Is Bali Ruined?

10 years. 

When my memory fades of a place I visited briefly a decade ago, I revisit it and get small glimmers. 

“Oh yeah…I remember this beach.” Then you start trying to piece together what it felt like before for you back then.

“This temple looks the same, but the surroundings have certainly changed.”

“Man, there’s so much trash everywhere. And…what’s that smell?”

Bali isn’t what it used to be. I don’t say this because I “knew Bali before” because let’s be real, I only visited in 2016 for maybe 10 days: saw the sights, did a yoga class or two, a massage, saw some traditional dances, swam with manta rays, and took a surfing lesson. You know, the classic “first trip to Bali” experience. 

But I at least have something to compare the island to. And it’s certainly seen better days. 

Some things I will hold dear? The culture here. It’s so incredibly special, and very ritual-based. 

Seeing locals dressed up for ceremonies often held on the side of busy streets, sitting cross-legged outside the temple and loudly playing music. Or each day they’re placing their offerings and lighting incense (called Canang Sari) quietly muttering prayers and flicking holy water. Or driving through Ubud and seeing massive ogoh-ogoh statues created for Nyepi (the Balinese new year).

Their culture revolves around balance, at its core.

Balance between good and evil.

The physical and spiritual worlds.

And…humans and nature.

The imbalance I saw this time around…deeply troubles me.

The overconsumption. 

The overdevelopment.

The traffic jams.

The same beach club, one right after the other, gobbling up beautiful cliffsides in Uluwatu that used to be untouched.

I can’t help but sigh. Why would we want Bali to become another Tulum?

Tulum has NO soul. Nothing sacred. It lacks the culture and dignity that Bali has, yet here we are white-washing this beautiful island, stripping it of its dignity and completely disrupting the balance that Balinese Hinduism strives for. 

There’s a difference between experiencing a place and extracting from it. And too many people are doing the latter.

I fear one day the island will react. 

Nature will equalize this land once again, because too many investors have only seen it as an opportunity. Their eyes don’t look at the land for its beauty. Just for its profitability. 

This is why we need to travel sustainably. Respectfully. And if we decide to occupy a space/immigrate/invest…we have to do it without harm. 

I sigh. Things are…never what they “used to be” and that’s an impossible thing to ever wish for. 

But how far must we go before we learn how to correctly move through this planet, in our post-COVID digital nomad, ever-growing global world? 

Retracing my steps, I tried to revisit a beach in Uluwatu I had a really special moment with…I saw bioluminescent plankton in the water for the first time in my life!

Funny enough, I was with my fiancée at the time and he was being a jerk. Grumpy for whatever reason…projecting his emotions onto me and making whatever he was feeling my problem. 

I looked at him differently after that night. How can you be in nature, experiencing something so unique and rare and connected…and still have an attitude? “We are not the same people,” I said to myself. 

I almost broke up with him that trip…but then scared myself back into submission and returned to the United States with him to get married a year later. 

Now, 10 years later, I came back alone.

Different woman. Different eyes.

This time, the island called me back. 

To deepen my spirituality. To train in yoga and breath work courses and become a more full version of myself. To….find balance.

And when I tried revisiting the beach I saw the bioluminescence at - to have a moment of reclamation for myself, it was inaccessible. Gobbled up by investors. Untouchable by the people who respect the land the most. 

Listen, I love a cute modern coffee shop as much with a cheap smoothie bowl as the next person, or a swanky beach club but…when do we have enough options and finally say no more? 

Bali is still powerful, spiritual, and deeply special.

But its balance is off.

And if we choose to come here to visit, to play, to build, to profit - we have a responsibility to honor the land in the process.