I’ve been in Bali three weeks now and I understand the appeal of this place.

These are some shots I took this morning on my 3min scooter commute to the workspace.

I pass 4 different Hindu temples on the way to work each day and all of them have intricate stonework.

Speaking of scootering, I picked up this stowaway the other day. He just jumped on my scooter and sat there like “where are we going?” Adorable.

This place has torrential rains most days around 4pm. It reminds me of the way the monsoons used to be in Arizona way back in the day before Phoenix was a concrete jungle.

I took this video yesterday while I was working on the Esperanca mobile app. It probably rained 3” yesterday in this storm. No wonder it’s so lush here.

It’s been Galungan and Kuningan holidays recently and the roads are lined with these giant bamboo poles with offerings on the end of them. Every doorway has a little tray of cigarettes, coffee, candy and incense. And at any given moment you’ll be driving and the road will get blocked off with a procession of people playing percussion instruments and dressed up like a life-sized monster.

Food here continues to impress. Their produce is next-level and everything is served with bamboo straws and wooden spoons.

I can definitely see how people come intending to make a brief visit and end up staying years here. My Portuguese residency requirements dictate that I need to get back to Lisbon in a month but 100% this will not be the last time I visit Indonesia.

Our Charity Makeover event is at full capacity with 2 weeks to go. We’re focused now on forming teams and laying the strategy for what we’ll be doing for each charity at the upcoming event. If you want to follow along with that effort follow @charitymakeover_ or visit charitymakeover.org and sign up. (at Canggu)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9Oi1DjnUxZ/?igshid=gwmlrry6owbg

We’ve been here in Canggu just over two weeks now. My favorite thing so far was the long, winding drive yesterday to Udara. There was this giant temple in the middle of the rice paddy.

Perfectly paved and shaded road zigzagging through the countryside.

Every Sunday they have morning lineup of yoga, ecstatic dance, sound healing and chanting. The DJ yesterday was playing these hypnotic tribal beats and there must have been 300 people there.

The food has been excellent so far. I get this breakfast and a juice pretty much every day for 100 IDR (~$7).

Our coworkers are a little noisy in the workspace but we tolerate them because they’re so adorable.

We’re here during the rainy season which means almost every day around 4pm these massive thunderheads roll in and dump rain on us. You have to time your scooter rides accordingly and keep a poncho under the seat.

This reincarnation of Jimmy Hendrix melted my face last weekend. Speaking of face-melting: I’m excited to be playing my first open mic here tonight. I’m dusting off some old original tunes. Love that the venue is named after a Ben Howard song – that bodes well.

Our next Charity Makeover event is less than 3wks out and we’re in full prep mode. We’re supporting 5 different charities (2 of which are local Balinese ones). ?@charitymakeover_

I’m using this opportunity to build out the tooling necessary for running events exclusively through our app. The “Nocode” movement is a game-changer for entrepreneurs. The goal is to be able to be a consumer of this app and use it ourselves for everything. Once we can run things entirely without cheating and updating the site manually or opening direct access to the database, we will have reached v1 of the platform and it will be fully possible for anyone to bring Charity Makeover to his/her town using our platform.

Some exciting news: there is a high likelihood we’ll be accepted into Portugal’s most renown incubator program with CM. Fingers crossed we should know shortly on that. (at Bali)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B872yUNHMZj/?igshid=f8n2i14bva91

About 50 people from Nomad Cruise have reunited in Bali, Indonesia and are roaming around. This was a
reunion gathering on one of our very first days in town.

I’ve only been in Bali a week now but it’s long enough to vouch that it is truly a magical place and I totally get the appeal now. I’m super glad I learned how to ride a scooter in Koh Tao because it’s pure chaos on the roads here.

The sunsets rival those of Costa Rica.

And they have these elaborate Hindu statues in random places.

I recorded my last podcast for Pagely on the rooftop of our cowork space this week with the amazing @poondingo. Could not have asked for a better last guest.

My transition out of my role there is now complete and thus ends a 4.5yr era. I was reminiscing back through my photos from Remote Year and subsequent travels at some of the amazing places it’s enabled me to work.

They are hiring for a couple positions. If you want to apply for the opp to work in this amazing culture visit pagely.com/careers to see what they have available.

I told myself I’d take some time off before going heads-down on @charitymakeover_ but the reality is I’m freakin’ excited to make this thing go. This is one of the
charities we’ll be working with at our next event: East Bali Poverty Project. They are doing amazing work in remote villages in Bali and are helping solve sanitation, clean water, education and work needs. They empower the locals to make these bamboo bikes which are then sold and the revenue of which goes to fund their development efforts. Win win.

We went to a waterpark yesterday and spent the day trouncing around like 5-yr-olds hitting all the slides. I can’t remember the last time I went to a water park but it was such a great day up until the last run when someone in our crew hit her head on the slide and broke some teeth. Be careful out there. This quarter pipe shoots you 40’ completely vertical before swooshing you down into the pool. I’ve never done anything like it.

