We bought a house!, Bali

 

Proud owners od a house!  20.000 euros with a swimming pool!

Basic unit is 15.000 evro, but we aded a 2x5 meter pool and extra 15m2 of land.

The houses are beeing build right now.

Ours will be here in about 4 months. They just started digging the fundation.

The location (red dot) is a bit more remote then typical. 35 minutes to the beach, 35 to Denpasar, 40 to Ubud, and 40 minutes to the volcano, where I can go hiking.. It is 230 meters above sea level and has a relatively cold climate like Ubud, but much, much cheaper. 

It is a simple quiet village, most people here are making decorations, carving wood, making tiles, carving statues..  it is much poorer then Ubud, but has just as many artists. There are no tourists here.

 It has a very nice zen energy. They put a lot of offers to the gods here.

Here I will be able to concentrate on my work. Sure I will visit joint working places in Changgu sometimes, but not evey day. We will go to the beach sometimes, but not every day. It is a nice cheap place where I will be able to work on my career.

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It took us a record one week to buy this house! Why the rush? Because tourists are coming back and prices are rising in front of our eyes. One house we liked went from 20.500 to 23.500 and then to 25.000 and we could not even get one. At the same time, the Euro is losing value. Ah and these are rock bottom price houses, those are getting more and more rare... So we panicked! For the past few days all we did was drive around to check the places... checking ads in evening, driving to see them at day. We must have made a few hundred kilometers up and down the Island. Buying this house secured our place in Bali. Having our own house is social security. No matter how the tourism goes: we will be ok.

The house has tiny! Asian level tiny! dimension.

All it creates is tiny rooms. It is ok for a modest Bali family I suppose. But not for my European taste for big open spaces.

So, what did I do? I drew a house in 3d. This was all done in the evening. We are in race with time: cheap houses like this, sell like a fresh bakery.

I tried few wall confugurations, but none really worked. So what is the solution? Kick all walls out. We will use cubbards and wood partitions to separate my working space from living room.

Because there is no snow, there is no need for load bearing walls here. And dimensions are tiny anyway.

No snow, No huricanes = No problem. Architect agreed with wall removal without any objection.

I tried to explain to the architect why we should use insulation and an infrared reflective layer like aluminum for instance... He was just laughing: ah we have air conditioning... You in Europe... Well, no. We in Europe do not need infrared reflective layers, but... Ah, nevermind. I told him to leave the attic open so I can put those layers in myself. It is not just an Air conditioning bill is smaller: Heated roof radiates heat, and you can feel it. Even in a cold space you can feel hot walls...

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Fun fact: our house will be near the coconut tree, practically under it. So: I will finally be able to lie under a coconut tree, and enjoy my life. It is a secret longing of most northern people in winter to escape to tropics. Well. I have done it.

Iztok Mlakar (Slovenian singer) singing about how he will escape to Tropical paradise one day...