Bali isn’t the place you imagine. It’s not the place that travel blogs or Instagram influencers gave you the idea of. Bali is one of the most third world places I’ve ever been – it’s kind of a shithole. It’s a shithole with a couple nice hotels now that Instagram made it popular and a bajillion white people are going there.
I did Bali for a month in December 2022, and originally I was planning to stay six months. I was going to get a visa to stay longer – that was my plan. Just chilling in Bali for six months, doing the whole digital nomad thing. The food’s good, the beach is awesome, sun, working out, getting fit, costing like $500 a month. But I only lasted the test month.
The Arrival Scam Reality
Flying there from Europe was a bitch – it’s far, basically the middle of nowhere. You probably have to connect somewhere in the Middle East or Istanbul. The airport’s nice and very first world, but it gets hectic quick.
You gotta pay for the visa on arrival – like $30 or something. Then I got scammed by the taxi driver leaving. What should have been like an $8 ride, I paid $20 because I was tired and jet-lagged.
Here’s the rule everywhere: every single airport in the world, the taxis will scam you. But Bali will especially do that because it’s a poor country and they’re on their last dime. The guy was trying to say “oh the boss, I rent this car, the boss needs more money.” You gotta fight and be strong.
Accommodation Reality: Basic Bungalows
The accommodation in Bali is all kind of the same – these bungalow places where it’s a room with AC, a desk, and really weird bathrooms. Every place has creepy crawlies, bugs, lizards, geckos coming in. You can’t escape them – you’re gonna have some type of creepy crawly in your room.
The standard bungalow is overpriced now. They’ll have like a little pool, a community area, maybe a little bar, but the rooms are very basic. It’s literally just like a bedroom.
The pool is sus though – the water looks really blue because they use weird chemicals. I never went in because I read they use these strange chemicals to make it that blue color.
The Transportation Nightmare
The roads are horrible – there’s no highway infrastructure and always traffic. What should be a 15-minute ride becomes 45 minutes to an hour. I stayed near Canggu, and even though it looks close on the map, getting anywhere takes forever.
There are bikes everywhere – every second you’re walking around, a bike rider will stop and ask if you want a ride. They use Grab (the app), or you can negotiate prices directly. Having a bike is good if you live there, but it’s dangerous with all the traffic.
The Health and Pollution Horror Show
This is where Bali really lost me. I was on a special diet at the time, really focused on health, and Bali is the opposite of healthy.
The Garbage Burning Reality
They burn their garbage in Bali. Imagine instead of taking your trash out, you just lit it on fire and burned it away – plastic bags, food, whatever rubbish. That’s what they do, and the horrifying part is they apparently have the money for garbage infrastructure, but they prefer to burn stuff.
I saw this firsthand – a big pile of rubbish being burned. I walked past a guy with a garbage bin and a cow chained right next to it, burning plastic. The cow was breathing it in. Imagine drinking that milk.
Air Quality Disaster
The air quality is shit. In December they burn all the rice fields, so there’s smoke pollution everywhere. Plus the garbage burning creates constant smoke. It’s discussing.
Water and Food Safety
No way in hell can you drink the tap water. You only do bottled water, nothing else. The food definitely uses seed oils and palm oil – I could immediately taste something weird.
There’s something called “Bali belly” that everyone gets – after a day or three of being there, you’re gonna get sick with stomach problems. I was very cautious and it still happened to me a little. Some people get taken out for days or even end up in the hospital.
Food Scene: Cheap But Risky
The Indonesian food is sus. The fried rice is good and costs a dollar, but you might be sick for three days. I barely ate the local food because I could taste the weird oils they use.
The best thing they have is imported frozen steaks from Australia. There was this whole chicken thing that was skewered – probably a miserable chicken that had a terrible life, but at least it felt safer. They use this sauce called sambal on everything.
The One Good Thing: Coconuts
There’s coconuts everywhere – young coconuts, not brown ones. Big green coconuts for like a dollar. They whack it open and you can drink the coconut water. That was genuinely good and one positive about the place.
The Beach: Polluted Reality
The beach is polluted – you can see it in photos. I would not go in that beach water. The beach looks okay from a distance, and all beaches are kind of nice, but the pollution factor threw me off.
Safety Concerns: Street Dogs and More
Bali’s not super safe, though I wouldn’t say it’s dangerous. The police are sketchy and corrupt – they’ll take bribes. There are lots of street dogs walking around, and some blocked my path at night walking back to my bungalow. It was scary, almost a life-or-death situation.
