Tandjung Sari: A Magical Door to Bali by Editions Didier Millet

tandjung sari

A Magical Door to Bali

tandjung sari

About the Author

A Magical Door to Bali

This book celebrates the 50th anniversary of the legendary Tandjung Sari, Bali’s original boutique hotel. In 1962, art collector Wija Wawo-Runtu built a small house on Sanur beach. It soon became a small hotel frequented by glitterati and Southeast Asia’s expatriates. It is still run by the Wawo-Runtu family. The book, illustrated with vintage images and contemporary photography, tells of the hotel’s challenges and triumphs, and the people behind it, with reflections on Bali’s tourism and architecture.

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This book celebrates the 50th anniversary of the legendary Tandjung Sari, described by many as Asia’s original boutique hotel. In the early 1960s, the Dutch-Indonesian artistentrepreneur Wija Wawo-Runtu bought a piece of land on Sanur beach in Bali and built a little house with his wife. Within ten years the house had become a small hotel sought after by the rich and famous, who were charmed by its blend of simplicity and sophistication – its rustic local architecture adorned with antiques; its luxuriant beachside gardens and superb Indonesian cuisine; and above all, the easy-going hospitality of the Wawo-Runtus, who were themselves the hub of an international network of friends, and entertained with great flair. The hotel became a gathering place for expatriates from all over Southeast Asia, who were drawn by Wija Wawo-Runtu’s good-natured erudition about Bali and his pleasure in putting people together. The Tandjung Sari remains a treasure today, still run by the Wawo-Runtu family. The book tells the story of how the hotel grew, its challenges and triumphs, and the people who made it all happen. It is richly illustrated with vintage images and contemporary photography.

tandjung sari

Diana Darling is a freelance writer who has lived in Bali since 1980 and has known the principal characters in the Tandjung Sari story for over thirty years. She is the author of the internationally acclaimed The Painted Alphabet: a novel based on a Balinese tale, and has written for numerous publications about Bali’s culture and society.

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First published in 2012 by Editions Didier Millet Copyright 2012 © Editions Didier Millet Text by Diana Darling New photography by Melisa Teo Editorial Director: Douglas Amrine Editor: Valerie Ho Designer: Tan Seok Lui Production Manager: Sin Kam Cheong Colour separation by United Graphic Printed by Tien Wah Press, Singapore ISBN: 978-981-4260-93-0

121 Telok Ayer St #03-01 Singapore 068590 www.edmbooks.com All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owners.

tandjung sari cape of flowers

Montage of garden path at the Tandjung Sari framed by the lintel of the original north gate. back cover: Wija Wawo-Runtu. pages 2–3: (Background) A religious procession on Sanur beach, with Bali Beach Hotel in the background, circa 1968. (Inset) Detail of a Balinese wood sculpture in the lobby pavilion of the Tandjung Sari. pages 6–7: The Tandjung Sari beachfront, between two coral gates. Centre right is the bar. The north gate (far right) is the oldest structure of the hotel. pages 8–9: A glimpse through the south coral gate, guarded by stone sculptures, into the comfort of a Tandjung Sari lounging pavilion. front cover:

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Contents introduction

Sanur in the 1960s and â&#x20AC;&#x2122;70s

History

From Guest House to Legendary Hotel

architecture

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A Hand-made Hotel

THE PRESENT

113

A Gentle Renaissance

139 Tributes

156 Extracts from Guest Books

164 People in the Story

166 Index

167 Glossary

168 Acknowledgements & Picture Credits

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Ta n d j u n g s a r i : A M a g i c a l D o o r t o B a l i

Detail from a painting (shown on pages 36–7) showing Wija, Tatie, Jimmy Pandy and another friend playing Scrabble on the “high pavilion”.

24 December [1966] […] I got to talking to a Balinese on the plane [from Jakarta to Bali] who knew both of Mitty’s friends in Bali, and when we arrived pointed out Wija Wawo-Runtu, whom I immediately met, and was welcomed. He owns the most enchanting house and garden with beach bungalows which he lets. They were all full up, but in the most obliging and amiable way turned his manager out of his thatched tiny residence, and installed me. It is small but very neat and pretty, and made of bamboo. Luncheon was delicious. Then I walked down the beach to the house of Jimmy Pandy (another friend of Mitty’s) a painter who lives also in splendid rococo Balinese style, with a house and garden decked with carvings and paintings old and new. Pandy is a mellow dear old thing, friendly, stately and very “international”. […]

