My Bali coworking space lost power right before a client call

I was logged into a Zoom meeting with a client in New York at 9 PM local time in Canggu, Bali. Suddenly the whole coworking cafe went dark, no backup generator or anything. I had to scramble to grab my laptop, run to a nearby hotel lobby, and tether off my phone's hotspot. The call started 10 minutes late but the client actually laughed about it when I explained. Has anyone else had random power outages mess up their work day in Southeast Asia?

3 comments

3 Comments

miller.diana1d ago

Wifi backup and a power bank are the bare minimum out here. Keep a list on your phone of three nearby hotels or cafes with generators. Check them out during daylight so you know exactly where to go in the dark. A cheap portable hotspot with a local SIM beats phone tethering for stability. Most coworking spots in Bali don't have backup power, so treat it like a gamble every time you plug in. The client laughing is a win, but eventually that luck runs out.

emma_wells831d ago

Three cafes in seminyak saved my work week last month @miller.diana you are totally right about this.

taylor_patel1d ago

Oh man I just read this article about how sometimes people in Bali use those little inverter generators from hardware stores as a backup? Apparently you can rent them for like a week at a time and theyre quiet enough not to piss off the neighbors. But yeah your tip about scoping places out during daylight is smart because I tried to find a cafe with power after dark once and everything looked the same. I also heard that some of the newer coworking spots in Canggu are putting in solar now but you gotta check if they have battery storage too or its useless at night. The hotspot thing is key though I watched a guy lose a whole zoom call because he thought his phone hotspot would cut it.