So, FYI everybody:
Our daily temperature (all year) ranges from about 22 to 34 deg. C.
We preside over and live in an Eco Villa
Angel House Ubud - Boutique Eco-stay Villa which keeps us both busy so, "retired" is a relative term.
We do not own this property, the business is not in our name, although the contents belong to us. Foreigners cannot "own" property in Indonesia but we do have a type of life-long lease.
We do not "work" because that would contravene the conditions of our retirement visa. Rather we direct and preside over
others who do the work and we share the profits made with them in the form of wages, contributions or contractual payments. So, although we do pay land taxes and vehicle registration etc, we do not fill income tax returns because we technically have no income. What we get is room and board and cost of living expenses. Any surplus money is banked locally and used for upkeep and maintenance.
In truth between the two of us we manage; staff employment, guest relations, advertising, booking management, a website, most of the day to day maintenance, room decoration, menu and supervision of staff.
We help out our community and staff with yearly donations and sometimes medical and schooling bills where needed so, at the end of the year we may not have a monetary profit but we have the satisfaction of knowing we have made a positive contribution to our village. What we get in return is better than money. We have love, friendship, respect and community activities, while living in a tropical paradise where the cost of living is still considerably lower than most first world countries.
On the down side we do have the occasional mild (so far) earthquake and a couple of active volcanos, one of which erupted a couple of years ago. Pretty far from us though, the worst we suffered was a bit of volcanic ash.
This village like all villages in Bali is almost exclusively comprised of Balinese Hindu's, this is a distinct form of Hindu worship incorporating local "
animism,
ancestor worship or
Pitru Paksha, and reverence for
Buddhist saints or
Bodhisattava." It is a religion that has no bias against other religions, practices complete tolerance and seems to bear no malice towards anyone. There are no gangs of youths running riot here, very little community violence or crime, at a village level murder is almost unheard of.
You only have to drive/ride on Balinese roads to see the tolerance and patience displayed here. "Road rage" is virtually unheard of and that in a country where there is really only one road rule.
You are obliged to avoid what you can see. It effectively removes the need for rear view mirrors. It requires you to concentrate on what is in front of you with the acceptance that anyone may do anything (within reason). Pull out of a side street without looking, turn right from the left lane without indicating etc, etc, but it's done slowly with the assumption that other motorists, given the time to see will slow down, stop or change lanes. I've been driving here for years and it's amazing how well it works and I get all the same considerations the locals get. I have to make a noticeable adjustment on return trips to Australia where it's all about controlled intersections, right of way and obeying the rules.
Should things ever go pear shaped we maintain a home in Australia we return to briefly a couple of times a year.
So all that explains a bit about us and our life in "retirement".
[that's ; + ) ] I suppose I think of that as the : key in this case because I'm hitting it while depressing Option, and I get a : when hitting it while depressing Shift. Does that make any sense?
