Bali Expat Forum - Bali Travel Forum

Alfred · by **Alfred** on Mon Apr 24, 2006 5:16 pm

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regards,
Alfred.

Bert Vierstra · by **Bert Vierstra** on Mon Apr 24, 2006 6:28 pm

Well Alfred, you will find a lot of your answers are somewhere on the forum already.

Search a bit please....

And...

Don't expect to have your list of questions answered, one by one...

Lets take it one by one...

Petrol is now 4500 rupiah per liter...

There is no real road tax in Indonesia, you just pay for the STNK (kenteken bewijs), and this is, just like in the Netherlands, different for every car.

I own a Opel Blazer, 2400CC, and I pay about 1.7 million rupiah a year.

irma1812 · by **irma1812** on Tue Apr 25, 2006 12:38 am

Alfred, welcome. As Bert said, some of answers you're looking for are already on the forum. However I have spent many, many hours searching & surfing the same sort of info as we're also planning to move to Bali in a couple of years time. I understand that it is hard work trying to find out about things from thousands of miles away. So will try & answer some of your questions based on my own research:-

1. Will depend how you live. Some on this forum quoted $3000/month. If you send kids to one of the private schools instead of international I'm sure it would cost less than that.
2. Sanur is well known as expat community, quite expensive. We have budgeted at least $800/month for ourselves, wherever we'll end up living, though Canggu is looking favourite at the moment.
3. I have a 4 yr old who will be about 6 when we do move there, so have been in touch with a few schools there. BALI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL - USD4500 – 10000 (depends on age up to 16), SANUR INDEPENDENT SCHOOL - US$2,600 (up to 11), CANGGU COMMUNITY - $5000 (Years 1-6) & $6000 (Yr 7). Prices are per annum of course and they are just tuition fees. Other fees are applied: i.e yearly levies
4. Visa - covered many times on this forum before
5. Possible with KITAS - please search forum
6. As no 5
7. Many people have had different views on this. Starting a business anywhere is not easy, especially somewhere you're not familiar with. You need to get to know the place & people first before making this sort of decision. As for taxes, well..... many would say,"what's that?"
8. Taxes - please search forum
9. My answer at no 7 applies to this as well
10. I know there are a few of them. (Bert, are you Dutch?)
11. Bert has answered this
12. Answered by Bert
13. Search forum
14. I believe the going rates around Rp500.000 per month + food + assistance with medical bills when necessary + other bits & pieces

OK, hope this is useful. However don't quote me on any of them as I only researched them from thousands of miles too! :wink:

Anyway, maybe we'll see you in Bali someday! Good luck!

Alfred · by **Alfred** on Tue Apr 25, 2006 2:47 pm

Dear Bert and Irma,

Thanks a lot for the information. Schools are quite expansive if compared to Holland where they are nowedays for free untill the age of 11 !!.

Just like you both said, I can find most of the information on the forum already. Actually for the time being a have practically al the answers I needed.

Many thanks to you Bert and a little more to you Irma for all your answers!

I will keep following the activity on this forum with interest.

regards
Alfred.

Roy · by **Roy** on Tue Apr 25, 2006 3:05 pm

Bert, are you Dutch?

Yup, and as tight as bark to a tree. It's a secret of his survival on Bali! :shock:

Luv ya Bert, but "rules are rules" and truth is truth!

On topic, the cost of living on Bali, I can say without doubt that it is more than double what it was just seven or eight years ago.

Building projects now will easily run more than double from just a few years ago, not because of wage increase, but simply the huge increases in materials.

irma1812 · by **irma1812** on Tue Apr 25, 2006 10:31 pm

Roy wrote:On topic, the cost of living on Bali, I can say without doubt that it is more than double what it was just seven or eight years ago.

Building projects now will easily run more than double from just a few years ago, not because of wage increase, but simply the huge increases in materials.

I know you are right on this, Oom Roy. Everywhere in Indonesia things are much more expensive. I have my Mother & unemployed Brother (currently doing a course) in Jakarta whom I support, as without it there is no way they could manage! In the past 2 years the amount of money I send them has more than doubled! :cry:

Can somebody tell me then, if wages haven't increased, how on earth do the locals manage?!? :shock:

BTW Alfred, you are very welcome.

Roy · by **Roy** on Wed Apr 26, 2006 1:18 am

Can somebody tell me then, if wages haven't increased, how on earth do the locals manage?!?

With great difficulty. Most all the families that I am close enough to that they will honestly discuss their finances have either dipped into their savings, sold their car (replaced by a mototbike), leased or sold land that they wanted to keep for their kids.

Most Balinese will "put on a good face" about this issue but make no mistake about it, there is a lot of belt tightening going on here.

Jimbo · by **Jimbo** on Wed Apr 26, 2006 8:09 am

As a matter of interest how much is a kilo of good rice (Brass Mandi)

Anybody to answer because I bet Roy has not a clue :-)

Roy · by **Roy** on Wed Apr 26, 2006 11:26 am

Anybody to answer because I bet Roy has not a clue

So Jimbo, what are you betting?

Since I do a fair amount of the cooking around here, I am up on this topic. In our kitchen we prefer to use a mix of red and fat rice. Generally when we cook a batch of rice, it's one third red rice and two thirds fat rice.

Fat rice is premium Bali rice. A five kilo bag runs around 35 to 40 thousand. Red rice runs about 5,000 per kilo. "Normal" white rice runs around 95 thousand per 25 kilo bag and is almost impossible to find in less quantity than a 25 kilo bag.

Imported Thai white rice is also popular here, and a five kilo bag runs about 50 thousand.

Jimbo · by **Jimbo** on Thu Apr 27, 2006 6:43 am

Roy

I knew I would get an answer :-)

Suprised at the rice though as normal rice works out at around 39 cents a kilo with best quality at close to 90 cents unless I have my decimal point in the wrong place.

Prices really have shot up. In the UK best Thai Rice is about 1.4 dollars a kilo with normal long grain about 90 cents a kilo and this from supermarkets.

I have been hearing stories recently that many Indonesians in the cities cannot afford to eat rice. Now I know why. Great shame.

Roy · by **Roy** on Thu Apr 27, 2006 10:45 am

Forty two cents (which is what I get for normal rice per kilo) i.e. 95,000 divided by 25, or 3,800 rupiah is pretty cheap if you consider that two pounds of rice is quite a lot and can cover a number of meals. The Bali fat rice, or premium rice is a bit too pricy for many families to eat on its own, so they often mix it with the normal rice.

Those prices I quoted are at the Bali markets. I guess at supermarkets the price would be higher, but I don't know why anyone here in Bali would buy rice, except the imported, Thai rice in a supermarket.

In the cities, far away from the rice fields, I guess the prices would be higher due to transport costs and higher overhead costs of the sellers.

In my view what is hurting the working class Indonesians more are recent increases in gas and electricity. Indonesia has a bad habit of holding off price increases until it is too late, thus the percentages are high...as much as 100% at one time rather than a controlled staggered increase each year.

Irislahay · by **Irislahay** on Thu Apr 27, 2006 12:11 pm

3. how much is costs of the Int. School) starting from 5 years?

Why do they really need International school? Indonesian school is the same (this is my opinion). Indonesian school have good curriculum and sure the cost is really much cheaper. If the reason is because they are 50% foreigner, and you're so afraid the other student can't accept them, don't be worry. When I was in the school, I have friends, they are half French, Deutsche, British, etc . I am sure that your children can speak Indonesian as good as their mom....

irma1812 · by **irma1812** on Thu Apr 27, 2006 12:35 pm

Iris

Unfortunately it's not as simple as that. I have lived for 20 yrs in UK and as I don't see other Indo fellows very often, my Bahasa has gone terrible!! I tend to think in English now so speaking Bahasa doesn't come natural to me anymore.

I'm a shame to admit, my 2 kids do not speak Bahasa at all!! :oops:

They just know the odd words. So when we move to Bali, my youngest boy will be 6 then, I think he will have to go to an International school unfortunately.

matsaleh · by **matsaleh** on Thu Apr 27, 2006 2:04 pm

irma1812 wrote: .... as I don't see other Indo fellows very often, my Bahasa has gone terrible!!

Two of Jimbo's "pet hates" in the one sentence!!

Irma, I think you're baiting our poor Jimbo.

irma1812 · by **irma1812** on Thu Apr 27, 2006 2:17 pm

Oh deary deary me.....

I'm definitely in twable now......

Roy · by **Roy** on Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:37 pm

Irma, for many expats, especially the ones who know they are here for only a certain time period (i.e. employed by a large company, GM of an international hotel, etc.) international schools make sense, and most of these expats aren't concerned that their children learn bahasa Indonesia or integrate with local kids. They also don’t care much what the international school costs, as in most cases these expenses are picked up by their employer as part of their “hardship posting.”

Other expats, especially those with Indonesian spouses who plan to make Bali or Indonesia home permanently generally do not use such schools, but rather tend to enroll their kids in Indonesian/international schools where there is a good English as well as local curriculum.

An odd thing from my perspective about the international school is that their holiday schedule is on a Western basis. That means that during local holidays, such as Galungan, Kuningan, Ramadan etc, the schools are open and in session.

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