If you ride a bike, use a helmet. People die all the time because they don’t wear helmets on their scooters.
Digital Nomad Assessment: Health Nightmare
My biggest problem was feeling betrayed. I thought this was gonna be a healthy place where you get sun and work out and eat well. Instead, I was scraping meat because it was enclosed in plastic, trying not to get plastic particles in me.
I read on Facebook groups about guys saying whenever they got back from Bali, they’d take blood tests and all their bad metal levels were up – stuff that causes cancer. Once I read that, I was like “what am I doing here?”
Digital Nomad Rating: 3/10
For long-term digital nomads focused on health, this is terrible. The air is bad, food is risky, water is undrinkable, and there are bugs everywhere. Plus poisonous snakes and scorpions because you’re in the tropics.
Cost Reality: Cheap But At What Price
I found a cheap bungalow for about $400/month. Food’s cheap – you can live on $600-700/month short term. The locals probably spend like $50 because they sleep on floors and don’t care about bugs crawling on them.
But you get what you pay for – third world conditions with first world tourist prices in some areas.
Pricing Breakdown
- Accommodation: $400-800/month for basic bungalow
- Food: $1-3 for local meals (with health risks)
- Transportation: Cheap bikes and Grab rides
- Total monthly budget: $600-1000 (if you don’t get sick)
Dating Scene: Russians and Chaos
When it comes to dating, you have local women and lots of European/Australian women. The most common demographic is Russian and Ukrainian – Russians love Bali, they’re everywhere.
I think a lot of the Russian girls are doing the sugar baby thing or OnlyFans – typical Russian stuff. The big problem is there’s no infrastructure, so if someone lives 10 minutes away, it’ll actually take 30 minutes because traffic is so bad.
It’s not a serious place – I don’t think anyone’s meeting their soul partner there. Your best bet is probably nightlife, but tons of people are just coming and going.
Who Bali Is Actually For
Bali for the long term is for the tattooed, free-loving surfer bro who loves the beach, sun, and riding bikes around. That whole phenotype of person is who Bali is for.
I am not that type of person. I’m a pale, vampire-esque man who loves computers and being indoors. It just wasn’t my place, quite honestly.
Short-Term Tourism: Still Worth It?
For short-term tourism, I’d still say Bali is quite good. There’s a lot to see – monkey jungle, rice terraces, the basic environment. Even though I thought it was bad, it’s still interesting and such a big destination that you kind of have to see for yourself.
It’s been exploded by Instagram and has a nice name – “Bali” just sounds nice, and that’s like its biggest draw.
If you’re thinking about going for a week or two, I’d actually still recommend it despite this bad review. But it’s a long flight, especially from the US.
Better Southeast Asia Strategy
I think the best situation is going to Thailand or Vietnam first for a week or two, then coming to Bali for a week or two. I wouldn’t just fly to Bali – I’d see more of Southeast Asia.
Honestly, I’d go to Thailand over Bali. Thailand feels like a third world country too, but the infrastructure is better. They know more about what they’re doing, the roads are decent, and Bangkok has some first world stuff with nice malls.
The Reality Check
I felt betrayed because Instagram and travel blogs made this seem like a healthy paradise. Instead, I found:
- Constant garbage burning and smoke
- Polluted water and questionable food safety
- Poor infrastructure and traffic nightmares
- Health risks from air quality and contamination
- Tourist scams starting from the airport
The locals don’t care about the bugs, pollution, or health issues because they’re used to it. But as someone focused on health and quality of life, it was shocking.
My Honest Bottom Line
Overall Rating: 4/10
Bali works for short-term tourism and Instagram photos, but it’s not the healthy paradise it’s marketed as. If you’re going for a week to party and see some sights, fine. But for long-term living or health-focused nomading? Absolutely not.
The combination of third world infrastructure, pollution, health risks, and tourist prices creates a disappointing reality behind the Instagram facade.
After experiencing the garbage burning, air pollution, and constant health concerns, I flew to Bangkok after just a week knowing I wasn’t doing any more time there.
Final Verdict
Bali is Instagram paradise versus ground truth reality. The name sounds nice, the photos look good, but the actual experience involves breathing smoke from burning garbage, avoiding contaminated water, and dealing with constant scams.
Go for the experience and photos if you want, but don’t expect the healthy, spiritual paradise that social media promises. It’s a third world country with first world tourist marketing.
Have you been to Bali and experienced the reality versus Instagram expectations? Did the pollution and health issues bother you as much as they did me, or did you find ways to enjoy it despite the problems? Share your Bali truth in the comments!
