Bali and Cebu: Trading From the Islands Next Door
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Some of my trips run for weeks. Between February 2024 and November 2025, I also took 3 short trips to islands a few hours from Singapore, twice to Bali and once to Cebu in the Philippines.
For a trader, these trips have one big advantage. Bali and Cebu run on the same clock as Singapore. Nothing moves. The market opens at the hour it always opens and the alerts land when they always land. So the same 15 minutes I spend at my desk at home simply happen somewhere else, in a villa in Canggu or a dive resort in Oslob, and the only thing that changes is the view.
Why the islands next door?
Most of my long trips need some planning around the markets. A 15-day road trip in Hokkaido means a 1-hour shift. A month in Europe means checking the US open in the late afternoon. A short island trip in the same time zone needs none of that. Hence, it is the easiest kind of trip to take on a normal trading week.
I have written about this part of the world before, from Borobudur in 2013 to Boracay in 2015 and the Philippines in 2018. These three trips were shorter and closer to home.
Bali, 2024: what does a group long weekend look like?
The first was a long weekend in Canggu over the leap day, 29 February to 4 March 2024. There were 10 of us, my wife and me plus a group of friends, in a villa with its own pool.
The plan was mostly beach clubs and food. Finns and Mari Beach Club in Canggu, a sunset at the Rock Bar in Uluwatu, dinners at Sa’Mesa and the Iron Fairies, a massage at Sundari Day Spa, and an evening at Atlas. The bookings even included a silver jewellery class in Canggu.
Bali, 2025: can you do Bali on tennis and surfing?
The second trip, in January 2025, was a quieter one with a friend. 2 nights in Sanur, then 3 in Canggu.
Sanur is the slower side of Bali, with a gentle beach and a local feel. The plan there was tennis at Liga on the first morning, then the beaches and a massage. In Canggu it was the beach clubs again, Mari and Finns, and drinks at the Iron Fairies. The cafe find was Revolver, which had excellent coffee.
On the last day, before the flight home, we went surfing in Canggu.
Cebu, 2025: what do you do with 8 nights in Cebu?
In November 2025, I went to Cebu for 8 nights with 2 friends. We split it across 3 bases, 2 nights in Cebu City, 3 at a dive resort in Oslob on the southern tip, and 3 in Moalboal on the west coast.
Cebu City was the food stop. Cebu’s lechon, a whole roast pig with crackling skin, is often called the best in the Philippines, so we ate it at House of Lechon. We also went to Sugbo Mercado, the night food market at the IT Park.
One of the highlights of the trip was the whale sharks at Oslob. Another was the sardine run in Moalboal. Millions of sardines sit just off the reef, close enough to swim out to from the shore with a mask and fins. The plan also had the Kawasan Falls canyoneering, which is a day of jumping, sliding and swimming down a river canyon. We also spent a day at Aguinid Falls, near Samboan in the south of Cebu.
One of my friends is a certified diver, so he handled the diving. I do not dive.
How did the trading fit in?
The same way it always does, in about 15 minutes a day. Same clock, same routine.
That routine is the reason a long weekend away does not have to wait for a quiet week in the markets. I wrote up how it works, the watchlist, the alerts and the time zones, in how I trade while travelling.
What would I tell a friend?
If you are thinking about a short island trip from Singapore, here are three things. Pick a place on the same clock, so the trip costs your routine nothing. Split a short trip across 2 bases at most, or the transfers eat the days. And in Cebu, plan the early starts around the sea, because the whale sharks and the sardines keep their own hours.
Do you have a go-to island for a long weekend? Bali, Cebu or somewhere else? Let me know in the comments.
All my other trips are on the travel log, country by country, and more photos from these ones are on Instagram, @iamrecneps.
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