As many of you know, I am currently staying in Bali. “You like Bali, ya?” is the question I often get.
Yes, I do, I do. But there is an equally important reason why I spend so many weeks here – in comparison to many other wonderful places here in South East Asia, Bali usually has reliable and fast internet, which is what I need to do research for my work and learn for my study. When I say “usually” I mean: except for important Hindu ceremony days where WiFi is completely disabled, or when Indonesian government slows down WiFi performance as a desperate means to maintain public order in times of public unrest (like at the moment due to protests following the final proclamation of the presidential election results).
Having considered many alternative options, Bali has offered an ideal combination for me: of good communication infrastructure and still delightful landscape, beauty around every corner, delicious food, relaxed places and … surprise! – opportunities to go diving. It For very good reasons many digital nomads spend their time on the small Hinduistic island in the middle of the Indonesian archipelago.
I did not post a lot in the past weeks although there is a load going on, inside and out, and a lot to tell. Many stories are half-written and just wait patiently, that I dedicate a bit of free time and creativity. But 2 big other things are getting in the way at the moment:
- whenever I open my laptop, I concentrate on working and learning. I will be writing 2 exams for my remote Global Health Policy studies in Bali in June and, honestly, don’t want to fuck them up – especially when considering all the hours I have already dedicated to them in the past months instead of doing other tempting stuff
- and then there are turquoise waters calling
So that’s why 
Ah, ya, and kind regards from Vivi, who said to me: “Just tell that you are travelling with your daughter, who you haven’t seen for 9 months, and you have other things to do now”
So here is just a short update: I am fine!
After spending 3 weeks with Vivi in Malaysia, I had a bit of a rougher time when I returned to Bali end of April. Classical 8-months travelling blues and saying good-bye to Vivi again in Kuala Lumpur was not easy. The heartache was quite similar in quality (though not in dimension) to the one when she had moved out of our home 3 years ago. In addition, a number of stupid mistakes and arriving in loud and busy Ubud, made me wonder, if it would not be time to pack my stuff and return home.
Instead, I then decided to change plans and moved to Amed, a small village at Bali’s East coast, which was the best thing to do. I fell completely in love with this place and my little 1-room bungalow directly on the beach in the middle of locals felt like home from the first minute on.
Waters and diving around Amed are wonderful, not by chance it is one of the epicentres of freediving. Mount Agung, who I affectionately call “the crazy volcano”, is its impressive and all-dominating neighbour. He is spitting fire every now and then, but I really do pray it stays peaceful otherwise.
For reasons having to do with the stupid mistakes mentioned earlier and also considerations regarding my travel budget, I had to leave Amed and the sea this morning. And again, it was at least one day and one night to early to leave ….
So, I am back in Ubud now, which will be my home base for the next 3 weeks. At home, I have my tried and tested ways of learning and uploading things into my brain, but of course things are different here. I have no printer, I do not carry physically written notes, it’s all electronic and I guess my host would be quite surprised, if I plaster walls and doors with learning posters haha.
It sounds quite like normal “Alltag” for the next weeks, and yes, it is. Just a different kind of everyday life. And a good one, which I am very grateful for.
Plans are dreams with timeline. Since a few days my travelling and living here in South East Asia also has a deadline … I have booked my flight back home to Vienna.
I will be going back on July 31, on the latest possible date (which is the last day I will still be covered by my travel insurance haha). It will be exactly 1 year then. And although it seems still a very long time to go, the moment I pressed the “book ticket” button, I felt like time was starting to run through my fingers again. Like black lava sand, like golden sunlight, like turquoise waters ….
Martin
6 Jun 2019Hallo Bettina
Es ist schon wieder von dir zu lesen…
Roman
4 Jun 2019Hello Bettina,
ich freue mich sehr für dich, dass du diese Reise auf dich genommen hast und in den letzten Monaten habe ich immer wieder mal reingeschaut, wie es dir geht. Deine Zeilen sind inspirierend auf meinem Weg zu bleiben.
Ich wünsche dir noch eine schöne und vor allem reichhaltige Zeit.
LG Roman
Andrea
26 May 2019Ach, wie ich dich verstehe! Der Moment, wo das Rückflugticket gekauft ist und die Zeit noch kostbarer wird… enjoy every one of them as intensely as you can!