Cathjames
Okay need some help now as to anything I have missed in regards to the big move to Bali with FIFO husband & 2 teenagers in JanHousing - check Schooling - CheckVisa's - Children get student kitas, I have Social Bud Visa & Husband just uses a tourist visa as he is FIFO and applys for 60 day visa if he is on Holidays from work. - CheckHealth Insurance- CheckStaff- Now I am not so sure would like a cook/ shopper of grocerys etc a few days a week.???? How to arrange.Car - Would like to hire a car and driver have heard figures of $350 per month ??? Where to hire and how??Electricity - how do we pay this and roughly how much for a 3 bedroom 3 bathroom villa???Any other handy hints or tips please feel free to pass on.Thanks in anticipation Cath
ronb
StaffWhen you arrive, people will probably approach you asking for jobs. Take some care because firing people is unpleasant and to be avoided. Ask neighbours for suggestions, if you can speak to a former employer that may help, but often not possible.CarIf you want a full-time driver, they often get more than the minimum pay of Rp800,000 per month - there is a bit more status to a driving job. Alternatively you may find you can hire a driver for just the days you need - could be as much as Rp100,000 per day. You can get monthly rates for car rental - depends on what you wantElectricityDepends on the max power that the property can draw. This is probably already set and is hard to change. For large villas it may be 7.7Kw or more and the monthly cost could be Rp2,000,000. A smaller house may have 4.4Kw down to 1.3Kw. At 1.3Kw the monthly bill can be around Rp200,000. That 10-fold difference is only partly because the big house uses more - it is also because the rates are higher.
pollyanna
Following on from Ronb's comments about electricity think about the wattage of any electrical appliances before you bring them. You may want to buy them here instead. Not long after we moved into our homestay I turned on a sandwich press and promptly knocked out all the electricity in our house. I miss my sandwich press but its a no go in this house as are many other appliances. A friend recently gave us an oven that takes a while to heat up because the wattage is lower but at least we will be able to run it.
Markit
Hi Cath and wish you lots of luck and commend your bravery for the move. It is guaranteed to be an experience you all wont forget - now to make sure the memories are all good ones. You seem to have all the big stuff covered so it's down to the small things that will irritate you when you can't find them here. You don't say if you or hubby will be returning to the west often to resupply or if it's bridges burned for 1/2 years. I get the impression from the visa comment that the former is the case.Cloths, funnily enough are not cheap here - ditto for sandals and quality is can be shiteElectric toothbrushes cannot be found I'm told tampax also a problem?Special make upBring booze - it's expensive and not so brilliant (I quite like the Cawan Mas local whiskey but that's me)Pack lots of household stuff - screws, bolts, washers, etc little stuff that you can find everywhere at home - here can take a long trip to Denpasar and accompanying suicide danger from stress.Bedding linen - can be bought here (can be expensive compared to home "deals") or custom made but also not a cheap option and again quality is not western.Good washing machine - it's really cheap to have things laundered here but again it can be like they've only dipped it in a bucket of water and ironed it so maybe better to do yourself?Good quality kitchen knives - you can buy here but again "stainless steel" is a flexible term and what you buy here will generally not hold an edge for longer than a day or 2. For the locals not a problem but I get tired of sharpening them and cleaning off the rust...Books - buy a kindle and load up with books for it/them - if you are a readerThat's all I can think of for the moment - I'm sure others can add to the listGood luck Markit
noodle
May I ask Cath about your children's student Kitas? Is this something you will organise when you get here, or have you done it from home. How long does this last? What were the costs associated with this and do you have to renew it? My son will be going to school - but as we wont be choosing the school till we get there - iso t's not something I can organise in advance - thinking I need to go the social visa option instead.thanks
Cathjames
Following on from Ronb's comments about electricity think about the wattage of any electrical appliances before you bring them. You may want to buy them here instead. Not long after we moved into our homestay I turned on a sandwich press and promptly knocked out all the electricity in our house. I miss my sandwich press but its a no go in this house as are many other appliances. A friend recently gave us an oven that takes a while to heat up because the wattage is lower but at least we will be able to run it.[/QUOTE]Pollyanna Thanks for that advice! I was going to take our slowcooker and pizza maker but will now rethink this.RonbHow does paying electricity work is it as simple as a bill in the mail and how often do you pay it? Also where do you go to hire the cars?MarkitWe are all big readers ( Beside the surfing 16year old son ) so not sure what to do about book situation as books are heavy to bring with you! I am lucky on booze front as Husband can bring in every two weeks however I am a champagne girl so it will be gone in first 2 days! And Interesting about linen are there beds standard sizes?NoodleThe school is arranging for us while we are here. However you must pay 1 year School Fees in advance for this. We are happy with school and have seen it so this is no issue for us.Thanks everyone for help much appreciated! Nerve racking this end of the business now.
ronb
RonbHow does paying electricity work is it as simple as a bill in the mail and how often do you pay it? Also where do you go to hire the cars?[/QUOTE]You pay monthly early in the month. No they do not mail out bills. You can check what's owing on-line by simply entering the account number - or else go to a payment agent. There are a number of agencies that will accept payments including some banks, Telkom offices, and others that display "Bayar Listrik". I think you can probably pay at ATMs or using on-line banking with and Indonesian bank - but I have not tried either of these options.
