Bali – Travel Younger

Chapter 300: Goodbye Bali, Hello Vietnam!

Norm Bour — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 03:04:17 +0000

03.19.26

Our last days in Bali were a bit unusual, since we both normally feel some type of pressure as we approach Travel Day. But after countless times of sorting, purging, and packing, our natural sense of order was remarkably calm. One reason was because we were taking a SUITCASE, first time in a long time, which meant we could be a bit casual with our backpacks. And also, since we KNEW we’d be coming back to the same city and the same homestay, our emotional tug was much healthier. Since we’ve stayed in the same city, same room, and seen the same people three times, they’ve become friends, and we give stuff to them we want to leave, and they keep stuff for us that we want to store.

Win-win.

When we checked in at the airport we were reminded that we actually had a priority ticket since we paid extra for the luggage. That gave us access to a lounge, which is always nice, so we were able to relax and eat rather than idly sitting at the gate. AND, we had the first two seats in the plane, their version of First Class. Sweet! Especially on a four-hour flight. Of all the flights I’ve ever taken in my life, most of my seats have been over the wing, which obstructs whatever views there are, so it was nice seeing the coastline of Bali with more clarity than I have seen before. Their business class seats were not quite as opulent as a longer or overseas flight, no private or sleeping cabin, but it was still a nice perk.

The downside of our flight to Da Nang was that we had to fly into Ho Chi Minh City first, go through immigration, pick up our luggage, and transfer to the domestic terminal, and then check in again! What a pain in the ass. But it worked out fine and we are now settled back in Vietnam (for the 4th time).

One of the most significant differences I saw immediately: the people in Vietnam talk much, much louder! At the Bali airport the gate was a normal state of noise, but in Vietnam people were talking LOUDLY—to their friends, on the phone, and it seems the “inside voice” was missing.

We’re in Hoi An, nice homestay, and will be here for about 40 days, then probably up to Da Nang proper. After being here for 2 days, Kat and I both miss Bali quite a bit, and as I walked around today searching out gyms, I reflected on the differences between the countries. I view the comparison as being similar to Albania and Croatia: one country is just a bit more advanced, maybe sophisticated, and the other is still a little rough around the edges. Which is fine. So far we’ve eaten out several meals, and none have been over $20 for dinner, and I can breakfast for less than $5. Gotta like that

Chapter 299: Nyepi-Bali’s Day of Silence

Norm Bour — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 02:59:23 +0000

03.13.26

It’s called Nyepi, and it’s a celebration of the Balinese New Year. And it is a big deal here in Bali. VERY big. It’s known as the Day of Silence since the entire island comes to a standstill. You are supposed to stay home, and celebrate with family and friends, mostly in silence. It starts this Thursday, March 19 at 0600 and lasts 24 hours. Among the things you cannot do:

~No work

~No lights or noise

~No driving

~No beach

~No leaving the house. Really.

~That means no flights at the international airport, and no ferries anywhere.

In the days leading up to it, like now, there will be parades and celebrations and displays of iconic statues made by the locals, called Ogoh ogoh. We heard about it last year when we were here, but our timing is off this year since one of the things that will be missing on Nyepi, is us. Since Kat and I depart for Vietnam tomorrow.

But next year

Chapter 298: Exploring a New Bali Town: Candidasa

Norm Bour — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 02:52:50 +0000

03.13.26

For two days I visited the small coastal village of Candidasa, on the east coast of Bali, investigating if it could be a long-term stay. My opinion right now is It’s nice for a weekend or maybe a week, but probably not for much longer. I was pleasantly surprised to find my resort ($28) right on the ocean, but currently the beach is all torn up since they’re putting in a boardwalk, making it more like Sanur. We’ll see how that pans out. But I had a nice outside pool and deck area, plus a surprisingly good restaurant, and really all I wanted was a base to check out the area. Within a 10-minute walk I found several restaurant choices, but overall they were mostly local cafes, called warungs. Which is fine.

Since there were some things worth traveling to, I rented a bike for the day and visited Taman Ujung, AKA The Water Palace, which was stunning, a word I don’t often use. It consists of 30 acres of water treatments, shrines, and lots of beautiful landscape, and was very Zen-like. On the way back I found one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve seen in a long time, called Virgin Beach. It was in a small bay with cliffs on each side and had the whitest sand with very calm water. It reminded me of a beach we found in the Philippines two years ago. They have a pool you can use, plus daybeds and cafes, and it’s a place to return to, for sure.

