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Posted by - ® DavidB on August 31, 2005 at 6:55 am:
For those unfamiliar with Pemuteran it is about as un-Kuta-like as you can find on the island without leaving the coast and still living in relative comfort. It is basically a small fishing village with probably 4 hotels in close proximity of each other, and some other accommodations available. Down the road about 1 km there are a couple of other hotels. The Taman Sari and its neighbouring hotels all feature “comfortable to luxury” bungalow type accommodation depending on your price point. In our experience Taman Sari is nicer and more comfortable than Pondok Sari where we had stayed 3 years previously. Taman Sari is a tad more expensive, too! On a walk through we noticed that Pondok Sari has expanded hugely in 3 years, but unfortunately expanded inwards! It now has a cramped feel about it, sort of closed in. We also didn’t expect the woman behind the counter at reception to be wearing a hijab. Nothing wrong with the wearing of a hijab, especially if you are Muslim, as she is, but it was unexpected. I recalled having been told that a Javanese man had purchased the hotel a few years back. The sound of the chanting coming from the grounds of the hotel each morning and night is lovely, but the 5.30am start can be a little unnecessary, especially if your cottage is nearby!
Each hotel has a reasonable quality restaurant featuring a different food style alongside their standard indo food. Greek at the Taman Selini, European at the Pondok Sari and Thai at the Taman Sari. Guests from all hotels move about and try each restaurant. We didn’t this time as we were very happy with what the Taman Sari offered. Restaurant prices are higher than what we had been used to at the wonderful warungs that we had frequented in Ubud, but about on par with Kuta eateries. The restaurant has table on the beach edge, in a couple of bales, and in the main restaurant pavillion so the choice of where to sit depends on mood, the sun, the waves………
Pemuteran seems a lot hotter than Ubud during the day. It is also quite dry. There are plenty of sun lounges in front of each hotel to go around but inevitably towels seemed to arrive on the better positioned lounges early in the morning with the matching body arriving much later. Only criticism about the Taman Sari beach? The water is not good to enter at that point due to sharp rocks and coral in the water with the better swimming spot being 35 metres up the beach in front of Pondok Sari & Taman Selini. What a hardship! :-)
Pemuteran had no hawkers, surveys, time share scratchies or, for that matter, aussies, apart from us! It was lovely to lay back and hear only French, German and Spanish being spoken by the guests. Even if the other guests or their children were complaining, bitching, being niggly or just plain being d!ckh@#ds, you wouldn’t know. At least we didn’t, our high school French only being enough for recognition of the language, my Latin being useless (as I had always suspected!!!).
As the surf built up during the first afternoon I took advantage of it for a bit of body surfing, my style! The surf was breaking close to shore and the ride was short, but it was powerful. I hadn’t noticed the young Balinese boys watching me whilst practicing their soccer game on the beach. Next afternoon I wandered onto the beach for another swim and surf, and lo and behold, the Balinese boys were in the surf already, throwing themselves towards shore in front of the better-shaped waves, mimicking my style perfectly. I joined them.
Our second and last morning at Pemuteran and we arose before dawn to take photos of the sun rising over the bay and the fishing boats. We weren’t disappointed with what we saw. We followed that with a swim in the Bali Sea. The water was warm and inviting. It is a truly romantic place to stay. Sure, there are things to go and do nearby and sights to see for the intrepid, but we wanted to sit back and rest before our return to Ubud and the Tegal Sari hotel, their driver arriving at 10.00 am for a leisurely and scenic drive back.
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