Friend was quickly absorbed into days of drawing, morning swims in the sea, afternoons of buying antiques around the Balinese countryside, or playing Scrabble with Wija and Tatie and Jimmy Pandy on the high pavilion at the Tandjung Sari overlooking the beach, or evenings chatting over drinks or joining an elaborate soirée at Jimmy Pandy’s for visiting dignitaries. Less than two months later, on 14 February he wrote, “I am tempted to try, when I return to Bali, to get hold of some land along this beach and build a little thatched house to live in for a few months each year.” It was a contagious idea. By the early 1970s a few houses had been built on the land in Batujimbar. One of the first was for the large Wawo-Runtu family, which, when all ten children were present, rather overwhelmed their house at the Tandjung Sari. According

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Sanur in the 1960s and ‘70s

to the Jakarta-based American lawyer Frank Morgan, another early resident of Batujimbar, “In 1968 – aside from an old, rather non-descript but very lively temple – there were only three structures in Batujimbar. One was Wija and Tatie’s old house, which looked like an old Dutch hotel with all these rooms with a little porch out in front. And Donald’s wantilan. And my wantilan.” A wantilan is the largest of traditional Balinese pavilions, normally built as community meeting halls. They are distinguished by two or three tiered roofs for natural ventilation, and lend themselves to interpretation as two-storey buildings. By the time Frank first rented his wantilan in 1973, plans were underway for a grand enterprise, Batujimbar Estates, with ten large bungalows to be designed by the Ceylonese master of modern tropical architecture, Geoffrey Bawa (1919–2003). The houses would be built of local materials according to Balinese building concepts but on a scale that a rich Texan, for example, would find comfortable. The Bowater Corporation, an English conglomerate with holdings in Indonesian timber, was brought in to finance the project. As it turned out, the financial climate changed before the project was fully realised, and only four of the ten houses were built, only two of which – House A and House C – were designed by Bawa. (Frank’s wantilan and another house had been incorporated into the Big Ten.) Frank Morgan describes the upshot of the settling of accounts. “Bowater had put in a lot of money, Wija had put in a lot of time and work – and basically Bowater took all the available cash and left all the land to Wija. That’s how Wija came to own the Batujimbar land.”

A drawing from the brochure Batujimbar-Bali, circa 1975, showing plans by Geoffrey Bawa for one of the ten houses of the original Batujimbar Estates project. Only two of the houses Bawa designed were actually built.

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Craig Claiborne Encounters the Tandjung Sari In Craig Claiborne’s Favorites From The New York Times, a cookbook published in 1975, the celebrated food writer presented Tatie Wawo-Runtu’s recipe for Soto Ayam in a chapter called “From Bali: One of the Great Soups of the World”, although this famous chicken soup is from Java. Before settling down to the recipe, Craig Claiborne describes dining “in the stylishly-primitive bamboo and rattan dining room of the Tandjung Sari – sometimes with moonlight, sometimes with rain on the ocean a few feet away”. He also gives some background on Indonesian food traditions and an admiring account of the Wawo-Runtu household.

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Ta n d j u n g s a r i : A M a g i c a l D o o r t o B a l i

opposite: pages

Wija, circa 1990.

78–9: Balinese staff

members at the lobby pavilion, dressed for the hotel’s annual temple festival.

Agus is credited by the family with having been very active in its development. Like many such idealistic endeavours, it was able to accomplish only a few of its stated aims; but the dance classes and performances remain a lively legacy. Agus also computerised operations in the hotel. “He was into things like hotel systems and morning meetings,” someone remembers, “less so in un-sexy things like maintenance.” The practice of leaving big sketchbooks in the rooms for guests to leave comments (and drawings) seems to have begun in his term, which lasted about ten years. In the 1990s, Wija began to suffer from a heart condition, and he and Tatie were spending much of their time abroad in Italy, in a pretty house in Todi, Umbria, with fabulous rose gardens. Wija underwent three bouts of major heart surgery: an operation in Hawaii and two in Australia. The relationship with the Tandjung Sari naturally became more distant. Buyung Wawo-Runtu was made Owner’s Representative, with Evert Kalumata as General Manager in a sort of care-taking role. With no pro-active management, standards slipped. In April 2001, Wija’s brightly coloured life came to an end in Todi, Italy. Tatie remembers that their good friend James Ruscoe, an English writer living in Rome, “was such a wonderful support. He found us a Muslim priest so that Wija could have Muslim rites.” Wija is buried in Trawas, outside Surabaya in East Java. Manfred Rode says: Two years ago I went to Trawas to finally say goodbye and pay my last respects to my very special friend Wija. There was no chance to do so when he suddenly left us and was given an immediate Muslim burial, and I always felt the need to visit him one last time. He found his final resting place in a pretty little cemetery next to one of Tatie’s sons, Chacha. True to form he has the best plot on top of a hill, from where, if it were a bit higher, he might be able to see his beloved Bali. I wonder whether Trawas would have been his choice, or whether he would have preferred Amsterdam, Todi, Bali, or any other place he lived, but in the end it does not really matter since he forever has a special place in our hearts.

