It was love at first sight. The friendly people, the relaxed rhythm of day-to-day life, astonishing nature, breathtaking paddy fields and, most of all, the smiles on everyone's faces. We immediately felt at home.

Our life in Belgium, the last fifteen years working for our own company selling machinery for prefab industries, was so easily forgotten while being here, that we always dreamed of moving here for good ever since.

What bounded us to Bali even more were the four childrens, we assisted to get a better life. Three visited us in Belgium and we travelled together around to learn about life in Europe.

In the meantime some are living on other islands of Indonesia and with them. We have nearly no contacts anymore.

At this moment, we are helping our five Balinese grandchildrens and the children of friends we know already for a long time.

Our youngest daughter, Mudi, is the director of Tamukami. When we are in Belgium, she runs the business solely on her own, and when we are in Sanur she makes sure that we have little to add to the daily management of our hotel. When you visit us, you'll learn to know her as a sincere and professional person, who's main goal in life is to please her guests.

You indeed may say we are fortunate people, having lovely Balinese children and grandchildren one can be proud of, and a dream hotel in one of the world's most beautiful places.

We are looking forward to meet you here at Tamukami !

Eugeen de Geest
Suzanne de Ridder

Hereunder a short story about :

SANUR : A History
Sanur, Bali's first beach resort, is also Bali's largest traditional village. It is a place of remarkable contrasts: a golden mile of gorgeous hotels that attract millions of paradise seekers every years, and yet, within the very grounds of the 11-storey Grand Bali Beach, a war-reparation gift from the Japanese, nestles the sacred and special temple of Ratu Ayu Singgi, the much feared spirit consort of Sanur's fabled Black Barong. Sanur - Intaran. Which describes greater Sanur, from the sea to the rice fields of Renon, is one of the few remaining Brahman kuasa villages in Bali - controlled by members of the priestly caste - and boasts among its charms some of the handsomest processions on the island, Bali's only all female keris dance, the island's oldest stone inscriptions and the hotel world's most beautiful tropical garden.
Even the souvenir sold on the beach - beautifully-crafted kites and toy outrigger - are a cut above those found in other villages and districts on the island on Bali. The black and white checkered cloth standard of Bali's netherworld is now here more aptly hung than on the ancient coral statues and shrines of Sanur's many temples: the village was once famous throughout Bali for its sorcery. In the 1960s black and white magic pervaded the coconut groves of the resort hotels like an invisible chess game. - The community is today modern and prosperous. Just a stone's throw from any of Sanur's beachside hotels lies one of a string of very ancient temples of disjunctive architecture.

Characterized by low coral-walled enclosures and platform altars, this style of temple is peculiar to the white sand stretch of Sanur's coast, from Sanur Harbor in the north to Mertasari beach in the south. Inside they are decorated with fanciful fans of coral and roughhewn statuary, often ghoulishly painted but always wrapped in a checked poleng sarong. The rites performed at the anniversary celebrations of these temples are both weird and wonderful - the celebrants often dancing with effigies strapped to their hips, while the priest are prone to wild outbursts, launching themselves spread-eagled onto a platform of offering and racing, entranced, pell-mell into the sea. The Sanur area, with traditional Intaran at its heart, has been settled since ancient times. The Prasasti Belanjong, an inscribed pillar dated 913A.D.. is Bali's earliest dated artifact. Now housed in a temple in Belanjong Village in the south of Sanur, the inscriptions tell of king Sri Kesari Warmadewa of the Sailendra Dynasty in Java, who came to Bali to teach Mahayana Buddhism and then founded a monastery here. One may presume that a fairly civilized community then existed - the Sailendra kings having built Borobudur in central Java at about this time.

The priests of Sanur-Intaran are also mentioned in historical chronicles dating from Bali's " Golden Age ", the 13th to the 16th centuries. In the early 19th century, the king of the Pemecutan court in Denpasar saw fit to place satriya prince lings outside the medieval core, establishing a power base for princely (as opposed to priestly) rule. Originally Sanur consist of Brahman Griya (compounds) in the Intaran area, with several attendant communities - the Brahman banjar of Anggarkasih, the fishing village of Belong (which still hosts a baris gede warrior dance at the Pura Dalem Kedewatan temple, held annually) and the village of Taman, whose Brahmans have traditionally served as the region's chief administrator or perbekel. It was in the mid-19th century that Sanur was first mentioned by Europeans. Mad Lange, a Kuta-based Danish trader wrote in his journals of the special of the special relationship that the perbekel of Sanur enjoyed with his great friend the king of Kesiman, Cokorde Sakti. In a less flattering light, it was also a perbekel of Sanur who turned a blind eye to the landing of Dutch troops here in 1906, on their way to the massacre of the royal house of Pemecutan - one of the most ignoble episodes in Dutch colonial history.

The story has been immortalized by 1930s Sanur habituee Vicki Baum in her book, a Tale of Bali. The BBC has produced a film about Sanur trance medium "possessed" by the spirit of a beer-swilling English sea captain (possibly from one of the merchant vessels which foundered of Sanur's coral reefs) - to whose semi divine memory a trance baris, called Ratu Tuan, is perform by Semawang Banjar. The costume: Chinese kung-fu pyjamas of black and white checkered cloth. The first half of the 20th century marked Sanur's emergence as prime real estate for the Bali-besotted: beach bungalows, in what Miguel Covarrubias revered to as "the swamps of Sanur", were built by among others, Dr. Jack Mershon and his anthropologist wife Katharine (who choreographed, with Walter Spies, the very checkered kecak dance) writer Vicki Baum, anthropologist Jane Belo (author of trance in Bali) and art collector Neuhaus, who was killed by a stray bullet during a skirmish between local guerrillas and Japanese occupation forces in his home, site of the present-day Hotel Sindu Beach. These early "Baliphiles" hosted a steady stream of celebrity visitors to the island during the 1930s, including Charlie Chaplin, Barbara Hutton, Doris Duke, Sir Harold Nicholson. It was probably more from the travel report of these sophisticates than from the movie with a sarong draped Dorothy Lamour that Bali traces its fame abroad. Not long after Indonesia proclaimed Independence in 1945, Sanur witnessed the beginning of an expatriate building boom led by the Belgian painter Le Mayeur, whose former studio home on the beach is now a museum. Le Mayeur's heavenly courtyard was the inspiration for his breasty, nymph-filled paintings. Australian artists Ian Fair-weather and Donald Friend , whose marvelous books and paintings have inspired a generation of Australians, also chose picturesque Sanur for their Bali retreats.

Donald Friend lived here in imperial splendor with an in-house gamelan and Bali's finest art collection within the grounds of the dream compound he founded with Sanur entrepreneur Wija Wawo Runtu - Batujimbar Estate - now Bali's premier real estate property. At about the same time, two Sanur brahmana were leaving their marks community. The first, high priest Pedanda Gede Sidemen, was entering the twilight of a prolific career which spanned 70 years as south Bali's most significant temple architect, healer and classical scholar. His life, and the pride he brought to his native Sanur, were to inspire a generation of Sanur brahmana who may other wise have contemplated abandoning their Vedic scriptures for a life on the juice blender. The second, Ida Bagus Berata - a nephew of Pedanda Sidemen - insisted during his tenure as mayor of Sanur from 1968 to 1986 that the area should be economically as well as culturally autonomous. To that end, Ratu Perbekel, as he was affectionately know, established a village-run cooperative that to this day operates a beach market, a restaurant, a car-wash and a service station, and owns land in Kuta and Denpasar.

This strident new economic approach provided a friendly environment for the establishment of many other Sanur-based tourist businesses The 70s and 80s saw the emergence of numerous landmarks - The Tanjung Sari Hotel, the surfing waves off Tanjung reef and Sanur reef. The Bali Hyatt gardens - and the "settling-in" of a new and more affluent generation of the romantically Bali-besotted. The Sanur of the 90s still a calm and refined cultural backwater: yesterday's taxi driver are today's hoteliers, the ceremonies and festivals are bigger and brassier than ever before, and the Sanur people are as gracious and charming as the place in which they live. Enjoy your stay !!!

Written by Made Wijaya, Condensed from Bali-Island of the Gods,
Permission of Periplus Editions.


MUSEUM LE MAYEUR
Hereunder you will find an extract of the newspaper "THE JAKARTA POST" from May 17, 2001.

