Surfing lessons, house and just how to settle in nicely????

[glede]

Hi,

I am about to start working in Bali, in a week or something. I know that I will figure things out, but some good advice would be great, not to reinvent the wheel....
I will need to rent a house/appartment, ideally living room, bedroom, kitchen, just for one person and at local price........ And i would prefer living not far from the beach, as I love jogging on the beach and in the area where some other expatriates live as well. and it should not be too far from Jimbaran Bay. Is it some living area which fits into my preferences or I am a dreamer.........
And what is the best way to find a house in Bali - local paper or just drive around and see what is for rent?

And the last question but not least. I am obssessed with surfing, I want to take surfing lessons, at least a few just to get started. Any surfing schools or something in Bali?

Thanks a lot

[charlie]

Hi and welcome to the forum !!!

There is a a paper called the "Bali Advertiser" and it has alot of rentals listed, it is also online so you can check it out before you get there.

Paying local price and living local style may not be what you expect. For local price you can have a shared toilet and shared kitchen and the toilet is rarely sit down, but hunt around and there are some good cheap places out there where you can have your own bathroom etc... ( well i think there still are??!!)

There are heaps of surfing schools in Bali... Just head to Kuta and one of the surf shops will hook you up.

[glede]

Hi Charlie,

Thanks for your advise. I am really glad that it is easy to get surfing lessons. And the online version of paper, do you happen to know the web site name?
May be I used the wrong term - local price........I mean just fair price, not the price for foreigners. It is just from my experience of living in Phuket - there are "local living areas" where local people and foreigners get charged roughly the same, and there are areas where accomodation price for foreigners is just much higher then it should be.

[Sanurian]

Welcome to the forum, glede

...And i would prefer living not far from the beach, as I love jogging on the beach and in the area where some other expatriates live as well. and it should not be too far from Jimbaran Bay...

There are various ways to find places to stay in Bali. The two usually cheapest forms of accommodation are a "kos" or a "homestay" (with a Balinese family). Depending on your Indonesian language skills, you could do worse than ask around in warungs, for a start. And you might find something in The Bali Advertiser, which is aimed predominantly at expats and would-be-expats. The on-line version is at:
http://www.baliadvertiser.biz

There are several local newspapers as well but you might need a translator to make sense of their ads.

Walking or driving around and keeping an eye out for signs like "rumah kontrakan" or "house for rent" also works, if you have the time and patience. For sure, if you ask some locals, there will always be somebody who "knows" of something available. Whether they actually do or not, you will eventually find someone who really does.

There is no shortage of "surfing schools" in southern Bali. Good luck and all the very best.

8)

[glede]

Hi Sanuarian,

Thank you for very useful info. Bali advertiser has very nice web site. And I was very pleased to see that there is a movie theatre .The local language skills - it there any kind of easy course for begginers available, or just learn it from every day life?

Glede

[swisshawaiian]

Welcome Glede to the Forum.

As far as Bahasa Indonesia lessons go, there are a few schools in the Denpasar/Sanuar area. Here are two I can recommend:

Indonesia Australia Language Foundation (IALF):

http://www.ialf.edu/bahasabali.html

Bali Indonesian Language Academy (BILA):

no link, but their office number is 0361-720-305, mobile: 081-239-111-72

I have been taking private lessons from BILA. A teacher comes to my house for the lessons and it's quite convenient and the fees are pretty reasonable. IALF has mainly group classes and the next group class for beginners in scheduled for early January 2007 (2 hrs/day for one month). They're located in Denpasar in a nice modern building. BILA is located near Sanur.

Good luck!