Trialing Life as a Bali Digital Nomad
But at age 50 and with a family?
Digital nomad - I’ll admit, it sounds cool. I always wondered what it would be like to be one, but it was always one of those far-fetched ideas that seemed like something I missed out on when I was in my 20s. Kinda like that European backpacking adventure after college that I never did.
Little did I know I was going to get thrust into being one when I seriously decided to focus on building FoFty out.
But how would it work when I’m in my fifth decade of life with a whole bunch of responsibilities I’ve accumulated over the years?
A few years ago, as we were contemplating building FoFty out, we realized that we needed to cut down on our living expenses in order to extend our runway. Living in Singapore, this was a tall order. Nevertheless, we started the process of quantifying and exploring until one day, the landlord decided to raise our rent by over 50% (!)
Yes, there was that period not too long ago when rental prices in Singapore exploded even higher, with some tenants waking up one morning only to see their rents literally double upon renewal. While ours wasn’t a doubling, the increase was large enough to expand the range of options on the table. All of a sudden, the prospect of renting in another country entered the chatroom.
But where to?
We struggled for a bit until we realized we didn’t want to move anywhere permanently, but rather, we just wanted to test the waters out. That reduced the number of options. The trial place had to be near and easily accessible. It also had to be a place that was in-line with what FoFty was about, which included spirituality. Suddenly, the options got dramatically narrow.
Bali.
Let’s get one thing out of the way: Bali is not what it used to be.
What was once a calm and serene island occupied by a population of predominantly Hindus has been transformed into a crowded tourist destination. I’m sure the movie Eat, Pray, Love contributed to the transformation, but so did Covid and the Russo-Ukranian war. I’ll never forget walking down the beach at Sanur and seeing huge billboards advertising new beachfront apartments being constructed - completely in Cyrillic.
Endless resorts, maddening traffic jams, and bars popping up left and right around the major tourist spots such as Canggu (which I have never been to for a reason) are part of daily life now. At times, I wonder if the island is Phuket.
Yet, if you go off the beaten path, you can still find glimpses of the old Bali. The old villages and communities.
We decided that Ubud - the cultural and spiritual center of the island - is where we’d try things out. Even though it did not escape the throes of over-tourism which includes the joy of maddening traffic jams at times, it still retains the culture of the island. Tourists don’t go to Ubud to party - they go there to experience Balinese culture, and maybe see a few monkeys.
In Ubud, there are ceremonies almost every day. There aren’t many bars, if any that stay open late. In fact, the only commercial franchise establishment in town is a single Starbucks - the locals voted against allowing all the others. There is no McDonalds.
Additionally, there is a plethora of wellness related establishments, from meditation to yoga centers, alongside healthy vegetarian and vegan food establishments that are not only tasty, but reasonably priced. And if you take a short drive up north, there are beautiful rice fields and mountains that really envelopes you with the island’s energy.
A seemingly great match for FoFty’s future Factory Reset program.
Bali has also become a destination for digital nomads - there is no shortage of them on the island. People with remote working gigs, and wannabe influencers hoping to become actual influencers vlogging themselves. I am one of these people, and apologetically so - to the extent that I am very respectful to the island and its people for providing me with an opportunity to the experience.
The lifestyle is vastly different than what I was used to when I was still in a corporate job. It is abetted by a service infrastructure geared to support and profit from digital nomads.
What separates me from most of them is that I’m older and have a family to take care of. That means, things such as education, transportation for more than one person, and other important factors need to be considered. I’m not some solo backpacker or traveler with a girlfriend hopping around on a whim.
I’ll be sharing more about this journey, but for starters, here’s a peek into daily life in Ubud in this YouTube episode:
Namaste 🙏