Chilling out backstage in Bali

The staff are as well looked after as the visitors at Bali's Intercontinental Resort, as MELANIE BALL finds.

May I suggest you eat a big breakfast or pig out on morning tea before embarking on the Back Of House Tour of the Bali Intercontinental Resort. If you don't, you may not be able to resist temptation.

But it's much more difficult to recommend the best attire. It may be hot and steamy outside, but how do you prepare for your visit to these freezing rooms? Here the staff wear parkas as they tend to frozen delicacies and huge ice carvings, even Christmas trees sculpted in ice.

The tour is an education. One of the first things that hits you is that the big five-star hotels not only look after their guests, but they invariably have a huge staff which must be kept happy as well.

The Bali Intercontinental has 425 rooms and suites. And a full-time staff of 780, not including 50 contract gardeners who manicure 14ha of landscaped tropical paradise running along the white sandy Jimbaran beach.

At first I can't believe 140 people work back of house, and I am amazed to learn 92 chefs are employed to cook for staff and guests. But as the tour progresses, it all begins to add up.

Everything is on such a huge scale. Even the fruit room is mind boggling, especially the section where master craftsmen create spectacular Gebogans, the wonderful Balinese fruit sculptures. And because every room has a fresh fruit bowl, hundreds of bowls of tantalising tropical fruit are prepared every day.

In the cool room, we find jackfruits as big as wombats and crates of brilliant red chillies alongside huge Tasmanian salmon and wads of banana leaves. The staff are busy processing the latest delivery, a mere 9000 eggs.

What's more, this labyrinth of rooms with air-conditioning pipes running along the ceiling is spotlessly clean. No wonder Trevor Bilney, manager culinary product, holds his head high and the hotel is happy to take its guests backstage. Bilney doesn't miss a trick and readily scribbles reminders on his starched chef's hat.

I can't help but wonder what the laundry thinks about this, but I forget to ask. Sweat is dripping from my brow and I'm too busy gawking at the enormous machines for washing and pressing sheets. They need to be big - on a busy day they launder 2000 towels and 1500 sheets.

You couldn't really blame anyone with that amount of washing if they were a bit grumpy. But this is a happy place, the Balinese are laughing and smiling and, of course, there is the traditional temple with fresh offerings in the corner.

Visitors may also think about Balinese culture when they see message boards with illustrations. In the room service section, photos show how to serve food; in housekeeping, pictures illustrate the right way to fold the bathmat. And crockery is displayed on the wall alongside the price the dishwashers have to pay if they break more than their quota.

Pictures adorn the walls of the flower room, too. Men work frantically arranging endless bowls of flowers amid big boxes of purple orchids and huge tubs of tuberoses. There's a fantastic farrago of scents - frangipani, tuberoses and sticks of cinnamon.

It smells nearly as good as the bakery filled with the aromas of fresh croissants which makes me feel really hungry. I just have to try one of the innumerable iced hippopotamus biscuits lined up on the cooling rack. I am embarrassed when the pastry chef spots me but in true Balinese style, he turns a blind eye. If only I had had a big breakfast, I could resist this temptation, but even then I think it would be hard, as those 92 chefs are constantly whipping up treats. It's a sight to see.

* Jimbaran Bay is between Kuta and Nusa Dua and is 10 minutes drive from the airport. The hotel tours run once a week and are only available for small groups.

Bali Intercontinental Resort

Jalan Uluwatu, 45 Jimbaran

80361 Bali, Indonesia

ph 0062 (361) 701888

fax 62 (361) 701777

e-mail