I know, I know, three things I HATED about Bali? Typically, all you ever hear about Bali is how magical and wonderful and beautiful it is. Bali can be all of those things, but I thought, rather than beat a dead horse, let me switch it up and give you a different, authentic review.
1. The Traffic (And I Mean ALL the Traffic)
For starters, we have to address the obvious: the traffic. The majority of people in Bali drive motorbikes of various kinds. There are cars as well, but I suggest only taking a car if you have luggage. Your travel time is likely to double, perhaps even triple, when taking a car. It’s ridiculous. It’s common for people to rent, or buy, their own motorbike. However, given I’m not the best at riding a regular bicycle, I didn’t think it would be in my best interest to put myself on a motorized bike. I used Grab or Gojek, their equivalent of Uber, to get around. The rides were so cheap, like 67 cents, and there were drivers everywhere, so I never had a long wait. My poor biking skills aside, the other main reason I didn’t make the jump to get my own is because of the traffic and road “rules.”
I wouldn’t necessarily say there are road laws in Bali. I mean, I’m sure there’s some form written somewhere, but from my observations, it seemed more like an understanding or idea of laws mixed with a game of chicken. In addition to who has the biggest balls to change the traffic flow, people also drive on the sidewalks. No, I’m not kidding. There are certain times of day where you can find yourself in standstill traffic for 20+ minutes. During those times, there’s just no way of getting around it. The sidewalks and roads are completely full, this is the worst time to be in a car. In my personal opinion, the worst part about being part of the motorbike sea is the gas fumes. When I first got to Bali, I thought the people wearing masks when they drove were being dramatic. After my first traffic jam on a motorbike, I understood they were playing chess while everyone else was playing checkers. Not to be dramatic, but there were times in traffic jams where I tried my best to breathe as little as possible because all I could think about were the cancer fumes I was inhaling.
2. The Water Will Destroy Your Hair
Enough about traffic, let’s discuss my next hatred: the water. Specifically, bathing water. Before I left for Bali (hell, Southeast Asia in general), I had heard how bad their water was and the hair loss and bad skin it can cause.
In Bali specifically, the issue is that their water is so polluted and not well filtered. I knew I was going to have to get a shower filter for my villa because it didn’t have a big water filtration system.
I was a few weeks in when I started noticing significant hair loss. Since birth, I’ve been blessed with thiccc hair. With this typically comes more fallout than someone with thinner hair, just how it goes. However, when my shower squirrels (this is what I call my wash day hair clumps) started almost doubling in size, I started to panic. The summer before, I had suffered a large amount of hair loss due to an ADHD medication I had started, and promptly stopped taking. I was not looking to go through that again, so I started calling around to different hair salons asking if they had a large filtration system. I ended up finding a salon called Rob Peetom and would go once a week for a hair wash, scalp treatment, and blowout.
3. The Expat Problem Nobody Talks About
My last major beef point that I have with Bali isn’t necessarily about Bali herself, but more so the people who have decided to call it home. The digital nomads and expats. Granted, I was technically one of these people for two months, but I’m more so talking about the people who have decided to be there for the long haul.
To be fair, I don’t necessarily have a personally witnessed history to base this off of, but the way Bali functions now is on the backs of the native Balinese. These are the people driving the Grabs and Gojeks, building all of the new structures to accommodate the ever-growing expat and digital nomad population, serving in the restaurants, and basically working every job that requires someone to be there in person. From my time there, the only place I found a non-Balinese actually working was at a fitness place, like a yoga or Pilates studio.
Granted, I know a lot of countries are like this these days, but it just rubbed me the wrong way to see all the natives essentially being servants to everyone moving into their homeland. Native Balinese, for the most part, are not making a ton of money, but they’re working hard. Meanwhile, tons of foreigners are profiting, often greatly, off doing the bare minimum in a beautiful place. I found it impressive how fast the Balinese workers were able to build a new building.
When I first arrived at my villa, there was a new villa being built across the street. It was bare bones at the start of my two months. By the time I was leaving, they had finished putting in all the windows and doors and were beginning to add light fixtures. This may seem like a normal feat and timeline, but you have to keep in mind that they weren’t working with any fancy machinery. They used bamboo to hold structures up and pulley systems to lift cement blocks.
To foreigners, the appeal of Bali is obvious. However, the unappealing aspects may not be as obvious to outsiders. For this reason, I felt the need to take it upon myself to inform you that not everything is as it seems. Bali is a beautiful island, but it’s also covered in trash, overcrowded, and lacks the infrastructure for the number of people that call it home. So before you make a trip there, consider some of the other islands nearby that might still hold some of that “Bali Magic.”