Finally, stop number 3 took me to Goa Lawah temple, also known as the Bat Cave, since it was built around a cave with, well, a lot of bats. The cave is too small to enter, but I was able to view and take pictures at the entrance, and while I was there they were also doing an Indonesian ritual, so I sat and I meditated with them as they did that. Overall the shrine is quite small, but on the way to Candidasa, and worth stopping at.

When I reflected on the day I did a deeper dive with Gemini AI and looked for other cities on the island of Bali that might have what we are looking for. I went through the same screening process for Vietnam, and there’s about five cities over there worth checking out, and about the same number in Bali. So overall my four-day jaunt was a worthy one.

Chapter 297: Exploring a New Bali Town: Sidemen

Norm Bour — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 01:30:01 +0000

03.10.26

Sometimes it’s hard to “rate” a country or a city, but that’s what I’m going to do here since I took a few days off from our stay in Sanur and went to two of the smaller cities in Bali: Sidemen and Candyasa (also spelled Candidasa).

Sidemen was a short ride from Sanur, about 90 minutes, of which the first 60 were beautifully paved roads, but the last 30 were on traditional country roads with potholes and lots of twisties. We meant to visit here last year, but torrential rains stopped that and blocked some roads, so I’m making up that rain check. And since Kathleen is involved in her writing, and there was some question about the road quality up here, I’m doing this solo. And that’s probably good because I don’t think she would like this place!

No reflection on anything– it’s just that Sidemen is very small and very hilly and there’s really not a lot going on. You have to walk everywhere or ride a scary scooter, or hire a car, and that takes away some of the cool factor and fun. We’re looking for other places on the island to consider staying for a few weeks or longer. This is not one of them.

——————————-

So, that is the way my draft started yesterday, but it took a whole new turn today as I found out what there is “to do” in Sideman: Nothing. Which sounds boring, but today I learned that sometimes it’s nice just to BE. To chill, spend time day dreaming, contemplating, meditating. And I did that throughout the day.

I’m going to dive deeper in my Travel Younger newsletter, but overall I enjoyed just walking, stopping by the beautiful river, hiking through the rice fields, waiting for the drizzle to stop, and to truly take time to appreciate nature. After all, that is one BIG reason to visit Sidemen. I also did something I don’t do enough of: I put down my phone. Several times today. Instead of reading or scrolling, or catching up on mail, I just gazed off in the distance.

Meanwhile, I’m staying at a nice homestay next to beautiful rice fields, and it’s very, very quiet, with not much noise except for the birds, crickets, and other insects outside. It IS a beautiful visit, and for the adventurous, there are waterfalls nearby, lots of hiking through rice fields, and a very well-known

religious shrine called Besakih, which I planned to visit via scooter, but after reading reviews, canned the idea. Speaking of scooters, you hear talk about the danger of scooters in Bali, and that is NOT an exaggeration. Don’t do it unless you have experience–and confidence. And I would not recommend a novice try to learn here. Or Vietnam for that matter.

Tomorrow it’s on to my next stop; we’ll see what that brings.

Chapter 296: New Automobile Classics Rebuilt in Bali!

Norm Bour — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 00:42:38 +0000

03.05.26

Every once in a while, (but not often enough…) we (or I in this case) find something somewhere in our travels that totally enchants me. Whether it be an unusual geographical feature, maybe even a unique church or some ruin, today I found one of those—in Bali of all places!—that totally caught my fancy. But it wasn’t natural beauty- it was all manmade. Handmade actually!

To preface, I’m an old car guy, which means, when I was younger, I was more into cars. I wasn’t a mechanic, but growing up in the heyday of “old Detroit muscle cars” and the early days of TRUE foreign sports cars (especially the Japanese and British improvements), was a good time to be young! But it was Porsche that really caught my interest. One of my first full time jobs at age 19 (1973) was at a Porsche dealer in Pennsylvania. I knew nothing about them beforehand, but over my two years of working there I got to know them inside and out, and drove a lot of them. The owners of my dealership were professional race car drivers, and I even got to crew with them at a few racetracks. But one model of Porsche was special, not just to me, but to a lot of our customers.

