Back in 2014 my family took me to Bali. It was a short stay at a holiday resort, out by a swimming beach and a promenade along the shore. My memory isn’t super sharp about the trip, but I remember lots of swimming, snorkeling, and a half-hearted excursion to the mountain Batur. My mom got heat stroke and my dad forgot the PIN code to his credit card, which to this day he still can’t remember.

I’m now back on Bali. From what the locals tell me, even if I could remember the island, I probably wouldn’t recognize it. Bali has gone from a small, slightly wild, slightly unknown holiday island, to a modern, optimized tourist attraction. It’s lovely here though, and I can well understand why people want to move here.

Arrival

My dear friend Eline gave me a really warm welcome when I arrived. Among many other things, she made sure to get me set up at a good hostel and introduced me to a bunch of friends. It’s a social hostel, where both the guests and the staff are super nice to hang out with.

Nyaman hostel has a lot in common with Note hostel in Da Lat. The vibe is warm, open, and helpful. There’s a crew of semi-regular guests who have stayed at the hostel multiple times and for longer stretches. Eline is one of them. The local staff have turned into friendships that go beyond just staying at a hostel, but also sharing hobbies, hanging out in their free time, going out into town together, and a bit of romance. It does an incredible amount for the hostel experience, since many of the guests treat it like a home rather than a hotel.

Canggu

Canggu is an international town, with lots of options for those staying on the island longer and wanting to party in the evenings. The Indonesian culture in the area is very diluted. Most of it is Western-inspired and completely built up. The road network is under strain and not at all sized for the number of people. The island is primarily rock formed by a lot of volcanic activity underground. The further inland on the island you go, the more battered and hilly the roads become. Several times I’ve walked over what I thought was a bridge over a small stream, only to look down and see a drop of many meters.

Even more than in Vietnam and Cambodia, I’m the only pedestrian. Anything more than 500 meters away, you call a Grab scooter for. Partly because it’s super hot outside, partly because it’s dangerous to walk around due to the intense and dense traffic, and partly because it costs 5 kr per ride. There are also some side streets that are a couple of meters wide with a constant stream of scooters going both ways. It’s technically not forbidden to walk there as a pedestrian, but it’s not fun, not for me and not for the scooters.

Canggu has a lot of surfers. There’s a strong current along the coast, which makes for a lot of waves but less boat fun. All along the beach there are shops with surf gear and drinks. From sunrise to sunset there are people in the water surfing. If the water is calm, there’s someone out learning. If the waves are high, there are hundreds of surfers out there. It’s not just along the beach. Well up into town, surf gear shops and surf-themed restaurants aren’t far apart.

Daus from our hostel is a musician and plays in a band, so I’ve now been out several times to hear him play in bars and clubs. A typical evening is when we take a group out to a bar, listen to live music, and hang out. Some have a bit to drink, but there are several in the group who don’t drink alcohol. There’s chatting and singing along to the songs. It’s typically classic southern rock and roll that gets played, like House of the Rising Sun and Sweet Home Alabama. The live musician usually stops around 11 pm, when the nightclub kicks off with a DJ and dance floor music. That’s also where we split off from some who stay and party, while I slip back and sleep.

Daily life

Several people from the hostel belong to a gym. I’ve joined in, so now I lift a couple of times a week. Actually, over the last few months I’ve run a little training routine while traveling around, in the form of daily push-ups, pull-ups, and planks. A month ago I did my first full pull-up, which was a fairly big achievement for me personally.

I’m far from the only one training in Canggu. There’s a ton of people sitting in the gyms. People on Bali care a lot about their bodies. From well-trained, lean, and muscular physiques, to body tattoos, piercings, hair, and nails. People want to look good for the parties and for Instagram.

For many in the friend group, there’s an everyday routine here on Bali. Not necessarily because they work, but they’ve been here a long time, and across several stints. They have a broad network here, and the days go by in good company. I benefit from their company and have made some good friends. The days roll by in a happy tropical paradise bubble. Friends, warmth, water, and the tropics mixed with cheap food, drinks, and lodging is a strong combination. If your wish in life is low stress and semi-resort living, then Bali is where you need to go.

For me it’s definitely a comfortable place to be. Earlier in my life I chased convenience and options close to home. It suited my temperament well back when I worked full-time, came home from work, and just needed to decompress.

That’s not where I am right now though, and if I succeed with my little side projects, it’s not the everyday life I want to go back to either. That’s why Bali is lovely, and if I’d come here a year ago, I would have dreamed of coming back and living here for a long time. But I’m in a different place now, more unsettled, but also less pressured and stressed.

Eline works remotely on weekdays, so the weekends are for outings. The first one went to Ubud. Next weekend it’s Uluwatu with the whole friend group, where there’s live music on the agenda.

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