Visiting Canggu – Bali was the first time during my journey that I don’t like a place. My expectations were filled with all the Facebook pictures and comment that people publish about the area. Reality shocked me!. My experience with Canggu was over touristic, noisy, lots of pollution, crazy traffic and not much left from old Bali. Many hip cafes and many European people. Maybe it was not the right place for a non-surfer like me. The only thing that I liked was the people. The people of Bali are extremely friendly and open. Everyone who I talked to liked to explain about their culture and ceremonies. Driven by this image I decided to go to Nusa Penida, which is a smaller island in the south of Bali.
My accommodation was also terrible. The house in villa style was pretty nice, but the condition of the rooms – pretty dirty. Wifi was good and so I decided not to make my stay more complicated and get along with it for this 8 days. Name of the stay was Sunset Villa Bali
One day I did a motorbike trip to the Pura Taman Ayun Temple in the north of Bali. Driving needed full attention all the time and the air pollution was so heavy that I decided to wear a mask from that day on.
Another day I did a trip to one of the nearby beaches that I expected to be not so crowded. On my arrival, I had to face a heartbreaking view. A river that leads into the ocean was full of trash. On the surface of the river was a big area full of white foam and in the river was people swimming. Also, the beach was full of trash and the color of the sand in combination with the rough see was sad to view.
Later in the evening, I thought that this impression might be a single one and decided to go to another beach the next day. But the image was the same. I felt so sorry and sad about it and for me, it’s clear that I won’t visit Bali again. I hope that one day it will be recovered and that the people learn quickly how to handle the plastic trash and understand how valuable their culture and environment is.
I decided not to visit Ubud, cause the traffic was so heavy and stressful. Ubud is also very touristic place so I was sure not to find what I aim for. I used the time for intensive work, good sleep and to use my days as effective as possible. That was a good decision, cause then they passed by quickly.
On the 8th of March, I found myself at 11 in a car on my way to Nusa Penida. Hopefully there it will be more like I expected Bali.