- They still have rainforests! It is one of the places where the oil palm tree monoculture has not (yet, gasp!) replaced the orignal old forest.
- Local bell music sounds very nice.
- There seems to be a local tape with flute and bamboo stick music that's supposed to be chill and relaxing. Our hotel played it every morning at breakfast. From 6 am. From a speaker right under my window. It woke me up reliably every morning and I hate it now. But it seems to be pretty popular in Bali anyway, I heard it in Ubud a few times.
- If you like exotic arts, you want a wood, stone or bone sculpture from Bali.
- It's not super cheap. If you've read one of those 'personal finance' blogs saying that 'you can afford to live abroad and it'll be cheaper than home' then, well, don't come to tourist centers of Bali.
- It's touristy. Nusa Dua, Jimbaran and Ubud are all already rather urbanized and tourism is well established. Not for you if you're trying to get away from people. Better stay at home with your computer.
- The people are friendly and merry. Our Uber driver was joking all the time that his eyes are not good and that he likes funny mushrooms from Lombok. We survived so it was funny in the end.
- Did I mention the beautiful nature? Rainforest (with authentic rain as well!), sandstone cliffs, deep blue sea, reefs. And I was lucky to see a few manta rays. Majestic.
- Food is great too. Curry and curry-like seasonings or peanut sauce is what I will remember most as local flavours and crackers, skewers and sugar peanuts is what I will remember in terms of ... shapes?
There are some downsides too:
- Taxi mafia. Uber, on the other hand, has been a great user friendly experience.
- Hawkers trying to push you into buying stuff you don't need. They don't worry about lying about it either.
9 / 10, would visit again
