After 3 weeks in Bali…it may have shaken up everything we think about our lifestyle, our work and where we want to live.
For some context, we left our home in Bulgaria around mid-January because we were tired of the cold.
I mean, Bulgaria isn’t cold at all compared to our home country of Canada… but there was a spell of cold weather so we thought maybe we could change things up a bit.
So we decided at the last minute to book a trip to Asia. We had not been East since COVID… and we really wanted something different.
We booked our flights less than 2 weeks before departure. We had to clean up our house, make last minute appointments, catch up on some work, and off we went.
But what happened on that trip and the days leading up to it really surprised us.
From the moment we pressed “book” on these flights… there was a well within us. A feeling that we didn’t expect at all.
A feeling that we may have forgotten. And a feeling that could lead us to change our entire life, our environment and our affairs in the coming months.
Bali in particular seems to have some sort of power over us.
This island is said to be an “energy center,” and while I don’t know if that’s true… it always seems to have an impact in our lives when we go there.
Before we get to the heart of the matter, I want to share with you a little about the trips we took to Bali.
It’s been a long time since we Goats came to the blog just to share some travel news.
So let’s start with a good old “travel blog post”. You know? Like back then?
The reason for the trip
Before we start the trip, why did we go there?
It all started because some of our best friends, Vivien and Aaron (who we met while petting in the Caribbean) were getting married in Australia.
At first it was just going to be a short two week trip to Aus for the wedding and festivities, then back to Bulgaria.
But as anyone who’s been to Australia knows…it’s not close. So we thought… why not make a trip out of it.
This 2 week wedding trip quickly turned into over 3 months as we continued to add new countries and destinations to the itinerary.
We decided to fly to Hanoi first as there was a great flight from Bulgaria to Hanoi.
Then we will go to Taiwan because it is a new country for us and only a short flight from Hanoi.
Then Bali to visit some of our other best friends, Tom and Anna… then off to Aus for the wedding.
And because you can’t go all the way and NOT go to New Zealand…we added that in too (plus New Zealand has some of the best fly fishing in the world…so you better believe half of our luggage is full of my fishing gear).
And that’s when the trip changed from just a wedding… to something completely different.
It was about shifting gears. Getting away from our familiar rhythm in Bulgaria and trying life as a digital nomad again.
Leave Bulgaria
We loved our stay in Bulgaria. For us, the country has just entered what we call “the Goldilocks zone”.
There isn’t so much tourism that the magical places are wasted, and yet there is enough that there is a good amount of amenities and international diversity.
There are great restaurants, local and foreign, there is a growing expat community, there are beautiful places yet to be discovered and up-and-coming hotspots that are just starting to appear on tourist maps.
I love the mountains, nature and incredible cuisine, a mix of Balkan, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine.
We have great Bulgarian friends and there is fantastic wine and fly fishing.
We also love its location. On the borders of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, it’s surrounded by some of our favorite countries (like Greece and Turkey), as well as others we haven’t spent much time in yet, like Romania and Serbia.
In addition, it is the ideal gateway to the rest of Europe.
In fact, it’s the location that has kept us here for so long.
In the 3 years that we have lived there, we have done a lot of traveling.
In reality, we only really spend 6-8 months a year in Bulgaria.
The rest of the time we traveled to Europe, Mexico, the Caribbean or Canada.
But that’s basically it. And these countries and regions are so “easy”.
They are beautiful. They are inspiring. They have the history, the food, the friendly people, the natural beauty.
But they don’t have that thing that we’ve realized has been missing from our lives since COVID.
Culture shock.
That feeling of being a little uncomfortable, a little disoriented… where the language sounds different, the rhythms of daily life don’t quite match those you’re used to, and even simple things force you to be present again.
It’s the kind of experience that wakes you up – not just as a traveler, but as a person…reminding you that there are places that simply move to a different rhythm.
So when we clicked “book” on those flights to Hanoi, Vietnam…we got this new burst of energy.
I almost couldn’t wait to go back to Asia.
It felt like we were back in 2008, about to embark on our very first trip.
