What's been missing from the last few posts is what's life really like to be ex-pat Brits living in Bali. Well let's do the things we miss first:
1. Our friends. We haven't really made many friends here, well not what you call friends. There are many nice people we meet but they're all transient - even the nice Dutch villa owners are only here for a few weeks at a time. I miss my mate Neil and I miss going down the pub.
2. Food. Man cannot live on chicken, rice and things alone. I need baked beans on toast and lamb chops once in a while. Unfortunately, even though there's some pretty good lamb in New Zealand, the trade route between there and here is more tortuous than to England. Drink, we can't bring ourselves to pay the duty - £40 for a bottle of imported spirits or wine is just too much.
3. Our own place. We love living on the beach, it's great but we never go home. There's always someone wanting something at dinnertime or at bedtime that we have to deal with.
4. Communications. Everyone here relies on mobile telephones, there is a wire phone network but it doesn't work, hence there is no broadband internet. The best we can get is a shared wi-fi link which at best gives us download speeds of 10kbit/s. Now I remember getting my first modem - 2.4kb/s so at least it's better than that but I know you lot are enjoying 8mb/s which is about 800 times faster! Skype is our main line of communication outside, but look! that needs a transfer rate of 20kb/s to be any good and for video - forget it. Our provider will speed things up slightly if we double our already steep (Rp350,000/£25 per month). On a Bali wage? not going to happen.
5. A car. We both miss our cars (stiff upper lip darling, we don't want their pity). You forget how much you used to drive - most days, so it isn't surprising we miss it.
But there's good stuff too:
1: The weather. Year-round temperatures of 30 degrees mean it's too hot to work which may explain the relaxed pace of life. Shall we go shopping? Nah, too hot. Shall we jump in the sea instead? hell yes! My wardrobe consists of 15 t-shirts and a pair of shorts. I don't have to decide what to wear, I don't have to conform to society dress codes. I put on a button down shirt and long trousers for dinner not because I have to but because I'm British dammit.
2: Food. There does seem to be an endless supply of Walls Magnum ice cream which we enjoy, in moderation of course - currently a mind-numbing once a month. Eggs are lovely - all free-range (no lion stamp though). For some reason I've lost a couple of kilos in weight but Amanda has stayed pretty much the same.
3: Transport. We probably will just buy a car, Amanda still doesn't like riding the bike so feels trapped and can't just nip down the shops. I, on the other hand, can just nip down the shops but I don't wanna.
4: Our own place - we're working on that. We have put in a bid for a plot of land as an investment. To live there may take a little longer. There is no water, no electricity and no house. Water can be obtained by sinking a pump down to the water table. Simple - except it's a long way down and going to need a mighty deep hole. Electricity can be purchased from the power company but the installation cost is likely to be astronomical. Alternative energy is another option but our (potential) neighbours have just spent €30,000 on theirs! The house. Hmmm. From what I've seen so far I'm going to struggle to find a competent builder. They do exist, I know because I've seen some well built homes however the owners all assure me that quality doesn't come cheap.
OK on the face of it we should come back, but I don't miss the weather and I don't miss the politics and I certainly don't miss the endless pursuit of earning more money. And there are other joys:
1. You get to see Whales and Dolphins! Right here! No shit!
2. You can see bird-eating snakes! OK not everyone likes snakes and it may be pretty distressing to see a baby bird taken from it's nest and swallowed before your very eyes (look carefully, you can see the chick's little legs poking out of the snake's mouth) but hey! that's nature. We get to see giant caterpillars, giant butterflies, colourful Kingfishers just sit on our counter for a while. By the way, I know it looks like a plastic toy, that's what I thought before it winked at me and flew off, still annoyed that it doesn't seem to exist in our bird book. Today another 50 baby turtles hatched - Wow, how cool is that!
3. We have got rid of the ants. Amanda has stopped chanting "the ants are my friends, the ants are my friends" as they jubilantly march another insect carcass around the kitchen. Clean kitchen - no ants. Simple.4. We got rid of the rats. Clean kitchen - no rats. Simple.
5. On your birthday you get to go away for a few days and unwind (if you needed to) in an exclusive private villa. I spent most of my time contemplating its construction methods, obviously.
7. Amanda has perfected her bread recipe and we are now self sufficient in yoghurt.
So on the whole I think we'll stay.
