In some countries, higher expenses would mean higher quality of life but what if there are countries with lower expenses but higher quality of life? That’s something I’ve been ruminating about recently. Bali, though occupying a small part of Indonesia, is a prime example of quality. Life here is all about balance. You can work, do any sport, be in nature, and have a fairly good social life even as introverts. For many, this is tempting and luring them to move to Bali. Even me, who wouldn’t want that?
Everything is reasonable in Bali and if you make well-enough salary, life in Bali is fairly sustainable. Living here for just a couple of days, I notice the huge difference between the island and Yogyakarta, where I spent most of my teenage and early 20’s. In Yogyakarta, many people say it is cheap but cheap comes with lower quality of life. As someone who was surviving on less than 70$/month, Yogyakarta was a home to people like me. Living very cheaply wasn’t a problem and I landed to some sickness later in life. Living cheaply isn’t a problem in Bali either since basically everything is somewhat cheap in Bali.
In Bali, having about 1000$/month would get you a very nice villa with a very decent living and hangout. One of the nomads I met said that the costly part about Bali is the lifestyle. If you hangout a lot and too much, that’s gonna be easy 100$/day. But if you live like locals, eating about 7$ is already reasonable and could get you healthy and filling meals. A proper budget would be somewhere around 200$/month for food that you can eat out a few times along with some nice beer and chilling by the beach, if that’s your thing.
However, for the locals itself, life is a mixture in between. By now, I have heard many struggling stories where locals want to move elsewhere. Relying solely on tourism is a tough case. The pandemic has taught them that they can’t rely on the tourism and hospitality industry. In the past, their target market and audience have mostly foreigners with specific wants while the domestic market is also another case. Though they shifted a bit, they still find it hard surviving during the pandemic. One of the grab drivers told me that earning a decent wage used to be easier in Bali but now, thoughts of Jakarta and Java are seeping into his mind. The tourists and foreigners are gone from Bali during the pandemic. With the missing foreigners, it also affected stores and accommodation as well. One guy from the co-working place told me that the convenience store nearby is closed down because there simply aren't enough customers. Not to mention, the crime rate is kinda increasing in Bali due to the pandemic for aforementioned reasons.
Now when I compare and contrast, living in Bali still offers me better quality than what I normally spend in yogyakarta. First, it’s easier to make friends in Bali because people are in the mindset of connecting with each other. Second, the food is always in huge portions and often vegan/vegetarian or pescatarian. It is way easier to find western food at a cheaper price. Last but not least, a very nice work-life balance.