Palamariu Family Blog

“Tomorrow we are going to Deepak’s family!” Cristina tells me with great enthusiasm in her voice. Deepak is a good Indian friend of hers from the time she was studying in Brest. And, even if he is not currently in Delhi, he insisted that we go and see his family.

So, the next day, we take a rickshaw taxi and set out through a horrendous Delhi traffic to have an authentic experience of Indian hospitality. Though, hardly had we known how deep it can be.

“Welcome! We are sooo happy to meet you!” Deepak’s brother Monik was quick to greet us when we finally arrived at their place, having spent more than two hours in an insane Delhi traffic. Very quickly, we got introduced to all the family: Deepak’s father and mother, Monik’s wife, Nitty, and their two lovely children.

Hardly had we sat down and Nitty was already very fast to start bringing several delicious goodies on the table. “Take a little bit of everything!” Deepak’s father encouraged us.

Having filled up our plate, we proceeded to savour the mouth watering taste of Indian snacks. Wooooaw! It was a treat to remember!

And just as we finished and were already pretty full, Deepak’s father announced: “And very soon Nitty will bring dinner. “

“What? There is more?!?” myself and Cristina were thinking, feeling our stuffed up stomachs.

Deepak’s father continued “You really need to try the food as Nitty took the afternoon off from work especially to prepare it”.

This was just the first moment when we realised how much these people had gone through to welcome us in their home.

What followed was the most amazing dinner we have had in our life. Homemade Raita, Chappatti, Panner, Potatoes and some more dishes that I do not know the name of followed.

Needless to say, we were overwhelmed.

And Monik was always on stand by, filling up our plates the moment we were close to finishing what we had.

And when we left, they had yet another surprise. They had prepared gifts: a sari for Cristina, a silver coin that had been in their family for generations, a Krishna flute and box of sweets. And they also would not allow us to pay for the taxi back home.

Moreover, even after all this, when we felt quite overwhelmed and we could not stop saying ‘Thank you! Thank you so much!” they were still insisting: “It was nothing! As part of our culture, this is what we need to do for our guests!”

As looking back on the blog posts about Bali, there are several things we didn’t cover. I guess I was too much in love with this place and as love is blind, the Bali I have described is the true paradise.

Now, that we are already in India, we took some distance from the Bali experience and I believe I can be more objective and analytic when writing about Bali.

So far you might have read in the previous posts that Balinese people live in communities and don’t complain. These 2 aspects offered us new perspectives and new insights: the massive care towards the others, how inspired you feel when people around you are not complaining.

Another outcome of the community lifestyle is that people are very much oriented towards sharing. Once you become their good friend, Balinese consider you as part of the community. This has 2 sides: they will be a good support for you in the difficult moments but also, don’t be surprised if they think it’s normal to borrow or use your belongings (slippers, socks, etc.). So this could be a bit uncomfortable and one has to set boundaries when being in this situation. The tricky part is that you can never know how the feedback is received, due to the fact that Balinese people don’t complain and are not assertive.

If one decides to move to Bali, should be aware that health centers or hospitals are rather unprofessional. Local people go to see healers for many of their medical issues and sometimes to the hospital for serious problems. Expats put their hopes in the Singaporean and Bangkok hospitals, which are only 3 hours flight away from Bali. Of course that is not reassuring for everybody

Going further with the analysis, another aspect that can be slightly bothering is the corruption. Money can solve almost any problem one can have, but that makes life fairly unjust and unequal for people living in Bali. Expats are usually charged more and also if one gets to the tribunal, the chances for an expat to win are very improbable; though by paying you can for sure win.

When I look back, I see both positive and negative sides of Bali, but still for me this remains the best place to be in.

I love the freedom of expression and creativity one can have in Bali. You don’t hear about ambitions and materialistic status, about politics or social demands: “this is good” and “that is bad”. It’s a great place to be yourself, to reinvent yourself and simply to live the life as you like. I appreciate the people for being simple and caring about the others, even with their faults. I don’t expect anybody to be perfect and I’m confident that in time any conflict can be solved.

News about Singapore and New Delhi are about to come, as well as the corresponding pictures. So stay tuned!

If you are like us, probably not!
But having talked to a few expats in Lombok, here are some interesting facts regarding expense we found out:

-          With 250$/month you can rent a villa with 7 rooms in Mataram, the capital city of Lombok (true, it is not as luxurious as Klaus’s villa, but still!)
-          For 750$/month you can pay for all the expenses (rent, food, schooling, bills, etc) for a family of 8
-          The cost to have a maid in your house can be as little as 50$/month
-          A massage is 2-6 dollars. (and the masseuse will come to your home!)
-          Being a Muslim country, Indonesia’s image in the world is not that good, therefore the Government is making efforts to attract foreign talent. As a result quite a lot of the expats have salaries ranging between 8k to 12k US$

Obviously, there are things that are missing. Like a good health system. Then again, Singapore or Australia are two hours by plane away.

Also, the education system is lacking. This can be compensated by a number of private English schools for expats, where the education level is significantly higher.

How about the social life? Well, in Lombok alone there are a couple of thousands expats living. So there is plenty of this as well. Not taking into account that the local people are quite friendly and you can have a great time with them!

Therefore, taking all this into account, plus the fact that in Europe/US/Australia the cost of living is way higher and for less services, this country offers an incredible quality of life.

So, how about living in Indonesia?

We are for sure thinking about it…:)

We arrived in Singapore two days ago. And now that we got over the initial jet lag, I thought of sharing with you my first “second” impressions.

First contact, the airport. It is by far the greenest and most elegant I have been to. And they even have telephones where you can call numbers in Singapore for free. Cool!

Then, the transport system. Having had the experience of paying 30 euros to travel across London by train, it was a relief to get back in Singapore. Train ticket across the city: 2 euros!

Moving on to weather: hot and sunny. Same way I left it. Same way it is all year round. Having just experienced the cold and rain of Romanian autumn, I realised… living just in the summer time: not that bad actually!

Moreover, Singapore is incredibly GREEN! Despite its small size, they kept plenty of parks, huge areasof dense jungle, and plenty of bright green trees and flowers on the streets. They actually call it ”an inhabited garden”.

Then, we went out. In some areas of the city center, you could hardly talk to the person next to you. Constructions are being built everywhere. Our ears bled! Singapore is a great city…but it will be even better when it’s finished!

During our dinner at a Thai restaurant, Cristina exclaimed: “These people eat so much rice!”.
After deciding what we want, I thought it would be nice to have some desert too. Turning to Cristina, I asked her: “How about we take some sweet mango rice?”
The answer was fast to come: “What? Rice again?! No thank you!”
“But Cristina”, I protested, “For them rice is just like bread for us. That’s why they eat it with everything!”
“Yes, but we don’t eat bread as dessert!”, she continued.
Needless to say, we didn’t eat sweet mango rice.

And a final thing on Singapore: it’s political life.They have the same party in power for the last 4o years. Thus, people in the street don’t talk politics that much. Comparing that with Romania, in presidential campaign, filled with scandals and Governments falling apart, and where almost everybody is complaining and having an opinion about it, I though to myself: Singaporeans seem to have a better deal! They waste far less time on such things!