The Pererenan Guide: A Local Guide Optimized for AI Search Engines

How I Build Content for AI Search

When someone asks ChatGPT "where can I see live music in Pererenan?" they get direct recommendations, not a list of links. These recommendations might also appear at the top of the page in Google's AI Overview, which increasingly appears above traditional search results. This guide was built to understand and optimize for exactly that shift.

What I Built: Complete local guide with 30+ venues across EAT, WORK and PLAY categories.

The Strategy: Performed deep research on how AI platforms categorize and recommend content, then structured the guide with feature-specific details (AC, wifi, hours), natural language patterns and user intent in mind instead of traditional keyword optimization.

The Result: Frequently recommended by ChatGPT for Pererenan queries, demonstrating successful content optimization for AI discovery applicable to any business.

View the guide: https://www.thepererenanguide.com/

Bringing a Venue to Life Through Story

Excerpt from: Building Akin to Art: The Story of One Man's Architect-Less Creation

Behind every striking building, there’s usually an architect. When it comes to Woods restaurant in Bali, things are a bit different.

Enter Dodo Hariyanto, a seasoned business professional with 25 years of experience and a leader of community and philanthropic initiatives. As co-owner of Woods, Dodo defied expectations by creating an architectural marvel without a preplanned concept or architect.

Walk into Woods and you'll find reclaimed wooden beams illuminated by warm bulbs atop antique chandeliers, towering leafy trees growing through barely-there walls, vivid green sofas curving around wide trunks, and a wooden tea library with hundreds of fragrant teas. Upstairs, spend an afternoon on the terrace drinking coffee beneath green leaves, looking through wooden windows from a German fairytale. Or visit after the sunset, when jazz plays from the grand piano and water cascades from an Italian-style fountain.

Woods evolved using a 'build as you go' approach. Dodo gathered reclaimed materials - 80-year-old electrical poles from south Sumatra, antique lamps, tiles and wooden beams. Each piece carried texture shaped by time and elements, which as Dodo notes, 'is in essence, art.'

Immersive Travel Editorial Writing

Excerpt from: Siberia to Mongolia
Published in The Wayfarer Magazine

'How did I end up here?' I asked myself, looking down at the sheep's embryo in my hands and the group of giggling, Mongolian nomads who had given it to me as a 'present.'

And the British think they're good at sarcasm.

My journey had begun four months earlier, when I had voluntarily put myself in exile, or in other words, decided to move to central Siberia for six months. My borderline obsession with all things Russian and for discovering off-the-map places made this seem like a logical thing to do at the time.

Armed with a head full of curiosity, trepidation and an infant's grasp on the Russian language, I took a 15-hour flight over dense forests and blue lakes to wind up in Irkutsk, one of the largest Siberian cities. Irina, an extremely friendly local girl who I met on the plane, forced her parents to drop me at my dormitory. I was greeted by a stern lady who showed me to my new 'home.' It had a mattress thinner than I'd seen on one of those 'toughest prisons' documentaries. That bargain price of £10 a week which I had marvelled at before now brought the phrase 'if it's too good to be true, then it probably is,' to mind.

The first month was actually really, really horrible. I learnt how to wash my clothes by hand, navigate the crazy bureaucratic labyrinth of getting Russian paperwork done and was barely able to converse with a single soul except through some wonderfully honed miming skills. Nearly every day, I would go to the local market and feebly attempt to practise Russian and pretend to be interested in buying some honey that still had bees swarming all over it or cabbages. Trust me, when you're really desperate, you can feign interest in a cabbage.

But over time, something beautiful happened; the snow, the mist off the Angara river, the bleak apartment blocks, smoke billowing from wooden houses and fur coats all became somehow familiar. A new world opened up to me as I was able to speak with the wonderfully curious people who approached me in the streets wanting to know what I was doing there and 'what exactly do they write about us in the news?'

