I have not made a secret of the fact that I have not enjoyed my time here in Bali. The country is suffering from over tourism, more than any other place I have visited. I was shocked by what I saw upon first arrival, the frustration I could see on the faces of the locals and the general disarray. Here are 5 things I did not like about Bali and why I will probably never return.
Traffic
At one point in my life, I used to commute five days a week to my job in the middle of the city. This ride was on average 1.25 hours each way, bumper to bumper at a crawl. I know traffic. I have also spent the last 6 months in Asia, experiencing vehicular movement in many countries.
Nothing, no where, is like Bali. The infrastructure is abysmal. Except for the addition of large multi-lane highways near the capital, it doesn’t appear that anything has been updated. Ubud for example, most of the roads are still the single lane wide, now paved, roads that were probably there in the 1970’s.
Examples of how long it took me in my Grab vehicle to drive specific distances are as follows:
Airport to Ubud – 37km – 2hr 18m; Ubud to Seminyak – 33km – 1 hr 47m
Seminyak to Canggu – 10km – 1hr 38m!!! and Canggu to Sanur – 18km – 1hr 42m
Sidewalks
I am a walker, its how I explore a new destination. On foot, I can go into alleys, get lost, discover what is around the corner, far better than I can using any other method. It also keeps me healthy and happy.
Bali is not the place for walkers, period. If there is a sidewalk at all, it is likely in terrible shape, littered with garbage, dog poop or construction debris or full of holes that fall into the abyss below. Ubud was by far the worst place for walking.
Often times the sidewalk is completely blocked with parked motorcycles, for there is no where else for them to be. This forces pedestrians out into the traffic which is incredibly dangerous. I was hit by a motorcycle on my second day. The local female that hit me couldn’t have cared less.
Bugs
I have an entire post dedicated to the insects in Bali. I have never in my life experienced such an infestation and onslaught of bugs. I stayed in five different places ranging in price from $33 to $50 CAD per night, not near the bottom of the barrel, and not a single one had a window or door that sealed.
There are so many insects outside that they become part of your daily life living inside, and that means not only crawling on you, your bed, in your kitchen, on your counters, under your pillow, in your closets. The worst for me were the termite infestations and swarms, both flying and living in the furniture, large cockroaches, ants, mosquitoes, centipedes and snails. Bali pushed me to my buggy limit.
Cultural Loss
I really struggled to find authentic culture in Bali. I am told by the older locals that what they have witnessed in the last five years has been an eradication of their sacred ways of living. The almighty dollar has spoken and cities in Bali have been transformed to meet the standards of foreign digital nomads.
You could walk down streets in Canggu and Seminyak and not even know you were in Bali. A massive mall is about to open its doors in Sanur along with an equally large residential complex. These will destroy that natural part of beach forever. Not a few kilometres away is Discovery Mall, now sitting desolate and nearly empty of shoppers.
This all makes me so incredibly sad. I travel to learn and experience cultures. I know that sounds cliché, everyone says that cause it sounds good. But for me, I really want to absorb these places and lives. In Bali I really struggled to find any semblance of authentic Balinese culture.
Aggressive People
Perhaps the most surprising thing for me was the amount of aggro I experienced from the local people. From the boy who angrily swore at me on the beach when I didn’t purchase a bracelet, to the shopkeepers who when sweeping their front doorways, would simply brush the dog shit and debris right over your feet as you walked by.
The local drivers trying to get places, its no wonder they were aggressive! What they have to deal with just trying to get from A to B living their lives? I cannot imagine being able to stay calm in the face of such chaos. Its one thing for me to contend with the traffic, I have the privilege of leaving. Its another thing entirely when this is your home!
The beggars, I was not expecting this at all and in fact never heard of it before. I only encountered this in Ubud and it was daily. Females with babies and small children, dishevelled and dirty, begging for money. Bali is this the state of what you want for your people? Who am I to say? My hometown in Canada is much worse.
I admit, I had a very romantic notion of what I thought Bali was going to be. Even though I knew it would not be an inexpensive destination, I was still hopeful for a cultural one. Partly this was being influenced by social media. You know the reels, the ones showing the lush rice paddies, cultural dancers, smiling locals, suntanned surfers and beautiful beaches. When I was a young child, I visited Bali. I have the photographs of what it used to look like. I guess I was just completely culture shocked by what I found, and horrified that I was a part of the problem.
