I have had a "fascination" lately...is that the word to describe it ?

 

I was on the bus last night coming home from work when I wondered to myself if there was many expats from other South East Asia countries on this forum ?

 

I am "lusting" is that word ?

Perhaps not but I'm thinking is there any expats here on this forum who enjoy BALI  to live or SINGAPORE...oh I love Singapore,we never talk about it , it may not even be part of South East Asia ?

 

I would love one day to meet expats who live in Bali , Singapore,or Malaysia and Vietnam 

 

Of course we don't have expats on here who live in Indonesia say Jakarta because it's not nice I heard 

I want to retire somewhere other than the big  boring 3... Thailand Cambodia and Philippines 

 

I want NEW places and I want to hear from expats who live in Malaysia Indonesia Singapore 

 

I know there's many expats in Indonesia but you never see them on this forum ..it's a pity 

We lived in Bali for 6 years and many farangs from from the oil retired there.

Great place to retire except for the traffic.

One of my long time mates lives there in a compound he established, but he said now they hardly go anywhere because of the traffic. 

2 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

I would love one day to meet expats who live in Bali , Singapore,or Malaysia and Vietnam

Singapore is out of your price range.

7 minutes ago, carlyai said:

We lived in Bali for 6 years and many farangs from from the oil retired there.

Great place to retire except for the traffic.

One of my long time mates lives there in a compound he established, but he said now they hardly go anywhere because of the traffic. 

Moving around the island is a time consuming task.  

2 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

I am "lusting" is that word ?

 

No

2 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

would love one day to meet expats who live in Bali , Singapore,or Malaysia and Vietnam 

I live and worked in Singapore, Malaysia, worked on rotation in Vietnam. 

 

Malaysia, head over to Miri, nice location, on the water. 

Vietnam, Vung Tau, trendy city, on the water. Catching the hydrofoil from HCMC was a great hour and a half journey, bar on board, nice sights to see. 

Singapore, similar to Australia, clean and expensive etc., not sure how easy it is to retire there, I had a green card. 

 

In my youth I visited Bali several times. I remember once I got so drunk after checking into my hotel, I could not remember how to get back there.

Wasn't until noon the next day I found it. 

2 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

I have had a "fascination" lately...is that the word to describe it ?

 

I was on the bus last night coming home from work when I wondered to myself if there was many expats from other South East Asia countries on this forum ?

 

I am "lusting" is that word ?

Perhaps not but I'm thinking is there any expats here on this forum who enjoy BALI  to live or SINGAPORE...oh I love Singapore,we never talk about it , it may not even be part of South East Asia ?

 

I would love one day to meet expats who live in Bali , Singapore,or Malaysia and Vietnam 

 

Of course we don't have expats on here who live in Indonesia say Jakarta because it's not nice I heard 

I want to retire somewhere other than the big  boring 3... Thailand Cambodia and Philippines 

 

I want NEW places and I want to hear from expats who live in Malaysia Indonesia Singapore 

 

I know there's many expats in Indonesia but you never see them on this forum ..it's a pity 

Forget all the travel fantasies which will never come true for you Georgina. You and HF should stay together over there in Australia in his mom’s basement. Move in with him to save cost. Forget about the far east. You mop his floors and he'll feed you all the gourmet packaged noodles that you could ever desire.

 

Soon, you'll start giving each other foot massages. Nothing says devotion like rubbing his calloused toes while he doom scrolls on AN for 18 hours a day. You’ll call it bonding. He’ll call it self care. His mom will probably call it disgusting, but she won’t say it out loud because she still needs someone to clean her upstairs bathroom.

 

When that gets old, you can both spice things up with a few rounds of strip poker, in between episodes of whatever bunk cable TV show you’re halfway watching. You’ll both cheat, naturally, because neither of you can stand losing. The basement light will flicker, the cards will stick to the table, then you’ll smooch, share another bag of crisps, and tell yourselves that this is real living.

26 minutes ago, short-Timer said:

Forget all the travel fantasies which will never come true for you Georgina. You and HF should stay together over there in Australia in his mom’s basement. Move in with him to save cost. Forget about the far east. You mop his floors and he'll feed you all the gourmet packaged noodles that you could ever desire.

 

Soon, you'll start giving each other foot massages. Nothing says devotion like rubbing his calloused toes while he doom scrolls on AN for 18 hours a day. You’ll call it bonding. He’ll call it self care. His mom will probably call it disgusting, but she won’t say it out loud because she still needs someone to clean her upstairs bathroom.

