Bali Business

I have been offered a job in Bali by our CEO and have negotiated Saturdays off and enough annual leave. This will hopefully allow me working in combination with studies preparation and other plans, and that's the reason for which I have postponed the part-time idea thus far and taken up the upcoming challenge.

the lobby of the Segara Village - company taking care well of me upon the first official visit

When I flew to Bali for a first training on November 4th, Be's birthday, which we had celebrated a day earlier, with  Bud's ice cream and new soccer shoes as a present, it was the first time that I flew without a surfboard. And it was a strange feeling, as if something was missing. I arrived in the evening and a nice colleague picked me up at the airport and brought me to the Segara Village in Sanur, a beautiful small hotel, one of the older generation, family-run, very lovely; biography has been written about the owner who led an interesting life. This evening, a week later, a wedding will be held at the resort for one of the family members. I am sitting by the pool, on a sunny afternoon, the sea breeze is blowing, chill-out music is dazzling, and people are preparing the chairs, a stage, lights, in the tropical mist of the afternoon and beautiful people in traditional dress and bringing offerings and all you need for a dream wedding by the ocean.

Main Pool at Segara Village

Host & Guests: Kebaya, Bikinis & Children

This morning I woke up early to take a lesson in standup-paddle, and I loved it much. The instructor took me to South Sanur, close to Serangan Island. After a one-kilometer paddle out to the reef, waves were breaking gently, and we took some of the crests. At this wave size, with a SUP board, you can drive down the wall kneeling and then stand up and ride sideways. Even when the wave is already small and slow, the wide board and the paddle allow for long rides. This will definitely become a regular activity, and it may become a very good reason to wake up early in the morning instead of staying up late nights. It will allow for some fresh air, fitness, mindfulness and at least an hour or two of sun prior to long office-days. There are probably a few more breaks to discover along the long strip of beach, and several of them may be ok for recreational and meditative surfing or stand-up paddle.

future home beach of Sanur is not the island's greatest beach and surf is far out,

but it's a laid-back and relaxed one…thus a great place to work

Balinese lady carrying offerings

After that I had a walk through Jalan Kesari, to look for accommodation, at least for the first weeks and months on the island to come. I met this lovely old lady in one of the alleys, walking gently with a plate of offerings. I stopped to take her photo, hoping I would not offend her. She was a bit irritated. But later on when I met her again we gave each other a big smile, almost flirtingly, and both even looked back after passing each other, again with big smiles - so funny with that old lady. She must have been beautiful when she was young, and even now she was. Whether in Bali, Vietnam or Germany, it is often the older generations who are the way I like it. When I did my civil service in the old people's home it was the same. The retired, they have seen all in their lives, good times and wars, they have time to reflect, to be more spiritual again, they are not running behind business, money and all the things that let people far often forget that after all we are humans and for this reason should humanity rule instead of greed for worldly powers and possessions.

Going for a small simple room, an apartment, a Balinese compound, a house or a villa? All overpriced when it needs to be central. What will be the best value for money?

A Jackfruit Tree with wrapped fruits - a method to prevent damage through pests and diseases

In fact the lady had made me walk into an alley, and I found a nice Balinese compound where Ibu Wayan has rooms for rent. There is the option for one or two rooms plus bathroom. The kitchen is outside and shared. However, the place is with 400 and 500 USD / month quite expensive for the small rooms without privacy. If Hang and the kids came over it would for sure be a great option to have some Balinese people around. But at that price? Farther away from the beach it is much cheaper but less nice, and I am afraid of the Bypass road, as people here drive like mad. Or shall I go for the once-in-a-lifetime (who knows, maybe multiple- or long-time-…) experience of living in a villa instead? This would be also much money and farther outside, however, it would be spacious and comfortable - a real home and a place to retreat. As I have just seen once more, Bali is expensive and I am afraid that the surplus in salary in my new position may be nullified through higher costs at the same living standard. Of course, Bali offers a lifestyle that a city as Ho Chi Minh cannot offer, and insofar this is a gain. Yet, the plan was to live at low standard as always, spend and spend money on more important things than lifestyle consumption and entertainment but save and invest for the future instead.

booking system training for the team

La Pau - Padang food restaurant on Bypass Road in Sanur near office

one of the many favorite and very old-school drinks in Indonesia: a chilled bottle of Teh Botol

The week was busy from Monday to Friday with long hours in the meeting room and training on our booking system. My colleague from the Bangkok head office did a great job, and despite having been working with the system for two and a half years already I just got to know many functions that I had never understood. It will be a lot of work when I move here in January, and even though it's not the first time on this beautiful tropical island, and also not the first time for longer, the move will not be easy. People ask me whether I am excited, and in fact I am not. I am more afraid recently, as I will be leaving a country that got my second home and very familiar, and people who are family or at least close to what can be called a family. I hope that the kids and Hang will visit me soon, and we can see whether they like it here. Bali is not the same as when I came fort he first time. There are traffic jams, and weird people on the street now. Reading the media, many negative things are reported. And the environment gets worse. The task for the next half year will be to build a new home-environment, get settled at a new place, find the right balance between work and life, and start working on the next projects.

Skywalk at Beachwalk - the newly opened mall right at the beach, with endless retail, F&B and

a cinema showing the newest Bond…

…many of the shops with very nice interior on offer, as always in Bali.

Also this week there was opportunity to have meals at several nice places. There was La Pau, which is a favorite Padang food choice in Sanur. I could enjoy one of my favorite drinks in Indonesia, Teh Botol. We had dinner with the colleagues on Sanur's night market. And we went to cinema with half of the office to see new James Bond. We had meals in local Warungs and at restaurants with ocean view. We had long discussions in French (which I don't understand; but this is what you have to accept when working with French people) and in English about many topics related to working in tourism and living in Asia. On the last evening I met Jeff in Denpasar, whom I hadn't seen for ages and we spent long hours talking about our journeys. On the way back I had a cheeseburger at Mc Donalds's, then packed my things to wake up early on the next morning to take the flight back to Saigon via Singapore.

departing on my fav airline SIA from Ngurah Rai Airport with Kuta Reef below