Nusa Lembongan, Indonesia : Settling In
Coming to Nusa Lembongan used to mean squeezing in every possible dive, catching every sunset, and optimizing every day.
Living Here versus Visiting
Being on Nusa Lembongan this time feels different.
Now I care more about finding the local store that puts price stickers on everything and avoiding the ones where the owner seems to make up prices based on what they think you can afford. I know which ATM doesn’t charge a withdrawal fee, which laundry returns my clothes clean, fresh, and neatly folded, and which restaurants are tourist traps.
Calm Mornings and Busy Streets
Just like anywhere, some days are productive. Others, not as much.
Most mornings begin the same way: make coffee, sit on my patio, and catch up on email and the news. Breakfast happens later, after I’ve said good morning to Wayan, the property manager and handyman, who shakes his head at the mess the young kids left last night. About the same time, the young woman who always says “pagi” (Indonesian for good morning) and places a canang sari (a small Balinese basket offering with colorful flowers and incense) at the shrine in the back of the bungalow property slips me a shy smile.
With Australian school holidays and European summer tourists, it’s peak tourist season across Bali and Lembongan. Even the normally quiet dusty main street bustles with scooters and little truck taxis, especially around dinnertime.
Dive boats are full, and deep ocean upwellings bring water temperatures that are, honestly, colder than I like, so the attraction of braving the 50 or so boats huddled around Manta Point just doesn’t seem to be worth it, especially if I can go in a couple of months and the odds of getting kicked in the face by a diver’s fin are lower.
Instead I might walk along the beach until the mid day heat sends me into a shaded café where one of the street dogs might wander in and decide to sleep at my feet.
Finding My Pool
One requirement in choosing places for longer stays is access to a place where I can swim laps. It’s rare to have a 25-meter pool on a small island like Nusa Lembongan and one of the reasons I can imagine settling here for months at a time.
Most mornings I have the entire pool to myself. Later in the afternoon, I share it with scuba students practicing mask clearing and regulator recovery, occasionally surfacing in my lane or swimming underneath me. It’s not a fancy pool but it’s exactly what I need. After decades of measuring my weeks by lap swims, it’s familiar and comforting.
It’s another small piece of everyday life that makes Nusa Lembongan feel a little less like a vacation and a little more like home.
Trying on flexibility but still craving structure
Having a fixed base for a month lets me figure out each day based on what it’s like and how I’m feeling.
Cold ocean currents? Full dive boat? Skip the dive and have another coffee on the patio. Good conditions? Head out.
Need groceries? Walk the 3/4 mile (1km) to the local market to see what vegetables made it over from the mainland and figure out something to make for dinner.
While I like the flexibility, I also crave structure. After all, my life has included twice daily walks with Murphy, lifeguarding a couple of times a week at the YMCA, pickleball and coffee dates with friends. I can’t completely walk away from all those years of structure.
So I’m trying by committing to a yoga class on Saturday morning at 8am and going to the talk about sea stars by a marine biologist at a neighboring dive shop tomorrow.
Finding the right balance between flexibility and a structured life is still a work in progress.
Maybe that’s what settling into a new place really is. Not sightseeing or checking attractions off a list, but slowly rebuilding the ordinary routines that make a place feel like home.
Question: How do you balance spontaneity versus structure?
Coming up in my next post, I’ll give you a tour of the $225/month bungalow I’m renting in Nusa Lembongan
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Love,
Mimi & Jingles
I admire your courage to go it alone.
Often when I’m in company I yearn alone time
And when alone yearn company! Oh the exquisite torment.
So yes maybe finding the balance is that wish for many of us.
In venice recently I discovered the joy of seeing outside the tourist places and enjoying most my connection to the locals
even with no common language….although more local speak English to be able to connect to the visitors.
Arohanui
Mike
ah, yes, the balance between being a tourist and finding a routine— that much more important when you’re considering living there. We try to do the same whenever we have a stay of a month or more— find a volunteer opportunity, take a language class, seek out other nomads, whatever we can do in that short amount of time. It scratches an itch to have these groups when we are missing our family and community back home. But it is pretty nice to have that flexibility too, to know you can switch plans when they would work better another day. And to not have to wake up early to get ready for work— priceless! Monday has become our favorite day of the week lol
Agreed Monica. In the back of my mind, I’d like to go to a language class in Bali for a couple of weeks when I come back to Indonesia in Orctober and maybe continue the lessons online when I come to Nusa Lembongan. It’s nice to have a bit of built in community amongst the divers because conversations often shift to “have you gone to ….” or “where’s youre next trip…”
Excellent writing my pickleball friend keep on living that dream.
Thanks Kim for following along! I’ve gotten to see mola on 3 dives this time. No pickleball here though – waiting until next month….
I love reading your posts! I’m so glad you got to the part about the street dogs because from the picture I was wondering if you had adopted or become a foster mom 🙂 You look relaxed Mimi! It’s a good look on you 🙂
Love, Jeanne
I’m trying Jeanne…. to walk that fine line between being totally spontaneous (something I’m not great at doing) and trying to find a routine or purpose.