Once Upon a Time in Bali

I've created this blog as a resting place for updates on happenings since I moved to Bali. I hope you don't find it inconvenient but it makes my life a lot easier as answering update questions and remembering who I have and who I haven't told what keeps me confused ! LOL This way the whole story will emerge in chronological order with comments and photos. I hope you will enjoy.

I'll apologize in advance for being redundant but some of you know more history than others so pick up wherever we left off and the it from there.

The Dream of Bali -

It began like all stories,"Once upon a time". In 1990 I was introduced to Bali being with San Diego women's apparel manufacturer. When batik came into fashion it was decided to set up a division is Bali. As GM it was my job to set up overall operations and communications. I traveled there several times over the next 2 years and in 1993 my wife and I moved to Dallas to started our own line of women's active wear to be manufactured in Bali. We traveled to Bali 3-4 times a years, usually staying for 3 weeks. During our visits our free time was captivated by the island, the culture and (drum roll) the Dutch colonial antique furniture and collectibles we saw in both formal and informal shops. When I say informal I mean trucks offloaded onto the ground in a field where they had thrown up a tin roofed gazebo. When it rain you were literally walking in a wet field as the make shift shelter was never big enough to cover everything. That said, it was great fun rummaging through it all. Long story short we decided in mid 1995 to open a retail store in Dallas named The Barking Frog offering furniture, crafts, jewelry and artifacts from Bali and Indonesia at large. We opened December 5th 1995 and all went well and by 1998 we were also supplying containers to 2 stores in California. Around that time I suggested to Chantelle that we sell the store and move to Bali an export Clothing, antiques, jewelry or a myriad of products we could find or produce. She shared that while she loved Bali she didn't know if she wanted to live there, so we forged ahead bouncing back and forth buying and exporting furniture, jewelry, masks, wood crafts, Chinese opium beds and many more curious treasures until we got pregnant in January1999.With that the idea of ever moving was let go as even I wasn't ready to raise a child in Bali. Chantelle stopped traveling to Bali once pregnant and so I traveled alone on those buying trips spending 3-4 months a year in Bali. Bella 1st birthday was 2001 and I was in Bali telling myself that she was too young to know the difference and forgave myself for not being there. Fast forward to her 2nd birthday and again I was in Bali retelling my same story to myself. On the flight home the trip I decided I didn't want to be that dad and upon arrival I announced that we were going to sell the store, for that very reason. it was bitter sweet as we loved the store and it was a wonderful workplace. But I have never regretted the decision and we drove Bella to school until she got her car. We are very close and might not be had I not made the decision I did. So life went on and the sad part of the story is that when Bella was 7 we divorced and shared custody of Bella. What that did was confront me with Wow - so now what are you going to do with the rest of your life ? The answer came immediately - You could move to Bali ? followed by you will just have to wait until Bella is out of school. Honestly I was thinking high school at the time. So with intention set I moved forward with that goal in mind. After a coup of years and some dating I realized I wanted a partner in life and decided it better I find an Indonesian as the possibility of them not wanting to live in Bali was less. So I got online and after a year I met Shinta Umawati an Indonesian living in Batam which is in Indonesia but very close to Singapore, about a 2 1/2 hour flight from Bali. She was in the same boat as me, divorced raising 2 daughters, one older and one younger than Bella and had been on her on with them for 8 years when we met. Long story short that was 14 years ago and we are happily together and both grateful for our life together here as of October 2023.

During Shinta's and my years of being online every morning and every evening we planned our future while co-parenting her kids as their dad had been out of the picture since one was 5 years old and the other 5 months. It's been an honor to take on the role of Dad for them. An interesting note is that if not for the exact time difference between Bali and Dallas our relationship could have never happened. The 13 hour time difference meant my morning was her evening and visa-versa, so it worked. If you try that with a 5-9 hours difference and it won't work.

