In this episode Kristen and Carol interview Simone from "Our Year in Bali" who offers relocation consulting services to individuals and families moving to Bali.
Simone shares her journey of moving from Sydney with her family, conducting interviews with other expats for her website, and helping people with their Bali relocation. They talk about the tropical climate, the availability of fresh fruits and local cuisine, the variety of communities on the island, the cost of living and some tips for navigating the cultural nuances and practical aspects of living in Bali.
If you'd like to get in touch, you can contact Simone on Instagram @ouryearinbali or visit her website at www.ouryearinbali.com.
Please download, like, subscribe, share a review, and follow us on your favorite podcasts app and connect with us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wherenextpodcast/
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Hosts
Carol: https://www.instagram.com/carol.work.life
Kristen: https://www.instagram.com/team_wake/
If you can, please support the show or you can buy us a coffee.
In this episode Kristen and Carol interview Simone from "Our Year in Bali" who offers relocation consulting services to individuals and families moving to Bali.
Simone shares her journey of moving from Sydney with her family, conducting interviews with other expats for her website, and helping people with their Bali relocation. They talk about the tropical climate, the availability of fresh fruits and local cuisine, the variety of communities on the island, the cost of living and some tips for navigating the cultural nuances and practical aspects of living in Bali.
If you'd like to get in touch, you can contact Simone on Instagram @ouryearinbali or visit her website at www.ouryearinbali.com.
Please download, like, subscribe, share a review, and follow us on your favorite podcasts app and connect with us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wherenextpodcast/
View all listening options: https://wherenextpodcast.buzzsprout.com/
Hosts
Carol: https://www.instagram.com/carol.work.life
Kristen: https://www.instagram.com/team_wake/
If you can, please support the show or you can buy us a coffee.
Hi, welcome to our podcast. We're Next Travel with Kristen and Carol. I am Kristen and I am Carol, and we're two long-term friends with a passion for travel and adventure. Each episode, we interview people around the globe to help us decide where to go next. In this episode, we are meeting with Simone, a relocation expert that helps families and individuals looking to move short-term or long-term to Bali. If you enjoy our interviews, can you please follow us and give us a review? It's a super easy, quick task that really helps the podcast Enjoy the show.
Speaker 1:Welcome Simone. Thank you for joining us from Australia to talk about Bali.
Speaker 2:That's right, yes, that's right, where are you right now? Originally a Sydney girl and then moved to Bali and then now I'm in Queensland, australia. Have you been to Australia before?
Speaker 1:No Wow. Carol and I were just having a discussion about. You know from all of our episodes where were our top three places and Australia was mentioned. We swapped it, but I definitely said Bali was one of them. Bali is one, for sure.
Speaker 2:That's so good. Yeah, I get a lot of inquiries from America and Canada. Yeah, all the time, really, pretty much I'd say every week, every second week there'll be someone that wants to do. Either they're a couple or they're looking at a bit of a retirement thing, or they're a family. So, yeah, very popular.
Speaker 1:Yeah, very excited to learn about what you did and I I just briefly glanced, but I had a lot of questions. And actually me and my kids were in bali, uh, for very short three days. Unfortunately it's quite a trip to go all the way, but it was so worth it. We went to south korea and then we bopped on over to bal. It's a seven-hour flight each way but we stayed at one of my friends that lives in South Korea. She has some Rip Curl Pro friends that live there, so we stayed with them and surfed and we went to Mubali. I don't know if you know where that is. It's just in a surfing place. Mubali's kind of like a hotel resort resort on the top, and I'm blanking on all the names.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna have to bring up the map to remember Kuta for the rip curl pros and the surf contest and all that. And then we went to Bingham Bingham Beach, actually. I haven't brought up the map yet, but I'm remembering it now, oh good yeah, yeah, the Uluwatu Bukit area, which is very famous for the surfing.
Speaker 1:Yes, it was like these perfect, manicured, just waves coming and there was a lot of surfers, but it seemed like there was a lot of room. It was a really nice day. I was trying to see how big Bali is, because Bali is an island, right, and then I've been to Hawaii. A lot of people have. So I'm just wondering, like, is it like the size of Maui? It almost looks like it's the size of, you know, the island of Hawaii, what they call the big island sometimes. Can you drive around it?
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, I was just going to say you can absolutely. I mean, obviously it's not, as you know, beautiful freeways and easy to get around. I was actually in Kauai in December and also just the Waikiki area as well, so much easier to get around. But yes, I mean, some people even scooter around the whole island, which would be a bit tricky. You can like it could be quite a few hours, I think top to bottom it would be, oh god, like six, seven hours or something like that. But obviously it's, you know, not straightforward and it's not one easy freeway all the way through. There's no public transport or anything like that. So it's not like one of those let's hop on and off, hop off and explore the entire island. You know it takes some time to get around to all the areas and and how did this whole thing start?
Speaker 1:What's your background? What do you do as a living? It seemed like you had a family, and then what made you go?
Speaker 2:to Bali. Yeah, that's right. So I'm originally from Sydney and I was working with my children at the time. They were ages five, six, so quite young, just working full time. My husband was working for himself and I always sort of gave the idea to him let's have an experience with the family overseas, somewhere in the world. And it was where, where, where we actually talked about Hawaii. Strangely enough, because we had reminisced on our 10 year wedding anniversary, we went without the kids to Kauai and the mainland and we were were just like why don't we do this with the kids? This is possible. And we started researching schools and visas and it was just like, well, this is going to be not as easy as we thought. So we got rid of the Hawaii idea, but it was definitely on the cards.
Speaker 2:And then we looked at Singapore and some other ideas because we had been. These are all places we'd been sort of before and we thought, well, maybe it's a livable place as well. We can do a year, a gap year away sample. We researched again it was quite expensive to live. We loved going there as a holiday maker and just when we started speaking to people, it just ended up being not as affordable as what we thought it might be. And we sort of looked at Europe and a few different places. And then one day my husband actually recommended well, what about Bali? We've been there for a few times on a holiday, let's start looking into that. I was like, okay, that's a great idea. So we did start looking. We saw there was an Australian school at the time. We thought, well, okay, that's a nice tick, we'll tick that one. My husband could continue his work as he worked for himself, and it was pretty much the same time zone and a couple of hours difference. We knew the quality of living would be a bit lower than what we're used to in Australia. We knew that the kids would have an amazing cultural experience as well as us. And it started to tick all the boxes and we're like okay, this is a doable gap year experience.