LE MAYEUR MUSEUM A FITTING HOMAGE TO BELGIAN - BORN MASTER.
SANUR, Bali (JP) : The famous Le Mayeur Museum, locatedin the Sanur Beach resort area of Bali, everyday displays to the public paintings by world-famous painter Jean Le Mayeur de Merpres, as well as personal effects that he left behind.
Born into Franch nobility in Bruxelles on Feb.9, 1880, Le Mayeur was, in his time, one of the wordl's famous painters who eloquently reflected the exoticism of Bali island, also known as Paradise on Earth, and its pretty girls on canvas.
Le Mayeur skillfully and artistitically recorded chatting or dancing Balinese girls, generaly bare-chested, without giving the impression of vulgarity.
In five exhibition halls the museum displays 88 pantings by Le Mayeur, 22 of which are on gunny sacks while the rest are on canvas, cardboard, plywood and paper.
Le Mayeur used gunny sacks for his paintings when Indonesia was occupied by Japan and canvas was too difficult to find. He seemed to be able to make do with whatever came his way. It was on gunny sack that, during these difficult times, he poured forth his fiery passion for painting.
As a romantic person, Le Mayeur fell deeply in love with Bali, also dubbed the Isle of Deities. He first got acquainted with this island through the films he saw while still in Europe. In 1932 he disembarked at Bali's port of Singaraja in north Bali. From Singaraja he went straight to Denoasar, where he rented a house at Banjar Kelandis.
Actually, he planned to stay in Bali for only eight months. His infatuation whith the natural beauty of Bali and, especially, with Ni Pollok, a beautiful local dancer who became his model, however, made him decide to settle on this island.
So in 1935, Le Mayeur, who had seen many a beautiful place the world over, married Ni Pollok . After the marriage, she purchased a plot of land measuring 3,200 square meters somewhere in the Sanur Beach area. It was here thet he wanted to build his house. Le Mayeur, also a technical school graduate, designed the house by himself and opted for the traditional Balinese architectural styte.
In constructing the house, Le Mayeur was assisted by the famous sculptor, Ida Bagus Made Mas. Progress was made little by little and it was not until 20 years had elapsed since he purchased the land was construction of the house completed. The building, dominated by teak wood, is resplendent with highly graceful and beautiful Balinese engravings.
The hard teak wood in the entire house - windows, doors cupboards, tables or chairs has all been engraved, which is a very difficult job indeed. It took six months, for example, to engrave the octagonal table en eight very simple chairs.
Yet, Le Mayeur, who had a host a dreams for the house that he would occupy with his beloved Ni Pollok, was not in the least deterred by difficulty. It was he him self who arranged the positioning of the statues within and without the house. It was also he who arranged the trees, the flowers and the entirely traditional Balinese interior.

The house also has a small pond covered with lotuses, flower sacred to Hindu believers.
Thanks to this house, Le Mayeur became very close with the community in Sanur. Locals used to call him
" Mr. Mayor ", " mayor " being the local pronunciation of the French sound " Belgi " being the local reference to Belgium. Even today many of the locals call Le Mayeur Museum as the Museum of " Mr. Belgi ".
In 1967, Bahder Djohan, then minister of education, teaching and culture, visited Le Mayeur's house. He not only admired the paintings but expressed deep concern about how the paintings would fare in the future, especially considering that Le Mayeur and Ni Pollok were childless.
The minister suggested that the house be turned into a museum displaying Le Mayeur's paintings. Le Mayeur agreed and was even resolved to work harder to ensure that the house would really qualify as an art museum.

This artis died of an illnes in May 1958. Ni Pollok died on July 21, 1958. Today, their house and its contents - paintings, equipment and furniture are under the local administration's management. It is open every day except Saturday.
When you visit this museum, you will not only savor Le Mayeur's excellent paintings, but also the engraved house, its interior decoration, its furniture ( tables, cupboards, chairs ) and a Le Mayeur - Ni Pollok gamelan set.
Then you may find it interesting to look at a delightfully-shaped pond sees peaceful proleferation of fish and lotuses, and is home to a bust of Le Mayeur made by I Made Pantri.
Ni Pollok had this bust made after the death of her husband. She loved her him deeply and would gaze at the bust when she was overwhelmed by longing for her dead husband. She would give offerings - flowers and food - to the bust twice a day.
On the lower part of the bust Pollok inscribed: in loving memory of AJ Le Mayeur De Merpres. Born on February 9, 1880, in Bruxelles ( Belgium ). Arrived in Bali 1932. Died in peace on March 31, 1958, in Bruxelles ( Belgium ).

It is really a shame that his paintings, as the most precious legacy of Le Mayeur, are mostly in a miserable condition. The colors in many of the paintings have faded. The coastel air of Sanur, unfortunately, seems unfavorable to Le Mayeur's most important legancy.