Just another old white guy - and a damned Yankee too.

[Chris Finlayson]

Greetings Folks,

I am here for a month at a homestay in Lovina on the bit of coast still occupied by traditional fishermen and their families - not a fucking resort in sight. Suits me. This is my second visit to Bali. I was here last year, also for the month of Jan., but moved around a lot getting the feel of the island. My last stop was the place I have returned to - Bayu Mantra.

I live in the mountains of western North Carolina where I have a small shop servicing/repairing/restoring vintage Japanese motorcycles. I am a recovering academic - I blew off that gig, a marriage, money, property, investments and all that - just gave it all to the ex-wife (which melted her avaricious little mind) and am healthier and more content in every respect. Yeah, I'm barking-mad, according to the mainstream American way of reckoning. I return the complement - I think the whole fucking country has gone mad and is rotting to ruin.

I vastly prefer and respect the social and cultural values of Balinese society. I could live here very happily - but not quite yet. I need to accumulate a broader and deeper experience/understanding of the culture and learn more of the language. As a start, I've ditched my American jeans and boots and donned a sarong and sandals - soooo much more comfortable and practical.

Chris Finlayson
Existential Motorcycles
Alexander
North Carolina 28701
Excited Snakes
Third Stone From the Sun
Milky Way
Cosmos

 

[davita]

Welcome to the forum Chris...you seem to have really settled into the Bali original dream lifestyle before the tourism market created the greed we now see in Balinese society....good for you!
I would suggest you try living here in Jul/Aug/Sep when the weather is best. January is too wet and this year seems exceptional.

Only been to N. Carolina once when friends of ours kept their boat (70 foot gin palace) at a yard in Wilmington during the typhoon season in FL. My wife and I joined them when typhoon season was over and we slowly took the boat back to Fort Lauderdale on the intracoastal waterway thru' S. Carolina and Georgia. Great trip!

 

[harryopal]

Good evening Chris Finlayson,

My wife and I have stayed at Bayu Mantra a couple of times and rather like it. I don't know if you snorkel but if you go to the waterfront and walk along the beach to the right you come to the front of hotel where the steps come down to the beach. If you head off straight out from there it is not a bad spot to snorkel. Not a spectacular snorkeling spot but a variety of colourful fish and the water clairty is not too bad. And, as you have probably already discovered, walking the beach on that right side there are several warungs. One of them has a patio that you step up from the beach and a lovely spot to spend a sunset with modestly priced food. Of course there is the noisy Rasta bar at the end of the street as you step onto the beach but the other is far enough away that it is quite peaceful. As, I write this, now is the time to go there for the sunset. They do serve beer.

 

[Chris Finlayson]

Good evening Chris Finlayson,

My wife and I have stayed at Bayu Mantra a couple of times and rather like it. I don't know if you snorkel but if you go to the waterfront and walk along the beach to the right you come to the front of hotel where the steps come down to the beach. If you head off straight out from there it is not a bad spot to snorkel. Not a spectacular snorkeling spot but a variety of colourful fish and the water clairty is not too bad. And, as you have probably already discovered, walking the beach on that right side there are several warungs. One of them has a patio that you step up from the beach and a lovely spot to spend a sunset with modestly priced food. Of course there is the noisy Rasta bar at the end of the street as you step onto the beach but the other is far enough away that it is quite peaceful. As, I write this, now is the time to go there for the sunset. They do serve beer.

Harry,

Apols for my tardy reply - approx 11 months - but I happen to be returning to Bali/Lovina/Bayu Mantra in a few weeks for two months - the length of a Visa-On-Arrival. Besides the usual wandering about, looking and learning, I will also be looking for a place to move to and live by next fall.

I don't want to buy anything - too complicated and expensive for an old guy with no heirs. I'd like to rent a place by the year - very small, very simple. One or two rooms, lottsa light and good air circulation. Up the slope a bit in one of the small villages. 300 - 500 meters above sea level is about right. A bit cooler and a better breeze than the coast and well above a tsunami. Electricity would be nice but it's not necessary. Ditto running water.

