I have started using Google’s Chrome browser recently and one thing which was bothering me, was that it kept redirecting to the Indonesian version of Google every time I loaded google.com. This was particularly annoying when I was trying to go to Google’s news page, where I couldn’t find any menu option to show English news.

After a little bit of digging today, I found the solution.

Click the settings tab in the top right corner (spanner icon) and then Options.

From the Basics tab, find the “Default search” option and click Manage.

Next, check which search engine is the default. Mine was set to Google’s Indonesia website: google.co.id, so you just need to click edit and change this to google.com

You might need to restart your browser for the change to take affect.

Since I moved to Bali, I don’t buy too many fancy electronic goods.  As much as I would love to have an iPhone, I kind of hate the thought of carrying around such an expensive gadget in my pocket.  I have one of the cheapest Nokia phones that you can own and it does the job.

Last year I was robbed and one of the things I lost was a little Canon IXY digital camera.  I have a DSLR but it is bulky to carry around, so I thought I would by something to replace my old little camera.

So while I was shopping Carrefour I saw a new Canon IXUS 105 for just over 2 million rupiah.  I thought it was a good buy for a 12.1 mega pixel camera and it has a sturdy silver metallic case.

I just wanted something to carry around with me and add some color to this blog and my flickr account.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take it with me outside today, so you will just have to wait to see how the camera performs.

I finally have the internet connected at my place in Lovina, Bali. Our first attempt was trying to get Speedy connected, where you need to have a telephone line. We had a technician come out who said there weren’t any free ports available, taken mostly by foreigners living in the area. It seems local people here are happy with just using mobile phones.

The next attempt was using a GPRS service. Unfortunately it was just too slow and unreliable to get any real work done.

I heard about the ISP Spicelink which is popular here and getting a connection involved setting up an antennae on the house to get access. I was getting sick of trying to get anything done in an internet cafe, so I was prepared to try anything.

About 5 or 6 workers came to our house today and installed the antenna and it now seems to be working fine. The technician first mentioned that he was going to fix the antenna to a neighbor’s coconut tree. I must have given him a strange look, as he tried to assure me that he would rent the coconut tree from our neighbor.

If you run your business on the internet and thinking of moving to Bali, be prepared for waiting a long time for your downloads and uploads to complete.

I have met a few expats in Asia who play the money markets and need access to fast and reliable internet. I think they would have problems running that kind of business here in Bali.

Indonesia is ranked 131 in the world for their download speed according to speedtest and 112 for their upload speed.

Here are the results from an internet cafe here in Lovina: