I’ve been working very hard in the past 11 months and I think I needed to reward myself with a spa getaway. I’ve been a spa and massage addict, and once every time I want, I spend my time enjoying spa grander than usual. Spa, for me, is more than massage. Spa is the whole experience. The beautiful view, yoga, touching plants, experiencing the nature, all that in one package.
Because it’s not so good to enjoy spa alone, I drag 2 of my best girls, Em & B to go with me :)) We decided to stay one night in Jogja and then go to MesaStila, previously known as Losari Coffee Plantation, wellness facilities located in Magelang, 2 hours from Yogyakarta (Jogja), Central Java, Indonesia.
Jogja is only 1 hour flight from Jakarta, so before I can really enjoy my AirAsia seat, it already need to land. We stayed at AllSeasons hotel, a new hotel in Dangen area near Malioboro, and we love it so much. With rented car, like a spoiled tourist, we go to places from Keraton Jogjakarta (Palace), shopping batik at Malioboro, taking pictures in Borobudur temple to watch Ramayana dance performance.
Jogja has been known as a cultural city and popular to the youth as the place to continue study, because there are a lot of universities in Jogja. Thus the ambience is different with Jakarta. It’s more artsy, laid back, and creative.
We enjoyed our time in Jogja, but of course, we’re excited for MesaStila.
Our first experience with MesaStila was when they come picked us up at our hotel in Jogja. There are complete snacks, fruits, face mists, mineral water on every corner of the car and iPad2 for our entertainment during 2 hours journey. We spent the whole hours sleeping and when we woke up, we already reached MesaStila.
The front office was a historical Colonial-era railway station from the 1860. Ticket to ‘MesaStila Express’ is given to welcome us.
When the first time I see the scenery in the part of 22 hectares area, it lifts my mood instantly watching all the intense green, misty sky and faint image of the mountains.
The Club house, not far from the front office was the 1828 house of a Dutch who own the coffee plantation. It’s fully restored and furnished with a collection of Javanese antique furniture and paintings. They even have library so we can read books, grand piano to play with in the afternoon, and a lot of exotic chill out place to enjoy our snacks while watching the mountain in the afternoon.
We must walk thru wet stones path to reach our Villa. It’s like a little house in the forest. It’s very spacious, have a deep traditional Javanese style (Each villa has been reconstructed from an original Javanese antique wooden house and decorated with original antiques collected from across the island) but also very conviniently modern, and I literally scream when I see our bathroom that made B jump & running to my direction. Our bathroom is very big, it has a spacious bathtub overlooking the forest outside. We can imagine ourselves reading books while sipping our orange juice inside the bathtub 😀
For me the most important aspect for a spa is the massage. The phone ring to remind us for our 3pm massage appointment. We run with our umbrella, beating the drizzle to reach spa house near the pool. We picked rose-infused massage, a massage with no oil (dry body massage) with the Tuina technique plus scalp treatment using traditional Chinese techniques. It feels so good, one of the best, and I. Want. More!!
After massage, we drag our relaxing self to Turkish Hammam, intense style of sauna :)) We tried to be inside the Hammam as long as we could and soak our body in a cold water pool. We feel so fresh and hungry afterwards!
The selection of menu, as expected was all healthy food. But all without losing its amazing taste. We enjoy our eating experience so much. Maybe because we’re always hungry :))
That night, we were sleeping like a baby. I woke up at my usual early hour, and B would mumble something like, “Ollie, get back to sleep!” from inside her blanket. But I prefer to go outside and sit in our spacious veranda, looking at the magnificent nature’s painting of the coffee plantation and nearby mountains, that looks as if it’s put to fit my eyesight.
Our morning Yoga is unexpectedly heavier than we thought. But it feels good to be able to stretch our stiff body. But soon after yoga, we feel like we need another session of massage :))
Our butler Suharman guide us to get to know more about the coffee plantation area. Inga & Yohan from Belgium also joining us (I saw Singaporean & Japanese group too during my stay). He introduces us the differences of 4 varieties of coffee planted in MesaStila: Robusta, Arabica, Excelsa & Javanese coffee. They also plant their own vegetables & mushroom. We’re stop to see how the coffee is processed and also enjoying the original coffee made from their own field.
When he explained about how the coffee trees have been grafted and grown from the original Robusta-Arabica plants nearly two hundred years ago, I spontaneously said the him, “Is that possible?” And the answer stunned me, “Of course it’s possible, it’s the same kind, Robusta & Arabica is coffee, they can mix together. Same like human, you can marry a foreigner, it’s no problem. We’re from the same kind.” *jaw dropped*
Em & B let out giggles as I still not yet recovered from his ‘tweetable quote’ remarks. My friends know what’s on my mind, and I can’t understand, why a person I just met in 11 hectares of coffee plantation thousands miles from Jakarta, can talk to me like a messenger, about mix marriage.
It’s sad leaving MesaStila, I still haven’t explored more activities and facilities. But it’s time to go. Like our butler said on his another ‘tweetable quote’ remarks,
“Life is like the path on coffee plantation, it has ups & downs & turns. That’s just the way it is.”
Checkout amazing pics of MesaStila from these websites
http://sassymamahk.com/losari-spa-retreat-coffee-plantation-yogyakarta-indonesia/
http://www.collektionhotels.com/2011/12/mesastila-true-exhilarating-back-to.html
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