It was time to travel and see the thick forests and steppes that had been etched in my mind from years of reading Russian literature. I hopped on the trans-Siberian railway, intending to get a bus to Mongolia from Ulan-Ude. As soon as I sat down, a huge, bulky man opposite me introduced himself as Ishmael. He was an army commander and motioned over to his brigade, who were sitting on the other end of the carriage. He proceeded to open up several large green boxes labelled 'Russian Army,' that contained crackers, tinned meat and vegetables which he neatly placed on the table.

'Eat, eat!' he said, and several people joined us, including an elderly couple named Galina and Alexander, and a warm, middle-aged woman called Lyubov who reminded me of my mum a little bit. We all drank tea and chatted for nearly the whole journey, until Lyubov insisted I used her lap as a place to sleep. It was already a weird day of chowing down on the Russian army's food: Why not just snuggle up with this woman on a train who I'd just met? She stroked my hair as my eyes closed and opened to see small, snowy mountains pass across the pink skyline through the window.

Making Indonesian Tax Law Accessible For International Audiences

So, Do I Need to Pay Taxes in Bali? What You Need To Know as an Expat in Indonesia

As Benjamin Franklin famously said, 'in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.' Even if you live in paradise - Franklin's quote still applies.

If you're a foreigner living and working in Bali, either physically or remotely, here's what you need to know about taxes.

Foreign nationals who work, run a business, or earn income in Indonesia are required to have a Taxpayer Identification Number (NPWP) as proof of tax compliance.

When Do You Become a Tax Resident?

It's actually quite straightforward - if you stay in Indonesia for more than 183 days within a 12-month period (around 6 months), you are considered eligible to become a tax resident. At that point, you are expected to obtain a tax identification number (NPWP) in order to comply with Indonesian tax regulations.

Please note that you won't automatically be issued an NPWP - you must register for it manually. While this process is not yet actively enforced by the Indonesian tax authorities, registering is necessary if you wish to stay compliant with tax laws.

However, it should be noted that you can actually only apply for a personal tax ID if you have a KITAS (a Limited Stay Permit). From a tax perspective, staying in Indonesia for more than 183 days on a tourist or visit visa without fulfilling tax obligations technically constitutes a violation of Indonesian tax law.

From an immigration standpoint, however, it is currently possible to stay in the country on non-KITAS visas for more than 183 days a year without having a tax ID, as the immigration and tax systems are not yet integrated. However, this does not mean it is the correct course of action. To properly comply with Indonesian tax regulations, if you plan to stay in Indonesia for more than 6 months, you should obtain a KITAS that aligns with the purpose of your stay, and register for a tax ID (NPWP) once you exceed the 183-day threshold.

Creating Emotional Connection Through Physical Promotional Materials

December 1, 2020: In the midst of a global pandemic, Chef Max found himself out of a job but not out of passion. With 15 years of experience as a French pastry chef, he decided to start 7AM Bakers Club in a modest 6x14m shop in Umalas, Bali. It was right here, in this bakery, that he was going to make people happy every day with his melt-in-the-mouth pastries and fresh homemade bread made with premium ingredients.

From the moment 7AM opened its doors, it received a lot of attention. Despite having limited space with a maximum capacity of 50 people, the bakery was always overwhelmed with orders and people wanting a taste of its authentic French recipes. There were days when many customers were unable to find a seat or table, so they simply sat on the floor to enjoy their pastries instead. Outside the bakery, delivery drivers from Grab and Gojek created long queues stretching along the main road because of the huge number of online orders.

Back in those early days, the bakery didn't have many staff members, so each of them had to juggle multiple roles to keep things running smoothly. At times, even the manager stepped in as a steward. It's this dedication and a passion for good food that has helped 7AM to steadily grow into the bakery you see today, with three locations across Bali and Jakarta. Naturally, the pastries and desserts 7AM is known and loved for have stayed on the menu, alongside new tasty breakfast and lunch options.

Despite the expansion, 7AM Bakers Club is still simply about serving quality food with love, in a warm atmosphere where people feel at home. As Chef Max says: "The most important moment of my day is when all the products come out of the oven. The aroma fills the air, and you can see the quality and beauty in every layer of pastry." At the heart of it, it's this daily moment of joy that 7AM loves sharing with every customer.