Stand at the top of the sweeping stairway and drink in a scene that has stunned even long-time Bali residents who come to Villa Moira for the first time. Down the regal sweep of the steps—modelled after temple stairways—past the soaring roofs of two elegant, octagonal pavilions, over the 14 meter pool and into the terraced rice fields that almost completely surround the villa.

This isn’t a still life, though: it’s a living breathing world of its own, a study in contrast and change, from the intimacy of watching farmers bring in the harvest in the rice fields just a few score meters away to the distant majesty of the triple row of volcanic peaks to the north; from the glory of a blazing sunset over the pool to the sight of a phalanx of black thunderheads sweeping in from the sea. Villa Moira is much more than just spectacular scenery, though. It is a house solely dedicated to one object—the serenity of its guests.