Arriving in Bali was like stepping into a dream land… But a dream land that was our reality for as long as we wanted to stay.
Not knowing how long, where or what our plans were for Bali, we picked this AirBnB for a week as a way to start off our journey while we looked for longer term accommodations. It couldn’t have been a better way to start off our trip.
As we settled in, we met our neighbours in the room next door to our villa, Blake and Sarah from the Gold Coast, Australia. Little did we know they would end up being life-long friends š
We knew we wanted to call Bali home for a little while to catch our breath from seeing so much, and also to learn what it’s like to settle into a culture for the long term. We settled in Canggu, Bali – the #1 home of digital nomad entrepreneurs – just our jam š
Canggu is an incredible little beach community sprinkled with rice paddies, local temples, and tons of great eateries. When we were there it was definitely the up and coming place to be. Not yet over run by tourists, it was a nice blend of expats and local families who graciously share their town, catering to the westerners who call it home.
We found 3 different co – working spaces with super fast internet and great views of the rice fields and the beach, and spent most of our days here heads down catching up on our businesses.
Canggu is also known for their amazing food – definitely a bit “hipster” compared to local balinese cuisine, we had a variety of choices to choose from. All organic, vegan, keto, paleo, gluten free – any eater’s diet would be satisfied. It got us started on a big healthy eating cleanse that we would continue for the next 4 months we stayed in Bali.
Getting long term housing in Bali can take a lot of time and searching, so after our first week in Villa #1, we had to move on. Luckily, we stumbled upon this beautiful piece of heaven – Villa #2 – to give us an oasis while we searched for our perfect Bali apartment. We were greeted by the cat – who adopted us as new owners while we stayed there.
One of our favorite parts of living in Bali was the quality of life that we had access to. Because of the Indonesian prices, we were able to live in places that came with free laundry service, maid service, food delivery service, and even luxury hair and beauty service. Teal enjoyed getting her hair cut by two balinese ladies at the same time while also getting a pedicure from a third. It was true luxury, without the crazy prices.
Bali also has a unique special magic-ness to it. The local people are so open hearted, grateful, and loving to all that they meet. Each morning and night, they send out hand-made offerings to the gods for peace, love and prosperity. The Balinese also have a rich, beautiful set of ceremonies and traditions that are a very prominent part of daily life, frequently shutting down full roads for ceremonies. This kind of spiritual practice of gratitude and love creates an amazing energy on this island – and everyone can feel it. It seeps into your own heart and creates a community of love, ease, and flow.
Teal was joyfully reminded of this magical culture daily in her morning coffee – can you spot the unicorn? š
Double rainbows on our drive home from “the office”.
There was one downside to paradise though – at times Bali suffers from trash washing up on some popular beaches. Upon arriving, Teal was horrified to see the vast amounts of plastic and waste strewn along the beaches. Although Bali doesn’t have the greatest trash management systems for it’s country, this is also the product of the location of this island in the ocean. Bali beaches end up taking on trash that has floated into the ocean from around the world, and due to the currents, ends up here.
So for the time we were staying here, we contributed to weekly beach clean ups to help resolve a small fraction of the problem. Teal has also shifted her business philanthropy funds to donate a portion of her profits to support the local clean up efforts in Canggu while she’s gone.
After a few weeks, we finally found an apartment we would call home for the next few months while we lived in Bali. It was a quaint, 3 bedroom place with a water pump for the shower, limited internet and a lot of bugs – but to us, we made it home.
During our 3 months in this home, we came to adopt a stray pup whom we called “Georgie”. She lived off our food scraps and kept us company (outside the house) enjoying our cool tile floors in the heat of the summer humidity. Since we’ve been missing having pets of our own, she was a welcomed edition to the home.
For the next few weeks until Thanksgiving, we sunk into a cozy home- life routine: waking up, making Balinese Java coffee, moped-ing through the rice fields to the gym, then off to our co – working spaces for the day, followed by a sunset walk on the beach and home cooked dinner. On the weekends we would take getaway trips to other parts of the island (See PART TWO of this blog for those stories) or spend time having drinks with Blake and Sarah.
When Thanksgiving arrived, it was a day just like any other for everyone around us (since it’s only an American holiday) so we decided to create our own mini version. We went to the grocery store and picked up whatever ingredients we could find (surprisingly they had cranberries and mashed potatoes!) and found a rotisserie chicken & gravy that would suffice. We spent the evening surfing at sunset and came home to a quiet, peaceful dinner which we soaked up in gratitude everything we had experienced up until this point.
At this point, it was time for us to take a pause to Bali life to renew our visa – Stay tuned for adventures in Singapore!
Vivite Somnia 