In the tiny fishing village of Tulamben, on Bali’s east coast, I meet an Aussie expat who’s lived too long away from home to mix his words. “All these Aussies complaining about Bali not being like it was 30 years ago,” he says. “And they live in Canggu or Seminyak.
Or they holiday in the same places they did in 1995, like Kuta. Bali is like it was 30 years ago, you just have to look for Bali a bit harder these days.” He’s not talking about far-flung destinations reachable only by 4WD or boat either.
Tulamben is as far removed from Bali’s overcrowded south-western coast as you’ll ever need venture, yet it’s barely three hours’ drive from Seminyak. Bali’s overlooked east coast actually begins around the coastal village of Candidasa, an hour’s drive from the international airport. So close, but so very far.
He’s scolding me as much as anyone. I’ve been coming to Bali for 30 years, and the traffic jams and pollution around my favourite haunts concerned me so much on my last visit I haven’t been back for a decade. This time around, I’m turning my back on the places I once loved.
I drive instead to Candidasa, finding a pretty coastal village with enough hotels, restaurants and cafes to provide buzz with none of the traffic chaos of the south. But it’s beyond Candidasa – where the coastline sweeps north, and the hinterland turns mountainous – that I suddenly return to a Bali I first met in 1992. I wind my way round hairpin corners where locals.