Speaker 2:We actually got my husband. He did a bit of a recce and went for about 10 days by himself and explored the sort of hotspots and where the expats would probably live, went to a couple of different schools and just to get a bit of a feel for it and give us a bit of a report back. Is this doable? And yes, he said, yep, it is doable, we can definitely make it happen. Let's put an application into the school. So as soon as we did that, we're like this is really getting a bit more serious, this is hopefully going to happen. And when they did say yes, we had a wait list, I think, for one of the children. And then when it all came through, we're like, wow, this is going to happen.
Speaker 2:And we kept it a bit of a secret, to be honest, with all our family and friends, because I think we thought we were going to be nuts going and doing a gap year in Indonesia. We don't do that sort of stuff and for us to do it is quite brave as well. So we're living in Sydney, right near the like, not far, say, five, ten-minute drive from Bondi Beach. So if you know the famous Bondi Beach in Sydney, you know, so you know lovely area. But again, like everybody else working very hard, you know, looking at what's happening on the weekend, it was very scheduled, very timetabled, with young kids and we're like, week to week to week, going, what's going on here, let's take a break. And that's what Bali gave us. It gave us that break, but also gave us a lot more family time as well, and things that we took for granted or just had to do back in Sydney. It just stopped all of that. So a lot, a lot of, I mean. And then they just started documenting it. So I've got this, this website, which is our year in Bali, and that's what the name was originally. It was a gap year, it was our year in Bali, and I was just blogging and having lots of fun and saying you know, the kids and I went to this amazing village one day next minute, minute, we're teaching English to another little village. Next minute, we're, you know, volunteering at a baby orphanage. You know, we're trying this food, what's your new school like? So it was just a fun way of documenting it.
Speaker 2:And then what I did decide to do was I started to speak to other expats. So I started making friends with other expats from all around the world, with other kids, for example, some retirees, and I said what's your story? And I just had a love of interviewing people, like you guys are interviewing people. And back in Sydney, my job before that was working in the council, the local area. Actually, I had a project to interview immigrants that moved to Bondi Beach and what was their story of journey and it was, you know, after the war, and it was a very special story with. You know, I spoke to about a hundred different people on why they made Australia their home. So I was like, well, that sort of inspired me to ask questions.
Speaker 2:And then I started asking questions and I thought I'm going to add this to my blog. I'm going to add interviews of other people and what's their journey to my blog, and now I think I've got about 80 interviews on that on my website. So that's one of my loves. I just love finding out. You know, what did you think? What was your challenge? You know questioning and people love that. They get inspired by it. They see, you know what might happen, what might go wrong, what worked for them, and there's like-minded people, they're not just alone in their little dream world. So, yes, very fast, sorry no, it's great.
Speaker 1:So the interviews are those all people that have been to bali on these one years.
Speaker 2:Okay, yes, yes and all the different situations. Yeah, yeah, that's right, you met them on your one year there it's a mix of everything.
Speaker 2:So either I met them when I was living there and it was actually I was actually living more than one year in bali was two, two years, so that's another whole story. So it's a mix from all over the years, from obviously meeting them, friends of friends it could be my clients that I've successfully helped move over, and everyone's in a different journey. So some people might be there for three to six months, some people might be moving there to retire, some people are testing the waters or they might come back again. Some people have set up businesses. So it's a very good mix of people who have come for work, for example. So a gentleman from Denver, colorado I helped He'd never been to Indonesia or Bali before he got a job as a principal in one of the schools in Bali reached out to me and said you know, I have no idea what I'm about to get into. Can you please help me? And I've since met him a couple of times in Bali as well and he's one of my stories, for example.
Speaker 1:So it's a big big mix, big mix.
Speaker 2:Now, what do you do professionally? So I used well, I'm, up until recently, marketing manager of a law firm. That was up until recently, because now I'm actually going into this concept of barley relocation full time Nice. So I'm going into my own business and being my own yeah, business owner and just enjoying helping people from all around the world have an experience, like I did, and sort of try and fast track their settling in time and trying to navigate what the culture is like and what you know cost of living might be and how things work and you know good spots to pick families or schools, and so, yeah, I try and coach everyone through that experience, like I want them to enjoy what I've gone through.
Speaker 1:So is it a mix of always families? Is this like the one gentleman out of Denver?
Speaker 2:Yes, I think I would probably say because I've got so much content on there about the schools and there is a lot of family interviews I'd probably say maybe 60% family 70%, and then the others might be a couple, or it might be a solo, it might be also, might be a single mom, for example. Yeah, it could be just, you know, a retired couple. So a bit of a mix on that other sort of 20, 30 percent nice.
Speaker 1:I was curious also how were your? Do you have two boys? Is that right? A boy and a girl, and a boy and a girl? And how were they about the adventure and what was it like that you, you know to take a gap year. How is that a common thing in common in?
Speaker 2:Australia. No, it really, to be honest, it isn't it. I mean some of the culture. Now, obviously, with with COVID changing, there are people that are taking families and doing like a caravanning trip all around Australia and just like, let's homeschool, let's just anyone who's under that sort of age bracket. They're not caring about school as much. We can do it on our own. That has, I suppose, become a popular thing to do, but otherwise it's really, I think, a rite of passage for Australians, when they're, you know, just finishing school or university, to do a gap year and it would be maybe like I, for example, do with my husband. We saw, I think it was, 18 countries in Europe for six months. So you know, that's what we try to do. We try and tick it all off and go right, let's go to as many countries as we can.
Speaker 1:So that would be common. So it wouldn't be common as such. But um, for families, just you know from Australia giving it a gap year. And how are your kids about doing this for a year, leaving their friends?
Speaker 2:leaving what they knew. Yeah, I think because of the age group, they were young and they were like, wherever mom and dad take us, it's going to be home, it's going to be awesome. Um, yes, we sort of tried to do, you know, postcards and makeup, keeping touch with family and so forth, but, um, I think we're they were just so busy and so absorbed into a whole new culture and everything was just explore, explore and discover every single day that they were. We were never homesick. We literally were never homesick in one year, which became two years.
Speaker 2:So it was one of those things where you can get sucked into a I call it the barley bubble, where you sort of start going oh, this is really, you know, different and it's working and it's successful and everyone's happy. So we, this gap year, very quickly turned into a second year and it was just something where we were renting out a house in Sydney and the person wanted to stay longer and it was was like gave us the chance to keep on going financially as well. What grades were they in while they were there? Yes, yeah, they were in the sort of like year one and two, two and three. So the early, early primary years was what we called that. You know I don't think they stout on anything. You know they fit back into Australia very well and still to this day, you know it feels like it's defined them and you know they've had a really amazing cultural experience that maybe some of their other friends in Australia may not have had the opportunity to know. So they're very, very positive about the whole experience.
Speaker 1:Do you have any transfers of high school students?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, actually I do Like all the time every week I've got you know, maybe it's I've got a 14 year old orold or a 16-year-old. I get that pretty much every week as well.
Speaker 1:Yes, I have a 16-year-old, where would you set?
Speaker 2:that yeah that's right? Yeah Well, if you're looking at a whole, it's one whole year. Just a year experience, or it?
Speaker 1:could be to finish school.
Speaker 2:Yeah, to's common as well. So I mean, there's like small schools. There's all international schools, there's IB schools. Bali's got a great range of different schools so you can do, you know, small. It depends where you want to live. So, for example, in Ubud, in the jungle part which is further away from the beach, they've got a high school there which is very small. There's a lot of these little schools that are growing into that high school years and going 14, 15, 16. Then if you go to, for example, sunua, there's an international IB school which is fabulous. There's another school in the Canggu area. There's a couple of schools that do high school right through as well, ib. So, yeah, there's a few different options and I'm helping teenagers all the time depending on where they want to go.
Speaker 2:Very, very common all the time depending on where they want to go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, very, very common. Yeah, lots of options. Okay, so where are the common places that people would end up living you know Bali is, you know what cities and to say, like people, like really, some people like a lot of action in all the festivals, other people they want it more quiet, even if it is a family. So there are a few places that you could recommend in both spectrums.
Speaker 2:There are obviously pockets of, you know, very North Bali, which is super quiet. But really the main four areas I would say that expats are gravitating to because there's facilities, there's co-working places. You know other other expats are living there. They're living their long-term businesses and so forth would be the, um, the one that you mentioned before, which is that sort of beautiful beach area, the uluwatu book area. Um, and that is a mix of different beaches, it's a pretty big surf culture. Um, there are some young families there, there are some preschools and schools there as well, so people wouldn't go there necessarily to retire. They would maybe be, um, you know, one of those digital nomads that just love surfing. Um, you know, enjoying bali life. Um, culturally it's not as maybe diverse, um, as it's very, as I said, just very um, children, that sort of surf culture side of things.
Speaker 2:And how did you say that? What was the town that you're talking about? Yes, well, if the actual peninsula, yes, uluwatu would be one of those sort of suburbs and that's just one of the like main areas in that sort of bottom part that definitely families and young couples are gravitating to there is. It's a little bit harder to get around, to navigate around there because it's all very separated separated with the cliffs and the beaches. So, for example, a young family wouldn't go there because there are so many. Necessarily they won't go there because there's so many stairs to go up and down to the beautiful beaches and it could be a bit frustrating. They would have to drive a bit further to another family-friendly beach. But you know, it's a lovely, it's a beautiful area, it's an up-and-coming beach. But you know it's a good, it's a lovely, it's a beautiful area, it's an up-and-coming area. Lots of pros and cons for this area. People do absolutely love it, it is gorgeous. There's a few lovely temples there as well, yeah, and each area's got its pros and cons and different landscapes and different things to do, and you know they are.
Speaker 2:Each sort of expat community is a good hour hour and a half two hours between each other. So you have to make that distinction and say, okay, I'm living here and I'm not going to be that close to another expat community, I suppose. So, yeah, that area is very beautiful. Yeah, I would say very, very popular for more the surfing style of a person that really loves to go surfing every day. Then the next one would probably be the Sanur area S-A-N-U-R is just one of those popular areas for retirees as well as families, and sometimes it could be a fly-in, fly-out worker because it's closer to the airport.
Speaker 2:There are definitely, you know, this is just the main area. There's obviously areas on the outskirts of that, but if we just call senua and senua beach area, um, that is very popular for, as I said, for lots of different reasons. There's one beautiful um seven kilometer walkway, which is quite unusual for bali to have a, you know, well-established, dedicated walkway along the beach where you can ride your bike and go for a run. You know there's beautiful rurungs and you can catch fresh fish and people have lots of fun. There's a few little playgrounds, so it's a mix for everybody there. It's really, really fun for all ages.
Speaker 2:It's close to the hospitals, padme, the airport, you know shopping centres, so that's really a quite popular place and it's growing. It's definitely growing with more sort of um building and entertainment and so forth. So sonora is getting very popular and and I was going to say cuda would be more of a? Um a holiday destination rather than and someone to live yeah, be it's hotels and um. You know cafes, restaurants and shops and markets and things like that and a lot of traffic.
Speaker 1:I was going to say a lot of traffic.
Speaker 2:So you wouldn't, you wouldn't want to be living there as such, then you've got, I suppose um, so I'm really avoiding like main tourist areas. So I mean, obviously, tourists go to senora and to oluatu as well, but if you wanted to live there, because that's the sort of what I advise people is to have that gap year or six months or whatever it is, the next one would be the the Canggu region. So the Canggu area, and there's lots of little extra areas around that area. There's, you know, I could name, like you know, 10 little extra suburbs or neighborhoods or however regions you want to call it. So Canggu is really, really popular, very full of traffic. At the moment it's just on steroids. It's got, you know, every restaurant and cafe. You can imagine, some great co-working. There's clubs, there's schools, there's, you know, the beaches. There's, you know, lots going on there.
Speaker 1:And that starts with a C, c-a-n. Yes, okay, yeah, and some people would pronounce that's it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's getting very busy. There is, you know, beach clubs. There's lots of things going on and you know people do love that vibe. You know it's got a great energy but it's got a lot of traffic at the moment, so some people getting frustrated where they love to go between you know, maybe it's, you know, the gym versus yoga and then going over to a cafe. It may take time, so that's the only, I suppose, downfall, but you can enjoy the outskirts of changu and um and it's just growing and growing, growing.
Speaker 1:So it's very popular and is it super like hard to get around just because the mass amount of people or, like in costa rica, here like the roads are really bad so you can only go like 20 miles an hour, or is it combination?
Speaker 2:a combination combination.
Speaker 1:I was like you remember?
Speaker 2:yes, yes, I mean some of the roads are getting built much better and you know shortcuts are being improved. But you are navigating rice fields, you're navigating the odd ceremony that might happen, the wet weather. You've got maybe a stray dog running across the road. You're navigating. You know lots of other motorbikes and cars and everything around you, so there's a lot going on. Yeah, so it's a slow speed and everyone does tend to go on a scooter as opposed to a car, for you know ease of getting around and there's shortcuts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's a lot of dogs and they're so friendly and I'm just shocked that none of them get hit by cars. That's right.
