Our trip to Pemuteran on the north west coast of Bali took a large chunk of the day. We flew to Denpasar then drove what should have been four hours but turned out to be more like five with the traffic. Just as well Jaya, our driver, put on some ‘good’ music (think Taylor Swift and Ed Sheehan remixes and a bit of Westlife thrown in) that Eleanor happily sang along to, and the kids had expended some energy surfing before we left Lombok.
The drive took us over the mountains via Bedugal and through numerous little villages. The mountains were shrouded in cloud and misty rain so motorcyclists were wearing rain ponchos. People are always going places and seem busy, but the poverty is obvious as homes range from concrete or brick to very basic shacks. There’s rubbish everywhere.
We stopped for dinner in a huge restaurant in Buleleng, where the cross-mountains road comes out on the north coast. It had a sea-side pool and looked well set up for tourism. We all went European that night - the kids advanced their plans to eat all the pasta in Bali, Adrian enjoyed chicken ‘Gordon Blue’ and I tried the pesto pasta - it was yummy but the raw garlic was an interesting touch that left me concerned no one would want to come near me for days! Fortunately all was okay as it turned out!
It was dark when we drove into Pemuteran, but we could see lots of restaurants and dive shops lining the main road. We somehow knew we’d like it. This time we stayed in a little villa we’d found on Airbnb. It is about a kilometre up a side street off the main road. We arrived after dark and I really began to wonder if the driver had taken a wrong turn as we slowed for pothole after pothole and drove past only local houses. We knew we were in the right place when we pulled up outside a house with a lit pathway and Wayan to greet us.
We were in Pemuteran for a whole week so we had plenty of time to do everything we wanted. This was our budget stop, but by being off the main road we could still have a private house with a pool. It was far cheaper than our other accommodation but very comfortable, and absolutely luxurious compared with our cheap cheap hostel in Chiang Mai three years ago. It took us a couple of days to find our feet and figure out how everything worked but we came to love the villa, and Pemuteran.
We celebrated Eleanor’s 10th birthday on our first day. Wow a whole decade already! We’re so proud of our strong, determined, funny, confident and smart girl. She’s excited to have hit double figures and feels very grown up.
Unsurprisingly Eleanor had us up bright and early on the big day. We gave her a bracelet she’d admired in the little shop at Sempiak Villas back in Selong Blanak, and a new Percy Jackson book. We have a family tradition that if we’re on holiday, the birthday girl or boy chooses what we do for the day, something she’d been eagerly anticipating.
Eleanor wanted a family massage - lucky us! - to have her hair braided, and to eat pasta. Interestingly, that’s exactly what she did on her 7th birthday on Koh Lipe in Thailand! It didn’t take us long to find a lovely spa offering Balinese massages, and another salon for the braiding. We swam at the local beach in the afternoon and had dinner at a resort with tables on the grey-sand beach. In all honesty, the swim was a little disappointing - there was lots of not-particularly-pleasant algae in the water, and bits of rubbish. We knew it was part of a marine reserve and had read good things about snorkelling off the beach so resolved to find a better spot later in the week. All in all though, Eleanor felt well-celebrated and we had a great day!
As we’d noticed driving in, Pemuteran is well-established for tourism - it is known for its boutique accommodation and excellent diving. What we hadn’t expected was how quiet it would be on our first day or two (a Monday and Tuesday), many restaurants were empty and we saw few other visitors. It did get busier as the weekend approached but was never bustling with tourists. Most people come from Europe, especially Russia, Ukraine, France and Switzerland. Apparently it isn’t really on the Australian radar. I heard a couple of people speculating that this is due to the distance from the airport in Denpasar and the lack of surf. It may all change as negotiations are underway with land owners and residents to build a big airport for the north of Bali, near Singaraja, which is due to open in 2025 and will make it much more accessible. We’re so pleased to have visited now!
Next up was a snorkelling day trip around Pulau Menjangan. This area reputedly has the best snorkelling in Bali, a prime factor in us choosing to visit, so we were really looking forward to seeing it for ourselves. And it really was amazing! Lots of beautiful coral and loads of fish. We even heard a fish eating coral through the water. This area is also part of the National Park reserve. We enjoyed it so much we did a second trip later in the week! On the first trip we were with a Singaporean couple and on the second a Ukrainian couple and a French father and daughter - great company, especially the second trip when we all talked about our home countries and travels.
Both times, our guide reminded us not to stand on the reef or to touch/take anything. Sadly though other groups felt feel to stand and touch. To the point that Adrian said something to one guy, who had the good grace to look sheepish and desist. Hopefully if tourism does increase with the new airport they’ll really look after the coral!
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