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yeah Fred;

but you see how much time it took me to have a more objectivity and refrein my excitation! Ìý This is what many people don't realize, but I'm not blaming anyone to have dreams, ..morover such kind of dream needs time, organisationÌý and lot lot of research, ..knowing whe you're gonna put your feet in by chance I'm a procrastinator by nature )

I can't lie, 6 or 7 years ago I was like " ok I'm ready to go!!!" lol..
I'm glad so glad I didn't push further at that time..Ìý but now I have a better idea on what I can expect or not and what I must take care of.
The kind of details we don't usually never have to care about as tourist..staying in a hotel but things we NEED to know once we want to stay mid-long term.. and even, I know I will still have some surprises,..Ìý yup "the Indonesian way".. I guess you know what I mean

yep indeed, nowadays Internet connections are much better, I remember in 2007 it was hum hum.. it's amazing how Bali has changed in this short amount of time!!.. anyway I won't need a lot of bandwith, just enough to send a few Mo everyday.. not a big deal. I'm not a big bandwith consumer as 99% of my worki time is done offline.

yep and there's so many Airbnb available, I was checking this afternoon and I found many nice places that could fit to my monthly accommodation budget. I'm not rich,but I have a good job, a good salary, enough to live decently in Bali and I don't have luxury tastes..
I'm not a nightbird anymore to spend all my money in booze. ;p)

Ben2M wrote:

yeah Fred;
yep and there's so many Airbnb available, I was checking this afternoon and I found many nice places that could fit to my monthly accommodation budget. I'm not rich,but I have a good job, a good salary, enough to live decently in Bali and I don't have luxury tastes..
I'm not a nightbird anymore to spend all my money in booze. ;p)

B+B will get you looked after in the short term but a wander around local housing estates will get you a very reasonable place at a reasonable price - deals you won't get from estate agents.
Your best bet is asking around locals but beware, there's a fair chance they'll want a commission for their work and the owner push for a white face price.
Just thank the latter for their offer and explain you aren't interested.
Apartments are a possibility but they've become fashionable this week so prices are going up and are sometimes more expensive than a house.
One note, make sure you're within walking distance of an Alfamart or whatever minimart shop - really handy.
Rents are normally yearly but the monthly should be below 2 million for a small but nice house in a gated community - if it hits 3, you can probably find a better deal unless it's a very nice pad.
As it doesn't really matter where you stay, you can shop around more than most, and that gives you advantages on price both because the location is less important, and you can find a lot more places so be able to negotiate a better price.

thank you Fred for the advices!

For housing I can also count on some of my very trustworthy friends who can help for visiting, advices,locations, thanks god finding something to rent isn't a big deal, I will select and do a recon on my next visit

yesss, the kind of "details" i'm checking first , such a Minimart,alpha or cocomart in the area of course, a pharma.. and last but not least Martabak

Ben2M wrote:

thank you Fred for the advices!

This is a mutual help platform - you're very welcome

Ben2M wrote:

For housing I can also count on some of my very trustworthy friends ..

You just saved a lot of money

Ben2M wrote:

.. and last but not least Martabak

Yum yum

I see you mentioned you don't much care about boozing - another massive cost saving - You're basically talking about a local middle class lifestyle, but on western salary - You'll build up a serious bank balance so fast you'll think the bank is mixing up international telephone numbers and your bottom line.

sure, it's not the first time I get some very useful advices, there's no better than people who have a long experience to get the most accurate info, that's why Expat is priceless, not only for general information but also for their personal experience, it helps a lot...
such "avoid this", "don't do that", "do it rather like this",Ìý they know the field Ìý of course some of my expats friends provided me some great tips, but when it's about admin info, they aren't always aware of laws updates... yeah, once they got their visa, looong time ago, they simply didn't want to deal with administrative shenanigans anymore, they just call their agent when needed ,.. but I cannot blame them of course


Yup, saving a bit of money that i'll reinject into the local economy and I plan to use to travel here and there, there's some places I went, where I would like to stay a couple of days, such Jatiluwih, because last time I did only scratch 10% of it's surface.
Renting a small room a couple of days,sharing my time between rice fields and my laptop.. oh yeah, I'm kinda obsessed by rice fields (nothing sexual)

Yeah rather normal-class life style, not looking for fancy things,
I'm not interrested by clubs anymore, neither boum boum massages, nor big alcohol orgies..Ìý for all that I'm not a monk, I like a good restaurant from time to time, good wine Ìý
No, I want to stay there longer to discover all the places my local friends told me about, hanging on more time with them, and why not going back to Lombok, Flores, Lembongan to stay longer;Ìý
places I didn't went yet, such Java, Sulawesi, Sumatra, Borneo, Papua.. etc..Ìý which obviously I cannot do in a 2 weeks span, usual holidays lenght in EU.

beeing allowed by my EU company to do remote working while moving to different places on the island and around, is a privilege I hope to able to take advantage of, but I know there will be great days, bad days and I'm expecting the unexpected, like I use to when I travel to Indonesia

However, no rush, I think I'm gonna first wait for the elections, coming on april to see how things evolve

My new job has an excellent bonus, that being free travel over much of Indonesia. Sad as it is, we don't have any sites in Papua - but you can't have everything.

You'll see a wild variety of cultures as you wander around, Aceh being a must visit place. Try to get a few days up there, enough to see the tsunami museum and the ship - it gives you an idea of just how powerful the wave was when you see such a massive ship so far from the sea.
Don't drink more than 2 coffees in one day or you'll never sleep - They don't have alcohol and prostitutes in that city so they have to get a buzz from something