Speaker 2:That's right. They're very well looked after in that respect. No one, no one. Yeah, exactly right, yes. And then the next, the last one, I suppose, would be ubud, which is the jungle part that everyone knows. They're the famous school called the green school that a lot of um, americans and other people from around the world have have learned about. That's been going for well over a decade now and they've got other schools around the world now. So that would be, you know, a draw card in Ubud.
Speaker 2:But Ubud is just very spiritual. It's super cultural there. You know people go there for you know the yoga, the meditation, the spiritual side of Bali, lots more. You know rice fields and waterfalls. It's, it's, you know, it's very, very different. It's got a very different feel to the other areas. So it's a good 30, 40 minutes at least, if not more, to a beach. So you're sort of in that heart and soul of more of a lush jungle experience and, yeah, there's a lot of beautiful things there as well. So wherever you go in Bali there is similarities with you know the beautiful food and the cuisines and the. You know the fresh produce and you know the cultural experiences and the villages and the ceremonies and everything around you every day is amazing. It's just very different feels in each area and pros and cons.
Speaker 1:I was curious also. With that huge I mean the temples and then those beautiful flags with the balls that have the things hanging down, and then the communities, like they give these offerings I think it's every couple days, but each, like every day on everybody's porch or every and then they have their own temples and then they have the community or block temples and then they've got this huge like it looks like the statue of liberty in the middle of the country that you just can see from far away.
Speaker 1:I was curious. I can't remember what that was all called. I was only there for three days, but what was?
Speaker 2:that it is a Hindu culture so it could be a different offering, um, but yes, it's very peaceful. They do have to do, you know, offerings every single day um to, and they do different blessings and different times of year depending on their calendar. It's in your face every single day in some shape or form, whether it's an offering on the ground, whether it's an offering in a temple, whether they're preparing to bless a particular thing. So there's certain things that they believe in that happens all year round. You know there's festivals and things that you know. Each year you've got beautiful things that you see from. You know, the temples um, the neighborhoods. They get dressed up and and so forth. So there's a lot going on every day, depending on what, what, what is um, what's the calendar like?
Speaker 1:what was that thing called the huge statue? That's um, I can't remember what it was actually. It was on the way from bingham beach to cuda and we passed by it and it looked. You know, it's a old, I think I can't remember, but it's massive, like bigger than any building you can see it.
Speaker 2:Wow, I tip her far away. Yeah, a few of those are coming to my mind, um, and I have asked the question before and I can't remember what the answer is, but I do know what you're talking about yeah, I'm gonna look it up, I'm sure it's gonna.
Speaker 1:There it is. Yep, I found it. I was like what's that? I just said? Bali, huge statue, wow well, done good googling but it's uh. Well, it's, uh, it's that's here. Uh, garuda visnu Kankana statue, also known as GWK statue. It's 122 meters tall, located in the cultural park, in the GWK cultural park. But yeah, but I just remember driving and our driver was like showing it to us and I didn't get a chance. It was such a tight schedule. I would just like wow, and then we just keep on going.
Speaker 1:I tried to get it all in. It's called the giant. Some people call it the giant Interesting. So, is there ever a bad time to go? I would just assume the weather is always like very mild and very comfortable and hot and it rains a bunch, I mean, and you do a whole year. So you're going to get everything you're going to get everything.
Speaker 2:That's right. So I always feel like it's it's like Grand Hog Day every single day. I'd never check the weather whatsoever, so I knew it was going to be hot, I knew I'd be wearing flip-flops and just um, you know, t-shirt, shorts, like that every single day. But there obviously is the wet season and the dry season. So around you know, november, sort of you know it starts to get wet again, and November for quite a few months, and then back again. You know we're in the dry season now, for example, but, and even if it rains, it could be a short little outburst of just you know, 10 minutes of downpour and then we're great again. So and then then it could rain for days, on days. So it's really, you know, it's unpredictable, I guess. But you know you'd be swimming in the rain and it would be hot in the rain and you'll be, as I said, every single day in a whole year.
Speaker 1:I would never check it, but there was a temple on the water that almost like when the tide was down it was you could walk across it and the tide would go up and you know, it would be like a little island. It was sunny, and then we went to the mountains and then it was super cloudy and misty, and you know. So it seems, even if the weather is sunny in one area, you can go up to the mountains, and it's drizzly and rainy in the other.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's true, and most of it because it's hot all year round and it is just like the same all the year round. There's some areas in the mountains, like you did mention, where the temperatures can drop a little bit. There'll never be things like snow or anything like that. But some people get excited and go, wow, I can wear a jumper, I can wear jeans, because you don't wear that every other day of the year. So if you do go to that sort of mountain area, there could be it could be. The temperature is definitely cooler and fresher and you know they sort of promote that. You know, come and stay with us. You know when there might be a fireplace and things like that, but very minimal to what I'm sure you guys go through for sure, right.
Speaker 1:And if you went to one of those places, are they pretty remote or would they be like you know?
Speaker 2:you could actually work there and has internet and, you know, reliable in some of the cooler places. If you needed a break, if you need a break, I would just yeah, I would definitely say the internet's reliable, but it wouldn't be again. It would be more of a holiday destination like for a couple of days or something like that, you wouldn't.
Speaker 2:Maybe you wouldn't be like, oh, let like for a couple of days or something like that, you wouldn't. Maybe you wouldn't be like, oh, let's write a book in the mountains, you know? Okay, this is really like that. It would be very there'll be, there'll be more holiday rentals, or you know um hotels or something like that.
Speaker 1:I remember being in the mountains and well, and we also had a fruit smoothie. But we went into the mountains and saw strawberries, or they were grown strawberries and I had. You know, here in California the strawberries are very sweet, very yummy. I'm Swedish. They're sweet and yummy there too, but the sweet, the strawberries in Bali are sour and not good. I mean, I guess I wouldn't say not good, but from from what I'm used to, it's a sour yes, yeah, they still look quite, really, quite bright, um, but maybe not as tasty.
Speaker 2:But I would say the tropical fruit, yeah, it's a shame. Do you try the other fruit? Oh, yeah, um, that they have. Yeah, exactly, so beautiful, yeah oh, they were amazing.
Speaker 1:And, yeah, everything we got was just amazing. The fruits were amazing, and and then we saw strawberries and we were like, oh, let's try a strawberry. And then we were like oh no, no, that's not what we'd get there. Yeah, no, it's good what are some of the tropical fruits. I mean the coconuts.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, obviously, you've got coconuts, like everywhere in many tropical climates around the world. Mangosteen is really yummy, obviously. They've got their mangoes and their pineapple. Um, they've got rambutans. Um, I'm just trying to think there's so many different. Um, it's well rambutan, I think you guys maybe call it something different, like a lychee, probably. Oh, okay, do you know? Like a lychee, yeah, and then the mangosteens are like little purple things that you just sort of peel open, like little purple things that you just sort of peel open and it's a little white. Um, it's like it's just it's a white colored fruit with some pips in it. Um, that is super tasty, super super tasty, obviously dragon fruit?
