A vacation in Bali instantly turned into a nightmare for Mira Dorenbosch, a real estate professional with more than 72,000 Instagram followers, and her husband, Jaimy. In a post she published on the social network, she said the two were sleeping in a private villa on the island when, before dawn, her husband woke up and discovered a man dressed in black and wearing a mask standing right next to their bed. According to her, the man threatened the couple and repeatedly demanded Jaimy’s Rolex watch, eventually fleeing the scene with a Hermès bag.
“My husband suddenly woke up and saw something right next to our bed,” Dorenbosch wrote. “At first he thought in might be a dog, so out of reflex he kicked towards it. Seconds later, he realized it was a man.”
Mira Dorenbosch, a real estate professional with more than 72,000 Instagram followers
(Photo: Instagram/miradorenbosch)
According to her, the man was dressed entirely in black, his face covered with a ski mask, and was standing inside the bedroom, right beside the bed where the couple was sleeping. “I woke up in the middle of all this,” she said.
It then became clear what the intruder was looking for. “The man started threatening us and repeatedly demanded my husband’s Rolex,” Dorenbosch wrote. But the watch was not on Jaimy’s wrist and was not in the bedroom. The couple tried to explain to the intruder that they could not give it to him, but she said he continued threatening them. “It became very clear that he was prepared to do something if he didn’t get the watch,” she wrote. “The thought that a masked man was standing next to our bed while we were sleeping is something I still can’t fully process.”
The intruder eventually took a Hermès bag belonging to Jamie and fled the villa after climbing over the wall. But his insistence on the watch raised the couple’s suspicion that he may not have arrived there by chance. “What makes this even scarier is that he seemed to be looking specifically for the Rolex,” Dorenbosch wrote. “It didn’t feel random.”
Dorenbosch stressed that at this stage they have no proof that anyone gave the intruder advance information. “We don’t know this for sure yet, but we're obviously questioning whether someone may have known about the watch and passed that information along,” she wrote. According to her, various people had been in the villa or had access to it, but the couple does not know whether the information indeed came from one of them. “We are just trying to understand how someone knew exactly what to look for.”
Following the incident, Dorenbosch issued a warning to travelers in Bali, especially those who choose to stay in private villas. She recommended paying attention to who has access to the villa, who knows where they are staying and who is aware of the valuables they are carrying with them. “We are safe, and that is the most important thing,” she concluded, adding that she is still processing what happened and will share more details later.
According to a report by the Australian news website news.com.au, the incident occurred in Canggu, one of Bali’s popular tourist areas, and the couple reported it to local police. Mira and Jaimy Dorenbosch, who live between Dubai and Marbella, Spain, run a business together specializing in luxury real estate. In the weeks before the incident, Dorenbosch shared photos and videos on Instagram from the couple’s stay in Bali.
Dorenbosch’s post also sparked lively discussion among her followers. Alongside many who expressed shock over the incident and support for the couple, others wondered why they had traveled with luxury items such as a Rolex and Hermès bag, and warned against exposing valuables and location on social media. Some users also speculated that the intruder had received advance information about the watch, but there is currently no confirmation of that.
And what about Israelis who want to vacation in Bali? Entering Indonesia with an Israeli passport is more complicated and expensive than it is for tourists from many other countries. Israel is defined by Indonesian immigration authorities as a “Calling Visa” country, so Israelis cannot settle for a visa on arrival and must receive prior approval from the immigration authority before the visa is issued. In practice, many Israelis use companies that specialize in handling the process, and such a service can cost about $1,200 per person, depending on the company and the type of visa.