nomad4ever

When things like this happen, it makes me feel that it’s all worth to maintain a website like this over the period of now more than 6 years.

This May, GQ China interviewed half a dozen Bali and Phuket Expats for a July Special Print Issue about people who left the city life behind. It seems more and more Chinese are overwhelmed by their work and life pressure and looking for alternative lifestyles.

So in a 4-hour interview and photo session which took part in the Four Season Hotel in Jimbaran and also Uluwatu temple, I was ‘interrogated’ about how I came to live the life I’ve been living the last 5 years. Here is what came out of it:

written by Chris

The modern working climate is unforgiving. In its never-ending strive for higher productivity and efficiency, employees are a mere cost factor in a firm’s calculation.

A cost factor, that constantly has to be optimized, downsized and monitored for return on investment; restructured and adjusted to fit the firm’s strategies and policies.

What happened to the human factor? To Work-Life-Balance?

Come on – don’t kid yourself! If you don’t watch out for that, nobody else will.

Here is the latest fairy tale from the corporate world, which might just prove that point:

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written by Chris

If anyone still had any doubts, that for the right amount of money everything is for sale in Indonesia, here is to prove that theory.

Most tourists certainly experience the sellers and hawkers on Bali’s beaches and beyond. ‘Rolex, boss? Transport, transport? Girls? Magic Mushrooms?’ – it seems they are everywhere. You can’t avoid them and it’s THE major annoyance on the Island of the Gods.

If you are a ‘bule’ fresh off the plane, with that lovely pink teint of yours, they will spot you from miles away and like swarms of flies will be all over you before you can even say ‘Bintang’.

written by Chris

Regional Flight Travel in Asia has come a long way over the last decade. While flights around the region used to cost hundreds of Dollars until still in the late 90’s, this changed dramatically with the introduction of Budget Airlines in Asia, just a few years into the new millennium.

Nowadays, brands like Jet Star, Tiger Airways, Cebu Pacific Airlines and Air Asia are common household names, who revolutionized the ways people in Asia travel. Especially Air Asia, ‘World’s best low-cost airline’ in 2010 (according to Skytrax) deserves further mentioning, if you have no money to waste and plan to fly as cheap as possible in Asia.

written by Chris

If you are a bit longer in Bali, you might notice that the whole tourism industry is based on double standards. Tourists pay more than local residents or Indonesians; as tourists seem to be loose with their money. After all it’s their holiday and they are just out to spend and to have fun.

Shops have a ‘foreigner tax’ or steep discount for locals, while some restaurants have unofficially higher pricing for tourists than for locals. Yes, you are one of those, Warung Sulawesi! There is one area though, where this system is turned upside down. Enter the nightlife and entertainment venues in Kuta, Legian and beyond:

written by Chris

If you are into Electronic Gadgets, you might think that a holiday destination like Bali is not the right place to buy or bargain for the latest toys. Tech hubs like Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok dominate this area in Asia.

In general, you are better off purchasing your new Laptop or Android Smartphone in one of those places. But thankfully, things are changing fast and the population of Bali (and its Expat Community) are getting more and more tech affine. This provides new opportunities to sell IT and gadget gear here also and suppliers make increasingly use of it.

written by Chris

I was asked many times over, to update the Cost of Living spreadsheet on this page. Time is definitely ripe for an update, as prices in Bali soared over the last 3 years.

The economic crisis, a weakening Euro and an Indonesian Inflation (unofficially in the double digits) did all their part as well to change Bali from a backpacker’s paradise into a full-blown ‘Tourist Dollar Money Making Machine’.

Tourist numbers rose already to pre-crisis levels in Bali and are still climbing steadily. While most prices also went clearly up, there are still a handful of exceptions.

written by Chris

Currently in Indonesia a bill is mulled by local conservative politicians, that foreign men who want to marry an Indonesian woman would have to pay the equivalent of USD 55.000 to the government.

Many observers and especially Mixed Couples who are willing to tie the knot in the near future are left dumbfounded. They say love don’t cost a thing. In Indonesia maybe only a small fee.

Is that the selling out of  the country’s female population to stimulate the economy? Or even smells like institutionalized prostitution?

Read on for the latest state of the union:

written by Chris