I Moved to Bali and Lived With Local Community For A Year — Here’s How It Went
Hi, Friends. I need to give a disclaimer upfront, this will be my very FIRST ever published article so please bear with me and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
The reason why I wrote this is simply to share my personal experience living with the local community in Ubud, Bali, for almost a year.
To give context, I have worked as an employee for Qasir.id for the last 2,5 years, and for the past year, I’ve been living in Kelabangmoding, Tegallalang, Bali. Where is it to be exact? I know Guys, I also never heard of that area before, it’s a small village north of Ubud (5 km from central downtown) which is geographically classified as Tegallalang area but really really really close to Ubud, so we can consider it as a part of it and will tell you why I ended up here.
How It Started
I can say that I’m an old soul. I love to contemplate and get enlightenment while being alone and enjoy solo traveling that much.
Back in 2017, I went to Ubud for a couple of weeks and somewhat threw out my inner voice to the universe, “Wow, it would be great to be able to live and work productively from here.”
Fast forward to 2020, Qasir implemented a permanent WFH policy due to the pandemic breakout. So after doing some research and proper planning, I decided to move in early 2021, putting my inner voice into reality.
Why Kelabangmoding? I found the place, Alus Cottage, on a Facebook page among other available options. It’s a small private compound consisting of 5 spacious cottages owned by a very heart-warming Balinese family. Visited the place in August 2020 when I was surveying several other options and somewhat I felt positive vibes towards the environment and the family, so this time I let my gut feeling take the decision.
The perks of living with the local community
So after living with them for almost a year, which now I consider as my second family, there are several perks of living with the local community while doing WFH in Ubud.
Nature
One of the reasons people go to Bali is the access to nature. You can find lots of white-sand beaches (some are hidden gems which I enjoy more), waterfalls, and rice fields. So we can choose to work in an affordable small coffee shop with a greenish rice field landscape view and it definitely boosts productivity. Other than that, those beautiful beaches and waterfalls are only an hour's ride distance.
Culture
This one is surely rare to find elsewhere. I must say Balinese have a very high appreciation of their culture and preserve it well throughout time. Living in a village helps me a lot to understand the roots and be a part of the cultural practices (Melukat, Odalan, Barongan).
Among many others, I enjoy Melukat the most. Melukat is usually done in the spring such as in the water fountain (Pancoran), on the beach (Segara), holy spring or river, and at the place of worship at home. It is part of the execution of the Manusa Yadnya ceremony, which has the purpose to cleanse and purify the person inward and inner. Melukat comes from the word “lukat” in Kawi-Bali means cleaning and purifying. Implementing the Melukat ritual is one of the efforts to cleanse and purify our body, mind, and soul in order to get closer to God.
Modesty
Working in a tech startup with a high-speed pace and coming from urban living backgrounds, sometimes I forget the beauty of simplicity. Living with the local community, especially during the hard times throughout the pandemic, made me realize that happiness can come from only sitting together drinking mom-made coffee with local snacks, laughing together while plowing the paddy field, and discussing life without smartphone interruption.
During the weekend we held creativity classes for kids in the neighborhood to give them room to play, create art projects, and recycle plastic bottles as toys. A simple activity but full of pure joy, genuine laughter, and happiness.
Solidarity
Apart from the pros and cons, in contrast with an urban lifestyle, I feel that local communities appreciate the solidarity and collective effort more than those who live in big cities and it teaches me more about humility and unity in diversity, definitely local wisdom we rarely see nowadays. For example, we decided to set up a small-scale permaculture garden, consisting of daily consumable vegetables and flowers, on top of an area of idle land owned by the landlord, named Alus Garden.
Not only the whole family but also close neighbors involved in the process did the planting and building small Kubu/gubuk at the side of it. It’s not their belonging yet they were happy to help and excited to see it works, enjoying the process together without wanting anything in return.
What I Learned Here
So those are the perks that I can share with you based on what I experienced. Now for the grand finale, the learnings part :
1. Work-life balance — Productivity
I found working in a high paced environment and in full WFH mode sometimes gives you anxiety and stress, so to be surrounded by nature in between work surely boosts your productivity and balances the non-work-related aspect of your life.
2. Communal issue
Pandemic hits big time on the Bali economy which relies heavily on tourism, especially north and east area (Ubud, Tegallalang, Karangasem, Buleleng, Kintamani, etc) because tourist tends to be concentrated on central of Bali (Denpasar, Sanur, Canggu, Nusa Dua, Uluwatu). I can say that the impact was so devastating and truly heartbreaking to see several famous areas back then (Legian, Kuta beach, Seminyak) were no more than an empty street with closed stores along the pavement during daytime.
Without having a proper and stable income, Balinese families need to sustain not only themselves but also the cultural/religious activities that cost them significantly. Apart from selling their assets (land, gold, vehicle, and cattle), borrowing cash is one of the solutions but the problem is the accessibility of finding legit and affordable non-collateral consumer loans. So the available option is to borrow from LPD (Lembaga Perkreditan Desa) and Koperasi whereas the savings and transaction history are the collateral with a community-based approach.
But it doesn’t solve the main problem and eventually will lead to compounding interest of debt because the economic growth, especially in Bali, is not as stable and as increasing as the household debt, so from my personal point of view government will play a major role here, not only to incentivize tourism activity towards Bali but also on the debt ratio of the household especially those who live in a remote area.
3. Social safety net
As we can see throughout the year, domestic tourists are the beacon of hope for Bali. They are the ones who sustain the economy in the midst of a pandemic, especially in the third quarter onwards. It gives Balinese the opportunity to recognize the domestic market as the main source of income at least for a couple of years ahead, shifting their interest from foreigner-centric tourism.
So there you go, my thought and point of view on living with the local community during the pandemic. These are based on my personal experiences which are very subjective, however, I hope it gives you a glimpse of what it feels like to live and work remotely in Bali.
I also encourage you to explore and spend more on the local brands and community while you are on traveling mode because it will mean so much for them as we are the beacon of hope for those who live in a remote area.
Let’s choose to be the social safety net for others while enjoying mother nature together. Stay blessed and cheers!
