ChrisJenTravel.com – Honeymoon Trek

It’s going to be hard to be honest about Bali and still be nice. Having left now I can say we had a great experience but it was nothing close to what we expected. We just didn’t do our homework on this one. Bali is at once beautiful and horrible, overcrowded but sadly empty, pristine and trashed. As one British Expatriate told us, Bali now is nothing but a name. We, as many others, were drawn there by the name and the images it conjures. But the reality is that Bali is simply worn out by over 30 years of adapting to a tourist boom.

The decline came long before the bombs were set off here in a resort and nightclub killing hundreds. Long before Shapelle Corby, an Australian tourist, was sentenced to 20 years for allegedly smuggling in marijuana while the bombing terrorist was given a lighter sentence (although this has led to a virtual boycott by Australian tourists). Bali today is overbuilt, grimy, polluted Kuta on one side and gorgeous, palm-lined exclusive resorts Noosa Dua on the other. On one side there are beaches with so much trash washing in from the sea (fed by the rivers where the locals dump their trash) that you can’t swim, though thousands who look like they’ve never seen a beach do.  On the other side the water is crystal clear, with perfect waves crashing on outer reef passes and great beaches. You can find amazing deals on one side but couldn’t afford a night’s stay on the other. But it does have great waves, extremely friendly locals and super cheap food, accommodations and shopping in the right areas; and we were here for 10 days, so we made the most of it.

We stayed at 2 different hotels in the Kuta tourist section with brand new, modern rooms for $12–$17 per night including an amazing breakfast. We rented a scooter for $4 a day and explored the beaches and shops. We made the 20 minute drive to the other side each day to go to the great beaches around Club Med and the like where they serve you drinks and meals on the beach and take you out to the surf breaks in a boat for $3. And we ate like kings – $3 sushi platters, $2 pizzas, $1.50 chicken satay and $2 smoothies. I surfed great waves almost as scary as Hawaii until I had an encounter with the razor sharp reef on the last day and cut my feet pretty good. And Jenny swam, ran around the island and realized her life-long dream of an outdoor mall as big as a city with dirt cheap fashions before the scooter muffler gave her the second serious burn of the trip. Everyone spoke English and everyone was super friendly, even grateful, to have tourists come see them. Knowing now how to do Bali, we’d bring some friends back someday and have a great time.

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