Moving house in Seminyak Bali

Housing hunting and moving and have to be 2 of my least favourite activites, in line with job hunting and interviews.

I moved all my stuff into a place on Gang Bima today using my large backpack, daypack and motorbike. It took 5 trips and the amount of junk I have accumulated surprised me. Its mostly work related…hardware, cables, plugs, instruction manuals etc plus a lot of paper work.

Weather today was overcast and I felt like I was living in the tropics packing my stuff, riding over and unpacking again.

The deal with my new place is that its a 2 storey place inside a family compound. The interior is basic, things works but nothing exciting about it. I have rented it for 30 days as a trial. I paid 2m rp for this. If I want to rent for a year the owner has agreed to rent for another 12 months for 18M rp.

The reason I want a month to check things out is firstly I want to see the ‘hidden extras’…noise from Jl. Dhyana Pura, dogs barking, babies crying etc. that I’m just not aware of now. I am also a bit nervous about living next to the landlord. I went through this in Santa Barbara where the guy was right next door and it wasn’t something I’d recommend. This new landlord Mr Wayan is a Balinese Christian, plenty of crosses all over the place. I sense he will take a keen interest in everything that goes on at the house and this next 30 days will give me a chance to see how that works. He seems a decent guy right now and I’m going to withold all conclusions until the end. I’m still looking for another place though and will check out my options.

Lunch today was a tuna sandwich at Cafe Moka and a glass of OJ for 25,000rp. I tell you if you want a decent sandwich Moka isn’t bad! This tuna thing has eggs, tuna, lettuce, tomato in a footlong baguette and was good. Ask for the juice without sugar though, I hate getting a mouthful of sugar that sits at the bottom.

I must say there was a twinge of sadness leaving my old house. It was my first house in Bali was was a decent place to live. I enjoyed particularly having people over, Vincent and Akari plus others and sitting out back getting merry.

I did a ‘Sean like’ last walk around the house before leaving for the last time and discovered my guitar sitting all by itself…whoops!

Just talked to John, the waiter at Bali Corner cafe on Jl. Benesari and Poppies II. This place serves ice cold beer and good sate. I asked him how business was and he told me it was good with plenty of Aussies here right now.

Sitting here at I/O with Charlie Sellers.