I guess because it had been so long, I just felt like this was going to be a whole new type of travel for us – even though we spent over 5 years total traveling and living in Asia.
We longed for the sound of Asian languages, the buzz of motorcycles on the street, the taste of foreign spices and fruits, the feeling of sitting on plastic chairs with a bottle of cold beer in hand, watching people on the busy streets.
This is Asia. We were finally going to go back. Finally going to where all our journeys began. Our nomadic “home”.
Landing in Hanoi
We landed in Hanoi after a total flying day of 24 hours. It was only supposed to be a 12 hour flight from Sofia, but when we landed in Istanbul at 1am for our planned 1.5 hour layover…we got some news.
Our next shift has been delayed by 5 hours!
There was nothing we could do but sit in the living room for the next six and a half hours and try to get some sleep.
We managed to get some sleep and although the trip ended up taking much longer than expected, when we landed in Hanoi we were immediately charged with new energy.
We arrived at night (which we always try to do to avoid jet lag) so we checked into our Airbnb and went straight to sleep.
The next morning we woke up early, rested and ready to explore the city.
Walking out of our building and onto the street, I couldn’t shake my goofy smile.
I was grinning from ear to ear as we pushed through a sea of motorcycles to cross the road.
I smiled as we had our first Vietnamese coffee and as we sat on our child-sized plastic stools to eat mysterious and delicious street food.
And I was beaming when we first got lost in a small alley and watched locals sitting behind tiny metal tables, cutting fresh fish and arranging piles of herbs and vegetables for the afternoon rush.
It felt like this was all I had been waiting for the last few weeks since we booked the flights.
Have you ever gone somewhere, done something, or felt a moment hit you where you suddenly thought…why did it take me so long to do this again?
This was us in Vietnam. What took us so long to return to Asia?
What took us so long to get to northern Vietnam?
We actually went to Vietnam on our very first trip. In 2008. It was our second country of the trip.
But shortly after arriving in Vietnam, Dariece contracted dengue fever (or some other strange illness) that left her bedridden for 10 days with an extremely high fever and no way to stay hydrated.
This delayed our trip, meaning we only made it as far north as Hue before our visa expired. We always said we would come back, but it took us 18 years to do it!
In fact, 18 years almost to the day. We looked at Dariece’s journal entries from that 2008 trip (yes, somehow she still has them) and realized we left Vietnam 18 years ago on almost the exact same day we arrived in 2026.
It’s crazy how the universe has these ways of bringing us back to places and times when these things seem to happen.
Sometimes it seems quite serendipitous.
Halong Bay
Besides wandering around Hanoi, eating amazing food, and meeting cool people, we knew we wanted to visit Halong Bay during our time in Vietnam.
This bay is a natural wonder of the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is famous for its limestone karsts protruding from emerald green waters, creating one of the most surreal seascapes in Southeast Asia.
Cruises, yachts and “junks” all ferry tourists around the islands and stop for snorkeling, sunset viewing and squid fishing.
We’ve never been on a cruise together, so we thought this would be a good time to have a blast.
We booked a luxury cruise in a beautiful suite with a king size bed, a terrace overlooking the sea and a huge bathroom with a freestanding bathtub.
It was lovely! It wasn’t cheap, especially for Vientam, but none of the nicer cruise ships in Halong Bay really are.
We paid $250 for the night including transportation to and from Hanoi, all food and tours, kayaking, etc.
You can book the same here on GetYourGuide.
The trip was incredible.
While we had experienced some of the coldest days on record in Hanoi (5°C / 41°F) and many cloudy and rainy days… as soon as we arrived at the boat, the skies opened and 20°C / 60°F became the daily maximum.
We spent a lot of time relaxing in our room on the terrace overlooking the view.
But when we got away from there, we would go up to the upper levels to enjoy delicious meals served by the chefs on board, or we would go on a kayak or morning tour. Tai Chi on the upper deck of the ship.
I would definitely recommend the ship e with which we went, or at least the visit to Halong Bay if you are ever in Vietnam.
We had heard that there was a bunch of trash in the water which really ruined the experience, but our ship actually spent a lot of time in Lan Ha Bay.
I don’t know if this bay is cleaner, or if we just got lucky with the currents, but we didn’t see any trash aside from one or two floating plastic bags floating in the water.
On the way to Taiwan
After a week in Vietnam, eating fantastic food, exploring the city, drinking in rooftop bars, listening to live music, and sailing around Halong Bay, we left for Taipei.
We have wanted to visit Taipei for years. And it was exciting to finally be able to go.
When we landed, it marked my country’s 82nd and Dariece’s 83rd (she visited the Dominican Republic with a girlfriend before we met…I’ll catch up someday).
I have to say…we were both blown away by Taiwan.
Having lived in China for a year as English teachers in 2012-2013, we have always loved Chinese language, culture and… food.
Oh my god, the food.
When we try to describe Chinese food to our friends and family who have never visited China, we always have to explain that Chinese food is nothing like the Americanized fried Cantonese fusion dishes found in the West.
It’s not all chow mein, sweet and sour pork, ginger beef, spring rolls and fortune cookies.
Although aside from the latter’s American invention, other things can be found in variations in different regions of China…real cuisine is so much more diverse and refined.
If you want to taste layers of bold flavors that light up your palette, then you need to try real authentic Chinese cuisine.
Of course, because Taiwa has such a long history with China and Japan that there is an incredible meeting point between these two world-class cuisines that makes it one of the most incredible food destinations on the planet.
Fusion comfort foods like Taiwanese beef noodle soup are the star, but you’ll also find street food legends like xiao long bao (xiao long bao – broth-filled soup dumplings), gua bao (公包 – Taiwanese pork belly burger), Taiwanese popcorn chicken (crispy salt chicken) and scallion pancakes (scallion pancakes), as well as more unusual local dishes like omelette aux oysters (oyster omelette).
There are also many classics like lu rou fan (滷肉飯 – braised minced pork over rice) and three-cup chicken (三杯雞 – soy-glazed chicken traditionally cooked in a clay pot).
Honestly, I think I had the best meal of my life in Taiwan, or at least one of the best.
It was at this little hole-in-the-wall restaurant known for their “award winning beef noodle soup” and I ordered 3 dishes which blew me away.
The beef noodle soup, chopped pork wontons in a soy-sesame glaze, and frozen duck blood (I know that sounds weird) were phenomenal.
If you are in Taipei, don’t miss this restaurant.
Besides hanging out in and around Taipei, we wanted to see a little more of Taiwan. So we booked a day trip on GetYourGuide that would take us to Shifen, Jiufen and Yehliu.
The destinations were fantastic, but the tour itself was absolutely horrible.
Normally we like GetYourGuide tours, but this one certainly I don’t recommend.
We thought it would be a small group guided tour. When we arrived it was a huge bus of 50 people with just one guide.
You know this type of circuits. The stick with the teddy bear on the end, the microphone, the whole thing.
The guide spoke English the entire time, and even though we have lived in China for a year and therefore know the accent, it was impossible to understand 99% of what was said.
Also, he didn’t give us ANY information. He would just repeat the same things over and over about 10 times before each stop.
He would just repeat the time we were arriving, the time we were leaving, where the bus would be, and where the restrooms were. Again and again. One hour before each stop.
It was so bad it was comical.
I’ll link the tour so you don’t make the same mistake we did:
https://www.getyourguide.com/taipei-city-l190/yehliu-jiufen-shifen-guided-tour-from-taipei-t496437
But like I said, the saves were magnificent.
The magnificent Shifen Waterfall surrounded by jungle-covered hills, the town of Shifen with its Hanoi-like railway street and Chinese lanterns, the mountainside old town of Juifen and the magnificent rock formations of Yehliu.
I would definitely recommend checking this out on any trip to Taiwan, but not on the tour above.
Taking public transportation, a private driver, or even another GetYourGuide tour would be a much better option.
We really wanted to get to Taroko National Park too, but we just didn’t feel like we had the time, and some trails remain closed after a recent major earthquake.
From the south to Uluwatu, Bali
Every time we return to Bali, we do so with a bit of trepidation. Have our favorite places been overexploited? How has this small island changed since our last visit?