It was called the 356, and nicknamed “The Bathtub Porsche” because it looked like a bathtub turned upside down. They stopped making them about 1965, but in the two decades before, they set a very high bar for very quick, very agile German sports cars. So when I toured this auto manufacturing facility in BALI, of all places, and saw they took several old foreign models—including the 356– built them from scratch from the ground up, and put in modern engines and suspension, well, I was like a kid in a toy store! The Tuksedo factory (https://www.tuksedostudio.com/), which was really too small to call a factory, made new versions of some iconic cars from decades ago, including:

• Porsche 356 Cabriolet, Speedster, and Coupe

• Mercedes Benz 300 SL gullwing (really!)

• 2000 GT (Toyota, late 60s, only 350 built)

• Aston Martin DB5 (James Bond’s car from several movies)

• 550 Porsche Spyder (1953–1956, 90 purpose-built race cars!)

These are all handmade, takes about 18 months each, and cost $150,000 USD and up. They have design rights to several old models from even before the 1950s, and on their design board is a new version of a Corvette, which looked like it mated with a Ferrari! Plus they’ll have a BMW 507 out in the future.

Anyway, if you’re interested in cars and plan to be in Bali, take some time to check it out.

Chapter 295: The Prices of “Things” in the World

Norm Bour — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 06:44:06 +0000

02.21.26

We all talk about and wonder about the “affordability” of different countries, and as full time travelers, that (plus weather) is one of the factors that determines where we go. After spending 7 mo in Albania we were overall very happy with the prices of most things, even though they WERE higher than our prior stay there in 2022-23. But, compared to “western prices,” still, a bargain.

We’ve been in Bali about 5 weeks and I’ve been tracking prices and how they compare to other places we’ve been, and like Albania, it’s still “affordable,” but notably higher than the last two years since we’ve been coming. One of the biggest laments I hear from others about Bali is, “It’s not cheap anymore,” but I would argue that point, and think it’s all relative. I visited a dentist a few days ago and ordered a new night guard, you know, one of those plastic things that stops you from grinding your teeth, so I thought I’d share some of the cost differences between these two very popular nomadic stops, and you can compare them to YOUR home country!

~ Cappuccino coffee: Albania and Bali are generally both about $2 USD, which is common in many places we’ve been, but can run higher, up to 3.00.
~ raisin roll: One of my favorite pastries, and Albania had one of the best I’ve ever had, and that was $1.20 vs Bail, which is about $3. Still a great value compared to California! pix
~ spaghetti ($6.00) This, along with coffee and beer, was my benchmark since we started traveling in 2019. Comparing those three items was a good indicator of overall food prices, and seven years later I can STILL find spaghetti for $6 or less. I had some recently here in Bali and it was delicious and priced under $4.
~ bottled water: bottled water overall is cheap, but we get the large sizes and refill them into the smaller bottles. In Tirana I regularly got 7 litre bottles and they were about $1.20 everywhere, and they may have had price controls since I never saw them higher or lower. But this morning in Bali I got 12.5 litres for all of $1.30.
~ dental visits are pretty close, and we get cleaning every six months in different places. In Tirana I got what I call a mediocre job without great bedside manor for $45, and I just returned for the third year to the same dentist in Sanur. The price: $30, and two hygienists taking care of me along with the doctor. Their base price has not changed in three years, but our currency conversion has; two years ago that cleaning was $32.
~ My new mouthguard was $99 here in Bali, and my last one was from Albania three years ago, for about $120. pix
~ Rent: the biggie. Rent prices can be all over the board, but during our seven months in Tirana we paid (approx) $915 mo, which was high for us, but we were in the City Center, the SOHO of the city. Rents can be had there for about half that, and in Bali (so far) we paid $711 for our first month at an island resort (including breakfast), and in Sanur we’ll be paying $689.

Oh, two more things to add about personal services:

In Tirana Kat paid about $50 for a message, and I just got on in Bali for just shy of $10.
And my 30-day gym membership here in Sanur is $18, which I admit is really cheap; in Tirana I was just under $70.

So there you have it.

Chapter 294: Seven (7) is Such a Magical Number!

Norm Bour — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 06:34:07 +0000

02.17.26

I normally don’t do this, but because yesterday was a significant day in our lives, I am copying my last Travel Younger newsletter post about celebrating seven (7) years on the road. I hope you enjoy it.

Seven (7) is Such a Magical Number!

and for us, it is when we were reinvented

It may sound lofty, that whole reinvention thing, but there really is no other way to describe it. On February 17, 2019, my (now) wife, Kathleen and I left the United States. We were born and bred Americans and had lived our entire lives in one country. We thought—foolishly— that the ENTIRE WORLD revolved around America, and we/they were the bomb. Well, they may have been the Bomb when we grew up in the sixties, but the country we knew was no longer. And, in fairness, it was not all Americas’ fault—we changed, too, and truthfully, there are few places anywhere in the world that are “what they used to be.” That’s life, and that’s progress.

But, when we left Los Angeles airport that Sunday morning and landed in Barcelona 11 hours later, we knew our lives would never be the same. And we were pretty damn sure this was a ONE-WAY trip, and we would not return. We did our homework, researched places to visit, possibly places to live, and spoke with many nomads who lived Life on the Road. We went so far as to apply for residency, first in Portugal (changed our minds), then Spain, which didn’t pan out. We “kinda’ knew” what to expect, and many who had done it before said “five years was a common burnout period,” and many give it up and settle someplace, or even return to where they started. Well, we’re a couple of older radicals who bucked that trend, and as we start year eight, we KNOW we’ll never return to the US to live, but we are looking for places (plural) to more or less settle down.

Seven is such a MAGICAL number!

We have seven continents, seven seas, and seven colors in the rainbow, and throughout history, lists have been compiled of the various Seven Wonders of the World. And of course we have seven days of the week, which go by all too quickly!

It’s the largest prime number with single digits, and when asked to pick a number between one and ten, put your money on someone picking Lucky Number Seven. Considering Kathleen and I just entered our seventh decade (with more to come, we pray!), overall the number seven is significant in our personal lives and how it relates to the rest of the world.

What did we learn in seven years?

Well, I could write a book, which I did, and a lot has changed since then, and life on the road is forever evolving, and truthfully, getting better. Considering I was a naive novice back in 2015 when I took my second trip to Europe for 19 days, the learning curve was exponential and has been that way for the past decade. I reflected on “lessons” we learned on the way, and some of them are not lessons, per se, but more insights to the Reality of living this way. Many people we knew in our prior life have been amazed that we’re still doing it, but our newer friends who we’ve met along the way—they get it.

And maybe you will too.

Things We’ve learned

Insight #1: It’s easier to do traveling than it is to think about it sometimes. WHY? Because of that word that many times stops us in our tracks: fear. We’re born with an innate sense of fear from day one, and eventually overcome fears of heights, water, spiders, rejection, making mistakes, etc… The cliché reads, “Overcome fear by facing it,” and that is true when it comes to contemplation of leaving our native countries and living without a home. It’s scary as shit! But it really isn’t when you realize that many things we took/ take for granted BEFORE, are also scary!

Driving the freeways of Southern California is not for the meek, and buying a home can be risky, too. We start new jobs, get into relationships, maybe get married, and oh my God, is that scary, or what!? And children?? Big time scary. Life is full of frightful propositions, but logic can overcome a lot of subconscious fears. Were Kat and I afraid of what we started seven years ago? Yes, but only a little, since we had so little to lose, and oh so much to gain. We had no kids, grandkids, elderly parents, or pets that create emotional connections, so it was just us, taking on the world.

Insight #2: We really don’t need the things we think we need. I used to joke about going into Costco and spending MUCH MORE than I expected to, since I always saw something I HAD TO HAVE, and prior to entering their doors, I had no idea it even existed. Want, want, want; need, need, need. Americans, and most first world citizens, have everything at our disposal, and if you have the money to afford it, we buy a lot of stuff. My divorce in 2013 eliminated 90% of all the stuff I had for decades, and I intentionally became a Minimalist. I was never happier. I also enjoyed renting and not facing the expenses of owning a home.

