This morning my weekly phone call from Sean in Portland Oregon was 2 hours alter than normal which gave me the chance to get down to Kuta and have some breaky.
On the way down Jalan Legian I observed a young lady being attended to at the side of the road, it was a minor motorbike accident but coming off at any speed can shake you.
Poppies II doesn’t get moving till 9am and I arrived at 7.45am. Fortunately Taman Sari restaurant already had the coffee pot going so I sat down and ordered one of their set breakfasts, The Australian for 15,000rp which is juice, coffee, fruit and a egg, tomato, steak on toast.
My friends Putu and Putra were working the morning shift and were happy to see me. When I told them I was expecting a call form from Sean they asked when he was coming back. Sean had established a routine with them of having his egg boiled for 10 minutes and getting a glass of ice water to cool it off. Putra asked me if I wanted that and I said ‘no just fry it’.
Putra lost his girlfriend a while ago and has tried to pull out all the stops for a new one including paying a hairdresser 150,000rp to straighten his hair. Whatever works I guess. Putra told me the tourists are coming back and now Taman Sari is doing good business.
I have a list of people to contact today and am psyched to get into it after I finish typing.
By the way my knee feels good, the legs are stiff today though.
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Hi Nick,
I hope you don’t think I am prying or being nosy but would it be possible for you to give a quick breakdown of what your expenses are living in Bali - I am curious (as are others I am sure) what you spend living in such an inexpensive place.
I am thinking of things like:
* Rent
* Weekly food expenses (how often do you eat at home? It seems you eat out every day - is this cheaper, or just more convenient?)
* Utilities (Electricity, Cell phone, etc)
* Transportation (motorbike rental, insurance, fuel etc.)
* Other stuff
As I said, please don’t feel I am being nosy - and feel free to tell me to “bugger off” - I am curious since my wife and I are planning on spending a month in Bali and want to figure out a budget. I have been there twice before, but both times on holiday so it really didn’t count - this time will be more for the “experience”..
Many thanks, and keep on blogging.
D.
Is the ’skin-lid’ going to be a winner with the Balinese ladies.
Maybe you could try it out Nick and give us a report on what works best.
More stories on where to get an early breakfast in Bali (Kuta especially) would be great! Planning to travel there in September and am an early riser for breakfast before big days out and about…
Duncan,
Here’s a rough idea of what I spend.
Rent : 35M rp per year.
Weekly food expenses : Around 600,000rp if you factor in beer. There are cheap eating options that could cut this to shreads, however when I’m with other expats I end up paying western prices. I usually don’t eat at home other than a sandwich, its a time thing.
Utilities : Approx 750,000rp per quarter
Cell phome : 110,000rp per month
Motorbike 450,000rp per month although I’m getting cheaper deal soon.
Fuel : 50,000 -100,000rp Depends on how much I use the bike for road trips and other longer erands.
Hope this helps.
Chris. I’ll leave it to you to try your skin lid on the ladies.
Lise. I think hotel restaurants often open early for breakfast. I will ask around for more ideas.
Chris,
The skin-lid works just fine with the ladies. Well, it did until Candika came into my life!
Hey Nick, it’s a great idea for you to shave your head. At least you could ride everywhere on your bike and no one would know the difference if you were wearing a helmet or not!
Hi Lise,
You will find most warungs open around 6am, as do many of the restorans. As Nick mentioned, the hotel restorans open early and I imagine the time would be approximately the same.
ok liked article on expenses but what do you do for work or is it rich kid syndrome ?
Iain,
I must laugh - thinking that Nick might be a “rich kid” is funny for many reasons.
1) he is 40 (kinda past the kid stage)
2) grew up middle class english - I doubt his parents gave him anything besides love and some spanking for being a bad little kid sometimes
3) he is the hardest working guy I know…
If you cruise around the BootsnAll Travel Network
http://www.BootsnAllTravelNetwork.com
- you’ll learn more about Nick…but he works for BaliBlog.com - so this is what he does.
Good question.
Yeah, I would like to echo Sean’s thoughts on Nick.
During the time I spent in Bali (7 weeks), I found Nick to be a downright good guy AND extremely hard working. He works his heart out both for the Baliblog and BootsnAll.
He is a true gentleman and I am happy to call him a friend.
Awesome wasnt implying any thing was Geniunely interested in how you all fund yourselves i mean there expenses etc that gotta be paid and chuming around must cost ?
anyhow doing great job and enjoy the read in fact be there myself in 3 days lol So Heads Up 
G’Day mate,
Geez, paying Rp150,000 to get your hair straightened is a bit over the top. Just tell him to shave his head!. It’s really ‘cool’ being a skin-lid. It’s like having a ski-run on ya bonker.
If ya legs are stiff Nick, then just ask Sugar to lend you a bit of the cream I gave to him. Sure fixed his shoulder brilliantly.