68. What’s it like living in Bali as a Nomad

Number one is your environment. This place I'm staying at here is a villa. It's $80 a night, one bedroom, wicked bathroom, kitchen, lounge room, and they have housekeeping every day. The service here is phenomenal. Welcome back to another episode of the Vandenberg show with your favorite MBA and high school dropout talking everything business, crypto and personal growth. And today I have landed in Bali. It's been a little while since we've done an up to date episode, so today we're going to talk about what's it like living in Bali as a nomad. I've been here for now two and a bit weeks and I've seen a lot and there's a lot of comparisons to Thailand, a lot of comparisons to Melbourne. So when you go deep into the costs, what's it like living here? Pros, cons, everything you need to know about living in Bali as a nomad, we're going to get into that all in this episode. But Bergs, how are you, man? Good to see you, mate.

I'm going well, there's a bit of sunshine out. Had a good day, worked out today. Get to do a pod with you, mate. What could be better?

What could be better? It is, it's. I don't know what the weather's like in Perth today, but it's 30 degrees here in Bali. Humid, beautiful, amazing.

It's about 18 outside and clear sky. So not too bad at all for Autumn Day, mate.

Yeah, I, I was talking to my mum and dad and it's, it is freezing in Tassie. Wood fires going, you know, sort of top of 10 each day. Yeah. Not looking forward to going home, to be honest.

No rubbish.

So I've been in Bali now for the last two and a half weeks and that's honestly pretty awesome. Really enjoying it. Definitely going to spend some more time here. I'm here for three, three weeks total. The first week and a half I was on business retreats, which we will speak about in a different episode. But today I'm going to talk about what's it like living in Bali as a nomad. So, as some of you may know or may not know, Collective Shift is my company, Bergs and I run it. We have 15 odd employees scattered across everywhere and we don't have an office. It is completely decentralized, very crypto native. And we built this business around being remote because the ethos and I guess, culture of our.

Company and the people within it is really remote. Working freedom, being able to do sort of what you want to do when you want to do it. That's how I want to live my life. And, you know, I encourage all our team members to do that as well. And one of the benefits, obviously, of not having an office is you can work anywhere. And that's what I've been doing for the last nine months. So technically, you know, don't have a fixed address and get to travel around. So very, very grateful that I had that opportunity. Obviously, you know, not everyone is able to do that. So, yeah, first of all, very grateful to do it, but I wanted to dive into a little bit about Bali, and.

First slide I want to start off with is like, it's fascinating because I've spent the last week and a half with a hundred founders, business founders, entrepreneurs from Melbourne here in Bali, doing a retreat and spending a lot of time with people. And it's fascinating to see how difficult it is for some people to actually adapt to new climates, whether it be weather, sleeping, eating, everything. Like, it takes people a long time. And one of the guys I was with for about a week and a bit literally just couldn't get a good night's sleep at all. The whole week was just like, you really struggle. This reminded me burgs of when you came to Melbourne, just like, trying to acclimatize. It can actually be really difficult if you're not used to it.

Exactly. Even just going to Melbourne, just hearing different sounds, having a different bed. And when you don't travel a lot, it's very, very disturbing. And even though you want to go to sleep, your body's like, nah, this doesn't feel right. It's too weird.

Yeah. And it was fascinating because, like, I'm just passing out like a light. Like, I'm just like a log, you know, KO'd knocked out. But I remember it wasn't always like that. And I actually travel with Bose sleeping headphones. And for those of you that are, you know, on the road or want to travel, I think there are a couple hundred dollars. One of the best investments I've made, where if it's noisy or you've got cars driving past or you're just not really feeling it, you can put these head. Bose headphones in, listen to, like, calming music, Like, I'm out like a light if I put those in. But, yeah, it's fascinating. Like, I've been probably to four or five different places now in the last two weeks. We've been moving a lot and haven't had a bad night's sleep touch Woodhouse night. But I think It's a bit of, like, you know, I've been doing this now for nine months. It's a bit of, like, you know, repetition. Just get used to it now in saying that, you know, if I've slept in hostels, I've slept in villas, you know, massive hotels, like luxurious, you know, sort of beachfront resorts.

It all sort of gets the same. Obviously, the better the bed, the better sort of quality sleep you're going to get. But, you know, I think just a bit of repetition. When you're traveling, you get through that first, like, few days and week, and you start to get used to it, you know, just sort of getting through that part. First week, which is the hardest one.

Do you remember when you first started doing all this traveling? I think a big chunk of it was in Dubai. And you woke up, I think it was Dubai, and you had no idea where you were, and you ran into the wall because you're trying to get to the bathroom, and you're at, like, a different hotel, and you bang straight into the wall.

That was. That was a chaotic period. That was just like. That was like hotel after hotel. Get in. Dubai was busting for a pierce and just got up and just clean, like, half asleep, clean. Smack made on the wall going the wrong direction.

But I think, like, you know, for me, number one is your environment. So when you're traveling here in Bali, like, I. So this place I'm staying at here is a villa. It is in a. In sort of an apartment complex. It's $80 a night. So on a monthly cost, you get about 2,000 Australian dollars a month, which is pretty awesome. One bedroom, wicked bathroom, kitchen, lounge room. And they have housekeeping every day. I didn't even realize. I came back and everything was tidy. I was like, what the fuck? I've got passports. Just come in and clean it up. They left again. I was like, okay, no worries. So the. The service here is phenomenal. And for, like, $2,000 a month, it's great. Now, the. The biggest thing for me is, like, having a place that has natural light. You can look outside. You know, it's got, like, maybe a pool. It's a communal pool, but just something where it's a little bit more, like, open and freeing. I get really claustrophobic when I'm, like, locked in a bloody, you know, a concrete box. Like, I. I don't like that. I need the open, I need the windows. I need a bit of space. But for 80 bucks a night, 2,000 a year, this is a cracker. I'M staying in Changu. Canggu is like. I know I haven't explored all of Bali but Changu's pretty awesome. The infrastructure here for nomads is phenomenal. Like WI fi everywhere. Cafes, co working. I've got a. Directly opposite this building I've got a washing facility. Oh, I need to pick that up. I just realized that.

So small suitcase, like a carry on suitcase of washing cost me 4.50 yesterday and it comes in within a day or ironed, folded. Beautiful. Amazing because I hate washing. Next door is co working 247 co working. So you can go in there anytime you go in there for a day pass. I haven't gone in there yet. I'm not sure how much it costs. I got a scooter. So you can't walk around in Bali. You've been to Bali, right? This, this is just. You can't walk around. You get cleaned up. So I've got a scooter now. I got, I got a pretty decent scooter. I didn't realize. I think I went to probably the most expensive scooter place in. Because I bartered him down. Cost me $100 for seven days. So it cost me around maybe. What's that 12, $14 per day for, For a scooter? It's a pretty decent scooter. Yamaha. It's pretty sick. But I'm pretty sure I went the most expensive place so you got to get a scooter. And then I went to the gym. So Body Factory gym again, probably the most expensive gym. But I, I've been trying to get more into ice baths. So this has got ice baths, it's got sauna, got a wicked gym. It's got a cafe next to it. Now that is pretty bloody expensive. So that cost me 140 Australian dollars a week because I'm only here for a week. The monthly is $400 a month now that's the highest tier. You can get lower tiers but then you don't get the sauna and the, and the ice bars. But it's pretty wicked. Some of my mates that are over here as well, we're going to catch up tomorrow and go in and do a bit of workout. So that's a bit of the go to. It's all expats. Literally. There's people everywhere.

Yeah. And you think like 20 bucks a day if you're getting things you need like ice bath stuff, sauna, workout. It's worth 20 bucks for the performance increase that you'll get for the Rest of the day.

Yeah, totally, man. So lock that in. And then the food, the food's relatively cheap. So next to Body Factory here in Changu, there is an accompanied, like, healthy food store. And it's like, she's nothing like I've ever experienced. It's, it's, it's all healthy food. It's wicked. Right, so you've got a menu. There's only six items, right? It's like chicken, rice veggies, salmon rice veggies, you know, beef rice veggies. Or you've got just all vegetables and then protein shakes and coffees and it's Perfect. So for $10 you can get a wicked, like, healthy bowl. And it's got all like the calories, it's got the protein. Like, it's just built for people that are just like, wanting to just, like optimize. And then you can get a protein shake for like 2.50. So for 12.5 you can get a wicked lunch. It's just around the corner, takes about five minutes to get there. And there's sort of wi fi everywhere. I also went to a cafe this morning, which was awesome. Just remote work is everywhere. Like Changu is just full of nomads and expats. Like, it's, it's pretty awesome. I feel as though like there's so much happening here that, like, I want to do everything, but it's just like you're like, where's everyone going? What? You know, there's cafes everywhere, co working spaces. It's. It's fascinating. It's. It's really built for nomads here in Chengu.

