It's been such a nice change being back in Bali after so long in Langkawi. I love Langkawi and the friends we have there but Bali has always held a special place in my heart for nearly 20 years now.
Bali was the first Asian destination I ever visited back in 2002 and I thought it was such a magical place with its unique culture and welcoming locals, the 'Island of the Gods'. Myself and Dani have now visited Bali many times over the years. Whenever we are traveling around Asia we always make sure that the trip includes some 'Bali' time, it would simply be rude not to call in for a little while and enjoy a few Bintang's.
This time though feels a little different from all of those previous visits. Ever since my first taste of Balinese life I have always dreamed of being able to live here and this visit feels very close to that dream. For this visit we will be here for at least 6 months and now, having realised that we can sustain a 'digital nomad' lifestyle....just, we feel as if the dream of living in Bali can maybe become a reality. Let's see what happens and how this 6 months pans out.
Now I know from chatting with many other travelers and friends that everyone has their own unique experience when coming to Bali and some people don't always enjoy their time here. Some peoples experiences aren't the best and I can understand that, understand why they feel that Bali is an over popular tourist haven. It certainly can be as well, I don't dispute that for one moment but there is so much more to this island than the touristy experience that some people have.
Compared to say Langkawi or some of the Thai islands we have visited Bali is a fairly big island. The South, from the airport up the West coast, through Kuta, Legian, Seminyak and Canggu is most definitely tourist central. Even during the quiet season this party strip can be massively over crowded, usually with booze fueled 'Ozzies on their jollies'. Get away from these areas though and also away from the centre of Ubud and there is a whole range of amazing 'off the beaten track' places that you can explore and go and get lost in.
To be fair though we don't mind a bit of everything that Bali has to offer, it's an amazing mixture of so many things. Bali pretty much caters to your every need. You want a weeks non-stop partying? that's easy to find. You want some spiritual seclusion in a jungle retreat, practicing your yoga and meditation along with an avocado and twig smoothie? not a problem. How about some of the most stunning designer hotels and restaurants in the world? There are many of those to choose from. How about cheap and cheerful $5 a night chic hostels and $1 local meals every day? They are dotted about all over. Bali really has you covered for whatever budget and experience you are looking for, and it's all available with a stunning natural back drop and the most friendly, happy people on the planet.
Put simply, we have fallen back in love with Bali all over again since we landed here about 10 days ago.
I love the chic style of what Bali has to offer. They really know how to do service and stunning aesthetics in this part of the world. We can pop to a beautifully stylish restaurant, nestled among the rice fields for a sumptuous lunch for just £4 and then head off to a great cheap little boozer and grab 6 icy cold bottles of Bintang for a fiver and sit back and enjoy the live band for the rest of the night. The next day we can head off on the motorbike into the middle of nowhere and chat with some locals in a random village and sit and enjoy a coffee and great hospitality with them. What a place.
We feel immensely lucky to be here right now during this crazy pandemic. Never in our life time will we experience Bali this quiet and with this many amazing cheap deals on offer, especially on the accommodation front. We truly understand how hard it is for the locals here right now, hence we always mix up our chic restaurants with our small, cheap and cheerful family Warung's on a daily basis. Probably the greatest thing for us right now is that we are able to afford to stay in our own lovely villa with a private pool. Whenever and wherever we travel it's always on a budget, we make our money stretch for as long as is possible before having to return home. So for us this is most definitely a once in a lifetime chance to experience a little of the high life in paradise. It's a chance we can't pass up.
So that's kind of where we are at right now. We haven't ventured off too far exploring just yet. Our villa is in Seminyak and it seems like anyone and everyone has gravitated to Seminyak and more so to Canggu a little further up the coast. It's easy to see why as well. We went for a spin out on the bike the other day down to Kuta, and Kuta is so so quiet compared to Seminyak and Canggu, it's like a ghost town. Kuta is usually the busiest area in Bali. It has the highest concentration of bars and clubs but it also consists of mainly hostels and hotels when it comes to places to stay. There are a lot more private villas to rent further up the coast and that's why I think most people have gathered here. Everyone is making the most of this once in a lifetime chance to stay in their own private villa for a fraction of the usual price.
I'll give you a little perspective on just how good these deals are right now. The villa where we are staying is costing us a month what they would usually charge for just 5 or 6 nights. That's a huge saving and something we would never dream of usually. We are pretty much paying about 20% of what they would normally charge for a months stay.
That's the reason why we haven't ventured off too far really. We have been spending most of our days popping out for lunch somewhere and tickling our taste buds with some tasty treats that we haven't been able to get in Langkawi...... namely pork. Yes it's pork, all about the pork! We have been feasting on bacon and various pig products that are usually harder and more expensive to get hold of in Malaysia as well as a whole host of other fantastic dishes. The choice of amazing places to eat here is like a breath of fresh air.
Other than eating and the occasional trip down to the beach or a bar we have been enjoying a lot of pool time at our villa. It's a novelty for us to have this luxury and I'm sure that will wear off eventually and we will start doing other things in our free time, but for now relaxing at our digs is a great way to while away the days.
That said on Monday we are probably going to head out for a spin up to Ubud and stay there for the night and to see what it's like at the moment. We think that we are going to move around a little during our 6 months here so that we get a change of scenery every now and then and maybe take 1 or 2 month rentals at a time in each place. Let's see what happens and what deals we can find in other parts of the island to mix things up a little.
