It's Official! We're Coming Back

[cup1981]

It's official! My wife and I just bought tickets back to Indo. We're set to depart the U.S. on August 14, 2018. We had to set the date back so far because we still need to sort through our life here: sell our house, cars and stuff, get my freelance work in order to survive over there, and other things.

But, we are coming back! We'll likely land in Tasikmalaya first while we sort out more permanent living arrangements since it's so much cheaper than Bandung. Ultimately, we will almost certainly end up in Bandung in a year or so, since we have a relative in a high government position there whose name we can drop should corruption take a turn toward us.

Things can still change and this could end up being just being a vacation, but that seems unlikely at this point.

 

[El_Goretto]

Congratulations on the big jump! This year is going to fly for you and before you know it you will wake up one morning and realize your life is about to dramatically change in a couple hours when you step on the plane!

 

[cup1981]

@El_Goretto Yup, it's going to be a wild and crazy seven months of preparation, and things will only get wilder once we land .

 

[vocalneal]

Who knew there was a place in Indonesia called Bengkok?

 

[Davita]

It's official! My wife and I just bought tickets back to Indo. We're set to depart the U.S. on August 14, 2018. We had to set the date back so far because we still need to sort through our life here: sell our house, cars and stuff, get my freelance work in order to survive over there, and other things.

But, we are coming back! We'll likely land in Tasikmalaya first while we sort out more permanent living arrangements since it's so much cheaper than Bandung. Ultimately, we will almost certainly end up in Bandung in a year or so, since we have a relative in a high government position there whose name we can drop should corruption take a turn toward us.

Things can still change and this could end up being just being a vacation, but that seems unlikely at this point.

Exciting times ahead cup1981....I did something similar about ten years ago but my decision process was more slower than yours and I still regret some of them.
My concern was your last sentence where you write that you are maybe still looking at the trip as a vacation.....in that case I'd suggest not burning all your bridges to the past until you are 100% committed.
I sold everything, including a very large house in Vancouver, to come to Indonesia and wish I'd bought an apartment which I could have rented out or used when re-visiting. The prices have increased so high now I cannot afford to return for any length of time.....even if I wished to do that.
Indonesia has been very stable and secure since I came her but there is an underlying issue with the extremists that may boil and make life here intolerable for foreigners. I would have liked to have a plan B, in that case, but I severed that by selling-up back in Canada and I now regret doing that.

 

[cup1981]

@Davita The vacation part was only if things don't go as planned before we leave. If everything goes according to plan by the time we leave, it will be a permanent move. The ones that can break it to just being a vacation include if the house doesn't sell and if I cannot find enough freelance work to support us comfortably before we leave.

I have debated renting out our house here... I am all for it, but my wife isn't. I'll continue working on her on that end, as I would like to have a home to come to when we visit or if we have no choice but to return. She fears we'll lose renters and lose the house or renters may destroy it. You definitely make a great point there.

Having stayed in Tasikmalaya for a few years before, we saw our fair share of extremism here and there. We'll definitely keep a nice nest egg saved up just in case we need to bolt quickly.

 

[Puspawarna]

Hurray! This will be such an exciting time for you.

Does your wife talk to your kids in Indonesian? I hope so. It will make the transition easier for them if they are already working on becoming fully bilingual.

 

[Bad_azz]

Yay, I am excited for you. I also don't envy you the packing up & selling etc

At least you have plenty of time,
I ended up with 4 weeks to clear a 4 bedroomed house & deal with all sorts of other stuff. It wasn't fun at all but my circumstances were a bit more extreme.

Oh what I would have brought with me if I'd had the time to think & plan properly.

 

[cup1981]

Hey all, sorry for being gone -- things have been crazy!

My wife and I decided to first explore the areas before making the jump. So we pushed our tickets up to June and we will only be in the country for three weeks while we sort out exactly where we want to live. We first thought Bandung because our cousin was the mayor and thought that would help keep away some of the corrupt gov't officials. Now that his term is over, we are considering Bali and her hometown of Tasikmalaya in addition to Bandung.

We will also use these three weeks to get myself acclimated to everything there again and make sure I am ready to move back lol. I am virtually certain we will wind up there. So certain, in fact, that I quit my full-time job and went back to full-time remote working to accommodate living in Indo.

Anywho, so are there any opinions on living in Bali? We will be visiting there in June, but I am curious what it's like living there. My wife is afraid because she thinks they hate foreigners and terrorism against them is high.

 

[Anglian]

Hope all goes well, but I would be hesitant in selling you home in the states, I have known a couple who sold up in the UK and things didn’t work out as well as they expected, they had a difficult time back in the UK trying to get a home to the same standard as they left due to the increased price of property, but anyway all the best

 

[cup1981]

@Anglian Yes, that is something weighing heavily on our minds. We have a few issues, though.

First, affording the home here and in Indo would leave us tight, thus negating one of the benefits of living in Indo.

Second, we're thinking about renting it out, but we live in a deed-restricted community that is EXTREMELY strict with rentals. Plus, if we come back and the place is rented, we cannot just move back in. And the community does not allow Airbnb.

Our other thought is to buy property here before leaving and just sitting on it in case we come back. If we do come back, then we build on it. If not, we just sell it. We hate living in a gated community, so this has been a thought for a while anyways .

 

[harryopal1]

Anywho, so are there any opinions on living in Bali? We will be visiting there in June, but I am curious what it's like living there. My wife is afraid because she thinks they hate foreigners and terrorism against them is high.

Frankly I would think you are more likely to experience terror and xenophobia in the US than in Bali. Police shootings, accidental shootings, crazy shootings, muggings. Not so much of that here in Bali. My Indonesian wife is from Bandung having worked in Bali and now living here she feels Bali is much safer. As for xenophobia just arriving in the US and meeting that hostile first encounter with US officials is almost enough to make one want to return immediately. There is always the possibility of the chance encounter with someone who has some pathological hatred of people from other countries but I have yet to meet one in Bali and in the main have found the locals friendlier and much more polite than in my home country of Australia.

 

[Bad_azz]

I have never experienced negativity in Bandung.
I have never felt threatened there.
I would suggest you think what kind of lifestyle you want- Mountains & cool clean air, easy access to Immigration offices & airport: Bandung.
Beaches & lots of external touristy stuff, busy busy busy airport, : Bali (& yes, I know that is a generalisation, my point is that there ain't anything in the way of beaches in Bandung).
There are other alternatives that might appeal- Lombok is pretty & not yet priced out the market. Northern Sulawesi is stunning & lots of jungly stuff & gorgeous beaches.
I haven't been around as much of Indonesia as I would like, but if it was me- I would want a place that is quite cool , at least in the evenings, where I am, I have no a/c & I like it like that- I hate a/c, screws my sinuses & my skin up totally. I would not want to live in the actual city of Bandung- there are few places there that enchant me. It is very easy to get up in the hills though seeing as it is pretty much in a basin.
Wherever you decide, embrace & enjoy it.

 

[Bad_azz]

I would advise that being within reasonable access of the in laws is ok, but maybe not being in easy access. That way you get the best of the relationship hehe

 

[Mark2017]

Some further options worth exploring are Yogyakarta (haven’t been there for a while but really enjoyed my times there), Bandar Lampung, Medan I used in the past to take the short trip to Penang (it’s nice to be able to jump somewhere every now and again, although it’s been a few years since I’ve been there), personally I like areas with low traffic volume, easy access to other places (ie. Airport) but also westernised enough to accomodate my needs. I’ve been in the north and south of Sulawesi, very nice. Stayed with family in Kalimantan, which was ok.

Every place has many pros and cons, not just in Indonesia, some people try to match a location as a reflection to which they are used to, which is fine I guess.
However one is spoilt for choices when it comes to Indonesia.
Not sure if this forum contains an area of updated pros and cons for each city, maybe there is advice contained within threads if you look deeply enough. That’s what I did and found this forum to be really informative for particular areas.

It will be exciting to explore different areas to decide which is best for you all.

I look for : safe area, low traffic/population density, western goods, restaurants, cafes, sporting facilities and decent malls, easy access to and from, what is my nearest flight options, and of course costs should be lower than what I would be paying in other places.

 

[waarmstrong]

The only thing that Jakarta and no other city has is most of my relatives. That "pro" trumps everything else; so says istri saya.