new + things to bring

[canuck]

Hello, I am a newcomer to your forum, and have been lurking for the past few weeks. You are a wealth of information!

I will be moving to Bali in the next month, and am wondering if you have any suggestions about "must bring" items. I am thinking about consumables, things which might be very expensive, hard to find, or limited options. Eg, being female, I know I should bring a good stock of tampons. I've checked out a few older related posts, but they seem to wander off topic.

I am also wondering what you do for rain. I've experienced tropical rains while travelling, and lived in Japan through typhoon seasons, and found rain jackets/goretex quite useless due to the heat and humidity.

Thanks in advance!

[BaliLife]

canuck, welcome!! where are u from in canada? i am in vancouver and my family will be moving to bali before the end of the year..

ct

[FreoGirl]

Hi Canuk - welcome to the forum! I think you will find that you can get most things in Bali, but I did bring some things:

My preferred shampoo & conditioner (of course you can get these things in Bali, but you can't get the brand I use and the top quality ones are very expensive and/or hard to get), and other hair products like leave-in conditioner.

Tampons - bags of them. But I also brought a mooncup (google it, I actually still use in place of tampons, despite being back in Oz now)

Cosmetics I virtually never used up there, but whatever you want is available in Bali.

It will depend on where you are planning on living. If it is a tourist area, then most things will be easy to get. Otherwise you might need:
swimmers, nice sandals if your feet are > 40 European, good jeans if you are a western size, that sort of stuff. I've you've been there for a holiday you should have an idea what you can buy.

Mostly I tried to find replacements for the things I was used to having, but also life was simpler so I found that there was a lot I didn't need anymore.

Cheers

Freo

[niksing]

We have been living here for 4 months now canuck, and visited many times over the past 16 years. I have been able to find pretty much everything I need since we moved here, even tampons. I also already a good stock of cloth pads so do not need that many - just have friends bring in when they are visiting if I am running low and unable to find in the main supermarkets.

One thing I have not been able to get is decent bras and underpants. The bras tend to be padded and not very exciting in design.

I agree with Freo that life becomes much simpler so many of the "must haves" in the west a re no longer as essential here. We are just about to start stocking for our new home and I am trying to find decent towels and sheets which is proving challenging but may just be that I have not yet figured out where to look.

The thing the kids are missing most ios a great bookshop. There is a childrens bookshop and Periplus that has an ok range of adult books, but not much choice for teens so my boys are always hanging out for good books to read. Again, something I always ask friends to bring when they are visiting and I plan to pick up a large choice when I visit Singapore in October.

Good luck with your move.

Nikki

[BaliLife]

why would locating tampons be a problem? i'm guessin indo gals have menstrual cycles also..

ct

[FreoGirl]

Indo gals don't use 'em CT, they use pads or the even more old fashion cloth pads if no money to spend on that sort of thing.

Well you asked. :lol: :oops: :lol: :oops:

The supply is unreliable. Sometimes you can get them and sometimes you can't. Often you can only get Kotex (not everyone's preferred choice).

My answer to the dilema was a Mooncup, which I now encourage all women to try whenever the subject arises.

[canuck]

Thanks for your replies ... the angle that life becomes simpler while in Bali is very attractive! You mentioned books for teens, how about for adults? I am a big reader, and remember paying alot to read while in Japan until I sourced out the local library (ironically, i now devour Japanese culture and authors through my local Japan Foundation). Lingerie - good point! How about things like Advil/Tylenol ... outrageously expensive?
Thanks

[charlie]

For books i used to go to the second hand book stalls/shops ... i found everything from Salman Rushdie to Zadie Smith in the stalls ... and relatively cheap if you hunt around or become a regular ...

Advil isn't expensive, you can get it in any chemist ... i'd never heard of it til i lived in Bali ...

And karen ... i'm off to google mooncup ...

Bali Life - my friend who owns villas bought to die for linen and towels from a hotel linen supplier in denpasar and they were relatively cheap .. i'll get in contact with her and see if she still has the details ..

[BaliLife]

thanks fregirl.. that's interesting...

on a completely unrelated note, we got great news today!! our nanny who works for us / lives with us here in vancouver is eager to return to indo and wants to keep working for us in bali! we're stoked... she's been with us since my son was 6 months (he's now 3yrs) and we have a 9 mth old daughter who she's also been with from day 1.. she is definitely one of the family.. we thought she'd be leaving us when we went to bali, but got the good news today..

the only thing that made me think of that was ur post actually, coz a few months ago we bumped into her down at the local supermarket, i was like, "loh, mau belih apa??"- usually she'd only be there to buy food for the house or somethin for the kids.. well her face went red (with embarassment - not anger) and she laughed and my wife gave me the nudge coz she knew she was down there buying "lady things"..

ct

[FreoGirl]

i'm off to google mooncup ...

There is also something similar available through eBay called Divacup. Bit cheaper I'm told (Mooncup has to come from the UK)

Glad you are investigating.... :wink: