Travel Stuff – Travel Younger

Chapter 304: The Challenge of Just “Being” (from my newsletter)

Norm Bour — Sun, 05 Apr 2026 07:30:04 +0000

04.05.26

Relaxing can take a lot of effort, which is ironic in itself, but sometimes you just need to be somewhere else. A change of scenery can do wonders…

I think I’ve always been a restless guy. Easily bored. And though the term ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) was not used in my early years, I was definitely that. In second grade I recall my teacher writing on my report card, “can be distracting and not focused.” That sounds pretty much like the definition of ADD! A few years later, early in my seventh-grade social studies class, I remember the teacher saying to me, “can’t you just focus on this one thing?” and the answer appeared to be a “no,” and this was just a simple project of creating multi-level views of a map of Europe with overlays on top.

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After high school graduation I knew college was not my thing, especially since I had no focus or field of study. That didn’t stop a lot of kids from going to college, and “Liberal Arts,” was the collective bucket they slid into. And college was cheap in 1972; less than $3,000 for a state school in Pennsylvania, which was still affordable back then, based on cost of living. My mother, born in Hungary, for years offered and begged for me to go to Hungary with her to visit. See Budapest, visit her hometown of Miskolc. I never did, wasn’t that interested, and was too arrogant to “travel with Mom,” who was overbearing in my youth since I was an only child.

Sorry, Mom…

To this day one of my life’s Biggest Regrets.

Even though college didn’t call me, I tried Junior College for a semester, was bored to death, didn’t stay, so entered the workforce in the car industry, which is where I stayed until August of 1975, when I was 21 years old. My restlessness was hitting its peak, so when my cousin Michael, same age as me, invited me to visit him in California; I said yes.

The plan was to drive 3000 miles cross country by myself, and fortunately I had a nice newer car, and felt that it would be a safe trip. And fun. I was pretty sheltered until then, so driving WEST of Pennsylvania for the first time opened up new horizons. I had never camped, never set up a tent, cooked on a portable stove, or any of those fun things that many kids do with their parents. This was all new to me—and I loved it. As an only child I had no problem being alone for days on end, and I had all those hours each day in my car, all that time, so what else was there to do, but think.

Yellowstone. Cold. Pristine, Beautiful. 1975

And that was one of the first times I had serious conversations with me about what I wanted to do with my life.

I loved California and ended up staying for a year, worked in a ski town, then drove cross country again, to Florida, where I stayed for two years, then moved to Canada for the summer with my (then) Canadian love. In 1977 I drove back again to California via the TransCanada Highway, and lived there for forty years.

Fast forward fifty years, uh, that’s half a century! and here we are. Today. Wherever that is at any given time, but currently, for me, here in Southeast Asia.

As a retired guy, I theoretically have “all the time in the world,” but sometimes it’s hard to fill that space, and I find that sometimes it’s hard just BEING. Not doing, not planning; just doing. Nothing.

The idea for this stream of consciousness came about a few weeks ago while Kat and I were in Sanur, Bali. Like I’m wont to do, I decided to scout out some other places to visit or live aside from Sanur, and took a few days to visit the much smaller towns of Sidemen and Candidasa.

Sidemen was a small village, in the hills, and heard it represented the way Bali used to be, since it had few tourist attractions aside from rice fields, some waterfalls, and places to hike. The 90-minute ride was surprisingly pleasant, and as I approached my homestay (hotel) down this gravel driveway, I recognized that I was in a much less civilized and commercialized part of the island. I dropped off my bags and went off to explore the town. And I found no “town” to speak off. There was a main road, another road that intersected it, and that was “downtown.” That’s it. No McDonalds, no restaurants to speak of, not much of anything to interest me. I Googled restaurant selections and found a great one on the edge of a rice field and had a delicious dinner for just a few bucks. I had a tentative list of “things to do,” and that would require a scooter since nothing was close, so planned that for the following day.

The next morning I enjoyed a breakfast on my patio, and since it was overcast with a chance of rain, I thought it wise to postpone the scooter since I don’t enjoy getting caught in the rain.

How could you NOT stop, and just…be?

I started my walk with no specific destination and sauntered down the street. I found this beautiful bridge with a river just as pretty, quite pristine, and just enjoyed that for a few minutes. I continued on and found a really cute little hotel on that river, so wandered into the back yard where there was a deck overlooking the water. A few feet away was another view area, covered from the sun, and there was not a soul there, so I stopped, grabbed a comfy chair, and just sat watching the water. And I sat there for almost an hour, mesmerized, hypnotized, and reflecting on HOW I got there, at that time and space. And I had an abundance of Gratitude, to be able to DO those things I never even dreamed of in my youth. Living in Bali?? NOT on MY radar!!

I inquired about the rooms and took a peek, and they were only about $20 night, so saved it in my Maps, and made a point to return sometime in the future. I walked on and came to one of the few attractions IN Sidemen; their famous rice terrace. For $1.50 admission I decided to go in, and I just followed the path as it skirted the perimeter of the fields. I’ve been through rice fields before, like them, and this was especially beautiful. Between the overcast skies that let out a few little droplets, and warm sun, the wind never stopped blowing and I walked for an hour. And it was heavenly. Imagine my surprise when I came upon a little waterfall flowing into the irrigation canal, so stopped for that picture worthy moment, and then around the next corner was a little stand, run by a solitary woman selling coconuts. Coconuts are incredibly healthy, especially when you’re dehydrated, so how could I not support this local woman? Once again I had to stop and just be. Sitting in the middle of a rice plantation in Bali, once again I drifted off into Lala land. Here I was in Bali for the third time in two years. How many people can say that??

The path continued, a few raindrops fell off and on, but nothing to make this saunter through my life troublesome. Finally I came to the end and found a little warung, which is Indonesian for “café,” a place to grab some food or a drink. It started to drizzle more heavily so I grabbed a stool and just sat, mesmerized by the rain droplets falling onto the rice field paddies. Three times over a few hours I had reflected upon my life and how I got there. So, is that doing “nothing?” or is this something we don’t do often enough?

This little side trip taught me a pretty valuable lesson, a simple as it was. So much of our lives– so much of my life—has been spent going and doing, and sometimes we forget to just stop all that bullshit and just be. So this day which had no specific plan or agenda, ended up being a magical one.

No matter where you are in life–physically, spiritually, mentally, or emotionally– I think it’s healthy to occasionally just stop and do nothing. Reflect on WHERE you are, what you’re doing, and ask yourself, “Is this what I want from life?” Some of us have less time left on our clocks that others, but maybe my experience will give you pause and allow you to just—

Be.

If only for a minute.

Chapter 303: Road Trip part III: Nha Trang

Norm Bour — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 06:58:21 +0000

04.02.26

I offered a brief preview on my last post, but here’s where the rubber meets the road…

As I mentioned…I guess the one word I use to describe Nha Trang, Vietnam, is: Interesting. And that one word can have so many connotations, some good, some not so good, but overall I enjoyed Nha Trang, but it did not displace Da Nang as being the Top Dog of places to stay/ visit in the country for us. First, the train ride.

The 4.5-hour train ride from Quy Nhon was quite pleasant, and the “soft seat” I had was adequate for that length trip. Nice views from both sides, and the train station in Nha Trang is just a few blocks from the beach, so if you landed there from the train without a plan, you could just walk down to the beach and start hunting for rooms. I actually booked a hostel before I got there, and for $7.00 night in a 4-room dorm, it was perfect for what I wanted.

One of my biggest issues of Quy Nhon was the limited selection of “western food” options, but in Nha Trang, that was NOT a problem! Every ethnicity was there, from Italian to burgers; from Armenian to Greek, and I was shocked at something I was not prepared for. There is a HUGE, and I mean huge, disproportion of Russians in the city. I felt like I made a wrong turn and ended up in Moscow, and the majority of the signage was in Russian along with Vietnamese, and English was third on the list. When I did hear English spoken on the street, most of it was the Queen’s English, and there were far more Brits and Aussies than Americans. Most of them were under 30, or even mid-twenties, and it seems that THIS is the party spot for the young Brits. Historical note: The Russians used to have a military base there during the cold war, and many Russians stayed after that ended. So their history goes back a long way, and from Russia they offer almost a dozen direct flights into Nha Trang.

I was also shocked at how many businesses did NOT accept credit cards, and it seems to be a very “cash only” city, surprising with a town of half a million people (10th largest in the country). In Bali they took credit cards almost everywhere, but charged a 3% premium: in Vietnam they’re going 5%. Ouch! But the town itself was quite lovely, pretty clean, with a gorgeous—and very long—beach, with nice sand. There were at least two malls, another surprise, even movie theaters, a rarity so far. Those were the goods, but there was some not so good, too.

