Long Term Stay in Bali

davita

Markit wroteJust went that way for the first time in years headed to BanguWangme with a fella that travels it often and he said that the road is now wonderful? Compared with how it was - we were in Negara from Ubud in 2 hours... even with beerstop. I do agree that the Tabanan area is also wonderful but the coast south of that I always consider to be south Bali too. [COLOR="#FF0000"]West for me is the Negara and Pemuteran area where I wouldn't send even Davita.[/COLOR]

FWIW...Davita has been west of Negara a few times...especially when going to the ferry at Gillimanuk/Banyuwangi to take a train to Lawang (family home). A train trip I recommend is from Banyuwangi to Surubaya....it should be particularly interesting now as the track goes south of Mount Raung to Jember. I agree with Mugwump and Markit that the Bali west coast has been slightly overlooked as the beaches there are better than the north shore, where the sand is black....who to hell wants to sun on black sand? The road from Kerobokan thru' Mengwi to Negara, and onwards, is reasonable as most trucks are now forced to take the north route to get to the south. I particularly recommend Mengwi for touring as it has many historical features...also, the new Ogoh Ogoh museum at Soka Indah pull-out is a great stop on the route for lunch/pee and a look at the grotesque statues...i've heard comments that some expats from Amed posed for the uglier Ogohs....:icon_e_biggrin: That coast line is prime for future development and I've been told much of the sea frontage land has already been acquired, by world-class resort groups, for that purpose. BTW I'm also told the Mengwi traffic police dept. is the easiest place on the island to get a sim A/C.....sshhh!

JohnnyCool

Hahaha... [QUOTE]Possibly 3 hours - the truth around me is a flexible standard.[/QUOTE] That's crap and you know it. Ubud-Negara: [I]possible[/I] in just under 4 hours. [B]If[/B] your flexible truth standard is so "flexible", why sprout it as real in the first place? Doesn't help anybody new to Bali.

ronb

Hi aussiebrims. I first visited Ubud in 1988 and have been living here for past 4 years (8 years full time in Bali). Markit says Ubud traffic is a nightmare, and while there are some bad traffic days, it does not cause me too much trouble. Of course, it has changed since 1988, but many of the reasons that it attracted anyone back then are still true. The reasons you may still find Ubud attractive instead of the more remote locations others are touting are: * the variety of restaurants both pricewise and in genre * activities like writers festival, jazz festival, food festival, etc and even a chili cookoff event (though these contribute to bad traffic days) * it is easy to build up a group of social friends * the arts and crafts and the ceremonies are all still impressive You won't have too much trouble renting. I follow this a bit because we now have a 3 bedroom villa with pool that we rent that is 2 Km from Monkey Forest and is mostly free after mid September. But there are heaps of others. So come and enjoy.

JohnnyCool

Thanks for the belly laugh you old bastard. Made me choke on my beer. It's a pity that the day after Ramadan isn't every day of the week.

aussiebrims

Hi ronb, Thank you for your posting. I was about to give up on balipod. It seems as if only two people on are this site and the information is not very helpful. I am sure I will hear back on this. My husband and I are in the process of selling our home in America and returning to Australia for our retirement. Our goal is to return via Bali for a few months of down time. We have been lucky enough to have traveled a good part of the world in the past and some of my fondest memoirs are of Ubud. We would like to be in an area with things to do, restaurants to hang out in, other expats to swap travel stories with. We are in the very early stages of our planning, first thing is to get the house sold, then we can set dates. I keep eye on this site with hopes of getting ideas and suggestions of where we can rent a villa or apartment while in Ubud. Again, thank you for your post.

Markit

What she says !!! Hi Begonia nice to see you are still around - how's the daughter?

Markit

JohnnyCool wroteHahaha... That's crap and you know it. [COLOR=#ff0000]Actually I was being nice to an old asshole who calls himself Johnny Cool - I did the trip in about 2 hours, believe it or pound sand up your fundament... [/COLOR] Ubud-Negara: [I]possible[/I] in just under 4 hours. [COLOR=#ff0000]On your zimmer frame yeah. I had the good luck of doing it on the day after Ramamdan so the road was absolutely empty. Before you start pissing and moaning about **** you really should talk to someone other than your geriatric friends that still are mobile. [/COLOR] [B]If[/B] your flexible truth standard is so "flexible", why sprout it as real in the first place? Doesn't help anybody new to Bali.

[COLOR=#ff0000]Excuse the feck out of me! I wasn't aware that we had the "purpose" of helping new people to Bali - me, I'd declare open season on the feckers and get the dentist from America in to cull the bastards and hope he got a few old bastards that live here in with the bag. [/COLOR]

spicyayam

[COLOR=#333333]I keep eye on this site with hopes of getting ideas and suggestions of where we can rent a villa or apartment while in Ubud.[/COLOR]

There are many housing groups on Facebonkers. Just type in Ubud property or something like that and you will find many different groups, such as this one: https://www.facebook.com/ubud.houserentals Most people want to rent for at least a year. A stay of a few months means a short term stay and will be more expensive. You might be lucky to find someone who has rented a place for a year and needs to make a quick escape back to their country and take over their place. Until you are actually here there is not much you can do other than look at ads and get a rough idea of prices which may or may not reflect the market price. It seems common for foreigners to rent out places long term and then market them out as short term rentals on sites like Airbnb. Some people blame this for pushing up prices to ridiculous levels.

calma

ronb wroteHi aussiebrims. I first visited Ubud in 1988 and have been living here for past 4 years (8 years full time in Bali). Markit says Ubud traffic is a nightmare, and while there are some bad traffic days, it does not cause me too much trouble. Of course, it has changed since 1988, [B]but many of the reasons that it attracted anyone back then are still true.[/B] The reasons you may still find Ubud attractive instead of the more remote locations others are touting are: * the variety of restaurants both pricewise and in genre * activities like writers festival, jazz festival, food festival, etc and even a chili cookoff event (though these contribute to bad traffic days) * it is easy to build up a group of social friends * the arts and crafts and the ceremonies are all still impressive You won't have too much trouble renting. I follow this a bit because we now have a 3 bedroom villa with pool that we rent that is 2 Km from Monkey Forest and is mostly free after mid September. But there are heaps of others. So come and enjoy.