Exactly. And it's built for the, the way their lives are structured. So you basically want to work on your company 24 7, have a little bit of fun as well on the way. But you don't want to cook, you don't want to clean, you know, you want a gym nearby, you want to look after your physical and mental health, but the majority of time you're going to pack into working and it's just.

Set up for that.

You want to outsource all of that or automate as much as you can. And it sounds relatively cheap. How are you finding it? This would be a nice comparison. So you did the similar thing in Thailand and now you're in barley. How, how do you rate the two? What's your preference?

So comparison of barley versus Thailand. Thailand's amazing, but I feel as though it's built more for holidaying and resorts and partying. Barley is much more Built for working. The infrastructure here is a lot better. A lot more spaces to work, a lot more spaces to live. And it's just built more for that longer term stay where I couldn't find that in Thailand, it was hard to forget W. There was not really great cafes, very little co working space. It's just completely different. I'm talking Phuket. So Bali is 100 better set up. And in July, so we're going home to Australia for a month, but in July, you know, definitely going to come back to Bali because this is just much better for working.

Amazing. We're on the same time zone as well, mate. Really helps. Plus eight, baby.

So much better. Man, oh man. And compared to New York and stuff like, New York was just so difficult and us time zone just so hard. I mean, it opens up so much free time, but it's just so frustrating that no one's ever awake when you need them.

Yeah, mate. Now, you said you went to the. You went to the scooter shop and you negotiated. Have you improved your negotiation skills? Because previous to this look, let's be honest, they're pretty. So how are you going in in an economy where you're expected to barter?

Well, that's what I mean. I'm like, I've got a barter. I actually bought at a college shirt as well the other day. I got like a little, you know, beach shirt. I just, I just bartered down to like, you know, to a price that seems reasonable. Yeah, you're only bartering because he probably saved me a few dollars here and there, but I got him down. I don't know, it wasn't too much. Was down from like 120, down to 100 bucks or something like that. And he was like, oh, I don't know how to go the calculator, do some sums. And he's like, ah, okay. So, you know, he pulled it through.

They do the whole something dance, though. They're like, they make the face or they'll like. See, these are all brilliant negotiation tips, right? So it's like if there's silence or you do oh, like know you make that face. So, you know, oh, I've come up against a number here. They don't like. Or they'll put a. A little pause in. Or they'll go somewhere else or they'll make you wait. That's all horseshit. It's all to either make you close the deal or feel like you've got a good deal. If it's like, not doable, they're just gonna be like, nah, I can't do it, mate. Like they know what their numbers are, but oh, what a master class.

And it's really, it's, it's really, it's really safer as well. Security at the front, you know, like police sort of roaming around. Haven't seen anything bad happen.

You know, the people are super nice, you know, decent coffee, mate. Massage. You can get a, you can get a massage. People come in for a massage and for like $20, they come to your room and do a massage for 20 bucks. It's just like, it's incredible, isn't it?

Like even the price of food, price of beer. Yeah. Even like an hour long massage. Seriously, go, go for a massage with a body scrub. You ever had a body scrub?

Body scrub?

Oh, lad. Okay, so this, this is in. I, I've only ever had it in Bali because it gets super expensive here. But you get your normal kind of massage and they put this kind of like, I don't know, salt stuff all over your skin and they just leave it there for a couple of minutes but then they kind of just flick the salt off and it exfoliates all your skin. Absolutely incredible. You come out like a little baby mate. It's incredible.

Well, speaking of like good feelings, I. So I've started getting an ice bath. So this is one of the things that started to get into.

I've done it like, tell me you're a tech bro without telling me you're a tech bro, mate.