Speaker 2:yeah, absolutely. Dragon fruit smoothies are so popular. Um yeah, dragon fruit everywhere is just incredible.
Speaker 1:So yeah it looks so cool. They just they look like little seasons. I'm like, yeah, guava was big and I was really impressed they have like these um bowls, smoothie bowls and like fresh, just sliced fruit and oh my god, it was amazing. Um, we were in kuta and I was staying with the, this family, and um you know, I was like, oh, we want something like fresh fruit, healthy, like for breakfast and, yeah, everywhere, fresh food right. What are kind of some of the your favorite meals or what people eat?
Speaker 2:yeah, I 100% agree that the fresh fruits always get the fresh smoothie bowls, the fresh smoothies, whatever it is. That's great. And then the local food's pretty tasty and delicious. I tried to cook it and you get such an appreciation on. You know how many spices and how long it takes, so anything that's um nasi.
Speaker 2:Nasi means rice goreng means fried, so you like your fried rice type dish. Um noodles, so you've got a fried noodle dish. Um, but then they're good with tempeh. Um, you know the small amounts of meat anyway is really in their diet, so it's not a huge meat eating culture that you know. They're very with their vegetables and then their rices and things like that.
Speaker 2:Um, and then you've got like a dish called like, for example, nasi campur, which is nasi, which is rice, which is brown rice, red rice, white rice, yellow rice, whatever they. You know there's happening, and then trampol is a little bit of everything. So I really love that. So it might be a little bit of tempeh or tofu, it might be some really interesting beans and veggies, it could be a little bit of chicken. So, yeah, they've got beef rendang, which is a lovely beef curry, so it's a bit of a mix. And then they love their chili and the sambal, which I never touched I'm not a chili person anyway but that's hugely popular. It's always chili, chili and sambal, which is like a crushed up chili sauce, if you want to call it that, and they put that on everything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, eggs as well. Good with the eggs. So it's a nice mix of that's obviously local food, but then the cuisines are amazing. It's just that's what's great. You can go really cheap at a room and quite local with a nasi goreng, maybe a couple of us dollars, but then you can go to a five-star, amazing restaurant in the same day, um and everything in between. So you've got. You've got lots of options when it comes to um. You know, choice and and affordability with food nice they also talked about moo belly.
Speaker 1:Uh, so australians that were there because, you know, I guess they were having a bigger winter and so it was very packed. We got there around midnight or 1 am and the whole airport was just packed. And then I had met some folks too and they were saying, oh, watch out, and so the water or something, I we didn't get affected, but that, uh, they called it moo belly yeah, everyone's not everyone's known of barley belly and you, I mean for us in the it's, and so the water or something we didn't get affected, but they called it Moo Belly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, everyone's known of Bali Belly and I mean, for us it's just, it can be. Obviously you have to be careful with you know whether it's hand sanitiser, washing your hands, seeing how it's cooked, where you're buying it from. You can go from a very local place that just uses, you know, the water on the street, so to speak, which is these Buxom men who sell soup on the street. You know, obviously wouldn't advise that local. And then you go to a cafe or restaurant, which is, you know they're always serving for expats and you know holiday makers. So the quality and you should not be getting belly belly in that situation.
Speaker 2:However, you know they have, you know, obviously, great sort of remedies and things like that if you ever needed it. Sometimes it's unavoidable. In our two years, believe it or not, I would be buying fruit and veggies from the local market where there would be cats running around, there'd be flies and we would just do a quick wash and we didn't get sick. So you know, there's some things you can just avoid. And yes, it's hard. Sometimes you have to drink the water, um, you know, bottled water all the time and not from the tap, um, and just, you know, be a bit vigilant on what you're going to do and and so forth. But yes, barley belly can happen anytime, anywhere. And some people say you know, I think I got it from a five-star beach resort, so you never know where, where you could get it from, unfortunately.
Speaker 1:But it is definitely one thing that that's there and so do you feel the people that you know once you've been there for three, four months, they're less likely to get it, or literally it could happen just depending where you go, or is there a little acclimation to that?
Speaker 2:yeah, a bit of both. Okay, yeah, there is a bit of both, I think. I think you do get used to it. Some people, do you know, start brushing their teeth with the local water a little bit, so like, introduce it slowly in some little bits of ways. As you said, the longer you're there, you know you should be immune to the bugs and the local um, you know way of food, how it's prepared and what's happening um, but yeah, it's a bit of a mix. I some I also um recommend in particular like a cholera vaccine, like a drink, a cholera drink before you go. I don't know if that helps in any shape or form, um, but I'd always, you know, I was advised by my my doctor to take that, so that may have helped as well. It's like a little bit of a lining for the tummy, um, and just being sensible, as much as you possibly can, and um, and then?
Speaker 1:what was the drink?
Speaker 2:it's called a ducral d-u-k-o-r-a-l ducral oh okay, it just kind of gets ready for, yeah, different, uh, different environments.
Speaker 1:That's right, exactly right. Oh yeah, I was curious cost-wise if someone wanted to live there, how much should they anticipate spending, or saving, I guess, to spend on, you know, I don't know rent and food and you know just costs in general yes, okay, that's a, that's a like a big question.
Speaker 2:I'm like, oh, my gosh, how am I gonna answer this for you? Um, so we we're talking a family of four, for example.
Speaker 1:Sure, yeah, okay before um, yeah, yeah, okay, so again it depends on where you live so for example, sure, yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:So again, it depends on where you live. So, for example, ubud would be probably one of the cheaper Ubud and Uluwatu maybe the cheaper areas to live, um for rent, for example, versus um Sanua, and Sanua is also quite reasonable, but Canggu, as I said, getting very, very busy, getting very expensive. So, um, and things have changed. So Bali has the inflation prices. All different things are going on at the moment to push prices up. No matter where you are. It's just not best when it comes to rent, that would be the biggest cost. So for a year, for example, it's a hard question. So, as I said, so, for example, bali housing is also very different. So you can have an enclosed one, which is what we're used to in our Western world, and then you can have a tropical, open one, which is a lot cheaper. So, where you know you will come to Bali with you're wanting a fully furnished house, of course, because you're not bringing any furniture with you, and then you've got a choice of do I want it half open or all open or just, for example, everything else enclosed? That's going to change your price as well.
