RetireNomad

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RetireNomad in Bali, Ubud, Indonesia. We are Bill and Julie. This page documents our early retirement and travel, since May 2024, as World Nomads.

27/09/2026

Next set, this is a Hindu temple and they are celebrating Nyepi Laut, the day of silence to honor the god of the sea ( that's what Google tells me). Here are more kids performing in Ubud, Bali.

27/09/2026

I'm going to post some of these videos tonight and some tomorrow as it's getting late here.
Kids performing at a temple ceremony ( open for guests) in Ubud.

Our host at our homestay told us her temple was having a public show tonight so we went over to watch. It was mostly kid...
27/09/2026

Our host at our homestay told us her temple was having a public show tonight so we went over to watch. It was mostly kids ( very talented kids!) with some older teens and adults and the performances, costumes and music were great. It was over two hours so I just took a few minutes of each performance plus some pics.
I believe all the dances tell a story, but we don't know what they are.

26/09/2026

Here is a video of some of the music we could hear outside the temple in Ubud.

Such a fun day today. I convinced Bill to take a jewelry making class with me Here in Ubud( there are tons of shops here...
26/09/2026

Such a fun day today. I convinced Bill to take a jewelry making class with me Here in Ubud( there are tons of shops here that do this). I still didn't get to do as much as I would have liked ( they don't let you solder either) but it was still fun and a bit different from Vietnam.
Also, we are staying pretty near the monkey forest. You have to pay to go in and you need to watch all your stuff. We didn't go today but we did walk by and you do not need to go in just to see monkeys, they are all over ( including right outside our balcony this morning as we ate đŸ˜„). We are still going to go as it looks like it has pretty walks but I'll be into see what it's really like.
Also, there is a nearby temple having a celebration so we got so pics and video, but you can't go inside. Tomorrow we can hopefully see some of the ceremony.

We finally made it to Bali. We only have two weeks here and I knew that wouldn't be anywhere near enough, but now that w...
25/09/2026

We finally made it to Bali. We only have two weeks here and I knew that wouldn't be anywhere near enough, but now that we are here I really know I want more time. We have a week at Ubud and in just the first day I'm overwhelmed with all there is to see. It's not overstating to say you cannot walk a block here without seeing some kind of art, sculptures, paintings etc it's just amazing. Ive heard people say Sumatra and Lombok are the new bali since they aren't so touristy, but honestly you just don't see this anywhere else we've been.
So, here are my first day pics. When you go down the street you think, wow there are a lot of temples. In fact, most of the places we thought were temples are just houses and guest houses. We are staying in a traditional home courtyard that's been converted with modern rooms and it's so comfy and lovely. We have a balcony, ac and a big bathroom. It includes breakfast that they bring to your room for just $26 a night right in the heart of town but down a small street so it's not noisy.

We did get to go diving yesterday, we went to Sunset reef which is about a ten minute boat ride from the dive shop. Ther...
22/09/2026

We did get to go diving yesterday, we went to Sunset reef which is about a ten minute boat ride from the dive shop. There was some tidal surge but we had an amazing dive. We saw two white tip sharks, four green turtles, a giant moray, a huge clam, and we got really lucky and saw two manta rays ( they aren't seen very often here). They also have an impressive array of fish and corals, just a wonderful dive for only a little over $30 each including gear rental. No pics as we still don't have an underwater camera, but here are more from around town as we walked the whole way round the island which is about 4 miles or so.

20/09/2026

These are called Brittle stars, related to sea stars, found them in the tide pools

Snorkeling here is an adventure as the sea if full of rocks and dead coral ( some coral near the shore is alive but most...
20/09/2026

Snorkeling here is an adventure as the sea if full of rocks and dead coral ( some coral near the shore is alive but mostly it's sharp pieces). Also, where we are it can get fairly shallow so it's hard to walk or swim in( you have to have some kind of swim shoe here, which people are happy to sell you). We did see a smaller green turtle in the shallows and got to watch him eat off the rocks for quite awhile but I also managed to bang up a scrape my knee in two places and my shin.
Anyway, it won't keep me from diving tomorrow so wish me luck.
Pictures of sunrise, sunset and some things we found around the island.

We took a private car about 2 hours to the coast to head to the Gili islands. There are private boats and public ones bu...
18/09/2026

We took a private car about 2 hours to the coast to head to the Gili islands. There are private boats and public ones but no dock from where we left so you might get your feet wet. We took a private boat as it was faster, about 10-15 min to the dock on Trawangan Island, the largest of the Gili islands.
We didn't realize this is considered the party island but luckily our stay is in the far north and it's nice and quiet. The water is beautiful and we are looking forward to some snorkeling and diving here.
There are no motorized vehicles allowed so we got a horse cart to get us and our luggage to the hotel.

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North Sumatra, Indonesia.
Medan
20121

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