I'm Indonesians and I've some Information bout The Great Island "Bali"
So Check This, guys!
The good sides,are:
Hot, sunny weather and tropical beaches- Unless
you’re one of those pale people who hate the sun and get a rash when
they’re exposed to the heat, then you probably appreciate a nice sandy
beach with a few palm trees. Bali, being an island, has a hot tropical
climate- in the ‘summer’ it’s hot but not too humid and it’s generally
sunny every day. In winter it’s really hot, sticky and humid but there’s
also quite a lot of rainfall. There are beaches everywhere- long, flat,
sandy beaches with rolling waves in Kuta and Seminyak, black sand
beaches with unruly waves in Canggu, sheltered coves with cliffs and
rocks in Uluwatu, Bingin and Balangan or white paradise beaches in
Padangbai.
It’s a great place to surf- If you love to surf then
Bali is a dream come true. With some of the best waves in the world,
the main dilemma for a surfer every day is, which break shall I surf?
For a beginner it’s a great place to start without the need for a
wetsuit.
The people are really helpful and friendly- The Balinese people are some of the friendliest and most helpful people I have ever met. I covered in my blog before why Indonesia is so efifcient
and the fact that if there’s anything you want- whether it’s renting an
apartment, or getting your bike fixed- someone will be there to do it
for you.
It’s a cheap place to live- Rent for a nice villa-
$500 USD per month. Bike- $50 USD per month, three course meal- $10. If
you’re travelling and trying to make your money stretch further, then
Bali is definitely a place you can do that. Whilst it’s not as cheap as
places in Thailand and other Aisan countries, Bali is still cheap as
chips.
The food is great- Standard food in Bali is stuff
like Nasi Goreng, Mie Goreng, Chicken Satay, Babi Guling and Bakso Soup.
If you get sick or rice and noodles though, there’s great seafood in
Jimbaran, and every kind of international food in Seminyak. On Jalan
Oberoi you could eat Moroccan, Greek, Japanese, Mexican and Italian food
all in one night. The breakfast cafes such as Tuck Shop and Zucchini do
great smoothies, salads, yoghurt, fruit, paninis and omelettes.
You’re exposed to new cultures and sights- This is
the main thing that you definitely can’t get at home. In England I don’t
look out on ride fields or wake up to the sound of geckos and
cockerels. I can’t visit a monkey temple or a Balinese medicine man. I
don’t see Canang Sari flower baskets covering the streets or get offered
a massage, transport or DVD whilst I’m eating my breakfast. I don’t
see people carrying a family of four on a motorbike whilst trying to
negotiate the chaotic mess of traffic on the roads. I can’t go
snorkelling, or surfing, bask in the sun or hike a volcano over in
England.
There’s opportunity and a positive attitude- When I
was looking for work in Bali, I found the people living there, whether
expats or Indonesians, were really friendly, helpful and had a positive
attitude. People don’t focus on the negative in Bali, everyone smiles
and tries to make conversation with you and tries to help you out. Maybe
it’s all that Vitamin D from the sunshine, but if I walk through a
street in London, I don’t get a hello from anyone. If you want to start a
business in Bali, there’s plenty of opportunity to be creative.
The bad sides, are:
Food in the supermarket in Bali is not cheap because
most of the stuff is imported. Yep if you want to buy a year’s worth of
rice in a bag it’s ridiculously cheap, but if you want to buy something
as simple as a tin of baked beans you’re looking at twice what you
would pay in the UK. If you want to cook at home, there are generally no
ovens either…just portable gas stoves.
There’s no public transport in Bali. Over here I
take it for granted, my car is currently sat on the drive because it
costs around £1,200 to insure it and I can’t really justify the expense
at the moment, especially when I’ll be travelling come Easter. But I’ve
got so many options- if my wonderful friends and family don’t offer me a
ride somewhere, I’ve got the tram here in Manchester, the bus, the
megabus, the national express, the train…it just took me two hours to
get to London. In Bali, however, there is no public transport, so you’re
stuck with the scooters (which after my accident I’ll never be riding
again), or taxis, or renting a car.
Living by the beach is a distraction- yep we all
love being a beach bum…who wouldn’t want to sit on a nice tropical
beach? But when you’ve got work to do and you have to fund your living,
there’s one dilemma….do i sit in an air conditioned room all day
working, where essentially I could be anywhere? Or do I go to the beach,
get a tan and play in the waves? When I returned to England after a
stint in Portugal, I couldn’t help but feel a bit of relief at not
having to choose between the beach and working on my laptop.
Some things are more difficult. It’s an obvious
thing to say, and I know most people travel around the world because
they don’t want to be in a country where everything is made easy for
them. But when I lived in Bali I had to think about my visa renewal
every couple of months, if I needed something in particular like
computer equipment, a book, or a particular food I had to make a big
expedition to Denpasar or Carrefour to go and get it. The traffic was
chaotic and stressful, and sometimes sitting in the heat in a pile of
traffic on the way back from the beach somehow made the memories of my
relaxing sunbathing session fade away. I couldn’t just drink the tap
water without thinking, and my ex-boyfriend was driven insane by the
mosquitoes, resulting in a nightly ritual massacre of mozzies (I funnily
have never been bitten by a mosquito, but he got bitten constantly).
There wasn’t always hot water in my house so I would often have to take
a lightning fast shower, and finding a house with internet was the most
difficult task of all. I regularly lost electricity, internet, or both
and had to make trips to Seminyak to find someone with wireless.
I missed the cosmopolitan city vibe- I’m not trying
to say there aren’t loads of things to do in Bali, because there are,
particularly outdoor activities such as hiking, snorkelling and surfing.
But I guess I got a little bored of island life…I missed the bright
lights of a big city…getting dressed up and going to the theatre or
stopping by a busy bar full of city workers.
The healthcare isn’t so great- Yes the medicines are
cheap in Bali and I was thankful for that…antibiotics were readily
available and cost cents. But when I returned to the UK after my bike
accident, I was told if I had just had my wounds cleaned and scrubbed
properly under anaesthetic, I wouldn’t have the scars I have today and
all the hospital appointments that come with it. In the beginning I went
to the local hospital, where they dabbed my wounds with iodine and put
dressings on. Then I got frustrated that they weren’t healing properly,
so I paid for the private BIMC hospital, who basically did exactly the
same thing but put a price tag on it.
Everyday, someone is trying to sell you something- The
people in Bali don’t hassle very much compared to some of the other
countries I’ve been to. A simple ‘no thank you’ and they’ll go away.
However, when you live somewhere and every day of the year you are asked
if you would like to buy a DVD or a sarong, it can get a bit
overbearing.
There are tourists, but not a huge number of young expats- I
realised when I was living and working in Bali that I missed young
people. Whilst there is a large community of English-speaking expats
with businesses in Bali, I missed the company of young people. There are
lots of Aussie tourists and people there for a few weeks, but trying to
meet people of my age group wasn’t that easy. I did have some friends,
but I missed talking to people who have known me for more than 5
minutes.
