WHY WE DIDN'T LIKE BALI THAT MUCH

OR 

WHAT WE LIKED, AND DIDN'T LIKED, ABOUT

1. PERSONAL REASONS 

It was.. probably not the best time for visit this place of wonders, this Island of Harmony & Beauty.

A few weeks earlier, when me and my friend were in Singapore, I got the worst news to get when you're halfway across the globe: Someone important to me at home were dying.

This led to endless nights crying in bed instead of going out to watch the sunset or discovering Balinese dance.

So no, Bali could have been a lot better if the setting were different. But...

We did see some young girls performing outside Discovery Mall at Kuta

2. WE STAYED FAR TOO LONG AT KUTA BEACH 

For a lot of reasons, at least one of the mentioned above, we decided to stay longer in one place, and Kuta Beach is wide known, so we thought staying by the sunny beach at sunny Kuta was just what we needed at that time.

Only thing was... not much was Bali about Kuta. With airconditioned malls and well-known american brands as far as you can see, Kuta was more America than any European city I've visited, with the exeption of the sales tecnique á la Thailand.

Kuta beach at night 

Street art featuring bags of garbage

People talk about the rich culture the learned to know in Bali. We actually only got one genuine feeling for the island, which leads us to...

3. INDONESIA IS SOO CORRUPTED 

So we went on a day trip around Bali in a private car. It was planned to guide us through Batic painting, jewelry making and wood carving, as well as rice terrasses, a volcano and Monkey Forrest.

Since we didn't want to be inpolite, we agreed to be taken to the first three places, even though we know we were not going to buy neither paintings nor wood carvings.

This is a typical typical typical tourist thing. As soon as we entered the shops, a woman started following us around and tried to sell us everything we looked at for more than 3 seconds. No, really. It felt like a version of the famous "Tuk-tuk scam" in Bangkok, where the driver gets commission if the tourists buy anything.






On the way we were also stopped a few times by police, standing by the side of the street, and the driver had to go out and bribe them with cigarettes for us to get through. We also had to pay fees just to enter some of the roads, when people in other cars and vespas could just drive by.

...

of course there was stuff we did like. 

First, we were together again. Five weeks apart is a eon of time when you are unhappy. 

Second, Jonathan still brings up the satay we had in Bali every time we eat asian food, with the words "well this is good but DO YOU REMEMBER THE SATAY WE HAD IN INDONESIA?" 

It was pretty darn good.

...We came back three nights.  

Third, we did see a lot of nature that was cool and different and green and untouched around the island. 

We saw monkeys and rice terrasses and we rode horses at the beach in Ubud and... 

Jonathan is actually good with horses. I, I just tried not to fall off. 

Monkeys chilling at Monkey Forest 

Volcano. It's a shame we couldn't climb it, but also good since it was still active...

Forth, we got to try a lot of COFFEE at the coffee plantation 

We had... honey coffee, and strawberry coffee, and chocolate coffee, and vanilla coffee... 

Jonathan helped grind the coffee  

And when you have coffee and someone to hug whenever you feel like it, you don't really need anything else. 

Have you been to Bali and had a similar experience? 

Or did you do it different? 

Please enlighten us by commenting :)