Referring to the ongoing Covid-thing I heard someone answer to the question “How are you?” by saying: “SSDD” (Same Shit, Different Day )
No, no and NO ! No reason to give up or give in. All coins have two sides!
Here is what the Indian mystic Sadhguru in light of the virus explosion in India recently said, -and it may as well apply to Indonesia and other Countries too:
‘This is a reality check for all of us. The fragile life that we are, have we organized ourselves to understand and live here, knowing how fragile and transient our life is – have we planned for a life like that? Or are you living in a make-believe world of your own, thinking you are going to be here forever? This is a reality check as to who we are. Let us make use of this. If you could not enlighten yourself by yourself, at least use the virus. It is making you realize – just like that, someone might sneeze and you can die’. 
‘Those who are sensible will survive these situations. Those who are senseless may be brave and dead.
Because the virus needs us for transportation, all we need to do right now is not provide the transportation. You must make this commitment.’ 

Quite simply put, and easy to agree to.
Staying alive, in the uncertainty that the Brazil and Indian variants of Covid are still not fully understood, means that the less we move, the safer we are. The consequence is unpleasant, but any cost is better than being dead. Right now, the focus is on staying alive’, because no one knows yet if the present vaccines are effective with the new and upcoming versions.
Not moving much means being able to look into our immediate surroundings, and finding ways to still make lemonade from the lemon at hand, without getting crazy.
As such example, Alex, my son in Australia, being pilot and having spent a full service time in the Australian Air Force, has chosen to try Reiki. This seems strange to me, because he was trained on technical issues and schooled in logical thinking. Now Reiki?? But then, - why not?
Just look yourself at what you can pick up these days outside your regular routine. Everything new will add to the colors in your flag, also called personality.
A whole lot of you, who read these lines, do already live in Ubud, or plan to do so when some normality will set in again. You good people may know much about this unique town already, but here is a short summary showing that Ubud is indeed different from other places, which compete for fame and romance, the likes as Portofino, Byron Bay, Queenstown, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and dozens of other remarkable places.
Come on, just let’s pretend we love to stay here on or own free will, refuse to travel, and instead refresh our memories about what Ubud is about –
You probably know, the name Ubud comes from the Balinese word ubad, meaning medicine. Eighth-century legend tells of a Javanese priest, Rsi Markendya, who meditated in Campuhan (still today an auspicious site for Hindus). Here he founded the Gunung Lebah Temple on the valley floor where two rivers meet. The village/town soon became a source of medicinal herbs and plants.
And you may have heard of Walter Spies, who became a famous painter of Bali life. Almost 100 years ago he said:
” Ich richte mir jetzt mein Bambushäuschen ein im lieben, einsamen Ubud und bin bald für die Welt verloren ! ”
“I will set up my tiny bamboo hut in this lovely, secluded Ubud … and will be lost to this world soon ! ” written by Walter Spies in 1927
Fast forward - 2022
Ubud is often mistaken for a small city, but really is an administrative division (kecamatan) with a population of 71,000 people and 44km2 total area. Central Ubud desa (village) has a population of 11,950 and an area of 6.76 km2 (year-end 2020), and received more than
3 million foreign tourists each year, before the travel restrictions.
In those last three years, the number of foreign tourists staying in Ubud has risen from less than 70,000 to nearly 240,000. If they all stayed for the average of 3 nights, this equates to some 2000 foreign visitors at any one time in a town of some 12,000 residents.
Surely far too many for its limited infrastructure. Past Covid, this number is likely to shrink to about half only. That may actually bring many benefits, not only keeping the streets uncluttered but also increasing life quality here as such (as well as property prices).

What intrigued me to select Ubud for living in Bali, and to find my spot a bit further up north, also had to do with the climate changes here, which differ from the coastal areas.
In terms of rainfall, January is usually the wettest month in Ubud with 328mm on average. There are normally 20 days in January with some rain. When is it sunniest in Ubud? The sunniest time of the year is normally July with bright sunshine on average for 85 % of daylight hours; that's 10 hours of sunshine per day. Nice when coming from foggy London, Frankfurt or Brussels.

What else becomes apparent, apart from the pleasent weather, when being in Ubud?

Well, quite unique here are our ancestors, the about 700 long-tailed Macaque Monkeys, which pre- Covid all where living in the Monkey Forest, waiting for bananas and peanuts from the visitors. Many of them have shifted their habitat, swinging on the power lines up to the main street. Maybe trying to help to replace missing tourist life in Monkey Forest Road and the Royal Palace. Some of them have already dressed up, hoping for free admission into the palace, it seems.

Have you ever been sitting in a street corner café in Paris or London, where never ending streams of cars and bikes float by every minute?
Ubud was really not so much different.
But then, what a delight today! Take as example my watering hole for iced cappuccino, Anomali Café, in Jl. Raya Ubud.
Before the coffee was needed to keep the brain alive, saving it from dangerous traffic overflow syndrome. Today we can focus on the taste of a specialty brew and check out the occasional flowing robes or bare chested foreigners whizzing by.
The recent lure of quitting work and instead trading in forex and cryptocurrencies per laptop, or working for a far-away employer, is keeping many of the digital nomads inside.
In order to make the first million $$ in under 6 months, one has to be at the screen 24/7. This may be the cause that even the flowing dresses and bare chested guys on motorbikes are less frequent.

Only yesterday a friendly couple from Hungary, well known producers of documentary movies, came to my home to ask for my thoughts about life around here, because they want to establish their home nearby. “We have made documentaries for European TV in 41 Countries, said Esthzer, the wife. From the arctic circle to Khatmandu, from Monaco to Buenos Aires… - and here we are, looking to buy a place to live there 6 months per year, and for the kids to go to school. The remainder of the year we will travel for filming again and rent our home out.
This experienced and well-travelled team would have seen more of the world than you and me together in several live times, - but here they are.
Even if you sometimes still may ask yourself if choosing Ubud for your domicile was a good move, to get such confirmation by people who have seen it all, helps relaxing again. Right, or right?

Finally – lately our Company’s IT people, are posting once or twice per week price amendments for our listings.
Without exception all price reductions. That never happened before on such a scale.
If you think about purchasing property, - think fast. Now is the time.

… and before you are asking - those unbelievable, hair raising, crazy super deals, in which a needy vendor offers a huge discount for his quick fire sale, - these deals are not happening.
‘Not happening? There sure must be a few sales like this’, you might say.

And indeed, there are.
Problem is, in the village the neighbors, the owner of the warung, the Banjar leaders, they hear first. News travels to the head of the village, who then finds friends in a lending institution to help with a loan and snatch up the bargain. A little later the property re-enters the market with a ‘normal’ price again and the village head has more funding to pay for his next election campaign, or to build the double garage in expectation for another such inside deal.
Just saying, so that you settle your expectations.

Ask your contact at UbudProperty (info@ubudproperty.com) for the best deals, of which there are now many, and be happy if your assigned sales person negotiates an even better price for you, closer to meeting your planned budget.

In any case, I hope that anyone reading this will be free to make the best decisions for life and where to live. And if that is the case, I would think there is a good chance we’ll meet at UbudProperty one day.

Looking forward.

Ramon for the team of
UbudProperty