Mostly I want to read and write and think. I will have a small income - very small by American standards - but enough to make me one of the idle rich in rural Bali. But I will want to contribute to the life of the community and have lots of skills and experience, both practical and academic, which I will freely share and give away. In my most recent incarnation, I repair and restore vintage and antique motorcycles - but I can understand and repair most machines of any kind.

I would like to employ a local person or two to do the housekeeping and cook me something good once in a while. Or maybe I will find a place in the house of a widow woman who could use a small income for renting me a room or two and looking after me.

I've been picturing something up the slope from Lovina on the mid north coast - it's what I know - but with two months to look around, I will make extended forays in all directions, particularly to the western half of the island. One thing I have learned in my surprisingly long life is that the future never turns out to be as I imagined or planned for. But one has to start someplace to get anywhere to there it is.

If I have not over-tried your patience and you are still reading, I have one more question. How does a pleasant and still lively older gent go about making the acquaintance of similar type babes in Bali? Still got my own hair and teeth and I ain't fat. Lottsa degrees, no money to speak of. My ideal day is lived with effortless ease and ends with contentment. Are there any classifieds/personals that aren't just fronts for hookers? I'm interested in women about my age - but any race/culture. The pix are all from the past year or so.

Chris Finlayson
Existential Motorcycles
Alexander, NC 28701
Excited States

 

[tintin]

Cool pictures, Chris. Best of luck in finding your place in Bali. My "own" Bali lasted 23 years, and it died in 2007. Haven't been back since. Hope yours will last longer.

 

[harryopal]

Good afternoon Chris, I quite liked the Singaraja area with the easier traffic and areas of lesser tourist impact. In the end I made concessions to my Indonesian wife who wanted to be near a daughter and sister. The daughter in Seminyak and Sister Goa Gong. So we are living in Jimbaran which is becoming increasingly congested but an area that is local and walking distance to a market and convenient for general shopping. We took a long term lease on a modest but adequate house and given the number of times we had to visit immigration in processing from Sosbud ( family visa) to Kitas and now a 5 year Kitap,we at least did not have too far to travel. We are a 9 minute drive to Jimbaran beach and high enough to not have to worry about flooding orTsunamis and no mountains or hill looming so no concern about avalanches.

Bear in mind that you are usually asked to pay for the full lease in advance as you take a rental.

"How does a pleasant and still lively older gent go about making the acquaintance of similar type babes in Bali? " The term "babe" sounds like a bar search in Kuta but I can't second guess the kind of person you are looking for. I met my Indonesian wife through an Asian dating website but I can't recall the name as this was eight years ago. You will see quite a few warnings about scam dating services. The one I used was very low cost. No matter how old you are you will daily get about 30 responses, mostly young Filippino women telling you that you are the perfect person. I had indicated I was looking for 52 years or plus. After quite a bit of correspondence and meeting in Bali things worked out and we are still together. Your own quest is about as perilous as setting off for a solo sail around the world. Lots of potential disasters but maybe you will find a safe haven. Good luck.

Let us know when you arrive and I will try and be helpful. Generally speaking, there is lots of background information if you work through the various topic postings on this website.

 

[tintin]

I second your first choice of the Singaraja area, but you ended up in Jimbaran...Quite a "concession" I must say!

 

[Chris Finlayson]

Good afternoon Chris, I quite liked the Singaraja area with the easier traffic and areas of lesser tourist impact. In the end I made concessions to my Indonesian wife who wanted to be near a daughter and sister. The daughter in Seminyak and Sister Goa Gong. So we are living in Jimbaran which is becoming increasingly congested but an area that is local and walking distance to a market and convenient for general shopping. We took a long term lease on a modest but adequate house and given the number of times we had to visit immigration in processing from Sosbud ( family visa) to Kitas and now a 5 year Kitap,we at least did not have too far to travel. We are a 9 minute drive to Jimbaran beach and high enough to not have to worry about flooding orTsunamis and no mountains or hill looming so no concern about avalanches.