The Friendliness—or Lack of—Factor. The merchants were noticeably unfriendly in my brief three days there, which was disappointing considering it is such a tourism heavy town. We definitely got spoiled in Bali, and that paradise may be pulling us back harder than we expected. I also ran into some issues renting a scooter, and two shops were VERY particular about what is known as the “International Driving Permit” (IDP). I’ll not dive in the particulars, but the IDP is issued from the country where your driver’s license originates and verifies its validity. But there are TWO types, each ratified in different years, The US IDP is NOT, I repeat, NOT recognized in Vietnam, and without it you (theoretically) cannot rent anything larger than 150 cc. BOO. One of the vendors said that the fine to the rider who gets caught is steep, but the fine to THEM is even worse, about $350 USD, so they don’t want to risk it.

I also learned a valuable lesson about carrying my passport when I go on these side trips, since I usually DO NOT. My hostel wanted to see a copy of my entry visa AND the passport page that was stamped, which I did not have. In over eight years of travel, we have not had that issue, but we have noticed that Vietnam DOES have a militant, rules heavy side. I ended up doing a video call with Kat who shared it with the front desk and got me in.

Those are all mechanics and I hope might offer some insight, along with this; my 10-hour train ride back to Da Nang on the Sleeper train. I was not able to book a lower bunk, but I was OK with being on top. I’m not the agile monkey I once was, but I highly recommend the Vietnam train over the buses. Get the lower bunk, and there are several online sites you can do that with

Chapter 302: Road trip #2: Nha Trang, Vietnam, But first, there’s my first train ride in Vietnam…

Norm Bour — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 03:16:47 +0000

03.29.26

So what happened after Quy Nhon, Norm?

Well, funny you should ask, and to kind of wrap up my review of that town, as I said, for US it’s not quite “ready for prime time” yet, but it has a lot of potential. So I figured since I’m this close to the city of Nha Trang, another city on the “check it out” list, that’s where I went. And since the six-hour bus ride down TO Quy Nhon was fresh in my mind, I didn’t want to do that again, at least right now, so opted for the train. And I have to say, having ACCESS to a train as an option IS a nice treat.

The price of the 4–5-hour train ride was all of about $14, and as I scouted around for a room in Nha Trang, I came across the FUSE hostel, which I was familiar with it since we had one in Hoi An, and it looked like a pretty cool place to stay. I usually get private rooms to myself, but since I could get a bed in a four-bed dorm, I figured I could handle that for a few nights. At least we had our own bath, which is convenient, and it was just a 10-minute walk to the beach. Oh, and the price was $7 a night.

I booked the train ticket, got to the station, which was MUCH nicer than I expected, and looked new. I admit, I was a bit confused trying to read a Vietnamese train schedule, which was more of a learning experience and a confirmation that I WAS at the right station. I actually did a one-minute video that might be helpful if you plan to use a Vietnamese train. There are several different options for seating:

> Hard seat

> Soft seat

> Sleeper beds for 4

> And sleeper beds for 6

For a four-hour ride I didn’t see the need for a sleeper bed, so opted for the soft seat, which was actually pretty nice. The seat was comfy, it reclined, and the most important thing missing from the BUS was plentiful: bathrooms. There were several there, most were full baths, but one had only a squatty toilet, which is doable in an emergency. The ride was comfortable, nice views along the way, and they offered different refreshments on the train. I passed on that since I had a decent meal beforehand and looked forward to having a more conventional meal when I got to my room. No question, this train couldn’t compare to a European one in Italy, Spain, or most of Europe, but knowing that you can cover almost 1100 miles from Hanoi to Ho Chih Minh city is a HUGE benefit in Vietnam. By the way, if you did that ENTIRE ride, it would take 31-35 hours, so keep that in mind if you consider such a thing. Kat and I have talked about training from Da Nang to Hanoi, which is just under 500 miles, and takes 15-17 hours. Definitely a sleeper car!!

My time in Nha Trang will be a whole new post since there’s a lot to share, but I can say that SO FAR, of all the places we’ve checked out as far as settling down spots in Vietnam, Da Nang is still Numero uno. Finding that elusive Goldilock’s Zone—and I know most of you know what I’m talking about—is really hard and time consuming. Where is not too hot? Too cold? Too big, or small; too this or that? Goldilocks had to muddle through only three beds to find the one that was “just right,” but finding a place to LIVE is much more difficult. We went through the same process in the Balkans, and concluded that Albania, specifically Tirana, is OUR sweet spot. At least in the non-winter months. The low winter temps were the deal killers for us. But ASIA has many more options to choose from—even just in Vietnam—but half the fun is the searching!

Chapter 301: Road trip: Quy Nhon, Vietnam

Norm Bour — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 03:09:26 +0000

03.27.26

We find that sometimes when we get to a new location, we put together a list of places we want to go for fun or possibly other places to stay or to live, and invariably we think we have plenty of time– until we don’t! It seems the time goes by, and many times we get to the end of our stay and recognize that we did not do everything that we had planned. Well not this time!

A short while back I tapped into my network of fellow Nomads and AI and asked about places in Vietnam that were coastal, midsize, non coral beaches, and mild surf. I got about a half a dozen suggestions, and decided to start my search. Since I am the Scout, I am always looking for places that I think Kathleen would like, and sometimes it is quite obvious that it’s a thumbs down, sometimes it’s a big high five, and many times it’s in between.

I started with the closest one to Da Nang, called Quy Nhon, but even so, that is a 6-hour overnight bus trip, but it’s not as bad as it sounds … they have sleeper buses in Vietnam that are pretty darn nice. The VIP model only has 22 seats, reclining beds, USB jacks, and privacy curtains. When it leaves at 10:00 at night, it gets in early morning, so the whole next day is available.

But what sounded like a good idea, efficient and quick, in hindsight, was challenging. As comfortable as my pod was, and it really was, it was custom-made for a 67-in tall frame, but there was an awful lot of lateral movement along the way. That meant not a solid night’s sleep, at least not for me. We made two pit stops literally in the middle of nowhere, and arrived at 0300 the following morning. I must admit that is an unsettling feeling, getting off a bus in a strange town in the middle of the night with totally empty streets except for a bunch of taxi drivers plugging for a ride. Fortunately I checked the map beforehand and saw that I was just a few blocks from the beach, so thank God for Google maps. I headed that direction and started investigating possible rooms. I found lots of options, and booked a room for that night for all of $11 USD, which is even cheap by Vietnam standards. For the next several hours I hung out at the beach, laid down, grab maybe a few winks, and already at that time there were people at the beach, and in the water! No question, the Vietnamese people love the water and they come down very, very early to exercise, swim, and just hang out.

You have to love the internet and AI, and the amazing access we have to information at our fingertips. During my downtime I started looking into things to do while I was in town, places to go, and recognized that I would probably need a scooter since some of the places where 30 minutes or so outside of town. One of the things that Quy Nhon is known for is an amazing Beach called Ky co, which they claim is the Maldives of Vietnam. I also asked the host of the room where I stayed if I could at least drop off my bag, and just before 6:00 a.m. I did that, so that left me much lighter to trek around town. I found a little cafe that was highly rated and had some breakfast, and by 9:00 I was on two wheels heading to the beach.

I don’t you use the word stunning very often, but Ky co beach was incredibly stunning! It was a bit pricey to get in at about $7, and you had to leave the main road and wind around about two miles until you got to a shuttle stop. There you left your vehicle, and they shuttled you down to the bottom of the hill and the beach. And rightfully so, since it’s very steep, and could be tricky for automobiles and bikes!

Smooth white sand, and cliffs on both sides of the bay made this extraordinarily inviting! There were a handful of restaurants down there in different price ranges, plus hammocks to relax on. I was there for about an hour, tried to catch a few winks of sleep, and then left to go to the next place that people said I should go: Eo Gio, which means “Windy Strait,” and it’s actually a little village just a few miles from that beach with a large mountain which generates a lot of wind. It didn’t that day that I was there, but it was a very peaceful town, so I sat and had some fresh coconut and just enjoyed the view and the quiet.

I had no specific time table as to how long I would stay in town, but I recognized that I would need a second day so contacted the host of the room and booked a second night. The city of Quy Nhon is truly beautiful, and it has something that many towns in Vietnam don’t have: beautiful open air parks. I saw several of them, plus it has one of the most pristine beaches I have ever seen that goes on about 4 miles. What was notably missing was restaurants or bars along the beach, just a lot of beautiful public artwork and people hanging out. There was another significant distinction about this town, and that was the traffic. Or the lack of it! Many Vietnamese cities are challenging to walk in, and certainly difficult to ride a scooter in, but traffic was not an issue at all, and even crossing the street was effortless without putting your life in danger.

I looked into potential residences for long-term stays, plus for some variety in restaurants. Unfortunately there was not a lot of Western type restaurants in the town, and that’s mostly because it is not that well known to visitors. The tagline for the city is, “Da Nang 10 years ago,” and I think that’s true. I think I can concluded that as much as I would love to love the town, it will take another handful of years before it feels comfortable for us to live in. It sounds a little bit weird to say, but as much as I love the Vietnamese people and culture, it can get a little overwhelming.

So my final decision here: no thumbs up or down, just sideways, since it is a gorgeous town to visit, and probably stay for a short visit, but not for a month or more

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.