And every time we come back, we’re slapped with conflicting feelings.
On the one hand, we see overdevelopment.
We see traffic getting worse.
We see them felling once-lush jungles that were home to elephants and tigers, or paving over bright green rice terraces with spas, gyms, cafes and villas.
Bali is such a magical place, even today. But its flame is slowly being extinguished by overtourism, overdevelopment and lack of regulation.
This is what we saw as we drove south from the airport towards Uluwatu. A 9 kilometer journey took us 2 hours and 15 minutes thanks to incredibly heavy traffic.
But as we approached Uluwatu, a cliffside surf town, the traffic thinned and we began to see the charm of the place.
I would say Uluwatu is nearing the end of its Goldilocks phase.
Only a few years ago, this city was booming. A quieter oasis, miles from the chaos of Changuu, Bali’s newest tourism casualty.
But now Uluwatu, or “Ulu” as it is often called, is in full swing.
Every kilometer of coastline is home to new villas, shopping centers, restaurants and spas under construction. You can’t go anywhere in the city without hearing the deafening roar of construction work.
And yet, by avoiding traffic and walking the streets without sidewalks, you can still see the beauty of this place.
It has everything you need. Bars, restaurants, health, wellness, beauty… this is the best of modern life in Bali.
And even though it’s only a few years old, it’s currently probably the best place to visit in South Bali.
As digital nomads, what struck us about Uluwatu was the lifestyle of people like us.
Our friends, Tom and Anna, have just bought a stunning villa there so were delighted to be able to stay with them for a few nights.
Their location was on a quiet street and, although there was still some roadworks going on, it was far from the traffic of the main center of Uluwatu known as Bingin.
Their villa was beautiful, but what really inspired us was the lifestyle there.
Morning coffees and coworking followed by spas, cold baths, saunas, gym, massage, some more work, sunset drinks then dinner at one of the city’s many delicious restaurants.
It was incredible. There was community, inspiration, health, beauty, the ocean… everything someone needs to be happy.
And it really made us think about why we came into this life in the first place.
Yes, we love Bulgaria and we also love our life there.
We especially love our house – a large two-story house at the foot of the mountains with a nice car, a large yard, and lots of good hiking and fishing nearby.
But what it lacks is community. It doesn’t have the amenities. We can’t just go to a spa/gym with 3 different cold plunge temperatures, a healthy restaurant and a sauna.
We can’t take morning yoga classes on the ocean or do breathing retreats in the middle of rice fields.
On top of that, the Balinese reminded us how great hospitality can make you feel at home and sometimes even brighten your day.
The Balinese people, despite the obvious negative effects of tourism on the island, still treat us as honored guests.
They do everything they can to help us. They always welcome us with a smile and are genuinely interested in where we are from, what we are doing, why we are in Bali and always… where we are going next.
Bulgarians are some of the coolest people I’ve met. Our friends, our neighbors, the people we know there, they are truly wonderful people… once you get to know them.
But the service sector in Bulgaria continues to grow and it often happens that you get really poor service when you go out to dinner or lunch, and it is not customary to greet people with a smile there, which can come across as “grumpy” to some visitors.
We definitely know better, but it was still amazing to feel genuine kindness from strangers in Bali who waved at us as we passed, or stopped and talked to us for no reason.
All this leads us to seriously think about spending more time outside Bulgaria in the years to come.
We don’t want to move away from Bulgaria, we still love it there, but we want to live more of a digital nomad life.
The one where we go to Bali for a few months every year, and maybe spend time in different parts of Asia like Vietnam and Thailand.
We loved working in cafes, meeting other entrepreneurs, going for massages, and experiencing the nomadic life that is only really available on this level in Asia.
Our 5 night stay in Bali
Instead of staying in the bustling south of Bali all the time, we wanted to head north, where we hoped to still experience the magic of Bali… and we were blown away.
Heading north, we returned to 2009, the first time we visited Bali, and we We were so happy to see that the island retained some pockets of its former glory.
Ubud
First stop was Ubud. The location of the Indonesian part of Eat Pray Love (we rewatched this film from our villa there).
A LOT has changed in Ubud since this film was filmed and since our visit a few years before its release.
The center of the village is now filled with traffic, horns, smoke from vehicles and motorcycles weaving their way through cars and large trucks.
But we found some lovely alleys that still had some of the energy of Ubud, even though between the warungs were countless ramen, destroyed avocado cafes, matcha shops and gift shops.
All the things we tourists apparently need to have everywhere we go.
But what really blew us away in Ubud was where we stayed. About 10 minutes by bike from the north of the city, our villa with private pool was located on the edge of the rice fields.
Owned by a local Balinese who grew up in Ubud and later built the villa after spending 10 years working in hotels in the US, this place was probably one of the nicest Airbnbs we’ve ever stayed in in our lives.
A perfect blend of Balinese architecture, modern touches and nature, it was so beautiful we didn’t want to leave.
The infinity pool overlooked the rice fields, there was a king-size bed, a full kitchen, and an open-air bathroom with a freestanding bathtub, a huge mirror, and a shower that seemed to come out of a jungle wall.
But what made it so special was the view. Because it didn’t just overlook a rice field, like so many villas in Ubud, it overlooked a view of rice fields and palm trees.
As the villa owner also owned the land opposite, the view of the rice terraces was vast.
There were jungle islands, then more rice, then some palm trees, then further rice, and Mount Agung in the distance.
It really was like the Ubud we remembered. So we spent most of our time there, and little time in town, other than visiting our friends Jen and Stevo for lunch, with whom we taught English in China many years ago.
Going back in time in Sideman
After Ubud we headed to Sideman. This place is famous for its rice terraces. As Ubud slowly fills its rice fields with cement to build villas and hotels, Sideman is what Ubud was 20 years ago.
Daily life here still revolves around agriculture.
There are of course villas and hotels springing up everywhere and yes, even here the sound of chainsaws, hammers and metal crushers is hard to ignore… but it is almost silenced by the beauty of the area.
I can’t even explain this place and the videos and photos really don’t do it justice.
It’s so beautiful and serene that every time we looked out the window of our split-level “barn” apartment, it looked like someone had turned on an Ai image of the landscape.
It just didn’t feel real.
Mount Agung appeared dark under a blanket of clouds, while a winding river flowed from its foothills, carving the deep valley below.
On either side of the rushing river, emerald hills stretched into the distance – broken only by a few palm or banana trees standing next to a small farmer with a bamboo thatch. cabins.
We spent hours walking through the rice fields which, due to the season of our visit, were actually planted with marigolds, corn and peanuts between harvests.
It was absolute happiness. As we walked through the uninterrupted fields of green, we again had hope that some of the magic of Bali had remained unchanged.
Sideman was like a time machine, taking us back to our backpacking days nearly 20 years ago, when the island of Bali was more jungle and rice terraces than shopping malls and beach clubs.
Again, we were talking about what it would be like to spend more time here. Maybe spend a few months in Uluwatu, but enjoy more of these “staycations” in Ubud, Sideman, the deep jungle oasis of Munduk or the coastal calm of Candidassa.
Bali really still has it all in many ways.
Where do we go from here?
Geographically, after Bali we continue this 3 month adventure in Australia then New Zealand, but beyond the map, this trip left us with bigger life questions that we are still trying to answer.
Do we want to continue living in Bulgaria 6-8 months a year, or do we want to return to a more digitally nomadic lifestyle?
Most members of our remote goat community start their businesses so they can become digital nomads. This is the ultimate goal for many.
Have we wasted it by living in one place for so long?
Even though we are over 40 now, this lifestyle still remains attractive. It’s always very exhilarating to spend a few weeks or months in one place, then move on to something else.
Getting to know a place. Have a group of friends. Being in an entrepreneurial hot spot. These are all things we miss while living in Bulgaria.
Maybe we’re not quite ready to pack up and move, but what I do know is that this trip, and Bali in particular, has planted a seed.
Something is growing inside us and I think the Goats might be hitting the road again soon.
Honestly, we’re not sure yet…but what we do know is that this journey has been incredible so far, and we can’t wait to see what the next few weeks have in store.