Bear in mind that you are usually asked to pay for the full lease in advance as you take a rental.

"How does a pleasant and still lively older gent go about making the acquaintance of similar type babes in Bali? " The term "babe" sounds like a bar search in Kuta but I can't second guess the kind of person you are looking for. I met my Indonesian wife through an Asian dating website but I can't recall the name as this was eight years ago. You will see quite a few warnings about scam dating services. The one I used was very low cost. No matter how old you are you will daily get about 30 responses, mostly young Filippino women telling you that you are the perfect person. I had indicated I was looking for 52 years or plus. After quite a bit of correspondence and meeting in Bali things worked out and we are still together. Your own quest is about as perilous as setting off for a solo sail around the world. Lots of potential disasters but maybe you will find a safe haven. Good luck.

Let us know when you arrive and I will try and be helpful. Generally speaking, there is lots of background information if you work through the various topic postings on this website.

Harry,

Wow! Thanks for the speedy and fulsome reply.

Sorry about the "babe." I had referred to myself as a "guy" and the "babe" was an informal/ironic pairing. The fact is, the women I find interesting/attractive are anti-babes, in the straight-forward sense of the word. A good, active, curious and creative mind is essential - and that has nothing to do with formal education. In fact, a trained mind is often a narrow mind.

Kuta and the Bali party scene are a fascinating freak show - but not my cup of tea. I like the city of Singaraja because it is largely untouched by the foreign tourist trade - and the stretch of coast where I have stayed in Lovina is still occupied by fishermen and their families. I like to be around people who are doing useful work. The Balinese local economy is dominated by many small and micro-scale businesses all doing much the same thing.

In Singaraja I watched three men making re-bar structures for poured concrete columns. They were working on the sidewalk in front of their shop. They started by carefully straightening long steel rods with a hammer and a wooden block. Another man formed the squares of heavy wire that tied the four long rods together every 20 cm or so. And a third assembled the structures by tieing the squares and rods together with bits of twisted wire.

On the crate floor of one of the volcanoes is a mining operation for volcanic soil. The soil is dug out with heavy equipment and loaded in big dump trucks. But instead of delivering it to a large central mechanised screening operation, it is trucked to spots nearby where families work together to hand shovel the dirt through screens and back into the truck.

From the perspective of a western economist, this is inefficient - but they are only concerned with capital/money - not people and families and communities. The Balinese way means everyone can have work if they want it/need it - enough to get by. I vastly prefer the Balinese way.

I will take you up on your kind invitation to get in touch when I know when I will be arriving.

Chris

 

[Markit]

Don't judge a tourist area in the off-season - your stretch of Lovina is crawling with tourists in the high seasons. Not like the south but still quite a few and the natives become quite hungry then too - "strike while the iron is hot".

Tabanan if you meant that far west is becoming quite busy too and that road between Negara/Gilimanuk and Denpasar is hell when you need to get anywhere. If it's solitude you are after then look between where you are and Amed/Tulamben, that whole stretch is still very Balinese but you'll need to find somewhere to do your shopping, probably Amlapura - that's where the other expats from that area go, that or back to Singaraja.

If it's small brown women you are after welllllllll then I suggest you get on Badoo - a local dating site that isn't quite as "professional" as Tinder seems to be. But rest assured if you find a nice place to live and make it clear you are single/white/available you will need a stick to beat them off with and it's only because of your manly demeanor (joking! it's your wallet).

 

[Chris Finlayson]

Don't judge a tourist area in the off-season - your stretch of Lovina is crawling with tourists in the high seasons. Not like the south but still quite a few and the natives become quite hungry then too - "strike while the iron is hot".