So time moved on, life kept happening and Bella graduated high school and left for college at there University of Arkansas and life's demands for me kept me in Dallas postponing my plans to move. 3 years into college I could see an exit plan and set my plan to move after graduation which happened in May of 2022. Bella had an extended holiday right after college returning to Dallas the day before my retirement party July 20. I'm not sure anyone thinks much about those until they happen and I can tell you it was an overwhelming honor. 3 months later I boarded the to become an expat relocating to Bali.

Mind you all of time I am doing this is Dallas Shinta is doing the same in Batam. We remodeled the house there in preparation to sell it, gave belongings to friends and family and made all these decision about what to take to Bali. So for Shinta is was the same big move to Bali for her having lived in Batam for 21 years. Of course we had traveled to Bali together name times over the years but moving was a different thing.

Arrived in Bali

Meet Ari - Ari was our agent in Bali for 12 years and we became like brothers. We brought him to the states many times where we traveled to San Diego, Las Vegas, Santa Fe, Tijuana and Mexico City, usually at Christmas as being Balinese Hindu it was not celebrated in Bali. He has 2 brothers and 2 sisters and they are all our Bali family. Over 34 years I have watched them marry, have children and those children have children so there are many Bali-neices and nephews around. So Ari's family down line count from brother and sister is 36, plus Ari's Mom is still around at 84. Meet Ari and my daughter Bella - trust me this photo captures them perfectly.

So upon arrival we were staying with another brother in the family Gungde who had worked with us along with Ari in the export business, and his wife Ayu in the main city of Bali, Denpasar. We needed to be in the city as opposed to where we were building in order to find, learn and decide what building materials we wanted from the house. It's a bit more tedious to find and shop here as most business tend to be smaller and more specialized. So we stayed in the city the first year and Gungde, Shinta and I explored all the tile stores, appliances, window coverings, hardware, etc etc. etc. noting all those things we found and wanted to remember where to get when the time came. Meet Gungde -

Note - That is a horizontal cross section of a tree root. You can see the trunk there. Zoom in on that and imagine a it finished on a wall.

So now you get to meet Shinta. You've hear some of her story but it is suffice to say - meet an amazing woman who lives in her garden but is always ready and wanting at a moment notice to take off an adventure be it big or small. This is -

Shinta with daughters DD & DC.

Glamour Shot LOL!

New Years with Bella's Godparents 2023 Bangkok

The Yellow Chair restaurant, China Town Singapore

Temple visit Bali

Shinta with Luwak

Shinta with Parrot

Shinta with a piglet

Shinta with a puppy

Shinta with Bunny

Shinta with Bella going to Ari's daughters wedding

So now you should have a pretty good idea of who Shinta is and before I get accused of having a child bride Shinta is 50 with daughters 23 & 29. Bella is 24 as of 2024.

So know that you have the how I came to be here and who the main players are here I'll introduce you to Bali.

We had actually closed on the property before we moved having found it on an earlier trip. Here is proud and excited Shinta signing the papers.

As Balinese tradition dictates you must have a ceremony before disturbing the land so a small group of friends the neighbor and our builder joined us and the priest for the affair which takes place on the property which at the time was an unwkable bamboo forest made very messy by the recent land survey we had done. The ceremony is short and in essence asks and advises the spirits that live on the land that we have only good intentions and that we will build a home and asks their blessing and offer our promise to respect them and the land while introducing ourselves. We are mere observers as the priest performs this ceremony and speaks on our behalf. Here are some photos from that day.

I love the Bali traditions and find their ceremonies a reminder and opportunity to reflect on being observant and respectful of culture, spirits and how we live our own lives. The Balinese have the rare habit of living their culture of Balinese Hinduism which while being a religion is more about community and blessing than anything. It binds the people together here and maintains the Balinese culture, its' people and their island as one.

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Disturbing the Land

To begin you must know that the building site was 115m/ 125 yards from the main road requiring we build a road to the property. The great things about that is that the road is private. So the land we acquired was fairly square with a 4m/ 4.8 yard wide strip from one corner out to the main road. So the construction began with the road.

We knew the land had 3 levels head down the hill to the river and the bottom of the valley. The property ran to the edge of the valley drop off which is fairly severe, not walkable. Once they had cleared the bamboo it was bare land and revealed the level plus a drop of on the one side. We knew these were there but to see the degree, we could not until it was cleared. Here is what the property look liked after clearing.

