People came here through choice. People came here because we liked the place, and the kind of people who came here are the kind of oddball, kind of out-there, stranger people. That s Max, from California, who lives here his wife and kids. His nearest neighbors are noisy frogs, croaking in the surrounding rice fields. That s why we left.
Successful people tend to stay at home.
Here in Ubud, Max lives in a two-story stucco house that sits back from the road, surrounded by a high wooden fence, on almost an acre of land. It s no mansion, but it s as big as a suburban house in any upper-middle class American neighborhood. After the mosquitos on the veranda become unbearable, we retreat to a book-lined study. If this home were in California, where I m from, you d say Max was living the American dream. But for a whole lot cheaper.