Pears, Peter and Philip Reed, The Travel Diaries of Peter Pears 1936–1978, The Boydell Press, 1995.

Carlisle, Christopher, Leonard Lueras (ed), “Sanur Style”, Sanur: the Birthplace of Bali Style, The Bali Purnati Center For The Arts, Bali, 2005, pages 82–6, 91–2.

Hetherington, Paul, “The Diaries of Donald Friend”, Volume 4: The Bali Diaries, National Library of Australia, Canberra. 2006.

Claiborne, Craig, Craig Claiborne’s Favorites From The New York Times, Quadrangle, The New York Times Book Company, 1975.

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Ta n d j u n g s a r i : A M a g i c a l D o o r t o B a l i

The lobby pavilion – a reconstructed traditional Balinese balé modified with a raised base and an extended roof for greater shade and protection from rain. The antique colonial Dutch oil lamps have been wired for electricity.

The lobby pavilion originally stood in a nobleman’s house in Abian Basé, Gianyar in central Bali – a beautiful twelve-poster balé that was probably a ceremonial pavilion. The timbers were dismantled, transported and reassembled at the Tandjung Sari around 1971. The base of the pavilion and the roof were extended, adding more support posts. A back wall, fitted with carved doors and windows, was built to screen it from the front office. This wall was originally several antique panels of beautifully carved teak from East Java. The reception counter is an ornately carved old Balinese door still in its frame, covered with glass and fitted between two of the balé’s original posts. Lighting is from a number of lovely old Dutch oil lamps converted for electricity. To one side

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a hand-made hotel

of the pavilion is a gong. Three gentle taps send out a low musical moan announcing the arrival of a guest. The grandest example of Balinese architecture at the Tandjung Sari is the wantilan building that houses the restaurant. A wantilan is the largest of Balinese traditional structures â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a big open-air pavilion distinguished by its roof with two or even three tiers. In earlier times its primary function was as a cock-fighting venue, with a square stepped pit in the centre of its dirt floor. In modern Balinese communities, the wantilan is a place for public gatherings and cultural performances. The wantilanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s large open space and natural ventilation makes it an obvious choice for a tropical restaurant.

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A gentle renaissance

Interior of one of the new South Garden Bungalows. opposite: Pathway between the lobby pavilion and the sea, guarded by a shrine at which offerings are made daily.

When you get to your room you see that it is actually a house, screened by a private garden. Next to the door is a bamboo container. “What’s this for?” you ask the room boy carrying your bags. “For your mail,” he says. In the olden days, when people still got paper mail, it would be delivered here. But you will be able to get your mail by internet in your room, if you are one of those people who still uses email. (Your room boy does all his correspondence by smartphone.) Inside, your bungalow is cool and calm and very quiet. A big bed is romantically draped with mosquito netting. On the wall are European prints of Indonesian scenes. Or fine Indonesian textiles stretched and hung like paintings. Or a well-framed vintage poster. The floor is a dancing pattern of fantasy animals. There is a marble-topped table with a bowl of fresh tropical fruit and a welcome letter to you from Aviadi. A day bed under the windows invites you to stretch out with a book. But the call of the sea is greater. On your way to the beach you come to the nexus of the hotel, where the swimming pool, the open-air restaurant, and the bar are shaded by enormous trees. Here the atmosphere is relaxed and cheerful. There is a young family in the swimming pool. Other guests are sitting at round marble-top tables on the wooden deck having tea, or tall glasses of fresh fruit juice, or a frosty glass of beer. A number of guests are looking at something in the restaurant.

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Traditional Rijsttafel and Classical Balinese Dance Several times a month the Tandjung Sari holds a banquet for its guests – with a full rijsttafel feast and classical dances by the students of the Tandjung Sari Foundation. Rijsttafel – literally “rice table” and pronounced “rice tah-fuhl” – is a colonial Dutch tradition featuring a great array of Indonesian dishes to accompany rice. Fish, fowl, beef, pork, eggs, and many sorts of vegetables are prepared in a number of ways to show a diversity of taste, colour and texture. Rijsttafel was conceived as an official banquet that would show the wealth and diversity of the Netherlands East Indies, with regional dishes from the many different ethnic groups.

The fascination of Legong is in two identical dancers. right: Ethereal flirtation in the Oleg Tambulilingan dance. top: Riri Wawo-Runtu, a former dancer and model, helps to make up the dancers. The heavily stylised make-up is said to help the children overcome their stage fright.

