Hi again! I really enjoy reading all your posts about Bali, especially when it's about places I've visited, so I really can imagine how it must have been there....I really look forward to moving to Bali next summer, but.... (yes, of course there's always a 'but' haha) I really want to have a job before I go to Bali and I already experienced that it's not so easy! I see many job openings in Jakarta en Jogya (is that the correct spelling? it looks so strange when I type it now) but as I can remember from my holiday in Indonesia those places are really not as nice as Bali (at least in my opinion). So now I'm curious what's for you the next best place in Indonesia, which you also considered to be your place to live if it didn't work out with Bali?
The next best place?
- Thread starter Margriet
- Start date
For me personally, if it wasn't Bali, it would be Lombok, but that's because I am so into the Bali/Hindu culture, and in Lombok, there are quite a number of Balinese that live there.
If that was out of the question, then Thailand would be next on my list. But, that's just my choice.
If that was out of the question, then Thailand would be next on my list. But, that's just my choice.
For me it would be where I am in Sumbawa although I also find Papua very pleasant. If I was going to go back to urban living, I would probably choose Bangkok which is where I go when I need a little urban fix. Right now I am in a very rural mindset and Sumbawa is just perfect for that.
Fairly astonishing compared to land prices in Bali. We bought 50 are recently for 18 million. This is a three minute drive to the beach on one of the main roads from the mining community to the Tropical Beach Hotel and several of the villages. Our land in the village of Sekongkang was about one million per are. Some beach land that we had negotiated a deal on for 2 million per are was cancelled when someone snuck in while we were out of the country and offered 3 million. Land prices started increasing rapidly almost a year ago, but since the airport here has closed indefinitely, prices have stablized. The main problem here is making sure that the person selling the land actually has legal ownership of it.
Margriet said:
Wow that is a tough question... I would still love to see so much of Indonesia... I really like Bandung and jobwise it would be a lot easier to find work their... I have not been to Jogja but I hear it is nice, Jakarta is not where you want to be though but if you find a great job there you can live close by in Bogor which is very nice ( I lived there for 2 years myself )... both Bandung and Bogor are up in the hills a bit so the climate is much more comfortable as well. I also hear great things about Sulawesi, Lomok and West Papua... all depends on what your after too I guess. The good thing is that flights are very cheap in Indonesia so if you don't end up in Bali you can easily fligh there and back for a week or two.
What kind of work are you looking for ? Just curious... I take it that you are open to different kinds of jobs and that you would just like to live some place nice... good for you there is to much stress in the corporate world anyway and life is to short. If you are creative you might just be able to create your own job like most of the expats have done here on Bali.
Good luck... I am on my way back there next year myself.
Dr. Bruce!
I’ve been banging away on my calculator for the last hour, dividing Rp 18 million by 50 (are) and I’m going crazy! Rp 360,000 per are!!!!! I want it to "say" 3.6 million per are, but it refuses to cooperate!
YIKES! Kampung prices in my village are now 60 million per are and that’s Balinese to Balinese price! Rp 18 million here gets you a sleeping mat…with the dogs, unless of course you’re Japanese, in which case you get a futon with the cats!
You’ve opened up another can of worms, (in my head anyway) as to how to invest for our kids. Dancing in my head, like visions of sugar plum fairies, (it is Christmas after all), is what that land will be worth in twenty years?
Good on you for that property purchase. Hell, it’s a deal even if it were populated by a heard of a thousand 5 meter long hungry Komodo dragons and a tribe of nasty macaques!
I’ve been banging away on my calculator for the last hour, dividing Rp 18 million by 50 (are) and I’m going crazy! Rp 360,000 per are!!!!! I want it to "say" 3.6 million per are, but it refuses to cooperate!
YIKES! Kampung prices in my village are now 60 million per are and that’s Balinese to Balinese price! Rp 18 million here gets you a sleeping mat…with the dogs, unless of course you’re Japanese, in which case you get a futon with the cats!
You’ve opened up another can of worms, (in my head anyway) as to how to invest for our kids. Dancing in my head, like visions of sugar plum fairies, (it is Christmas after all), is what that land will be worth in twenty years?
Good on you for that property purchase. Hell, it’s a deal even if it were populated by a heard of a thousand 5 meter long hungry Komodo dragons and a tribe of nasty macaques!
Right you are Roy. When I first heard the price that was exactly what I said to my wife. You mean 5 are right? And very clarivoyant of you - the land has some exceptionally nasty little beasts on it, but they don't like my German Shepard so and the mini dragons here are not quite cuddly, but very shy of humans. I imagine that once we clear the land -some day - most of the creatures will disappear up into the higher hills.
The question is for me, indeed, what your question is - what will the land be worth in 15 years (my kids are a bit older than yours)? One of the local expat business women sees this area as developing some sort of regular surfing tourism as the infrastructure develops a bit more (we do only have a few hotels and they really are not in the surfer price range). But, I'll be gone by then so I just hope that the kids will benefit in the end from our purchases of land here. They have the houses in Singaraja too and prices there continue to be absurdly high. Anyway, it's hard to lose on the prices that we are paying for land here. I still want to buy another hectare or two for my little farm (I'm probably getting senile in my creeping old age, but the phrase - get back to the land and set my soul free keeps buzzing through my head. Hmm...
That 60 million price astounds even me. I haven't been to your village yet, and as beautiful as the Ubud area is, that really seems excessive - and you say that is Balinese to Balinese? What are the bules paying for land there? Do you think that the price is going up due to speculation and the seemingly endless stream of foreigners who want to move to Bali. It amazes me to read all of these inquiries here, as well as the ones that I get in response to my cyberbali site.
Well, we have a month break starting now, my five year old is turning six today and we have a party to prepare for tomorrow and we are moving into the new house on Monday. I'll post some photos of the activities early next week. I may even make it to Bali for a few days in the next month.
Salam,
Bruce
The question is for me, indeed, what your question is - what will the land be worth in 15 years (my kids are a bit older than yours)? One of the local expat business women sees this area as developing some sort of regular surfing tourism as the infrastructure develops a bit more (we do only have a few hotels and they really are not in the surfer price range). But, I'll be gone by then so I just hope that the kids will benefit in the end from our purchases of land here. They have the houses in Singaraja too and prices there continue to be absurdly high. Anyway, it's hard to lose on the prices that we are paying for land here. I still want to buy another hectare or two for my little farm (I'm probably getting senile in my creeping old age, but the phrase - get back to the land and set my soul free keeps buzzing through my head. Hmm...
That 60 million price astounds even me. I haven't been to your village yet, and as beautiful as the Ubud area is, that really seems excessive - and you say that is Balinese to Balinese? What are the bules paying for land there? Do you think that the price is going up due to speculation and the seemingly endless stream of foreigners who want to move to Bali. It amazes me to read all of these inquiries here, as well as the ones that I get in response to my cyberbali site.
Well, we have a month break starting now, my five year old is turning six today and we have a party to prepare for tomorrow and we are moving into the new house on Monday. I'll post some photos of the activities early next week. I may even make it to Bali for a few days in the next month.
Salam,
Bruce
Ah, Land prices in Bali... Even on the road here in Lovina, Balinese to Balinese, I heard prices of a 100 million per are.
But now ssshhhh about those sumbawa prices, just this conversation would rise prices by at least 100% in the next year....
BTW How do I get from Bali to Sumbawa?
But now ssshhhh about those sumbawa prices, just this conversation would rise prices by at least 100% in the next year....
BTW How do I get from Bali to Sumbawa?
Dr. Bruce,
It all boils down to our kids, doesn’t it? In the end, all parents everywhere want the best for their kids. When this “wanting for the kids” is developed solely from a single minded, often western point of view, we, who are lucky enough to have escaped those shackles of confined thinking to do what you, me, and many others have done, are doing now, and will continue to do long after we are gone…we still suffer from second thoughts. Hell, we could enroll them into Harvard and still have “second thoughts.”
As parents, we are doomed to the constant inner struggle between doing for our kids what we feel so deeply in our gut and heart to what convention says we should do for them.
I already did the “conventional” way, and it didn’t work. In the US, most family courts have adopted divorce by “irreconcilable differences.” Those differences do not have to be defined. The end result for the last 15 or so years has been the breakdown of the family structure within America.
Here, at least for me, I have total comfort and enjoy every pleasure there can possibly be just being “dad.” In that atmosphere, I feel confident that my and Eri’s decisions that we make now and will in the long run, benefit our children greatly. My mom understood this, and embraced it with all her heart and soul. My only sibling, an older sister, still simply refers to my children in Bali as “half-breeds.” That doesn’t hurt anymore, like it used to.
Every parent that already lives here, or has posted of their plans to move here has already expressed these concerns and worries. Our kids are the warp threads that truly binds us all in the expatriate community. Living in Bali, in a village, a community, and knowing that my kids are known, loved and cared for by my community is I guess like Leave it to Beaver, or My Three Sons…a draw back to my early childhood in the early 1950’s in a Levittown kind of town in New England. I could ride my bike most anywhere, and when I came home for dinner, dad was always there.
Dr. Bruce, who knows for certain if your choices now, investment wise, will render great fruit for your children some 15 or so years down the line? You’ve obviously done your homework, carefully thought this out…thus you have done all that can be reasonably expected. If I had to take odds, I would say it’s a sure bet…a “no brainer.” Worst case scenario is that the down side is minimal, even if the whole “other world” is in utter turmoil.
The one thing I’ve noted in the last six years is the number of would be expats that are more like refugees than expatriates. Well educated, often well financed, and certainly not conventional thinkers, they seek “asylum” here. In my “crystal ball” I don’t see anything short of this increasing, more and more.
Ma’af if I’ve gotten too heavy with this discussion…but in all honesty, it’s nothing less than discussions I enjoy, and thrive on with my closest friends here.
It all boils down to our kids, doesn’t it? In the end, all parents everywhere want the best for their kids. When this “wanting for the kids” is developed solely from a single minded, often western point of view, we, who are lucky enough to have escaped those shackles of confined thinking to do what you, me, and many others have done, are doing now, and will continue to do long after we are gone…we still suffer from second thoughts. Hell, we could enroll them into Harvard and still have “second thoughts.”
As parents, we are doomed to the constant inner struggle between doing for our kids what we feel so deeply in our gut and heart to what convention says we should do for them.
I already did the “conventional” way, and it didn’t work. In the US, most family courts have adopted divorce by “irreconcilable differences.” Those differences do not have to be defined. The end result for the last 15 or so years has been the breakdown of the family structure within America.
Here, at least for me, I have total comfort and enjoy every pleasure there can possibly be just being “dad.” In that atmosphere, I feel confident that my and Eri’s decisions that we make now and will in the long run, benefit our children greatly. My mom understood this, and embraced it with all her heart and soul. My only sibling, an older sister, still simply refers to my children in Bali as “half-breeds.” That doesn’t hurt anymore, like it used to.
Every parent that already lives here, or has posted of their plans to move here has already expressed these concerns and worries. Our kids are the warp threads that truly binds us all in the expatriate community. Living in Bali, in a village, a community, and knowing that my kids are known, loved and cared for by my community is I guess like Leave it to Beaver, or My Three Sons…a draw back to my early childhood in the early 1950’s in a Levittown kind of town in New England. I could ride my bike most anywhere, and when I came home for dinner, dad was always there.
Dr. Bruce, who knows for certain if your choices now, investment wise, will render great fruit for your children some 15 or so years down the line? You’ve obviously done your homework, carefully thought this out…thus you have done all that can be reasonably expected. If I had to take odds, I would say it’s a sure bet…a “no brainer.” Worst case scenario is that the down side is minimal, even if the whole “other world” is in utter turmoil.
The one thing I’ve noted in the last six years is the number of would be expats that are more like refugees than expatriates. Well educated, often well financed, and certainly not conventional thinkers, they seek “asylum” here. In my “crystal ball” I don’t see anything short of this increasing, more and more.
