manc in oz
I'd like to know how you got on with your one-way ticket Ned? Any time I've travelled on a tourist visa, I've had to have a ticket that shows I'm leaving the country. Good luck.
Alan
Hi my names alan and i live in perth and a friend and i are thinking about moving to bali but we don't really know how to organise anything. My friend is returning to bali in about 10 weeks and i was just wondering if there are any places he can go to whilst there to collect some information on becoming an expatriate in bali, any help would be greatly helpful cheers.
Jimbo
There are many things you can do. First try searching around the forums here as this question has been asked many times.
Second, what type of expate do you want to become? Do you want to work, retire or just come and go.
Third have a look at the Indonesian Embassy near to your home and see the web site. To get answers to your questions you need to be a bit more specific but first habe a good look around here and it will help a lot.
Roy
First off, welcome to the forum, but secondly I have a question to ask. Why in heck, after living in Vietnam for the last seven years, do you want to move to Bali?
You, as Canadian expats, living in Vietnam for the last seven years...I for one would presume that you have been at least fairly successful there...in Vietnam?
You, being in the high end furniture business, must already know that high end export furniture is not made in Bali, but rather in eastern Java.
Aside from my blunt questions, selamat on the new bambino! For certain, kids make all the difference in what we might otherwise do with our lives. Cheers.
chintia
Hi Arache so you planning to move to Bali wow awesome yess come to Bali its great place to live . My mom half Bali half Dutch Balinese are friendly and great people may i say and of course the cost of living maybe a bit expensive than Vietnam . cause its almost tourism ..mom always said " its USA Dolar " country now.. haha ..thats a joke.would you please look at my other posting maybe from old posting you can see some sample of Bali life there :) which i think pretty cool and we most of Balinese Indonesian are just relax people and chill out . that what i thinking :) which is a good thing :) All the best
Arache
Hello,
My wife and I have been living in Vietnam for the past 7 years. We are both Canadian and in our early thirties.
We have been dreaming to move to Bali for a while and are now acting to make our dream come true.
I work in the high-end furniture industry and my wife in the hospitality business.
I am seeking any resources for job hunting and/or direct contact with companies. I have found a very interesting site and blog for the cost of living and it is good to see that Bali is not more expensive than Vietnam (a bit surprising too!)
Housing price is generally fair and basic necessities are very reasonnable so it is encouraging to know that initial family overheads may be manageable.
I would like to know if anyone can point out some interesting references, especially for job search and house rentals (yearly leases). And do you reckon it is best to come to Bali and apply for jobs then? In Vietnam when you are hired from overseas you are offered an Expat Package... if you are present in Vietnam and applying for jobs you get a lower Local-Expat package. Is that similar in Bali?
We have a newborn baby, so we wont be seeking bar/parties types of places. We are considering Bali as it would allow us to live in a peaceful and gorgeous environment and to enjoy the sea that we both love.
Any information is appreciated and we truly look forward to coming to Bali!
Cheers,
Arache
ronb
[quote=Arache]HI All,
For the furniture, I have noticed some really nice new products being made in Bali and although Java may be more known on the international scene, I think that Bali craftsmanship combined with international design touches is unique.
Hopefully I will be able to find people in the indusry to get in touch with.
Arache[/quote]
I also agree there is more furniture making in Bali that Roy would have us believe. Most of the furniture we have has been made in Bali, and the places we visited were busy filling containers with furniture destined mainly for Europe. There were also some sizable shipments to Australia.
Arache
HI All,
Thanks for the quick replies.
[b]Roy:[/b] Hi Roy, You did mention the answer to your question, the Bambino! In a sense, we want to take more time for our family life and for other activities than the ones available in a city like Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). We love Vietnam and I have a business running here. We have friends who have lived in Bali and we have been charmed. Living in Bali would allow us to stay in Asia, within hours of regional capitals, and to enjoy a natural environment, not available in Saigon which is a city fast industrializing now...
We also love experiencing new cultures and are already excited by the idea!