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A gentle renaissance

Traditional Rijsttafel Menu Babi Guling /

spit-roasted pork with local spices

– Bali

Bergedel Kentang Cabe /

potato fritter nestled in large red chilli

Ikan Bakar Acar Kuning /

grilled whole fish in turmeric sauce

Sayur Lodeh /

stir-fried prawns in sweet soy sauce

Telur Bumbu Bali /

– East Java

– Java

boiled eggs simmered in balinese spices

– Bali – West Sumatra – Bali

beef marinated and simmered in spices and coconut milk

Sayur Urap Kecipir /

wing beans with grated coconut and spices

Ayam Panggang Kalio / Ikan Woku Belanga / Botok Tahu Jamur / Sate Ayam /

– West Sumatra – North Sulawesi

javanese steamed tofu and mushrooms with grated coconut balinese-style satay of minced mackerel

chicken satay with peanut sauce

Terong Balado / Nasi Putih /

grilled chicken with padang-style spices

snapper braised with manadonese spices

Sate Lilit Ikan Tenggiri /

– Java

– Bali

– Indonesia – West Sumatra

eggplant in padang-style spices

steamed white rice

Nasi Kuning /

turmeric rice

– Indonesia

Aneka Krupuk /

assorted crackers

Aneka Sambal /

assorted chilli-based condiments

Acar /

– West Java

asian vegetables cooked with spices in coconut milk broth

Udang Kecap / Rendang /

– Java

The rijsttafel banquet is a study not only in the regional dishes of Indonesia but also in the Balinese flair for presentation. The table is covered in fresh young leaves from the coconut palm, pinned into ornamental shapes with slivers of bamboo.

pickled vegetables

Bubur Injin / black rice pudding with fresh grated coconut and palm sugar – Bali & Java Coconut Pie / warm young coconut pudding with rum, raisins and nuts – North Sulawesi Fresh Fruits /

choice of seasonal fruits from the market

Dadar Unti /

indonesian style crepes flavoured with fragrant pandan leaf and filled with grated fresh coconut and palm sugar – Indonesia

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Creating a World for Friends Since the dawn of time, or perhaps a bit less, there was Bali, the Island of the Morning of the World, the Island of the Gods, with its painted wood carvings, its gilded gamelan orchestras, and its dances; there was a deserted beach in Sanur, a coral reef, a lagoon that filled with the tides, and in the distance the great Ocean. Then Wija opened his arms to embrace this landscape and smiled; the Tandjung Sari would be born. Mud-walled bungalows with roofs of alang-alang, a dream refuge for urban prisoners of concrete; with his generous heart and creative spirit, this was the paradise that Wija Wawo-Runtu offered us. To this he added performances presented by a group who descended from Peliatan, a village snuggled at the feet of the Batu volcano. The Tandjung Sari trembled under the rapid notes of the jegog, calung penyach, ulag, pemade, reong, kantilan, punctuated by the deeper sounds of drums and gongs. Dancers glimmering with gold and sparkling colours mesmerised us with their symbolic gestures and hand movements. In 1968, I met Wija and his charming wife Tatie at the Tandjung Sari during a reception for Indonesian officials and international experts on tourism. Then I made the acquaintance of Anak Agung Gede Djelantik who showed me Amlapura Karangasem and its surroundings. Wija in turn led me to explore Nusa Dua, Kuta, Serangan, Klungkung, Padang Bai, near which, in 1972, I welcomed the helicopter-transport ship Jeanne d’Arc and the frigate Victor Schoelcher which came to anchor in the Bay of Amuk. At my request, Wija Wawo-Runtu organised for the captain of the ship Gérard de Castelbajac a performance of the Peliatan troupe. Some months later, he did the same for Maurice Ronet, an actor and producer who came to Indonesia with Georges Troisfontaines to make a film about the dragons on the island of Komodo. All were delighted with Wija’s kindness. Every year, I would rediscover Bali, Sanur, and the Tandjung Sari. Big hotels were built; many others copied the Tandjung Sari with varying degrees of success. The number of tourists rose from 50,000 to five million. Wija was at the source of this incredible expansion. The hotel Tandjung Sari is located in Sanur, on the Danu Tamblingan Road, the name of a lake near the mountains Catur and Lesong. This road would be better named Wija Wawo-Runtu Street, and a bronze statue should be erected there in his memory.

Jean Louis Mercier Former cultural attaché & consular officer in Surabaya from 1968 to 1973

Linda Mercier dancing with Gérard de Castebajac, commander of the ship Jeanne d’ Arc, 1972. 151

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tandjung sari

A Magical Door to Bali

tandjung sari

About the Author

A Magical Door to Bali

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tandjung sari

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