 

When that gets old, you can both spice things up with a few rounds of strip poker, in between episodes of whatever bunk cable TV show you’re halfway watching. You’ll both cheat, naturally, because neither of you can stand losing. The basement light will flicker, the cards will stick to the table, then you’ll smooch, share another bag of crisps, and tell yourselves that this is real living.

Just has me and many others wondering how you had time on your hands to write ALL that ?

 

What's the saying ? Calling the pot kettle black ?.

Omg can't believe you sat there the 20 minutes to write that .   And you done it for free !!.

 

Your a good man .  Thankyou for providing jobs .....now go get a job yourself!

 

1 hour ago, Fact said:

Singapore is out of your price range.

Yes 

I believe it is ,I'm a very poor Aussie guy ,a battler ,a working class man from a inner city slum forced to work for low wages 12 hours a day mopping and shining and polishing hospital floors where people spit at me going past !

4 minutes ago, georgegeorgia said:

I'm a very poor Aussie guy

Says the Sydney property owner 😂

💲💲💲💲💲💲💲💲💲💲💲💲💲

I thought you had decided to move to Burma....

2 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

I live and worked in Singapore, Malaysia, worked on rotation in Vietnam. 

 

Malaysia, head over to Miri, nice location, on the water. 

Vietnam, Vung Tau, trendy city, on the water. Catching the hydrofoil from HCMC was a great hour and a half journey, bar on board, nice sights to see. 

Singapore, similar to Australia, clean and expensive etc., not sure how easy it is to retire there, I had a green card. 

 

In my youth I visited Bali several times. I remember once I got so drunk after checking into my hotel, I could not remember how to get back there.

Wasn't until noon the next day I found it. 

If you go to Miri, book into the Marriott.

 

My first trip to Miri, i stayed at the Marriott, nice hotel on the water.

 

Sundays brunch included a free Heineken, complimentary, plus all the vodka mixes you could drink, up until 3:00 p.m. if I remember. 

 

Mondays crew charge was challenging, up early 4am.

 

 

34 minutes ago, simon43 said:

I thought you had decided to move to Burma....

I think he's going with Malcolm. 😂

 

 

 

1 hour ago, simon43 said:

I thought you had decided to move to Burma....

Can I come and stay with you Simon ?

2 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

Can I come and stay with you Simon ?

Well, first see if you have more luck than me at getting into the country - their immigration has been stalling for more than 2 months, probably because of the forthcoming election...

I've been to Bali several times over the last 40 years. In the 1980s the place was great. The last time was about 10 years ago. It's an incredible Island as long as you stay away from the SW 3rd of the island. That area is just an absolute pit of desolation, and the traffic, congestion and overdevelopment is insane. The young Aussie college kids don't make it much fun either. Feels like a slightly exotic version of Daytona Beach on spring break. 

 

My ideal trip to Bali would be taking a helicopter from the airport to Ubud, and then heading north and west from there. Bali does have incredible culture, music, food and is absolutely stunning. Just avoid the Kuta, Legian, Seminyak hell hole. 

 

Since that's not going to happen, I don't see myself ever feeling the need to go back there. 

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

I've been to Bali several times over the last 40 years. In the 1980s the place was great. The last time was about 10 years ago. It's an incredible Island as long as you stay away from the SW 3rd of the island. That area is just an absolute pit of desolation, and the traffic, congestion and overdevelopment is insane. The young Aussie college kids don't make it much fun either. Feels like a slightly exotic version of Daytona Beach on spring break. 

 

My ideal trip to Bali would be taking a helicopter from the airport to Ubud, and then heading north and west from there. Bali does have incredible culture, music, food and is absolutely stunning. Just avoid the Kuta, Legian, Seminyak hell hole. 

 

Since that's not going to happen, I don't see myself ever feeling the need to go back there. 

Ubud got decimated about 15 years back and they tried to attract fringe "artistic" wannabe's to conventions. The Monkey Forest was raped and at the summit unoccupied tourist shops replaced fauna. Nobody bothers to promote the place anymore.

 

 

12 hours ago, Fact said:

Singapore is out of your price range.

They have mops in Singapore 

I've lived in Jakarta for over fifteen years and would say it's improved considerably over the time I've been here. It wouldn't suit everyone, but I have a decent enough life here.