For the furniture, I have noticed some really nice new products being made in Bali and although Java may be more known on the international scene, I think that Bali craftsmanship combined with international design touches is unique.
Hopefully I will be able to find people in the indusry to get in touch with.
Thanks for any info!
[b]Chintia:[/b] Hi Chintia, and your enthusiasm is contagious ! I will definitely look at your other postings.
For rentals of villa on a yearly basis do you have any suggestions?
And do you know of any networking groups that I may join?
Cheers,
Arache
Arache
Hi Roy,
Thanks for the insightful information about the furniture industry.
For the moment, we are concentrating on finding out information about Bali in general, mostly housing, etc...
I am open to any information helpful to our move to Bali.
Cheers,
Arache
Roy
[quote]For the furniture, I have noticed some really nice new products being made in Bali and although Java may be more known on the international scene, I think that Bali craftsmanship combined with international design touches is unique.[/quote]
This isn’t a matter of Bali craftsmanship when it comes to furniture. In reality, the Balinese are very late comers into the furniture business, and it is the Javanese who were taught by the Dutch who most embraced traditional furniture making techniques. Time honored joinery methods such as mortice and tenon joints and dovetailing have absolutely nothing to do with Balinese craftsmanship...as these techniques were introduced here by the Dutch.
All one needs to do is study and examine early Dutch colonial furniture in Java...which still can be found in some of the shops in Surabaya, to understand this.
This has not changed in recent years. In fact, most all of the top furniture companies in Bali only exist as a show room extension of their Java based factories. There is one very good reason for this...and it has to do with average daily wages. In Bali, a journeyman earns twice what his counterpart can earn in Java. The top foreign importers of Indonesian furniture do not come to Bali to do their business. They go to Java.
[i]Indonesia has one of the largest furniture export industries in the world. Based on Indonesian statistics, Maskayu bulletin estimates that the Indonesian furniture sector comprises more than 3,500 companies with over two million workers. Wooden furniture dominates the furniture sector, accounting for two-thirds of the total furniture exports. The furniture industry is mainly concentrated in Java (notably Jepara, Semarang, Solo and Surabaya), where furniture accounts for about 40% of Java’s total exports. Jepara is particularly known for its crafted wooden furniture. Small firms market their products through a network of furniture shops that sells locally. Exports are carried out through sub-contracting arrangements and small enterprises play an active role in export.[/i]
I agree there are exceptions. I know several small scale Balinese owned and Balinese operated furniture businesses on Bali where the entire product, from raw wood to finished pieces are made. One in particular is Naga Mas in the village of Mas. However, what is made there is exclusively custom pieces made to order, and their specialty is to re-cycle old pieces and old wood into new finished products with an antique look.
chintia
Hi arache this is only thought why dont you open business like :
1. Open bed and breakfast for Tourist
2. Maybe get an Eco tour for tourist so you can show them around Bali and you of course u need to open your relationship with others hotels around Bali.
3. Maybe open health Club which i think most Balinese and Tourist love to be back to healhty
4. buy and selling and do renovation houses and get a good business from it DYOR
I saw in internet around (USA) $45,000 houses sell in Bali if you rental around Rupiah (indonesian Rupiah )2,000,000 a year maybe you could get around from 500,000 to 2,000,000.
This is only a thought thou its still a good oportunity business in Bali i mean if i birth there and welcoming you come to Bali and you all be like my big family :) cheers . If i have some thought to make $$ in Bali again i post here :)
Bert Vierstra
Jobs are not easy to get, in most cases it comes down to "inventing" your own job.
Although Roy's post sounds negative and sort of definite, there is a lot of truth in it as well. Any naive plan will fail.
But with the right type of stamina and creativity, there are plenty of possibilities, and sometimes even (vague) dreams come true.
Roy
OK Arache, I hear you. If you want just the facts and raw reality, I’m game. If you only want your dreams soothed, then other posters can do that for you.