With that said, if you decide to travel more, my suggestion is to pack LESS than what you think you’ll need. You would be AMAZED at what you can live without, and we are not the only ones who carry their worlds on our backs. Most of us carry too much, so scale it down.

Insight #3: We traveled much more early on than we do now, mostly because we’ve seen so much after 43 countries, and it’s easy to get jaded and take things for granted. We are also half a dozen years older, and I know our energy levels and enthusiasm is not what it used to be. Before we visit a new place, we do our research and try to figure out what we REALLY want to do, but at this point, it has to be really special to get our attention. As much as we sometimes want MORE NOW, sometimes we need to slow down and not try to eat the whole elephant at one sitting.

We also know what parts of the world work for us and which ones don’t. We have little interest in Latin America anymore, and since we’re driven by finances and weather, we know we like Asia and the Balkans in Europe.

Insight #4: If you’re traveling with a partner, make sure you spend time away from each other.

Being together 24/7 can be stressful under the best of situations! Kat and I reflect on our eight years together as a couple, and probably 90% of that time has been spent traveling without a full-time home. Our first year together, late 2017-early 2019, we lived in Southern Orange County (CA), but otherwise, we’ve been out of the US ever since. We calculate that equates into several DECADES together as a “real world” couple with jobs and such.

We like a lot of the same things, but have our own interests, and that’s good since it gives us time to do our own thing. She likes writing at the local coffee shop and can hang out there for hours. She likes wandering the streets, looking at stores; comparison shopping, neither of which interests me. I work from the house, usually in my gym shorts, and have access to everything a few feet away. I go to the gym more than she does, and many of my walks are hikes, especially if I can find a similar minded group. I like to ride motorcycles with more adventure than her, so those trips I do solo. It all works.

Insight #5: Sometimes going back to a place that you really liked makes more sense than exploring new ones… I like making and keeping lists and crossing stuff off. Part of my OCD, I guess. When we left, I made a list of all the places I wanted to visit and have been checking them off ever since. That list is down to about a dozen now, and a few more of them in Asia will be done this year. The only major part of the world I want to see is the Nordic countries, and that has to be done to accommodate the weather, crowds, and high season pricing. And if I don’t make it, that’s OK, too. We’ve been to a lot of amazing places since 2019 and have revisited many of them. It makes more sense to US to stick with what we know works.

Insight #6: The sooner you figure out what you DON’T want, the easier it will be to find the things you DO want. This kind of goes along with some of the above and is a big time and money saver. Before we left in 2019, we knew that we would be driven by affordability, warm weather, and Mediterranean climate. From the get-go we ignored visits to northern Europe in winter, and since “roughing it” only goes so far, we put a lot of Africa on the back burner. The ONE country that we’ve been the most indecisive about has been India, and as of now, it’s probably a “no” for us. Again, it’s the age thing. If we were 20 or 30 years younger, and knew we had that much more time, we’d probably be a lot more adventurous. But now we’re both really careful about things we took for granted, like our balance, strength, and night vision. Hey, it is what it is.

So, cheers to you who live on the road, or not, and we hope you find happiness wherever that may be.

Chapter 293: The Extremes of the Tides

Norm Bour — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 11:13:45 +0000

02.03.26

Life on the Island

Like many, if not most, of the countries we have lived in since 2019, Bali is a land of contrast. From the crystal clear turquoise blue water, to the gigantic mountains towering over the island, Bali (and Indonesia) has a lot to offer. The northern parts of the country, Sumatra and Borneo, are horrendously active seismically, and are some of the most volcanic regions on the planet. We have not been there yet, but here in the south, we never felt any tremors over our three visits since 2022. A few days ago the contrast of water levels and tides was quite evident, which made me think of these contrasts, so I took pictures of the HIGH water tide marks, and the low, and the difference is incredible.

Three years ago, on our first visit here, we took a scooter to the place where we now stay, near Mahana Point. Early in the morning the tide was so low, full of green algae and tidepools, that we could walk out hundreds of yards. A few hours later the tide returned, three to four feet higher, and made the surf truly dangerous for weak swimmers. From our hotel room we are able to see these ebbs and flows daily, and the two most graphic examples are the water level underneath the swing (see picture), and the depth of the water flowing through a large hole on the rock face to our south. When the water is LOW, you could almost walk through to the other side, but not a chance when that tide returns!!

