Bali travel guide blog: 5 things Bali is SERIOUSLY lacking.

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Bali travel guide: What’s missing in Bali?

Hey y’all. We’ve been in Bali nearly two months now and we have fallen head over heels for this beautiful island. The island itself is glorious, the people are so gentle and warm-hearted, the food is divine and then there’s the weather, the rice paddies, the beaches… I could go on.

1. Road rage

If you have ever travelled to Bali and experienced the roads and driving, you will know why this is on the list. Although you technically need a licence to drive, we’ve seen kids as young as twelve hopping on to mopeds after school is over to give their friends a lift home. People don’t indicate; if they think another driver or pedestrian needs to be aware of their presence, they beep. Everyone beeps, but in two months of driving every day in Bali I haven’t seen one case of road rage. No yelling, no rude gesturing, no swearing under the breath. Instead there’s an acceptance of the slow chaos (the winding roads that criss-cross Bali make it difficult to pick up speed in many areas, thankfully), a fair bit of chuckling and a gentle ‘ohhh’ when someone drives nonsensically. It makes the whole travel affair a lot more pleasant when you know your driver is chill and when people resolve things with discussion, chuckles and gentle beeping instead of rage and legal threats. Kudos to Bali drivers.

2. Street harassment

Despite the fact that we are on the other side of the world, in a culture that until eight weeks ago we knew nothing about, I generally feel much safer walking down the street in Bali than I do in London. Here in Bali I’ve had maybe a third of the cat-calling type rubbish that is, unfortunately, normal for London. The other day I thought a couple of guys were going to start and they simply waved and said “Good morning, sister.” Go Bali.

3. Angry parents

I can’t tell you how much I dig the Bali parenting vibe. As far as I can tell, life as a parent here is lived with a lot of good humour, a ton of patience and the very healthy attitude that your kids’ behaviour is not directly related to your own self-worth as a person. We haven’t seen any yelling or hitting and it’s just pretty chill.

4. Grumpiness

Is that a proper word? You know what I mean though. Balinese people are SO SMILEY. I mean, living in Bali is one awesome reason to smile. It’s just even more noticeable where you come from a city where most people are allergic to eye contact. People here are positive and have a gentle and optimistic spirit. It’s lovely to be around.

5. Scams

After backpacking around south-east Asia when we were younger, we were fairly sure we were going to get scammed here in Bali. Nope. Of course prices are higher in tourist areas, that’s the way it is- but not once have we been scammed, lied to or short-changed by anyone. We’ve had market stall holders run after us to give us change we didn’t even know we were owed. It makes the whole travel experience so much more pleasant when you’re not constantly on edge about being ripped off.

Bali travel guide blog: A wonderful two months

So that’s the five things that we’ve noticed are missing from Bali! Have you been to Bali, would you agree?

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