Speaker 2:So, for example, in Ubud, because it's a bit cooler being in the jungle, things can happen. If it's closed, there might be more mould opportunities. So, for example, the bedrooms might just be closed with some aircon, and then you might have your kitchen and your lounge room and other areas, even the bathroom, the bathroom open, believe it or not. So that's something you're either happy to get used to or you're like no, no, I still want that western experience because I'm, you know, nervous about mosquitoes and other things that might happen and it's unavoidable. So you know it could be. You know it could be like 10-15,000 a000 a year, for example, in Ubud, versus. You know, if you want something more luxurious and amazing in Canggu, it could be 35,000 plus. And are these in US dollars?
Speaker 1:or Australian dollars. Yes, US.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was trying to help you with US dollars. Thank you so much. Yeah that's all good. And then you know so some people come for monthly and you know it could be $1,000 a month versus $3,000, $3,500 a month. So there is a huge range. To be honest on accommodation, and you know, as I said so Auburn would be the cheapest option. Changi would be super expensive. So let's use those two as examples.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm just looking at some of these open homes, it's, it's insane. I mean it's great. Yeah, it's like certain times of year would be great, but once that rain starts coming to be like, yeah, so the the room itself was enclosed and then the bathroom had a door and it was completely. I mean, it was enclosed and everything. But in the shower area there was like a space where the roof, so it wasn't raining in it, but it was like, you know, an open roof concept and I don't remember what the wall was, but it looked like a rock wall and then there was just like a space. So it was partially. But you know, and I know, when I was in Costa Rica, the bathroom was open. It was just like I was showering and I was watching those construction guys cutting down some trees and there's a monkey swinging and I was like washing my hair out so, yeah, that that's probably similar.
Speaker 2:It's exactly right, that sort of tropical open plan and, um, I mean so sometimes it's great, but then you know getting frustrated with kitchen and lounge room in the outdoors, um, and the heat and the elements and things that might happen at night, so, yeah, and then everyone gravitates to their bedrooms and it doesn't speak to anybody. So it could be a bit of a frustrating way of living. But some people absolutely love it, or they've just got a different budget and they're like you know, this is this is going to work for me for a year. This is how I'm going to live and I'm going to get used to it.
Speaker 1:So it does take time to get used to, I think, with the heat yeah, I'm looking, I landed on this site and bookingcom and it has like so, 29 nights, $900 for one of these homes, and then the next listing is $4,000 for 29 nights. So I can see this going to someone like you. Okay, what's the pros and cons of this area? Versus that, that would be huge. Another one $690 for a month, sweet escape, entire villa, one bedroom, one bath and a queen bed. That seems way too good to be true, but maybe it's a really difficult place to get to and maybe it's all open and there's bugs who knows.
Speaker 2:Yeah, did it say a rough location? I probably wouldn't. It's probably not, so I don't know where I find um.
Speaker 1:Well, I was in velavana, bali, velavana. Okay, that might have been the place. I just I just searched open open air.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes yeah yeah, so it's hard, yeah, so with, with, so, obviously, accommodation there, you know it's it's very, very varied, um, but you know, obviously I always recommend fully furnished, and then we start from there and then you've got where and then the type of style and all these sorts of things and, um, you know, kitchens are usually quite small because most people eat out a lot. It's very affordable. So you wouldn't you know you don't want like a big, modern, huge kitchen like you'd be used to back in the states, for example. So there's lots of little elements per home that you know, changes things up. And then what I actually do offer clients is that I have a cost of living Excel spreadsheet because there is so much involved. So, for example, even the electricity bill could be quite expensive If you're running a pool pump and air conditioning units all day, every day. That's going to be different to someone, say, in Changu again, versus someone in Ubud who may not be doing the same with their air conditioning and electricity. So, electricity prices, there's even things like, you know, council fees that are very small.
Speaker 2:But these are just item ideas that are listed. So these are things that you have to just commit to every month. You know it's like recycling garbage, those types of things. So really itemise everything for you. So it could be you know the gas, electricity, the ban draft fees, the recycling fees. You know all sorts of different fees, um, including staff, because that's what's great about Bali is that, um, you can afford a housekeeper to clean your, your house every week, um, maybe even do your washing for you. Maybe, you know, cook a meal every now and then. So there's lots of little extras that, um, you know how much things cost and so itemize that for everybody, because there's a huge range, great idea.
Speaker 1:Is there a lot of people, a lot of services like this or like this seems like such a great thing that you're doing. Is this common or I don't want to.
Speaker 2:We don't need to mention any competitors no, you know, that's a really good question. I um, I believe it after speaking to lots of different people there isn't anyone specifically for barley. So, um, I'm sure there is definitely around the world. But no, you're right, carrie, there's nothing.
Speaker 2:It just came to me from a natural love of me doing all my research and my organisation. My husband loves his spreadsheets and budgeting and we wanted to make sure that we weren't going to come back to Sydney in debt. So the whole reason of this gap year was to have a good quality of life and live really well and have a beautiful experience for the family and the kids, but also not come back in debt. So that's where I think it takes time. Someone actually said to me who lives in Bali for quite a few years, she's an expat. She said I've gone to so many different countries around the world but I found living in Bali was really hard to get into the swing of things. So it's great that you offer that sort of stuff. So for me it was just more I've been there done that. I just want to share that love and I just keep updating it and wanting to basically help that. You've been there living there a couple of years before you even land in Bali. So, yeah, it's just spread that love and that service, I guess. But now, so how often do you go back to Bali? Every couple of months, maybe three to six months, because I'm not far, so I'm only five hours, five and a half hours, so, yeah, so I do try and go a couple of times a year if I can. That's the goal. And so what's your service cost? Yeah, good question. So I've got how I've tried to package it up. I've got two different costs. I've got a basic cost and a more advanced cost, if you want to call it that. So I've got a package which is $375 US dollars and it includes about an 85 page ebook, if you want to call it that, like a guide from. I've never been there before.
Speaker 2:Tell me about snakes, tell me about visas, tell me about housing, what can go wrong, all that sort of stuff Pros, cons, challenges. You're not going to be able to walk around. You know, give me the real, realistic parts about bodies. I always give you the good and the bad as well, just to be prepared. So I've got a lovely book and then I've got a lot of checklists and planning lists. So what to bring what not to bring. What's there? What can't you get?
Speaker 2:As I said, housing is a big one to understand. There is all these little things to understand. You know you're not going to be able to drink the water. Do you want to get a water purifying system added to your home for the year and rent that? You know what does it mean to commute in this particular area.