The sea is relentless and I took a video of a sea cave or tunnel in the making. For untold millions of years the ocean has pounded this particular rock face (pix), and slowly, but surely, the indentation is growing one centimeter at a time.

Fastest. Spider. Ever!!

The other night we had our first Huntsman spider experience, which we have heard about for years. These enormous spiders are harmless to humans, but since they are as big as the palm of my hand, it scared the bejesus out of me and Kathleen! I assured her that they were GOOD and ate more ants, mosquitoes, and bugs than humans, and she later apologized for trying to smash it with her shoe, and begged forgiveness from the Spider Gods. And she was so granted. Here’s an amusing video which demonstrates how big they get. And man, I’ve never seen anything move that fast! https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTIC6S8D5Ml/…,

Another thing we run into a lot out here, is Aussies– Australians–and since we’re closer to Oz that Hawaii is to California, Bali has been their vacay destination of choice for years. Many that we met live here full time now, and they are a wild bunch, with great stories to tell. They drink and smoke more than I, but they don’t make me feel like an outsider, aside from my Yank accent. Many are leaving their country for the same reason that nomads do: freedom to live as they choose. I also met a German guy here who’s been living on Nusa Lembongan for several years, and he asked me, “Have you been to Germany?” and I replied “yes,” and he came back with, “Have you LIVED there,” which I had not. He said that he always felt that he was under someone’s watchful eye, with cameras everywhere, regulations and rules up the kazoo, and a sense he could never relax. Out here he said he could chill, wear shoes where and when he wants, and ride his scooter (among the 99% of the riders) without a helmet.

And I agree 100%. Kathleen and I both feel very free here, and we don’t need to worry about what anyone thinks, because, truly, no one probably thinks anything, or judges anyone! That’s a good feeling.

We’re here two months total, then back to Vietnam for probably a year, but Bali may be one of our semi-permanent homes down the line.

The full moon generated a crazy low tide this morning, going out hundreds of yards. This was the first time I saw LIVE colorful coral here, since most of what we see is dead.

Chapter 292: The Sea was Angry that Day, My Friends…

Norm Bour — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 10:59:23 +0000

01.24.26

Let’s just say that all the Gods were smiling on us today as we took the ferry ride over to Nusa Lembongan from Sanur (Bali) at 11:30. When I woke at 0700, the wind was howling, and the rain was pouring down, and I thought, “oh, will they even run the ferries?” But fortunately everything calmed down, and by midday it was relatively nice. Even so, this was the roughest water we’ve ever dealt with, but fortunately, Kathleen never got sick! And I got a kick out of seeing the prayer offerings to the God of Evinrudes on each of the four outboard engines, that was a first!

The second Gift was just as dramatic, as we got to our location, unpacked, and could not find the pouch with my passport, 5 credit cards, and (substantial) cash that I just withdrew. I reconstructed everything in my mind and thought it must have been stolen, even though it was a relatively short ferry ride from the mainland. I had the ferry people look into it, but they had no success, and ironically some friends who were staying at our same prior hotel felt so bad they tried to help. Paula and Kristen went to our room, looked around, and lo and behold, there was my pouch in the safe! Which I hardly ever use.. But yesterday I put my stuff in there, totally spaced, and forgot to take it out. Crisis averted. I was NOT looking forward to the process of getting a new passport, canceling all my credit cards, and losing all that cash, especially because I did not even have a debit card to get more cash out!

Fortune smiles on us as our nomadic journeys continue, and even though they are doing MASSIVE remodeling at our villa, this little slice of heaven is still paradise.

FINALLY!

Blue skies, nothing but blue skies—finally! After too many days of rain and wind, the last two days were beautiful, with temps in the upper 80s. We rode into the small village of Jungubatu, (Bali), on the small island of Nusa Lembongan, searching for a gym. There were two options and neither required any commitment, but I joined the one that had AC, and was closer, although it looked a bit rough equipment-wise. KInd of like an old car that needs a cosmetic overhaul, but has a good chassis and mechanics underneath. I worked out this morning (100,000 rupiah per visit, which is just under $6 USD), and decided to join for the month since I knew I’d get six workouts in for 600K rupiah monthly fee. By the way, that demonstrates the low value of currency in Indonesia. The most I can get out of an ATM is 3 million rupiah, which is about $180 USD. It’s easy to be a millionaire here!