Tabanan if you meant that far west is becoming quite busy too and that road between Negara/Gilimanuk and Denpasar is hell when you need to get anywhere. If it's solitude you are after then look between where you are and Amed/Tulamben, that whole stretch is still very Balinese but you'll need to find somewhere to do your shopping, probably Amlapura - that's where the other expats from that area go, that or back to Singaraja.

If it's small brown women you are after welllllllll then I suggest you get on Badoo - a local dating site that isn't quite as "professional" as Tinder seems to be. But rest assured if you find a nice place to live and make it clear you are single/white/available you will need a stick to beat them off with and it's only because of your manly demeanor (joking! it's your wallet).

Markit,

Thanks for the kind reply and useful info. I will spend some time this visit poking about in the Amed/Tulamben region. It also seems that most of the tourist development is right along the coast or around a few attractions in the interior so there are lots of small villages up the slopes of the volcanoes that never see a tour bus. The past two visits I have only associated with Balinese folks and have become very close to the family that owns the Bayu Mantra homestay in Lovina. I am now included in family gatherings and ceremonies and learning the Balinese language. I'm fine living and shopping as do the working/middle-class Balinese - in fact, I prefer it. And I have noticed that even in the busiest tourists areas they herd themselves into clearly defined areas prepared for their comfort and convenience. Turn a corner and head down an alley and it's a different world. If I wanted to spend time with people like me, I wouldn't need to go half-way around the world. I neither want or need a car. A good small enduro type motorbike is the quickest and most capable vehicle for getting about in the tropics. I have been riding motorcycles of all kinds all my life and can take a motorcycle places that a Jeep could not go. An airy one-room bungalow is all I want. No air conditioning. Electricity and indoor plumbing are nice but not necessary.

At my age, sex and sexuality are no longer a driving force in my life - so my interest in women is for the intimacy of the mind and soul more than the body. And since I will not be living as do most of the (relatively) rich ex-pats, I won't need a stick. I have lived by myself for many years here in the US and have come to prefer peaceful solitude to a difficult relationship. I can hire a person to look after the minimal housekeeping and food/meals.

I should emphasize that it is important to me to be a useful member of my community. I will not need to work for money, but I do need to do useful work for my soul. Not too many folks have the range of skills and experience that I do. I've been a senior civil servant in government in marine resource/fisheries management, and academic with a Ph.D. from Cornell University and degrees from Rutgers University and Dalhousie University in Canada and lots of publications in scholarly journals and a couple of books. And I can build a house and maintain and repair mechanical machines - but I'm useless with modern electronics/computers. I can use them but I do not understand them. I left the academic world approx. 15 years ago and have been restoring and repairing vintage and antique motorcycles since then in a small shop attached to my small house. Somewhere in there are skills that will be useful to the community where I live. I want to spend some years, now, just thinking and reading and writing about it all -perhaps during the heat of the day and do real work in the cooler mornings or evenings.

I am very grateful for the information and advice I have already received from the members of this forum and will be ditto for any more that is forthcoming - or maybe even fifthcoming.

Sincerely,

Chris Finlayson
Existential Motorcycles
Alexander, North Carolina 28701
Excited States

 

[Markit]

Couple words of caution: "my Bali family" is something everyone runs into here and it is largely a honey trap, albeit a nice one, nevertheless best to keep the "Greeks bearing gifts" at a polite and useful distance. Don't be too quick to open your door to friendly locals.

Second caution: almost anything that can be deemed here as work, paid or not, is illegal for foreigners. If you are doing something that a local could be construed as possibly being paid to do you are taking away his job - if there is a real possibility or not. Don't try and get concise information about any of this as most bureaucrats are equally in the dark about the rules and regulations - as a general rule of living here "don't ask and don't tell" kind of like the gay question in the US military under one of the Bushs.

Find yourself a small plot of land near the ocean (not Lovina/Singaraja as I think it's the hottest if not the dryest part of Bali) perhaps East Bali? then put a bamboo house on it. That way you won't contravene any (many) laws and keep your costs to an absolute minimum - check out the Green School in Ubud for some fantastic bamboo design options/ideas.

