and blood red tamarillos so sour they’ll make you pucker.

The traditional thatched roofs and ceilings of the cottages and villas, made from natural fibers called alang-alang tightly woven around sticks of bamboo.

The Balinese massage at the beach spa, where I choose “peace oil,” made from the essence of sweet frangipani blossoms and ylang-ylang (another flower not to be confused with alang-alang).

So while it’s luxurious, I’m grateful the resort also feels local – proof that bringing two cultures together doesn’t necessarily mean they have to cancel each other out.

And that, in essence, is what surrender is all about, isn’t it?

Want to find your own sweet surrender at Jimbaran Puri Bali?

• Location: The resort is only about five miles south of Denpasar’s Bali Ngurah Rai International Airport, so it couldn’t be easier to reach (although heavy traffic could hold your taxi up). As the first hotel built along Jimbaran Bay, it nabbed the best spot on the beach – where you can sunbathe during the day and eat dinner with your feet in the sand at night.
• Rooms: Want to experience traditional Balinese design? Go for a cottage. Keen for more modern comforts (not to mention your own private pool)? Book a villa.
• Contact: You can either call the resort at (+62-361) 701 605, or send an email to [email protected]. Learn more about the property at www.jimbaranpuribali.com.

Disclosure: I am kindly being hosted at the resort by Orient Express. While I am tremendously grateful for their hospitality, all thoughts, opinions and love affairs with jackfruit are solely from yours truly.