For those that shared their concern about my passport and such, I got it back yesterday, along with the forgotten, left behind credit cards and cash, so we’re good again. The other night I met a nice Australian gent, Lee, and I told him that I thought my money was gone. He felt bad and offered to give me some, just like that, after 5 minutes of conversation. I declined, he insisted, so he fronted me 200,000 rupiah, which was twice what I had, and that got me through until I got my own cash back. I’m returning the cash and taking him and his daughter to lunch tomorrow to repay them, but that goes to show you the graciousness and generosity of people all over the world. We call them “Travel Angels,” and we have been on both sides of that fence.

The beauty of this island still blows me away, and I have to caution myself to NOT take it for granted! After many months of cold, and living in the city of Tirana, coming to a small island just a few square miles in size in a significant change. This morning on my way to the gym, about 0800, I noticed the tide between the two islands of Lembongan and Ceningan was as low as I’d ever seen it. The picture shows the contrast of the high and low tides. We have 30 days here, then 30 more back on the main island of Bali for 30 more

Chapter 291: Hello Bali! (again)

Norm Bour — Sun, 18 Jan 2026 10:51:33 +0000

01.19.26

Our Exit Plan:

By the numbers:

> Set up 0400 ride for 0700 flight to Athens? Check.

> Get to airport in plenty of time, have smooth flight? Check.

> Arrive in Athens at 10:00, plenty early for a 1pm check in? Yup.

> Check to see if there is a TAXI STRIKE? Uh, no, didn’t do that, so imagine our surprise, after killing a few hours until we could go to our overnight room, and find out that Uber and Bolt have NO DRIVERS? And then, we’re told that there is a taxi strike—for the third day. And our room (for the night) is only 20 minutes away, but no way to get there unless we take several buses and 90 minutes of wasted time. Over 7 years of this nomadic travel, no strike has every affected us.

As is usually the case, it all worked out. We contacted our hotel, they called their private driver, and she was there in a jiffy. Still 25€ for a 20-minute ride floored me (oh, how different prices are in the EU!), we got to our room, and all is good. We’re using the same driver for our 0630 pickup in the morning so we can catch that lovely 11-hour flight to Singapore, but it is what it is.

BTW, why the taxi strike? The government is insisting that all taxi drivers only use electric vehicles starting THIS year…Hell, I’d strike over that, too. Taxi Union want to push these regs back to 2035, so we’ll see how long this standoff lasts.

Welcome to Bali:

XXX is NOT What it Used to Be (fill in almost any place here)

We’ve been in Bali for 2 days (3rd time in 3 years), and one of the most common remarks we hear is, “Bali is not what it used to be: It used to be cheap; it used to be less crowded and touristy. It used to be cleaner with less traffic.” And you know what? You could say that about almost anywhere in the world! I lived in Orange County, CA for 40 years, and that place is certainly NOT what it used to be, either. And even if Bali isn’t what it once was, it’s still pretty damn good!!

And what a breath a fresh air it’s been! Very warm, humid fresh air, and it’s nice to live in shorts and tank tops again! Daytime temps have been in the upper 80s F, nighttime in the 70s, but there’s been a nice breeze, and fortunately just a few drizzles, but no significant rain while we were out. So far so good. We’ve been in the city of Sanur—one of our faves– and stayed one extra day before we head over to the island of Nusa Lembongan for a month. It’s kind of cool going back to places where you know people. For instance, my good friend Sherman from Orange County California, has been living here for several years and picked us up at the airport on Saturday. Yesterday morning we had breakfast with a friend who I had not seen for a dozen years, also from the OC, and I knew him from real estate a lifetime ago! And at the homestay where we live, we were able to reconnect with some friends that we met last year from Australia, so overall we do not feel like strangers. Especially because we know the town so well, and know where to go for food, shopping, massages (had my first 60-minute massage today in almost 18 months. The price: $8.50 USD), and for almost everything else. One of the benefits of being a long-term traveler and returning to prior locations.

Overall we’ll be here for 60 days, then off to Vietnam for quite some time