At this point we are a bit freaked out as it look huge and these photos don't even show the lower 3rd level. That said, the property is 17 are ( pronounced are'-ah) equalling 40% of an acre. So for someone from Texas that is not huge. But it looks huge here. Of course once the house is built and the landscaping done it will not look so big, I think ???🙀

So with road it, land cleared it is time to build the house. The house design I created along with Shinta's opinions and corrections of course. Actually her critiques were quite good throughout. I told you she was amazing! She went to trade school to be an electrician but ultimately found herself in Batam via a cousin waitressing at one of the many clubs in Batam> Her cousin who was there told her it paid much better than electrician work. Batam is a 1 hour ferry ride from Singapore and many come for holidays and getaways from Singapore and Malaysia taking advantage of the lower costs and sadly, in many cases to be discreet. She went there to work when the husband walked to provide for her daughters and her Mom. She left her children with her Mom and sent money back to support them for 3 years before saving enough to have a place of her own and bring them to Batam. We met after she had been there 8 years. Anyway - this house planning happened over at least 10 years. In retrospect there were 2 basic designs and the one we decided on evolved many times since. What I found interesting is that given enough like we had, I look back and every change we made from the original did improve the design. so it begs the question if you made very many improvements, how bad was the original ! LOL There is another story about this house I will share. The basic design of this I stole from a friends house in Dallas on Shorecrest for you Dallasites. The 1970's house was designed by David George an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright in 1947. We were fortunate to meet him there as our friends invited us to a dinner at their home and also invited David and his wife. You can imagine it was a fascinating evening. The house was unique in that the walk in was impressive in design and spacious but once inside for awhile I realized while not small, the house seemed a lot bigger than it actually was. I remember being fascinated by that and paid close attention to how the spaciousness was being created. I carried that with me and used it as the core design of the house we are building. The main design incorporates a wide hallway that is open on one side stepping down into the main living area. It employs beams that lower the ceiling creating more intimate space. so I took those 2 elements and designed the house around it. I won't you to know before you see the design that building in Bali is exponentially cheaper than Dallas and cost of housing in Texas is low compared to much of the country. Also we leased the land. While that is a foreign concept in the US it is quite common here and something I agree with for the Balinese people. Land here is mostly heritage, meaning passed down form father to son forever, so selling your sons land is not done if it can avoided. That said leasing is exponentially cheaper than buying and out lease is for 30 years with a 30 years option to renew. Renewal price will be based upon undeveloped land lease averages when the 30 year lease is up. When that time arrives I'll be dead or as good as dead and Shinta will we 79 years old. If she chooses to stay she will although that will probably be something she works out with our 3 kids as they will inherit the lease and the home should they choose to retain it. Keep in mind that in 30 years the kids will be 53 to 59 years old. I explain this here as when I tell people we leased the land for 30 years they get very confused buy the concept and seemingly poor investment what about your kids, etc. I will share with you that we leased the 17.5 are for 600,000 Rp per are per year for 30 years. 600,000 Rp = $40 x 17.5 are x 30 years = $21,000 USD. So do not look at the house and land and think we are wealthy. Another reason the house is the size that it is is for resale value. The house fits the land and for people wanting to have a villa here this design checks off all the boxes. The question that comes up next is are you going to sell it? who knows we may, depends on the price. If Shinta's Mom decides to move to Bandung rather than to Bali then we will have too much house for the 2 of us, so it is definitely a possibility. The next question that comes up is "can you sell it if you are just leasing the land", the answer is yes and the 30 years option goes with it and it is quit common here.

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The Design

4 bedroom / 4 1/2 bath / 1 Living/ 1 Den / 1 Dining/ indoor and outdoor kitchen / 2 car covered carport /

In-ground hot tub / x-large covered terrace

The road enters at the garage corner so that is where the building began. There was a pretty deep drop off there thus the retaining wall you see in the photos below and the placement of the storeroom/ deck.

Parking area / garage & outdoor kitchen foundation