Moving to Bali I didn’t think I’d see too many old friends coming out here but it has been great so far.
I’ve had my brother Chris, Andrea from Germany, Tina from Santa Barbara, Chimene from San Francisco, Jay and Debbie from Australia and the latest is Mike from Grass Valley California.
I met Mike when he was my neighbor in Santa Barbara in 1987 and one of the first memories I have is him selling me tickets to the Grateful Dead show at Shoreline Amphitheatre in the Bay Area. Mike studied cultural anthropology at UCSB and taught English in Taiwan before marrying his wife Priska, who’s the face on our homepage.
They have 2 young daughters and after several years back in the US selling Indonesian imports Mike is ready to come back to Bali, hopefully for good.
Mike called me and I met him outside Made’s Warung on Jl. Seminyak, I live round the corner which as you might know is a little hard to find. Mike’s situation is he has a house on the main road about 10km before Tampaksiring . His girls have enrolled in school in Ubud and he is looking into ways he can suplement his income. He owns and rents a house back in California. Mike’s girls are US citizens while his wife is still Indonesian. Problem with that is he has to pay for 3 sets of immigration paperwork.
We rode over to Cafe Moka for one of their delicious sandwiches and Mike said that the community he lived in at Grass Valley was too ‘white’ and too conservative. Bringing the family here to Bali and allowing the girls to grow up in another culture he thinks will be a great thing.
I think Mike has gone down the road many a world traveler has in that he actually started importing goods and had a nice shop. Thing is retail sucks and as Mike told me “You have to be there all day long and sometimes if nothing sells you still have to cover your expenses.” Developing a situation where you can get a stream of good quality reliable items coming over and move them is harder than most people think. It seems glamourous but Mike said on previous trips he was stressed all the time trying to fill the container that was waiting in Sanur.
I am invited to visit the family anytime and maybe I will spent a night up there next week.
Right now I am running around for the bbq which will happen very soon.
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G’Day Folks,
Crazy story in today’s Jakarta Post:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20040808.@02&irec=1
Hey Angie,
Any comments on this bizarreness!
Barrie- I believe that her foolishness is caused by a biological imperative boosted by cultural indoctrination. Too bad we have to wait til the the tides of nature & culture finally subside enough, after age fifty to allow wisdom to preside.
Nick,
Maybe you could get a camers in the Bali Advertiser!?
Might be worth having a look???
Good Luck & say Hi to Angie!!!!
For those who aren’t familiar with the Grateful Dead they were a band formed in the Height-Ashbury district of San Frnancisco in the late 60’s. Famous for their psychodelic influenced tunes they somehow managed to stay together (apart from losing 3 keyboard players to drug overdoses) and had a huge resurgence in 1987 with the album ‘In The Dark’.
Hi Nick,
Saw the adverts for Baliblog while in Bali and have just now gotten around to checking it out. Nicely done. I have been to Bali twice already in 2004 will be back down in October. I am looking at either doing some import/export or setting up business there. Last trip started as a two week vacation but ended up lasting two months. We probably passed by each other on Poppies Lane II or in Internet Outpost.
From So Cal (San Diego)
Keep up the great work.
G’Day Nick,
Aahh, the Grateful Dead. Brings back memories of ‘floating’ nights and beautiful people.