retirement in bali

[jimibaran]

Hi all
My wife and i retired to live in bali last year and we love it, we are more relaxed than ever, our health is better and we laugh much more often. its been the best decision we ever made.
We read this forum often and found lots of good info, so thanks for that.
I've now joined in the hope that we can offer our experiences to all who read this forum.

We have been waiting 7 months for proper power, still using builder supply :icon_rolleyes:
We have discovered nothing moves quickly in bali, except some idiots on bikes.:icon_evil:

thanks all for all the great advice we read before making our decision to live in bali

 

[pollyanna]

Hi Jimibaran,
You are many months ahead of us. We retired to Bali less than a month ago so we're still in the honeymoon phase. In fact, I think I'm still in that first night of the honeymoon. Sometimes at 3:00 in the morning when everything is darkest I wake up and think, "UH OH! What in the world have we done." But when the sun shines, the rice fields are iridescent green, and the Balinese are smiling, all is right with the world and I am in love with our marriage to Bali. So, Jimibaran, thank you for your post. It is a suggestion to me that we've done the right thing and that all is well.

Please contribute your stories and experiences and I'll do the same. I am learning from all who post on BaliPod and thank each of you for taking the time to keep us all informed. BaliPod has had an impact on our Balinese experience and I'm sure it will continue to. In addition to the help I also just enjoy reading the posts of my "friends" here.

Hi all
My wife and i retired to live in bali last year and we love it, we are more relaxed than ever, our health is better and we laugh much more often. its been the best decision we ever made.
We read this forum often and found lots of good info, so thanks for that.
I've now joined in the hope that we can offer our experiences to all who read this forum.

We have been waiting 7 months for proper power, still using builder supply :icon_rolleyes:
We have discovered nothing moves quickly in bali, except some idiots on bikes.:icon_evil:

thanks all for all the great advice we read before making our decision to live in bali

 

[jimibaran]

AAh yes, we have still got workmen repairing our villa, for the things that were not done right, it does take a few goes to get it correct !! Repairs have now been painted with the wrong colour paint, so its abstract art :icon_e_sad:
Wife tried to ride a bike but was hopeless rode into a temple wall, while a ceremony was happening, she now has a car.
Our maid runs from lizards but picks up huge spiders :icon_rolleyes:
Still waiting on pln to supply correct power. only taken 7 months to get meter installed but for wrong amount of power, it needs uping to 4400 kw, they now say 2 more months, still the builder is paying for it, wonder how much longer he will ?
pool had a leak that tooks weeks to find and repair, requiring our newly planted garden to be dug up.
Have learnt to cope with the slow internet.
Everyday is a new learning experience and brings its share of laughs and joy, we have had many hilarious occasions with the workers, as we were the first to occupy our villa and currently live in the middle of a building site, and as we dont speak bahasa, they dont speak english, so we resorted to charades. Have now learnt a bit of bahasa but its slow going for us,
We have had groups of the locals turn up to view us and sometimes they sit on the wall to watch our tv, dont know what they get out of it.
The wife and our maid will not use the pool due to the audience of workers who down tools immediately and sit on the roofs to watch, while they swim.
But all is wonderful in paradise I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop!!!!!

 

[Vin]

Pollyanna, Jimibaran.....Its great to read your views. We too intend to retire and live the rest of our life in Bali. Well...thats the plan, as of now. The land's been bought....will start building on it some time next year.

Please keep your stories coming....love to read and learn.

 

[jimibaran]

Pollyanna, Jimibaran.....Its great to read your views. We too intend to retire and live the rest of our life in Bali. Well...thats the plan, as of now. The land's been bought....will start building on it some time next year.

Please keep your stories coming....love to read and learn.

Where is your land ? and what style of home are you planning? There are some stunning places around, but we did our through a small developer and are very happy with it. Although now we've been here I've a few thoughts on changes I would make, one would be a proper western kitchen with higher benchtops, I get a sore back as I'm stooping over, wife and maid are shorter but wife still complains its too low. Maid is ok buts she's the shortest. We did make some changes to the bathrooms as we dont like the mudroom style they have here, but even tho we said no spray hoses for toilet we still got them, now we've had to teach maid not to spray all bathroom in her cleaning, she even showered the walls, but didnt dry anything off. Even wife's hairdryer. Took a while for her to understand. So I put tape over them to remind her.

we have decided that the bali water has a memory destroyer in it, everyone has a terrible memory here, I was amazed at first but as I have now joined the bad memory brigade, its definetly the water, no way will I blame the bintang.!!!!

We got a car, now we just have to find out where we can park it when we go out in it. People seem to just park anywhere here, but I'm sure there's some rules somewhere, even if its just to catch us bules out and get a fine!!

What are you planning on doing in bali, that was the question everyone asked us and said wont you get bored? Its not like being on holiday, no its not its BETTER. I do the same as I did in aust, except I haven't had time for a golf game yet. there's so much choice of things to do I find myself just relaxing and watching my tomato plant grow. I've got flowers on it now! just waiting for the tomatos to appear.

AAh well I'd better get back to them, I might be missing something. I'm so relaxed that i cant be bothered even going for a massafe today.:icon_rolleyes:

 

[Vin]

It will be a Balinese design...spread out on 26 are...water features...flowers and a real retreat for us to lead a peaceful life. An irrigation canal skirts the north end of the land...so there's enough natural water. Location is about an hours drive from downtown Seminyak in Tabanan regency. Unobstructed views of Mt Batukaru, rice paddies, forest and the ocean at the distance. The first layout design from the architect is with me now...will need to fine tune it and then get started on the rest.
We have earlier lived in Indonesia for over 20 years...so now quite used to the water...traffic...and really learnt the art of being patient. Our Indonesian helpers have also been with us for that long. They would all move with us to Bali.
It will be lots of Golf, gardening,meditation and also do things...which i could never do during my working life.

 

[jimibaran]

aah sound ideal

It will be a Balinese design...spread out on 26 are...water features...flowers and a real retreat for us to lead a peaceful life. An irrigation canal skirts the north end of the land...so there's enough natural water. Location is about an hours drive from downtown Seminyak in Tabanan regency. Unobstructed views of Mt Batukaru, rice paddies, forest and the ocean at the distance. The first layout design from the architect is with me now...will need to fine tune it and then get started on the rest.
We have earlier lived in Indonesia for over 20 years...so now quite used to the water...traffic...and really learnt the art of being patient. Our Indonesian helpers have also been with us for that long. They would all move with us to Bali.
It will be lots of Golf, gardening,meditation and also do things...which i could never do during my working life.

Well Vin thats sounds great, we have only a small 3.6are land and villa but are tottally happy with it just enough garden for me to potter in. In 7 months its grown well and is now quite mature as we put in 7ft palms to start, some bamboo and large golden canes etc, bougainvilla has gown so fast i cant believe it.
havent got to the golf yet too many other choices of things to do. Havent missed it either yet. Too busy enjoying my bike and exploring, trying out local warungs etc.

It just gets better each day and the worst day here is a heck of a lot better than any I had in Aust.

 

[Jimbo]

After some of the horror stories it is great to hear a good one.:icon_biggrin: