I want to give ya’ll a quick update about my current situation in Bali. I made the move to go to Indonesia last April. Before arriving in Indonesia, I first went to the US for work. After this I spent a little over a month in Jakarta and Bali, searching for a place of my own and to learn the language as well. The quest to find a place was not easy as the prices are high and the photos do not reflect the current situation. Most photos seem to be really old and once I am viewing a place, I can see many problems with the house in which I am not willing to compromise on.

I sure did visit a lot of places (small villa’s, houses and even apartments) but I had another business trip to the US coming up, so I decided to wait until high season is over. Perhaps there is more choice and the prices have dropped a bit when we are in low season.

Just a few days before my next trip, and out of nowhere, I get a text message; asking if I am still looking for a long term rental house. Somebody was responding to my old Facebook post, and she surely is not the first one to reach out to me. I decided to give it a shot as the photo’s seemed quite ok. I meet with the owners (no agent involved this time – which is good!) and I am not disappointed with the visit, not at all actually. As a matter of fact, the place looks quite OK and it is to my taste and liking (as it is going to be a temporary to stay). For the first time, when I enter a place, I finally feel ‘at home’.

The owners tell me there are more viewers, so I need to decide quickly. I don’t know if this is something they say to gas me up, but deep down I think I already made the decision.

Last minute, only 1 day before my next business trip, I meet the owners again. The house is owned by an older foreign couple that happen to live next door (I suppose this can be a good thing or a bad thing… time will tell). They invited me over for a drink, some small talk and to sign the contract. It is a one-year contract which works for me. It feels good and I can’t wait to finally have a place of my own, so I don’t have to keep moving around. The owners are nice, and we seem to be on the same page on pretty much everything. The owner will make sure everything will be deeply cleaned, freshly painted and the minor issues that are present will be fixed.

With a good feeling I board the plane to the US (which I wrote about in my last post). I spent my birthday in The Netherlands, and fast forward almost six weeks, I land in Bali again; this time it really feels like coming home. The owner is waiting for me with the key and with a jetlag after a long flight, I go pretty much straight to bed.

Settling in and tidying up will be done the next day.

It is a small house in a quite area of Sanur. There are some decent restaurants and supermarkets on walking distance. And the beach, including all the hot spots, is only a ten minute bike ride away. There is a covered and gated small driveway in front of the house. There is no back garden but there is a private tiny front garden with a small dipping pool. There are two spacious bedrooms with small ensuite bathrooms. A combined living and dining area; not very big, but big enough. I just want to change the furniture into a more natural wooden style, but this will come later. And finally there is a fully equipped and clean kitchen. I give everything a place and I feel at home. Not a single fiber in my body feels that I have made the wrong decision coming here. Of course, it is not my first time going overseas for a long time, or undefined time.

Only thing I will be really missing that I cannot have here, is my good friends and family. I wish I could take them with me, but obviously I cannot do that. I love and care about my family and friends, because in the end this is all that really matters. I vouch for that I will come back to the Netherlands once or twice a year.

What I can and did bring to Bali is one of my favorite hobbies: a Lego Technic set! I couldn’t resist bringing a cool new set and build it in my free time.

But this is not all that I will be doing in my free time. Now that I am settling down here, I want to follow my long-time dream of investing in real estate. More about this topic in future posts, because I am first going to Singapore for my next project.

See you later. Or as the Indonesians would say: Sampai jumpa lagi 😀

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