Yeah, yeah, I know, I know, I know. Started to get it ice bars. I've done it twice.

It's my new thing.

It's hard man. Like, honestly, like, you know, so we did it. We on the retreat. We'll talk about it in the other episode. But we had this massive ice bath and I got through two, two minute rounds but there was a bunch of people in the, in the ice. It's like, you know you can't leave because no one else has leave. Right. It's a bit of like an ego.

Thing here with a bunch of founders and no one's willing to leave.

Yeah, like who's the better the first out. But here it's like, you know, I'm like counting down a minute. I mean, that'll do. I'm getting the hell out of here. It's hard work, but the again, just having the infrastructure here is four minute drive, get a smoothie, four minute back co working space. Like it's all here. It's genuinely awesome. Like I love it here. It's everything I need, you know, in the space of like 10 minutes.

That's amazing. And it's the right price as well.

And it's the right price cheaper than Melbourne. So if I, like, as a nomad, if I live in Melbourne and Airbnb cost me at least four grand, I reckon, for a month here, you know, two grand. And you got security, you've got housekeeping, you've got like WI fi. It's all here, all the services.

Your WI fi is the best it's ever been while you're traveling.

It's crisp, mate. It's perfect.

Yeah, yeah. Your upload is incredible. Usually, like people won't notice this, but it's really like jaggedy. And then like Ben will be talking and his face is frozen and I. I'm thinking, oh, God, what do I do? And then half the time I can't hear him, but then it'll catch back up. Am I trying to smile and not seem weird? But this is just perfect.

Yeah, man, it's. It's top class. So just as I said, the infrastructure in Bali just, you know, set up, set up for nomads. So, yeah, that's kind of odd. The only downside, right, traffic. The traffic is horrendous around Changu. Like it is. It's chaos, mate. Like you got these smaller intersections, no traffic lights and it's just like everyone trying to go. It's just like completely bananas.

Bali's mental. Like you get taken out, like you just hear bangs, people going to cars. Yeah, yeah.

It's so Thailand was way better for traffic here is complete nut of chaos.

So good. So, mate, apart from the traffic, this is a strong recommend from you.

Yeah, strong recommend. I mean, I haven't. I stayed one night in Kuda. I feel as. I didn't get a good vibe. Like I didn't get a good chance to check out the vibe. There haven't really been a Seminyak. Changu has been the only real place. Uluwatu is amazing, but that's like retreats and so resorts. Super expensive down there. Pay 9.50 for a coffee down there at a resort, like insane.

Yeah, it's like expensive double here, mate.

That's ridiculous. Yeah, insane. So Uluwatu is nice, but super expensive. But Canggu is the, the place for nomads if you're keen to, you know, work and meet other like minded people and want to live relatively. And you can go way cheaper, by the way, than what I'm doing. Like, you can go super cheap. You know, rent rooms, you know, hostels, you got the whole. The whole thing. But yeah, it's, It's. It's a wicked place to set up.

Amazing, mate.

Yeah, top shelf. So that's my little. What's it like living in Bali as a nomad? If you've got any questions, feel free to send it across. We have got a new Twitter. To everyone that's listening. Thank you so much for following our Twitter. We've got a massive whopping 18 followers. Bugs. To be fair, that's double since 18 followers. If.

If we had a graph that is just up and to the right. That's exponent exponential, mate, going from like one, doubling it to two, then to like. What was, what was your counting before the show, mate? 3, 6, 12, 18.

I think exponentially, mate. I'm not linear.

All right, all right. Yeah, sure, mate.

Yeah.

Growth mindset, baby.

I'm a luminary. Exponential thinker.

Interplanetary luminary.

But if you've got any questions, you can feel free to DM us over at the Bennebergs podcast or at Ben Simpsonau. And you've got Bergset at baby Back Bergs. Thank you very much for listening. If you have anyone that's looking to get to Bali or in Bali or looking to be a nomad or is a nomad, we'd love for you to send this episode to them. It's the way we grow the podcast and we have a new record. We're up to 200 Spotify followers. Thank you, everyone, for all your. Your listenership. We love the support. We're loving doing the podcast and we'll keep them coming at you. Bergs, thank you so much. We'll see you next time.

Thanks, mate. Thanks for listening, everyone.