Markit
Books- buy 2+ kindles
matsaleh
Books- buy 2+ kindles[/QUOTE] Markit, what's a kindle?
spicyayam
what's a kindle? [/QUOTE]It's an electronic reader from Amazon. You can download books and have them available immediately on the device.I still prefer buying ordinary paper books, but the fact that you can download a new release without having to wait or pay for delivery makes me want to buy one.[ATTACH type="full" alt="Amazon Kindle Bali"]581[/ATTACH]
hermit
You pay monthly early in the month. No they do not mail out bills. You can check what's owing on-line by simply entering the account number - or else go to a payment agent. There are a number of agencies that will accept payments including some banks, Telkom offices, and others that display "Bayar Listrik". I think you can probably pay at ATMs or using on-line banking with and Indonesian bank - but I have not tried either of these options.[/QUOTE] Ron is correct,but there is another easier option.After queing once in the paymentoffice where everybody comes around the same date,the 20th of the month,.i have my bills paid automatically by my bank.Same for Phone bill.The bank can print out the bill and receipt when you are there,even for a couple of month backwards.Also very practical when you are away for some time.I am not sure if every bank can do this,my bank is Bank International Indonesia ,Ubud branch.I have been there for more than five years and never had a complaint about the service.There is another thread about opening a bank acount,it seems you need a Kitas,so you might open an account in the name of one of your kids.The Commonwealth Bank has good reviews by a lot of people on this forum as well.The electricitybill will probably be in the name of someone else,possibly your landlord,but that does not matter for automatic paying.Just bring one of the bills that you recieved from the PLN payment desk.
matsaleh
It's an electronic reader from Amazon. You can download books and have them available immediately on the device.... [/QUOTE] Oh, thank you. Think I've been in Bali too long... I'm completely ignorant when it comes to new technology.:icon_redface:
pollyanna
Oh, thank you. Think I've been in Bali too long... I'm completely ignorant when it comes to new technology.:icon_redface:[/QUOTE] I love the ereaders and used Stanza and Kindle (on the iPhone) extensively in Australia but very few ebooks are available to Indonesia from Fictionwise, perhaps the biggest site for current and popular ebooks. In fact I haven't found one ebook at Fictionwise that I want to buy since moving to Bali.And on the Amazon site there is a dialog box bluntly stating that they do not offer any Kindle ebooks to Indonesia.
Tamispecial
Regarding the sizes of beds....I know a few people who have bought a single set with the correct measurements on the packet, only to get them home and they don't fit!!So check your mattress size first!...there are 2 sizes of single and double beds here so again check your mattress size before you buy any bed linen.I'm sure you are aware that shoe and clothing sizes are different too so that is something to watch out for..try and avoid buying fresh produce from supermarkets because it isn't that fresh...take a trip to a local morning traditional market...cheaper and fresher.I'm sure you are aware of some of these but handy to know anyway.Good tip....when shopping..count to ten!!!When I moved here there were things I wanted for my villa from the local hardware shop and sadly my Bahasa is very limited indeed so I would try my best at explaining what I wanted by hand movements and the shop assistant nodding her head as if she knew what I was talking about.....only to get the answer.."oh sorry, not have"!!I laugh and she laughed so I went away with nothing but a big grin.......gotta love them really!It can get frustrating sometimes and my patience tolerance is not the best but after quite a few "experiences" at shops or dept stores I just told myself that this is Bali and not the western world where we can get almost everything we want....we are in a 3rd world country....their country and we shouldn't expect what we have been used to.I have great admiration for these people because they really do try to help and I have often had assistants in fits of laughter because they dont understand what I am asking for and I dont understand what they are saying!...so just some little tips for you, other than that you will be very welcome to an island of beautiful people, a wonderful religion, and most of all the best smiles in the world.:icon_e_smile::icon_e_smile:
Fred2
Looks like you are all set to move over.Ask your husband to look into a APEC business travel card.Its a lot easier than visa every two weeks.
Crystal
It's an electronic reader from Amazon. You can download books and have them available immediately on the device. I still prefer buying ordinary paper books, but the fact that you can download a new release without having to wait or pay for delivery makes me want to buy one. [/QUOTE]Oh I wanted one... I was thinking about getting a couple a few months back. They can be handy in comparison to having books shipped over here and in the long run much more cost effective.
Markit
[B]Downloading all the worlds books - here[/B]All those looking for free books to read I would point at an this old link from your friendly neighbourhood Markit[URL unfurl="true"]https://balipod.com/forum/threads/book-junkie-buying-used-books-in-good-condition.4302/[/URL]for the non-technically gifted I recommend ask a friend how it works
freetofly
[b]apec visa card[/b]Looks like you are all set to move over.Ask your husband to look into a APEC business travel card.Its a lot easier than visa every two weeks.[/QUOTE] Hi fred, do you look for this APEC business travel card when you applying for visa??? I am going on a social-cultural, but my hubby also fly in,fly out. so this sounds like what he needs. Is it on the embassy site??
freetofly
[b]book lover[/b]Hi fred, do you look for this APEC business travel card when you applying for visa??? I am going on a social-cultural, but my hubby also fly in,fly out. so this sounds like what he needs. Is it on the embassy site??[/QUOTE] The thought of reading a book on an electronic devise makes me feel physically ill!! perhaps we will have to start up a bookclub!
Fred2
[b]Apec card[/b]Australia goverment web site & you apply to the australian goverment for the visa.It used to be about $350 Aud for 3 yrs & you can travel to apec countries for up to 3 months[url=http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/business/apec]APEC Business Travel Card Scheme[/url]