I came to Ubud for the first time in 1998 and totally fallen in love with the place but in my case I have to say that the Ubud I totally fallen in love is not anymore here!!! To me it is getting more and more like Kuta, there is more tourists and expats around than locals!!! but of course in my case, I am not interested on restaurants and events organized by foreigners, for foreigners and with foreigners...........I am more interested about local things what Ubud doesn't have much, everything and everybody is tourist orientated..............arts and crafts????? are you joking? ronb I hope you are not talking about the shops in Jalan Monkey Forrest, Jalan Hanoman and Jalan Raya Ubud yap!! even the shops in Jalan Andong starts to close down For me the "magic" of Ubud has dissapear totally and even the ceremonies I think are not the same............ The other day I saw a procession on the mean street of Ubud of people coming from a temple, they almost has not road to pass because the cars, motorbikes and buses was on the road at the same time, if I am not wrong usually the pecalang stop the cars and motorbikes until the procession pass, was weird to see, the mixture of traffic and balinese people on their clothes with the things on their shoulders................. Local people in Ubud sudah kalah, local people lost under the mass of tourists and foreigners...........it is something I can feel and I don´t know how to express. Buildings going up............villas next to temples or in front of temples, hotels with 3 floors and attach rooms.............. The kind of tourists has change as well, people coming just to stay in villas and swimming pools....................change a rice fields for a swimming pool......... Anyway, of course this is a personal feeling only!! Aussie, I would love to see your face when you arrive to Ubud after 22 years and see the changes by yourself

ronb

Hi Begonia. You are surely joking if you think I shop for arts and crafts in Monkey Forest Road. There are good restaurants there as well as live music venues for those of us who are interested. But Ubud is at the centre of a large area of artists and artisans. Think would carving in Petulu, furniture from massive wood in Mas, silversmiths and goldsmiths in Celuk. One specific example of what you can find. In Kutuh Kaja, about 1.4 Km up from Jl Raya Ubud, is Abe Do Warung where the owner displays his own paintings as well as offering food and drinks. The attachments shows a photo of Abe Do taken by Google Street View in 2013. Anyhow I am sorry that you have become disillusioned, and I look forward to feedback from aussiebrims when they get here.

calma

Many Balinese painters and crafts people are working as a waitress and room boys these days and to get a job in a restaurant, hotel or villa it seems is the dream of young boys and girls................. schools of pariwisata everywhere. I wonder how will be the next Palace cremation ceremony in Tebesaya, it will be quite comic to see the cremation ceremony surrounding by a three floor attach rooms hotel.

spicyayam

[QUOTE]Many Balinese painters and crafts people are working as a waitress and room boys these days and to get a job in a restaurant, hotel or villa[/QUOTE] I would be interested to know why you think this is happening. It is common in western countries for artists to take on extra work like waiting tables until they can get more successful. Is this the same thing or are they giving up their art completely?

Markit

I went to a massive Cleansing/Cremation/Melaspas ceremony today in Sidemen for the Brahmins and rest assured Balinese culture is alive and well but possibly living somewhere other than Kuta or Ubud. We didn't really want Walt Disney to be running things here now did we? [ATTACH type="full" alt="2489"]2489[/ATTACH][ATTACH type="full" alt="2490"]2490[/ATTACH] The albino cow cost 10 million and is the first step in the stairway to heaven (where are Led Zeppelin now?)

Steve Rossell

Is this part of the lead up to the big cremation ceremony later this month?

Markit

It's the cremation "month" so, yes, but there will be many all over the island.

SHoggard

That's a cute little cow.... does it sing, dance, fly or speak in a cutsie li'll girl voice? This being Disneyland

Markit

SHoggard wroteThat's a cute little cow.... does it sing, dance, fly or speak in a cutsie li'll girl voice? This being Disneyland

You are one sick puppy Shog. I've read about your sort here being seduced by the local bovines. They always say the same thing "she made me do it, sir".

davita

MiSO wrote For my 2 month visit Sanur is on my list. I know it is boring, but conveniently located.

More than 5 years ago, before I came to Bali to live, I stayed in the Sanur Hyatt on 2 vacations. My conclusion was that it was boring and therefore didn't include it on my search for a villa to permanently reside...big mistake. Last week we went to visit some friends in Sanur and the main street was alive with pubs and restaurants all open with many people...it took a while to even get a seat in Casablanca.

MiSO

Hi Davita, I think we have a different view on what is "boring". For me Kuta is also boring, but I think Karangasem and North Bali are cool. Culture & nature wise.

Markit

Sanur is cool, I can imagine living there. I live near Candi Dasa - it's laid back almost horizontally. My feel of Sanur is that most of the expats are old, single men with subscriptions to The Viagra Times and Bintang Daily. If you don't associate with the expats (recommended) then no probs. The rest is pretty touristy. If that floats your boat....

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