Ma’af if I’ve gotten too heavy with this discussion…but in all honesty, it’s nothing less than discussions I enjoy, and thrive on with my closest friends here.
Sergio said:
Well, I'm looking for a job as a primary school teacher because that's what I do here in Holland as well. Because my bahasa is not that good (I'm still learning and it doesn't go that fast because I have a fulltime job here) it has to be at an international school so I can teach in English. But the recent problem I had with that is that they only want teachers from English speaking countries and....Holland is not
But some of my friends know people who are already teaching there, so I have some (but really little) contacts. I heard that it would be quite easy to become a private teacher in Bali. Do any of you have experience with that? and are there some people here on the forum interested in Dutch or English private lessons to their children who are in the age of 4 up till 12 years old? (now I'm just curious Re: RE: The next best place?
I think your right about that Roy...and I don't see anything wrong in that as well.....It's really because I thought the atmosphere in Bali was really good and I hear many positive stories about living there that I want to try to live there...not because it's good for my career (it doesn't effect it in any way I think). But somehow people in my community don't seem to understand that somebody wants to move somewhere just because of these things.
Roy said:
I think your right about that Roy...and I don't see anything wrong in that as well.....It's really because I thought the atmosphere in Bali was really good and I hear many positive stories about living there that I want to try to live there...not because it's good for my career (it doesn't effect it in any way I think). But somehow people in my community don't seem to understand that somebody wants to move somewhere just because of these things.
Margriet said:
This is deffinatly the case in Bogor and Bandung and I would imagin it would be the same in Bali as well. There is alway lots of interest in learning english from a native speaker. I know you are Dutch but Dutch people often write and speak english better the most north americans... sorry americans, its true ! Us north americans have lots of catching up to do with our level of education in our public schools !
Margriet said:
Ha ha... yes I don't know why that is, I guess people get so used to there own environment and way of life that anything in their eyes often not as good. I don't really have any roots so I never had that mind fram, I lived in quite a few different places and I must say that Bali sure has something magical about it... there is no doubt about it and I can't wait to move back there with my children ! Who knows mabye you will be their teacher one day...
Best of luck !
typo what I ment was;
... anything different in their eyes is often not as good as what they are used to...
... anything different in their eyes is often not as good as what they are used to...
Sergio said:
Thank you Sergio!!! and yeah, who knows....strange thought actually that I might teach your children one day at the other site of the world, haha!
and to the one who asked where sumbawa was...I think it's quite near Bali, but correct me if I'm wrong. Yes there is an international school, the one from Dr.Bruce! I already asked for some information about working there...but that's really difficult.
Re: RE: The next best place?
You will get all of the informations of Sumbawa here:
http://indahnesia.com/Indonesia/Nusa_Te ... umbawa.php
Feelhip said:
You will get all of the informations of Sumbawa here:
http://indahnesia.com/Indonesia/Nusa_Te ... umbawa.php
Hi Margriet. Hey, if you want to work in Bali you should check out al the schools here first. There are plenty. I work in a National Plus school, which is a school that wishes it was an international school, but isn't. (at least, that's what this one wishes.) anyhow, there are other schools around Denpasar, and I saw a job advertisement at English First (which I think is in Sanur) that I really wanted to apply to myself.
You should get the list of all the international schools around Bali and send your CV to them all. If you want to work here, I mean. Not that Sumbawa doesn't sound great too! In fact, I am thinking of going to Sumbawa after Lombok these holidays. I'd love to see it. I might even take a boat from Lombok to Sumbawa, to Komodo to Rinca and back to Flores, to see the other end of the island.
Anyhow, good luck with the job hunting.
Cassienne
You should get the list of all the international schools around Bali and send your CV to them all. If you want to work here, I mean. Not that Sumbawa doesn't sound great too! In fact, I am thinking of going to Sumbawa after Lombok these holidays. I'd love to see it. I might even take a boat from Lombok to Sumbawa, to Komodo to Rinca and back to Flores, to see the other end of the island.
Anyhow, good luck with the job hunting.
Cassienne