 

[Chris Finlayson]

Markit,

I am grateful for your practical and experienced advice. I am aware of the "honey trap" you warn me of. I come from Vermont, a poor rural state in the US with a big four-season tourist industry. Whenever there are two groups of people interacting where one is much richer than the other, you will find the same kinds of relationships. The attitude of the locals to the rich visitors is "If the good lord did not mean for sheep to be fleeced, he would not have made them so woolly." So I expect to be hustled and don't mind the "surcharge", within reason. So far, my experience is that the Balinese hustle is much kinder/gentler/more modest than anywhere else I've been.

As far as working, if I only pitch in to help (pro bono) when asked, I should be okay, right?

A small bamboo hut/cottage/bungalow with a broad shady porch sounds about perfect for me. Indigenous/renewable building material built by local tradesmen using traditional techniques. Can you give me a very rough idea of how much such a thing might cost? Say something about 5/6 sq. meters with 2-3 meter wide shady porch around all four sides.

The Green School looks interesting - perhaps I could teach there part-time in the upper grades. I have a tendency toward solitude, which can get out of hand, so something that regularly gets me out into the world and human society is a good thing.

Thanks once more for your thoughtful advice. I will look forward to meeting you in person after I arrive in a couple of weeks.

Chris

 

[tel522]

Bear in mind , work even charitable ,will require a sponsored kitas ,imta etc , the penalties can include deportation ,prison ,and substantial fines .

 

[Chris Finlayson]

I'm not talking about anything formal or regular - I left all that behind about 15 years ago when I blew off big-time academics and found I had the soul of a vintage motorcycle mechanic. I mean just lending a hand if/when asked and being a good neighbor. Surely that is not a problem! - particularly in the sort of place I want to settle - a small town or village in the rural interior. I will be in Bali again soon for two months, based in Lovina but traveling by scooter through all the provinces and regions. I've found that no matter how "lost" I get up in the forest and mountain, all I have to do is head down-slope, like a trickle of water, and eventually I reach the coast road and I know where I am. I have not yet found a map that is accurate and reliable - but I have found that pulling to the side at an intersection and spreading the map out attracts the first passer-by who stops to be helpful. I point to where I want to go on the map and he/she points me down the right trail or road. Try that in any major American city and you would die of old age before anybody stopped to help. Chris

 

[tintin]

Map. I agree with you about the Bali maps poor quality. Except for the "Explorer Bali" maps published by Silvio Santosa. Silvio was a Badui (most likey a Badui Luar ) living in Ubud, and a great friend and drinking buddy of mine from the very beginning of my stay in Bali, in 1985. He was very active in the Ubud community, philosopher, ecologist of the first hour. He past away suddenly in April 2017. He had produced real accurate maps of the Island. I'm sure you can find one of them in one of the bookstores in Ubud.

Asking for directions. If you haven't figure that problem by now, I'll explain. Balinese, no matter who they are, will never give you a negative answer ("I don't know" or "I don't understand"), it would mean they were losing face and disrespecting you. Therefore, if you are lost and ask for directions, even if they don't understand you or do not know the answer (You'll be surprised how insular most are), they will give you A "direction" for where you want to go, no matter what. Believe me, I loved just driving around on my motorcycle to the "further corners" of the Island, and I experienced this soooo many times, before I finally picked up this Bali reality.


This is old Silvio Santosa at this Shop "Warung Unique," in Ubud, toward the end.

 

[Juggler]

Well TinTin thanks for this post it explains heaps..

In DPS and had a 3.2 km trip to my next stop. Took one wrong turn then followed my not to good internal compass. At each set of lights i asked my closest rider "is Seminyak that way" and always got a positive repsonse. 32km later finally got to Seminyak....

I got to see ALOT of DPS

 

[harryopal]

Tintin said: Asking for directions. If you haven't figure that problem by now, I'll explain. Balinese, no matter who they are, will never give you a negative answer ("I don't know" or "I don't understand"), it would mean they were losing face and disrespecting you. Therefore, if you are lost and ask for directions, even if they don't understand you or do not know the answer (You'll be surprised how insular most are), they will give you A "direction" for where you want to go, no matter what.
================================================
Not a unique characteristic. I found that in Malaysia if I asked directions often it would be, "Just go straight. You will find it."
In Kenya it was often pointing with one finger of the left hand and clicking fingers of the right hand. "Moja kwa moja. " Literally one by one; or one step after the other.
In a remote part of central Northern Territory, travelling through burnt out country, I finally came to a fenced area with a dead bullock, legs pointing up in the air, and an elderly Aboriginal couple camped on little knoll with a bit of grass. I asked them how far to a place I was heading for. The Aboriginal man pointed into the distance. "How far?" I asked.
"Just a phew mile, hi reckon."
It turned out to be nearly a hundred miles. But then, life is an adventure. I"m just reading "The other side of the Hill." 200 years of Australian Exploration. Much of it about people heading off with little outback experience, often with no real knowledge of the country they were going into or on the basis of total misinformation which led to many deaths. At least in Bali if you head north or south you will get somewhere. You're never really lost

 

[Markit]

Try Bill Bryson's "Down Under" for some more stories of lost explorers in Oz

 

[Markit]

Markit, See in Green below

I am grateful for your practical and experienced advice. I am aware of the "honey trap" you warn me of. I come from Vermont, a poor rural state in the US with a big four-season tourist industry. Whenever there are two groups of people interacting where one is much richer than the other, you will find the same kinds of relationships. The attitude of the locals to the rich visitors is "If the good lord did not mean for sheep to be fleeced, he would not have made them so woolly." So I expect to be hustled and don't mind the "surcharge", within reason. So far, my experience is that the Balinese hustle is much kinder/gentler/more modest than anywhere else I've been.

I've found being generous to those that are generous to me the best method of keeping the peace. Friend of mine goes way out of his way to help and support almost anyone he meets. While a very noble attitude it seems to draw predominantly vultures. You need to state what you are giving and for how long and the nature of the "loan" or gift i.e. repayment plan...

As far as working, if I only pitch in to help (pro bono) when asked, I should be okay, right?

This is largely an agrarian society, where it's not tourist driven, so what do you envision doing? Rice planting, waiting tables? There is effectively no other economy here. I'm told Bali has a roaring trade in rebuilt Vespas. There are certainly some about but they can probably be renovated by a gifted pre-schooler.

A small bamboo hut/cottage/bungalow with a broad shady porch sounds about perfect for me. Indigenous/renewable building material built by local tradesmen using traditional techniques. Can you give me a very rough idea of how much such a thing might cost? Say something about 5/6 sq. meters with 2-3 meter wide shady porch around all four sides.

Rent/lease a small piece of land with good road/water/electrical access where ever you wish (no prices and there's a huge difference depending on nearness to good roads/beaches/major centers) but around me it's 3.5 million/year/per 100 meters squared with 25 year leases.

The Green School looks interesting - perhaps I could teach there part-time in the upper grades. Forget it, the immigration do harvesting runs through there on a regular basis an unless you have the correct paper/visa work you are out of the country post haste.


I have a tendency toward solitude, which can get out of hand, so something that regularly gets me out into the world and human society is a good thing. Chasing small brown women, traveling the islands on a scooter, drinking huge quantities of beer and gorging prior to long naps in a hanging mat sounds good to me?

Thanks once more for your thoughtful advice. I will look forward to meeting you in person after I arrive in a couple of weeks.

Chris

Come try it for a few months before you give up the day job in the USA

 

[mugwump]

Perhaps it might be valuable to note that Mount Agung is once again currently spewing away making adventures to East Bali something to reconsider.