Apparently the secret of happiness in life, and particularly when traveling, is to not have too many expectations. Unfortunately, we didn’t follow this rule upon arrival on the Indonesian island of Bali. What, but everyone adores Bali, and especially Ubud, don’t they? Well, sadly the magic spell failed to work on us …
We arrived late at night, after a bumpy, delayed flight due to thunderstorms around the island. We also had to wait in a looong line to get through immigration (we almost thought we were back in Montreal! 😝). After a few goes, we managed to withdraw some cash from an ATM, but I got confused with all the zeroes and managed to get $20 instead of the $200 we had hoped for. This would not get us far…
As you come out of the arrivals area at the airport, you are practically mobbed by guys asking if you want a taxi. We tried to catch an Uber to our hotel but failed to find the driver, and had to end up getting ripped off by a local taxi. For here lies the real problem in Bali: transportation. Almost every guy on the island is a taxi driver since there is no alternative, no buses or trains. They have the monopoly and can therefore charge tourists exorbitant prices. Services like Uber and Grab exist, but are actively hassled by the local taxi mafia since they represent a threat to their little kingdom. In order to get an Uber or a Grab, you have to go through a series of steps, which may or may not lead to you getting a ride. You have to memorize the car’s plate, and not walk around with you phone out while looking for your ride. Another guy didn’t want us to wait in the street for him – he told us it was dangerous and he would come and meet us in our hotel lobby, which was down a narrow alleyway 200 m from the main road. We also had to cancel the official Grab request so that the local taxi mafia could not trace his car. I don’t know if this guy was just being paranoid, but the bottom line is that it is complicated to get around (and not get ripped off).
Most tourists do like the locals – they rent mopeds to get around, but that was not really an option for us as a family. The result is that the roads are packed with scooters zooming about, with all the noise and air pollution that goes with them. There are 5 million inhabitants on this tiny island, plus the tourists! All this traffic means that the roads are often congested, and a 40 km journey will take you over 2 hours. What fun!
Our first two nights were spent in the south of the island, in a place called Jimbaran. We knew it was going to be very touristy and so we were not shocked by what we found. There was a big beach, but the water was full of trash, so that you can’t swim without running into floating plastic bags, bottles etc.. Our hotel was nice though, with a nice big pool and a relaxing courtyard where we could acclimatise after our long trek from Japan. Afterwards, we departed for Ubud, further to the north and somewhat inland in the jungle. We were expecting a very quiet and laid-back little town in the jungle, where we could slowly take in the culture of Bali. How wrong we were… The best way to describe Ubud is a mix between Cancun, Mexico and New Delhi. So not quite what we were expecting. We went for a walk into the center, which was an endless row of shops selling overpriced tat, and nearly got run over several times by the endless stream of scooters and cars (there is not much in the way of pavement to walk on). We instantly hated the place.
After spending several weeks in Thailand and Japan, we were no longer used to being hassled by hawkers and taxi drivers non-stop. So when we returned to the hotel, we were happy to just take refuge in our luxury villa that we had treated ourselves to, only to discover that they had overbooked and it was no longer available (handy tip: NEVER pre-pay for accommodation using the website agoda.com – you may end up with a nasty surprise)… We had to make do with two very ordinary, tiny double rooms instead. So our Bali dream came crashing down on our heads on this day. Perhaps it was just a case of bad timing (the Aussies were out in force since they were on vacation), but the sheer number of tourists buzzing about on their mopeds destroys any notion of tranquility that you may have of the place. Perhaps 20 years ago it was how we saw it in the film Eat, Pray, Love, where Julia Roberts cycles through quiet lanes among the rice paddies, but this Bali no longer exists. It has become a victim of its own success. Such a shame.
Our first impression was probably not helped by the weather: either uncomfortably hot and humid, or pouring rain. You are drenched to the skin after 2 minutes outside, either way. If this was the only issue, we could have dealt with it, but we just weren’t able to find any interesting places to visit that were worth the hassle.
In the photos it looks like paradise, I know, but it is all too easy to take good photos by cropping out the things you don’t want, and playing with the contrast. Here’s a good example: ocean view from Candidasa…
Same spot, different camera angle:
There most probably are still some unspoilt corners left on the island, in the far north, and also on other less touristy islands of Indonesia, but after a family vote, it was decided that we did not wish to explore Bali any further (since this was not the plan we had for Bali!). So, we cancelled the rest of our stay in Ubud and moved to Candidasa, on the eastern shore, where we found a nice quiet villa with a pool to spend our remaining days in Bali. We changed our flights to Australia to leave one week earlier than planned, so that our initial 2-day stop-over in Sydney has now morphed into a full blown tour of the east coast of Australia! We can’t wait to go and see the kangaroos, but we are keeping our expectations fairly low (we have learned our lesson 😉 ).
A Light Year Family 