Fact, or sort of fact, number one, (as there are no real hard statistics), four out of five expats that move to Bali with business plans (as opposed to retirement), fail, and leave Bali within the first three years of moving here.
That’s kind of sobering, isn’t it? Truth is...it is not an exaggeration.
Fact number two. Bali is NOT an easy place to start a business. In fact, Bali is anything but an easy place to start a new business.
IMHO, forged over many years of saying goodbye to too many, a nest egg...meaning an account of money not used here in Bali, and left “home” is an absolute necessity. Without a fall back position, anyone coming to Bali these days, hell bent on their business plan, and without a fall back position, is playing Russian roulette.
I’ve said this at least one hundred times out of 4,000 posts...expats here on Bali ebb and flow like the tide. In reality, that is more truthful today than it was 10 years ago.
IMHO, anyone joining this forum, with even an inkling of hopeful promise to make it on Bali, would not be posting generic questions about how to make it on Bali. But, that is just my opinion. Good luck and cheers!
BaliLife
geez roy, i think you're being a bit harsh on the poor bloke.. he actually never said he wanted to come to bali with an entrepreneurial agenda.. he merely indicated that's his field of work and that he'd like to get in touch with some people in the business.. might i suggest lightening up on the guy? he's been 'expating' in vietnam for long enough to know the challenges he'll face in bali as a newcomer..
don't get me wrong - i'm sure he wants to know what to expect - but again, you're jumping on the guy as if he indicated he has a master plan to conquer bali as an entrepreneur..
[quote]I work in the high-end furniture industry and my wife in the hospitality business.
[b]I am seeking any resources for [i]job hunting and/or direct contact[/i] with companies[/b]. I have found a very interesting site and blog for the cost of living and it is good to see that Bali is not more expensive than Vietnam (a bit surprising too!)
[/quote]
[quote]For the furniture, I have noticed some really nice new products being made in Bali and although Java may be more known on the international scene, I think that Bali craftsmanship combined with international design touches is unique.
[b]Hopefully I will be able to find people in the indusry to get in touch with.[/b] [/quote]
nothing strikes me as an unreasonable or overly optimistic..
keep smiling!
ct
BaliLife
right bert, but it doesn't exactly sound like he's got grand plans or that he's pinning all his hopes on a particular plan.. that's all i'm saying.. i noticed, we tend to shoot down newbies on a regular basis.. like i said, i'm all for saying - look, this is what you should expect, but the guy's gotten a pretty good 'knock-down' for a very reasonable post..
ct
Bert Vierstra
Yes he got a 'knock-down', but it has little use criticizing each others opinion here, or excusing yourself for someone else s opinion you don't agree with.
Just give your own answer, if you feel like it.
Regarding the newbie thing:
Lets not turn this threat into a threat were a "newbie" puts a question, and the regulars start fighting over eachother.
Roy
I apologize profusely if my prior words are at all taken as anything like an attempt to “shoot down newbies on a regular basis.”
Those who personally know me will say that I do not mince words, nor do I indiscriminately feed dreams. Nor will I be shy by any reluctance to say that over the years on this forum, quite a few forum members have sought me out...often just to say thanks for being honest and blunt.
There is no point in feeding someone’s dreams when they already have a belly full.
BaliLife
ok..
arache, you're canadian, i'm canadian.. but what i'm gonna give ya is a little bitta aussie..
7 years in nam? i reckon bali's gonna be a piece a piss for ya.. seriously, an absolute piece a piss! good luck to ya, and ya misses, and ya bubba..
:wink:
ct
Roy
Let's not call it 'nam...OK? That right is reserved for graduates of the University of South East Asia.
mosaic
As a fellow Canadian I would definetly frequent a Canadian style pub that plays hockey and serves poutine and Molson Canadian suds. My Dad, a fellow canuck moved to Bali about four yrs ago and absolutely loves it. Any new environment reveals pros and cons of course. With the natural beauty of Bali and the attractive price of living who wouldnt want to escape North America...
