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Clueless Expats: Lessons We've Learnt So Far!
If you could choose to live anywhere in S.E Asia, the easiest and safest place has got to be Bali. It offers the best of both worlds: the expat cosmopolitan bubble - blessed by local people and their traditions - all wrapped up in a tropical paradise (albeit a slightly trashed & over-crowded version!)
And quite by chance, we couldn't have picked a better time to escape East and completely ignore the Trump/Brexit saga unfolding back home.
The long list of pre-departure concerns we had about visas, healthcare, mosquitos etc etc - were easily resolved once we got here (or simply weren't a major issue in the first place). If you're thinking of making a similar move, here are some of the lessons we've learnt from our first few months living here:
So What Visa Do We Need Again??
The reality is: it's actually v easy to move here and wing it with monthly visa extensions. It seems to be what most expats are doing if they're not officially sponsored to work.
Having said that, we almost weren't allowed to board our outbound flight from Schipol airport. Talk about falling at the first hurdle! Thankfully Singapore Air took pity on us and Bali immigration didn't bat an eyelid when we arrived with a return flight for 8 months away. The 30 day paid-visa-on-arrival has been easily (but expensively) extendable each month, and we've just got back from our first border-hop to Singapore which we'll need to do every 60 days.
Is Everything Going To Make Us Ill?!
Thankfully my fears about deadly wildlife stalking us at every angle were also fictitious. No rats or snakes have been spotted yet (much to Saff's disappointment), and the mosquitos aren't particularly troublesome. Many of the street dogs (much cuter and healthier than I imagined) are scooped up for adoption, so rabies has been struck off the paranoia list too.
Not being able to drink the tap water is a pain but you quickly get used to it and we've had no dodgy tums from brushing teeth with it.
Infection however is the big issue here. A simple mosquito bite or graze can easily get infected in this humidity (or as we've discovered, if you're allergic to bites like poor Saffron). Luckily we have a brand new health-centre on our doorstop that we constantly visit for ear infections, swollen cold-sores, itchy bites, nits...the list goes on. Bless you Bumi Sehat doctors!
Where's the Washing Machine?
We are definitely getting delusions of grandeur with our own private pool and staff! Not that we asked for the gardener, cleaner or pool guy - they just seem to pop up mysteriously throughout the week to keep our home lovely and spotless. Talk about being blessed, we even have a lady who comes every day to lay flower offerings for our home. I couldn't understand why none of the houses we toured had a washing machine. But with a launderette on every street, we love getting our freshly laundered washing back 24 hours later. Its cheap as chips and they even iron your underpants!
It's so liberating not having to do housework, no wonder so many families take advantage of a better quality of life here. We're unusual for not having a driver and house-keeper too; but who needs those when you've got a chauffeur chef as enthusiastic as Paul!
So Who Has Right Of Way??
Getting around is a major issue here. There's no proper pavements or public transport, so everyone has to drive instead. I shudder when I see new parents having to push prams into busy roads because the pavements have collapsed.
You couldn't get a more extreme opposite to Amsterdam, I feel utterly unsafe on my push bike amongst the throng of motorbikes and potholes. We instantly had to break our 'no car' pledge too so that Paul could do the school-run each day. 'Who has right of way??' I squeal at junctions with my eyes covered as traffic lanes manically merge from all directions. 'Whoever goes first' responds Paul with steely determination. No wonder most families have a driver here.
Oh s***, the ocean really is screwed.
The beaches here have been a mixed (plastic) bag. Even the desert island of Gili Meno was blighted by plastic bottles and trash washed up on its powdery beaches. Can you believe 30MILLION plastic water bottles are consumed here each month and many of them end up on the beaches. Refuse disposal is a major challenge for fragile island life. There are numerous beach clean-up events but that's just scratching the surface when we witness the horrific number of plastic 'islands' out in the ocean whilst we're on ferry crossings. It's quickly taught us that reusable glass bottles are the only way forward.
Having explored the golden sands of the south, we're looking forward to escaping the masses and heading north to the volcanic mountains and lake temples. Apart from the Bukit peninsular & Sanur in the South, the beaches in Bali are mainly black.
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