 

I wouldn't live in Bali for all the tea in China as it's full of the exact kind of people I left my home country to get away from and is a magnet for Western degenerates. In fact, one of the things I like about Jakarta is how few Western tourists/expats there are here.

 

Given the choice, I'd live in Malaysian Borneo, but marriage keeps me in Indonesia, which is fine. I'm also a big fan of Singapore, but think it's way too expensive a place to consider living.

4 hours ago, Raffles75 said:

I've lived in Jakarta for over fifteen years and would say it's improved considerably over the time I've been here. It wouldn't suit everyone, but I have a decent enough life here.

 

I wouldn't live in Bali for all the tea in China as it's full of the exact kind of people I left my home country to get away from and is a magnet for Western degenerates. In fact, one of the things I like about Jakarta is how few Western tourists/expats there are here.

 

Given the choice, I'd live in Malaysian Borneo, but marriage keeps me in Indonesia, which is fine. I'm also a big fan of Singapore, but think it's way too expensive a place to consider living.

Very interesting 

Does the Muslim influence have any impact on your life ?

Is it a safe city to walk Round for a foreigner?

Any foreign bars ?

Jakarta is huge, big and busy like Bangkok.

One of my most memorable trips was down to the warf area, where you can get a cheap massage if you dare after all the seamen have visited.

The warf was unbelievable; like going back in time and just opening the door.

All these clinker built masted wooden sailing ships covered in teak logs. And gangs of Indonesians moving the logs from the ships, down the gang planks to the warf. No mechanisation.

Looking in the cabin of the ships and all they seemed to have was a compass. Amazing.

I did visit the teak forests where an Aussie runs a mill cutting down the teak, also buying old warfs and salvaging the old teak. He had 100 year old teak logs just laying around.

700 staff processing the logs and making teak furniture. When I was there they were making furniture for the Emperor of Japan.

These great big band saws and really heavy teak logs and no one wearing shoes.

Minimum accidents. Company tried to implement a safety program where everyone wore safety boots, but it caused more accidents, so no shoes was the go.

 

 

 

58 minutes ago, carlyai said:

The warf

The wharf?

13 hours ago, 0ffshore360 said:

Ubud got decimated about 15 years back and they tried to attract fringe "artistic" wannabe's to conventions. The Monkey Forest was raped and at the summit unoccupied tourist shops replaced fauna. Nobody bothers to promote the place anymore.

 

 

That's a shame as it used to be a fantastic place with great music, great food, gorgeous villas, and probably the most dynamic handicrafts industry anywhere in the world. 

 

The world is changing there's no doubt about that, things are changing swiftly right before our very eyes. 

7 minutes ago, marin said:

The wharf?

Saying  warf is easier than saying wh   ar  f. 🙂

I worked, traveled in Indonesia for a few years eons ago. Mainly Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi. Spent good time in Raja Ampat. Bali is meh and has been since the bombing.  It was full of drunken Aussies. The Balinese moved out now leasing to Muslims. The temples sadly are not worth visiting now imo. Ubud sucked even back 15 years ago as stated.

 

Rural Indonesia is very cool, but it's rough. Little AC, no ice, always hot and pretty much only local food

 

What do you want to know? When are you planning a trip? June July best

Yes June July I'm going ,

10 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

Very interesting 

Does the Muslim influence have any impact on your life ?

Is it a safe city to walk Round for a foreigner?

Any foreign bars ?

Little to no impact on daily life tbh, you just need to make sure you don't live within earshot of a mosque as that can disturb your sleep. Also in my area of the city, 25% of the population are of other religions so there's some balance.

 

As in much of SE Asia, random attacks on foreigners are rare. If a foreigner does get attacked, there's usually a reason for it. I walk around the city regularly and use public transport most days and have never felt threatened, but obviously still keep my wits about me and take usual precautions.

 

There's plenty of nightlife, including pub-type bars, but certainly not on the scale of Bangkok. The vast majority of people here don't drink, so nightlife is clustered around the central commercial/business area and the more affluent suburbs.

I spent a month in Ubud, going to every dance and gamelan performance, while reading a couple of thick books about it. That music is very influential to modern minimalism. It really opened up my head.
 

Mickey Hart from the Grateful Dead has done a lot of work curating this astonishing music if anyone is looking for a way in to it.

 

For such a touristy place, Ubud is very comfortable to settle in. I think of it as smaller, more spa based Chiang Mai.

 

Malaysia, I have tried to talk myself into liking over half a dozen trips. But it’s boring, including Penang, and the food is all sticky sweet.