Speaker 2:So I have got a lot of tips and tricks and resources to get you through. I've got a Bahasa language guide as well. So, yes, you can grab an app and do whatever you need to. But I give you a lovely list of um. You know the great words to understand and have a great little conversation and understand what things mean, both culturally and and just, you know general conversation as well um, and how things work culturally, the staff practices and the customs, all that sort of stuff. I'm just trying to think what else I've got and the cost of living. Excel spreadsheet. I was going to say the spreadsheet has to be on there too. Yeah, the spreadsheet. Yeah, absolutely. So I'll give you a good spreadsheet so you can start plugging in and making your own budget. But you know, getting an idea. Okay, this is how much it's going to cost to rent a car versus even hiring a driver.
Speaker 1:So, for example, full-time driver for two years and we did not drive once in two years ourselves, so you need it all, all range. I actually had a driver as well, and it was yeah yeah, yeah, I think, I think it's helps.
Speaker 2:I mean, it's slower to get around, but there is a lot of, and I give you the pros and cons about that as well um and how much?
Speaker 1:how much was it again? How much was it for a driver? It was really reasonable.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it probably like if you're just doing an eight-hour day, probably about $50 a day, something like that, maybe a bit less, that's just per day.
Speaker 1:I wanted to say $35,. $30 to $35 a day is what I think I paid.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it could very well be. I mean, it depends on the car size and you know if you're transporting a whole big family. You know some cars are bigger, all that sort of stuff depending with gas, not gas, all that sort of stuff. But yeah, approximately, yeah, probably about 35 to 50 a day. If not, yeah, it depends where you're going, what you're doing, how long I heard some quick things that are funny about driving.
Speaker 1:So, first off, the drinking age is 14. And then so my son was very excited, being 15, to have a beer at the surfing contest that they offered him you can drive drunk, yeah and that they're very good drunk drivers.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow.
Speaker 1:That's what I mean. I guess with the family that we stayed. They told us. Oh my goodness, I don't know what the feeling was, but I thought that was really funny. I don't know if it's cooling or laying, but I thought that was really funny.
Speaker 2:They are having problems with expats driving, you know, and accidents and thinking they know how to drive, or on the scooters as well. It's always a problem, always a discussion, always in the news. You know how things are going on. That's a big one. But yeah, so that's my basic package and then the next one the other one is it's is it's 650 us and that actually includes all my my really lovely suppliers and contacts and introductions and recommendations.
Speaker 2:So, and that's a big list, it's like a nice directory. If you need to get your visa done, if you need to open a bank account, if you need to find a house, if you want to get introduced to a principal at a school, if you want to find a doctor, if you want to get a nanny, if you want to get a, a dentist, you know all these um a bahasa tutor, a language tutor, you name it. It's like a lovely list of things. You open a business, um. I've just put you know years and years of trusted supplies. I speak to everyone every day. Um in like a little directory of there you go and let's get the ball rolling. It's all doable, it's all possible.
Speaker 1:So that's the sort of service I have. So how do you help people like actually find a house? You more, just like you go to these other services, they're trusted or you actually like help them.
Speaker 2:Yes, I physically don't help them, but I give them like a huge amount of homework to just get your head in the game. And so you understand, before you even get to that real estate agent, that you know what you're sort of looking for. You've got a bit of a wish list, you know pros and cons, you know what to look out for if you do fully inspect it yourself. And then I have got the trusted people, so the people in the areas that I'm sort of mentioning, for example, I've got a handful of people that I would introduce you to and I know you know from feedback and how they work, that they will, you know, find you something lovely. And we just start going through an introduction bit of a feedback and you know they take it from there. But it's, it's not straightforward. Housing is not straightforward.
Speaker 1:In Bali I've heard yeah, have you seen this woman have the curated life? She lives in Bali. She was the Allison in Asia? I don't know if you've crossed paths. No, she was the allison in asia.
Speaker 2:I don't know if you've crossed paths. She, no, she was a client of mine. Oh really.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she said, like why we didn't buy a house? Because it doesn't make sense to buy a house. And yes, yes, all that, yeah, maybe that's how I found you, that's how we connected. Yeah, that's right. So funny, because we only really touched upon dense pasar, which is the bottom part, and there's so much of the island also, that's so green on the map, but, um, it seems like that's where mostly people stay, and then the other parts, yeah, and I've basically had such a short window of time for me to be able to be there too and see it sounds like you gotta go back, kristin.
Speaker 2:We gotta go back.
Speaker 1:Either that or we're going to live there for a little while we're there for a little bit. Yeah, that sounds like a year Sounds amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, maybe I'll help you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, I know I've got my Rip Curl pro family and the guy, the driver guy. They're like come back, like sounds good, but I definitely need to, for sure, get some tips. Oh, I know my question. So I've heard a lot about Bali that you can get away with just.
Speaker 2:English is. Do you find that true? Very true, yes, absolutely yeah with that. And it's actually even more interesting. I have so many Europeans that come to Bali to learn English. If we want to go to that extreme, it I mean it's crazy. But yeah, english is obviously all length, is all in schools and it's, you know, in shops and restaurants and everywhere you go. So, without a doubt, you've got no problems whatsoever in signs and all that's in English. There's obviously two, you know. It's quite interesting that I have so many families that say my child has no idea how to speak English. We've gone to Bali and they've just come home so confident, speaking fluent English.
Speaker 2:So absolutely no problems whatsoever, although of course I always recommend to learn the local language, and you know, and schools will at least offer language lessons. You know, two or three times a week as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Quick questions too. What's the? Did we talk like what's the best time to go, weather-wise? And secondly, what's the least amount of tourists?
Speaker 2:Yes, that's a good question, because high season I was going to say august is like you guys they're, they're on the august um school calendar. So whereas in australia we're on a completely different calendar. So the type and it's, it's high, it's high season in most of the year in just being a tropical island and so much going on and and people going outside of school holidays and it's still busy all the time. You've obviously got the wet season and the dry season. We're all on different calendars. So, for example, australians, we're on a completely different calendar to you. So we're so close, we're always going there on holidays. So there's very few little spots to be honest on. You know when's it low season? You know sort of maybe february to february, march, and then on that other sort of september, october, on those other sides maybe a little bit quieter, a few months here and there on each side, but, um, not much because it's just busy all the time. That's amazing really.
Speaker 1:yeah, I know there's so many more questions, but those are the bulk of them, I think, and I don't know if there's anything else in terms of culturally or well, I know they have their ceremonies that they do. Again, what's the ceremony with the balls, the kind of kite things, balls with the hanging pieces from it? I can't remember, I don't know what that's called.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a couple of them, maybe two, in the beginning of the year and towards the end as well, but I was just going to say talking about a beautiful thing that they offer or that they have. Once a year is called Nepi and it's usually in March. Again, it's in calendar, so it might be the 17th of March and then it might be 18th or 19th, but once a year, every single year, the whole island is quiet. It's like a silent day. It's like a silent day. It's very, very special.
Speaker 2:So the airport's closed, there is no driving on the road and it's just like let's detox. It's like a detox for digital people. For us, it's just a beautiful day of silence, and the day before is a very noisy day where they're actually trying to rid of evil spirits and make noise. And what's really lovely is each sort of village creates these things called Oga Ores, which are paper mache monsters, and they parade them and they make some noise with all their percussion instruments and it's a beautiful spectacle. You know, the lead up is that you know they're creating these over a couple of weeks in their home area and then they parade them and they end up burning them off in the beach. It's like this big deal um every year, once a year, and it's called nepi, and then it's the day of silence and then you can see there's no pollution, the stars are in the sky, um, it's very quiet. You have to stay at home. You're technically not meant to cook, you know um, you know use any, you know electricity or make fire, all those sorts of things.
Speaker 2:It's just very basic, um just 24 hours wow, but yeah, so sometimes people yeah, don't know about that and they go on holidays and then they're like what's happening the next day? So it's a bit like a big new year celebration where you know people getting ready for um at supermarkets, getting their food ready, um, they have. You know it's a big celebration, so it's a. It's something to look out for. All right, rapid fire questions.
Speaker 1:Now the common religion? You say it's, it's something to look out for, all right, rapid fire questions. Now the common religion? You say it's buddhist hindu.
Speaker 2:It's actually hindu. Yes, okay, so all of indonesia is actually muslim and it's the biggest um muslim population in in the world. I believe in indonesia um hundreds of millions, but in bali it's hindu. So it's like 98% Hindu, I would probably say, and then, and then there's a little bit of Christian, um, and then obviously Muslim as well, but, um, you know, I'd say, the majority are Hindu, that's so interesting, but you're saying the rest of Indonesia is Muslim.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah. And then we talked about foods already. What would you? What's a typical breakfast there?
Speaker 2:um, well, if, if we're not doing the yummy smoothie bowls like everyone loves their smoothie bowls, that would be a typical breakfast there. Well, if we're not doing the yummy smoothie bowls like everyone loves their smoothie bowls, that would be a typical breakfast. Otherwise, it would be a rice dish or even sweets. They do love sweets as well, so they will make with tapioca flour or you know. You can just pick up on the way like a little, you know, rice with some sweets. Yeah, if you're looking at traditional stuff, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, so it would be lots of little sweet bake. They love their um sugar, they're big on sugar, so you have to say, which means no sugar. Okay, you go to certain things, because they'll add sugar to a lot of different things. Um, so, yeah, so it could be little, um, little things that you can buy on the side of the street, um, wrapped up, whether it be rice or sweet little baking things baked goods Nice.
Speaker 1:Is there any kind of special music that's local to the Molinese?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would just say that the percussions and like the, I think it's called the gelang, I've forgotten the name of it, but you know a lot of the sort of xylophone type thing, percussion instruments and that would be, I suppose, their sort of traditional music, nice, that is played throughout the island.
Speaker 1:All right.
Speaker 2:And then what's the money like? Yeah, the Indonesian rupiah. So obviously you guys coming from the States have got a good. You know it's a good dollar for you guys. So yeah, the Indonesian rupiah is the local currency and it's a bit tricky to get your head around because there's millions. It comes into the millions. So you'll become a millionaire straight away when you change over like a 10 US dollar or something like that. So it's a lot of zeros to keep track of.
Speaker 1:Too many, too many. I was trying to get like $50 and it was like a stack or a hundred. It was kind of I mean, it was a big amount at the time, I think Two inches of just cash and dollars, and I was at the ATM at the 7-Eleven just trying to get some cash. It was pretty crazy. And do you recommend going to the banks or ATMs or using the credit cards or cashing Some places? They say it's actually good to exchange money on the streets yes, no definitely I wouldn't recommend on the streets.
Speaker 2:There is, like you know, there's websites that you can even Google like best you know, because there are little mini scams as well as there would be other places in the world. So you know, definitely Google, you know, because there are reputable money exchanges and of course, you just might have some ATM fees. There is even some particular ATMs that I would recommend over others that are more, you know, inside a bank that you would get. So there's already. Maybe you know there's security there already, just because sometimes there will be some credit card skimming and tampering with an ATM machine.
Speaker 2:So I would just say, be a little bit aware, do a bit of Googling on just the best way to handle money when you're in Bali and you know you could turn up with a little bit yourself just change it back home for it just to have something when you land. But then be aware of where you are taking money out. As you said, it's not going to fit in your wallet having taking money out. As you said, it's not going to fit in your wallet having a big lump of cash, unfortunately. But there is a lot of areas where you can tap and pay and there's some international cards, like I would recommend, say, wisecom. You go onto there, you can get a credit card or credit cards or a debit card through them, and it would just be less on the fees and things like that. So, yeah, just checking out on fees and things like that. All right, read your book, your guidebook.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. And then best place to surf. I know that's famous for surfing. Is there more on the West Coast versus the East Coast, or is there just surfing everywhere?
Speaker 2:Surfing everywhere, depending, because there is volcanic sand and then there's just normal beautiful white sand. So you've got a big range, you know, depending on what type of surfer you are and what type of what are you looking for. So, as you mentioned before, the Bukit, the south Uluwatu area, is lovely. There's other little pockets, there's east, there's actually, yeah, pretty much everywhere. I don't know about the top, top part of Bali because I know you know you can go snorkeling and that wouldn't be, it wouldn't be more of a surf thing, but everywhere else around there will be pockets of surfing and beaches everywhere.
Speaker 1:All right, so yeah, thank you so much yeah, so nice to meet you and learn more about it and uh, yeah, I'm actually very interested in the whole school thing too. I'll have to look into that, be emailing you and checking it out, and where do people find you, your?
Speaker 2:social channels website all that good stuff. Yeah, so Our Year in Bali O-U-R Year in Bali is on Instagram, and then Our Year in Bali the website, the two ones so Instagram Facebook website, and just every week I keep updating it with, as I said, usually an interesting article or an interview, definitely with someone who's either there now or who's come and gone and wanted to share their experience, but mostly people that are there now.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Wonderful Well have a great day and thank you. Yeah, enjoy your day. You're starting yours, that's right.
Speaker 2:Have a good evening. Yeah, thank you. Thanks for having me. Bye.
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