You Should Keep Bali On Your Bucket List

Indonesia is more than just the island of Bali, but Bali is a firm favourite among travellers, especially Australians. Truly, we love it. Some of us love it a little too much and a little too hard. Recently though, I am seeing a lot of hate for Bali. People are complaining that it’s busy, and chaotic and they hated it on first sight. While I can see their point, there is more to Bali than this. There’s also so much more than what you see in viral TikToks, or what was shown in Eat, Pray, Love.

There are so many reasons to visit Bali.

Firstly, Bali is an island with a population of over 4 million, and is the single largest tourist destination in Indonesia. The proximity to Western Australia means that the majority of these visitors are not only Aussies, but they’re from Perth. Being that Perth is my hometown, you would think I bump into people I know in Bali all the time. I’m sorry to disappoint, but I cannot remember a single time this has happened.

Thirty years ago, the main economy in Bali was agriculture, namely rice. Today rice cultivation is still the island’s biggest employer, but tourism has overtaken as the biggest source of income. This huge amount of income is primarily focused in the southern beaches of Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, Nusa Dua, Jimbaran Bay and Sanur. in recent years, the Indonesian government spent a huge amount of money upgrading and extending Denpasar airport to cram even more tourists into this area.

Now, all this money and all these people visiting would generally mean an increase in the local class system. While Indonesia as a whole does have an emerging middle class, it seems that for the poorest of the poor cannot get a foot up. Almost 93% of Bali’s population are the working poor.

Now given all these statistics, do you not think you should still be spending money here? The immediate argument to this is always going to be “But how much of my tourist dollars end up in the pockets of the poor?” and you’ve got a valid point. But if you stop visiting, and stop the flow of tourism into Bali, will those people be worse off?

Let me prepare you for the reality of Bali, without all the gloss and fakeness of Instagram and TikTok.

You will arrive at Denpasar. Now, the last time I was in Bali the airport hadn’t be upgraded yet. But from what I have heard the initial landing is the same – confusion, a heaving mass of people all elbowing each other out of the way, maybe the aircon is broken, there is a smell of sweat, frangipani and cigarette smoke in the air. The good news is that once you’re out of the airport, the smell just kind of drifts off into the heat.

Now, once you’ve cleared through customs you’ll need to get into a taxi. This is the only way to get from the airport to where ever you are staying. Welcome to the onslaught of drivers, taxis drivers, hotel shuttles and other random people waiting to collect someone from the airport. Thankfully, I now have a permanent driver in Bali, and I don’t need to deal with the ruckus. But go ahead, get yourself a cab. You can make it easier on yourself by fighting your way through to the taxi desk, where an impatient man will be waiting to take your set fee to usher you into a cab. I promise, this is not a scam. He’s legit. Tell him the area you’re going, and he will tell you the fee – generally about 150,000Rp to any of the southern beaches, more if you’re going further to Ubud.

Once you’re through all the madness and you’ve got yourself checked in at your hotel you can relax. Chances are, 99% of the other guests at your hotel will be Australian, Chinese or Japanese tourists. Aussies will befriend anyone, so chat to them. The Chinese and Japanese tourists (in my experience in Bali), favour the bigger, more luxurious resorts on the south coast of Nusa Dua and Jimbaran Bay.

Go for a wander from your hotel, and you will find dusty streets with narrow pathways and very high curbs. Now, I don’t care what Elizabeth sodding Gilbert says in her book about the beaches of Bali, the reality is Bali is a volcanic island, the massive volcano in the middle should really give that away. Therefore you cannot expect the powdery white sand beaches of Thailand or the Philippines here. And hear me when I tell you that Eat, Pray, Love is full of lies and you CANNOT ride your bicycle from Ubud to the beach.

Now that you know what you’re really in for…. I should tell you the REAL reason I think you should keep Bali on your bucket list. And I’m sorry, but it’s 100% selfish.

I love Indonesia. I love the people, I love the beaches, I love the weather. I plan on retiring to a small village and being a vegetarian, forest-walking, meditating, yoga-going hippy in my old age. If you take Bali off your bucket list, then you will start discovering the other islands around close by, and that’s going to be a problem for me. Because those are those are the best parts of Indonesia.