Bali, After I Lived Here

Bali, After I Lived Here

Throwback to 2020, Bali was my first choice between two options: Bali or Belitung. I remember, I was enjoying my university break.

Before I actually set foot in Bali, I'd heard plenty of stories about the island. I'd even watched soap operas on TV that used Bali as a setting. From those stories and what I'd seen on screen, Bali seemed like an interesting place to visit. Moreover, the island is renowned for its beautiful beaches.

So, when I finally had the chance to vacation there, I was thrilled. It felt so exciting to see a place I'd only known about through stories and television.

For several days there, we rented a car with a driver. This gave us freedom to go wherever we wanted, visiting all the places on our wishlist. I also remember how exhausting it was because the distances between destinations were quite long. I fell asleep in the car almost every time we moved.

At that time, Bali was a place for me to go on holiday.

A place to visit as many destinations as possible, try local balinese food, take photos, and then go home with stories about your vacation.

I never imagined that a few years later I would be living on this island.

Now, I have been living in Bali for almost two years.

The funny thing is, after living here for that long, my perspective on Bali has actually changed.

I used to come to Bali with a list of places I wanted to visit. Now, I have my favorite spots, not because they're famous, but because of their atmosphere.

In the past, I was busy thinking, “Where are you going today?”

Nowadays, going to the minimarket near my rent room has become part of everyday life.

Long journeys from one destination to another used to feel tiring because I was trying to cover a lot of ground in a short time. Now, I'm actually starting to enjoy trips without any specific destination at all.

Perhaps, this is one of the things that changes when we stop being tourists and start living in a place.

We no longer see the place simply as something interesting to visit. We begin to see it as a place to live.

Bali has slowly changed from a destination to a place where I live.

I've come to know Bali not just for its beaches, sunsets, or the beautiful places often featured on social media. I've come to know it through the streets I pass every day, the restaurants I frequent, the atmosphere of my neighborhood, and even the areas I've grown to love the more I've known them.

The longer I live here, the more I understand one thing: the Bali we see when we are on holiday and the Bali we experience when we live here are two different things.

It's not that one is better than the other. It's just that when we live in a place, we start to see more aspects of it that we might not have noticed before.

There are Balis that are busy and full of tourists, such as Canggu.

There's Bali, which I think has a calmer atmosphere and makes me want to live my days at a slower pace, like Ubud.

There's something about Bali that makes me want to get out of the house and go for a walk.

There's also Bali that feels very ordinary. The Bali where I wake up, work, eat, sleep, and then repeat it all the next day. Denpasar and its surroundings, for example. Hehe.

And perhaps, that's where it gets interesting.

After almost two years of living here, I no longer just ask, “What’s so great about Bali?”

I started asking, “What makes me want to stay here?”

But if you ask me whether living in Bali is always fun, my answer is definitely no.

There is one thing that I think needs to be thought through carefully if someone wants to move to Bali: work and income.

If your goal in moving to Bali is to find a job with skills that are still fairly common, I think you need to think carefully.

Bali is indeed known as one of the largest tourist destinations in Indonesia. However, that doesn't mean all jobs here offer high salaries. In fact, in my experience, for some types of jobs, the pay doesn't always feel commensurate with the cost of living.

We also know the minimum wage, cute. Hehe.

This doesn't mean living in Bali has to be expensive or that we have to live in luxury. I'm not talking about a lavish lifestyle.

Eating enough, living simply, and not going to cafes or beach clubs every day still requires expenses that need to be taken into account.

Because in the end, moving somewhere is not just about the place itself, but also about how we can live life there.

So, if someone asks me, “Isn’t it nice to live in Bali?”

My answer might be a little different now.

It's nice, if you know why you want to live here.

In my opinion, living in Bali is not just about being able to go to the beach anytime or enjoying the sunset after work.

There is life to be lived behind all that.

There's work. There are bills. There are routines. There are ordinary days. And there are days when you don't even have time to enjoy Bali at all.

But, amidst all of that, there are simple things that keep me loving life here.

There are mornings that feel lighter, walks home with beautiful views, simple dinners, the sound of the waves, and the air that feels different.

Then, there is one simple thing that I am still grateful for: the night sky in Bali.

I could still see the moon, the stars, and even the clouds clustering around. It was a simple sight that felt different from being in the capital, where the night sky often seemed dark and devoid of much to enjoy.

Perhaps, it's things like this that make me feel like I have the opportunity to live life at a rhythm that suits me better.

And after almost two years of living here, I think I'm starting to know my own answer.

I don't live in Bali because every day is beautiful.

I live in Bali because, somehow, after living a normal day here, I still feel like waking up and living it all again tomorrow.

Maybe, that's what ultimately makes a place feel like home.

Not because the place always offers something special, but because there we find something that makes us want to stay, even when the days we live feel ordinary.

I don't know how long I'll stay here. But for now, I still want to call Bali home.

I hope that feeling lasts, and I hope Bali will still be my home.