Abdullah (2018) in his reflexion on 50 years of Indonesian anthropology is reminding the readers that culture is not an object but a perspective used to understand human problems and concerns, which is essential for (Indonesian) anthropologist to expand their perspective. In my case, doing research outside Indonesia is part of the effort to expand and diversify the perspective. I have been doing fieldwork among fishers in the United Kingdom since July 2018, to see how their livelihood affected by European fisheries regulation and how they see their future after Brexit (Britain leaving the European Union).

However, doing fieldwork outside Indonesia means I started with zero experience. As Ball (1990) pointing out, students can be prepared, forewarned, or educated in ethnography, but the only way to learn it is to do it. However, could the skills and experience in one place be used in another place? What challenges will the anthropologist face if they want to do ethnographic fieldwork in a new place?

Based on my reflexion on doing nine months fieldwork among fishers in North East England and previous research that I have done in Indonesia; this article tries to describe challenges that anthropologist may face during research process in new place. I will divide this article into three sections of the ethnographic fieldwork process: entrance, getting closer and dealing with power relations.