Super stoked to be here in Bali for a bit and have control of my days. If you want to follow along as we turn CM into a global grassroots movement sub
@charitymakeover_ (at Canggu)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8n4BqKn_sE/?igshid=12uliqp6icqii

Koh Tao weeks 5 & 6?

And just like that our time on Koh Tao has come to an end.

It’s been an epic six weeks. I got the advanced dive certification and am intending to use it to wreck dive in Bali.

I got to shred (twice) at the Good Vibes open mic and @rickculbertsonbkk and I laid down some sweet harmonies.

I ate this meal at Coconut Monkey at least 30x.

Despite what appears to be an unending vacation I actually worked. A lot.

Happy with the progress on Jan goals. Fell short on a few but made a solid dent.

Decided to make this a monthly ritual and made some new ones for Feb.

Hard to believe we began this crazy adventure in Athens mid-Nov.

The big news is my 4.5yr run as Director of Sales for Pagely is coming to an end. I’m taking some time off then devoting my energy full-time to the @CharityMakeover_ project I started. I’ve teamed up with @benlakoff to make a run at turning this into a global movement. (BTW Please somebody have a connection at Instagram so we can evict the @charitymakekover squatter and not have an underscore in our handle).

Pagely has enriched me on multiple levels and I am grateful to have worked alongside some badass human beings doing my work from all over the world these past 4yrs. What an incredibly epic ride it has been. Tomorrow begins a new chapter in Bali. (at ?????????? ???????????????)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8MYZtuHYgb/?igshid=1kcnx8x6mpq32

This weekend I got my Advanced Open Water diver certification and overcame my fear of deep diving.

I did a total of 5 dives including a night dive where we saw an octopus, a bunch of weird fish and bioluminescent plankton. We turned off our flashlights under water and in the pitch black waved our hands to agitate the water and 1000’s of these little shimmering creatures lit up in the wake of the disturbance- it was an unforgettable alien-like experience.

This last month has been one of conquering multiple fears. My friend @rickculbertsonbkk taught me the basics of how to ride a scooter and I’ve been using it to get around all the past week gradually beating my fear of 2-wheeled vehicles.

@helensimkins and I found a spot on the other side of the island where people live in these little houses on stilts right about the bluest water.

We discovered @savagekohtao has a killer Sunday pool volleyball scene.

I’ve eaten 90% of my meals at @coconut.monkey and can’t stop ordering their Buddha Bowl. If I had to eat this dish every day for the rest of my life I’d 100% be okay with that.

I finally finished Gary Keller’s “The ONE Thing” book, implemented his methodology using a mind mapping tool and started applying his focusing question to my own goals. So far so good. Too early to testify to this but it’s a useful lens to guide what you work on next. Highly recommend his book (check his podcast interview with Tim Ferriss for a sample of what he’s about).

In other news I’ve been steadily improving @iceman_hof retention times and can now hold my breath for over 4min. W00t.

We’ve seen amazing sunset upon sunset…?

…upon epic sunset on this beautiful island. The coworking space has been legit with 200/300MB internet up/down and has provided a productive space to do my work for Pagely. Here for another two weeks then headed over to Bali to meet up with friends there. Hope your 2020 is off to a good start. ? (at Koh Tao Island)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7h7mVmH-sa/?igshid=1583zo9h84fwj

Koh
Tao Week 3 update:

Our merry band of 30 or so nomads has boiled down to a
smaller group. We all did New Year’s together and people have been peeling off ever since.
New Year’s here was a pyro’s dream: they basically just lit everything on fire in the bay
(minus the boats). This is a group shot of us on our snorkel adventure day.

Asmaller group of us took a boat to Nang Yuan Island and snorkeled around. We saw lots of
parrot fish and the little guys who look like Nemo. My nightly banana pancake is bringing my
dessert abs in nicely. @benlakoff is jealous.

We played an improvised version
of poleish on the beach using bamboo poles. cc @c_birdie28 @chase_n @gamebird415

@centeredbygratitude invented a new way to roast marshmallows.

I discovered a new style of handmade frozen ice cream cc @cpelican4

We had our
farewell get together at a negative edge pool bar overlooking a rain storm and did a jam
session at sunset.

The small group of us that now remains all moved to the
south side of the island and did a month-long lease and locked in a coworking space. The
workspace has a hammock that requires daily stress testing to make sure it doesn’t fall. I
grudgingly volunteered for that duty.

We found a place a few minutes walk down
from our workspace where you get fresh bowls with your feet in the sand while listening to
reggae and overlooking the water. If ever you can’t find me, start your search here.

This weekend we all scootered to the SE side of the island and swam a total of a mile
to Ko Kong Sai Daeng island (which we later learned is dubbed “Shark Island”). good thing we
all had cuts from barnacles

Our small stalwart crew are the lone carry overs
from Nomad Cruise X and will be in Koh Tao another two weeks before heading to Bali. Shoutout
to @rickculbertsonbkk for helping me conquer my fear of scooters this weekend and getting me
some independence with a scooter.

BTW my semi-annual update email went out last week.
Find it here at the bottom: scrollinondubs.com/about (at Koh Tao Island)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B7QAem0njU_/?igshid=1w3y9lyh6kasz