Long term travel is not always sunsets and rainbows. There are bad days, and in Bali I had one after the other. We can always learn from the challenges, which is why I share the lessons learnt from this experience, hoping that you might find it useful.
It started when I took the camera in the plane and realized that it wasn’t working anymore. After that I had a series of unlucky events: I was scammed, I was touched, I fell, I had problems with dogs, with ATMs, with bank cards and even with a visa.
Due to all these problems I never felt comfortable in Bali, I never connected with the place, I didn’t enjoy my stay. In fact, I ended up with anxiety problems. It’s a pity because it’s a beautiful island with an interesting culture, and most people I met were nice.
In life there are good days and bad days, and traveling is no exception. We can always learn from the challenges, which is why I’m writing this post. Not only to spill it out, which I need to do, but to share the lessons learnt with this experience, in the hope that it might help you too.
1. My camera broke down
It was the very first time I paid to chose a seat. I wanted the window seat. The flight from Singapore to Bali was about three hours over thousands of islands. I didn’t want to miss it, and I wanted to take photos.
Shortly after the take off the show started. The islands. The clouds. The color of the sea.
I took the camera. The screen switched on but not the objective. It was blocked. I switched it off, I charged it, I switched it on, I shake it, I asked it please to work again. No result.
If that wasn’t enough, neither in Ubud nor Canggu I found a place to repair it. So for the whole Bali trip I had to take photos with my phone, whose image quality is not the best.
Lessons learnt:
- Take more care with the camera
- When I have to replace my phone, get one with better quality images (just in case!)
2. I was scammed when buying a local SIM
I never thought I should negotiate the price of a phone card. A taxi, yes. Handicraft in a market, yes. But not a SIM card.
A local guy was with me, he actually recommended me that shop. When they told me the price I found it expensive, but I knew in Indonesia it would be more expensive than in Malaysia, so I paid.
I realized I had been scammed a few days later. I was talking with a friend who had arrived a few days before, and the topic of the SIM card came out.
I paid four times more for about half the data.
Lesson learnt:
- Even though I like traveling without planning and let the trip flow, it’s worth to do a minimum research. If I had checked the real price of the SIM I wouldn’t have been scammed.
3. Several dogs scared me (and a monkey!)
I think I had mentioned it before: dogs scare me. Specially when they come running towards me, barking, showing me their teeth and don’t let me pass.
If they bite you need to get rabies shots. Five rabies shots.
In Bali there were a lot of dogs, both in Ubud and Canggu. Other travelers told me that they were also scared of those dogs.
In the Monkey Forest a lot of people gave bananas to the monkeys to get them over them for the photo. I didn’t think it was a good idea. Monkeys also bite and can carry rabies.
Even without carrying any food a monkey climbed my leg and bit my bag.
“Leave me alone, leave me alone!”
Fortunately I managed to shake it off.
Lesson learnt:
- Be firm with dogs, make some noise and a gesture to go away. Do not show fear.
4. An ATM took my money
I went to an ATM in Ubud. It didn’t work. I tried the next one, from a different bank. Nothing. I tried 4 or 5 ATMs and didn’t manage to get cash. The last one told me that there was no funds in my account.
How come? In this card I have 100 euros and I want to get 65.
I checked my account with my phone. One of the ATMs had taken the money from the bank account but didn’t give me the cash. I felt like crying.
The ATMs were in the street, there was no one. I asked in the nearby shops but they told me to contact my home bank. I did contact them and fortunately one hour later I got the money back.
Lesson learnt:
- From that day, every time I went to a new ATM I took only 10 or 20 euros. Once I was sure it worked, I took the money I needed.
5. A man touched me
It was midday, I was out for lunch. I was walking in a quiet street when I saw a motorbike coming in the opposite direction. I moved out of the way, as usual, to avoid being run over.
It happened very fast. Without stopping the motorbike, the man extended his arm and touched me.
He was wearing a full helmet so I don’t know if he was local or foreigner.
It didn’t matter. I was in shock.
My first reflex was to look at my clothes. I was wearing long, wide pants; short sleeve t-shirt with no cleavage, only showing a bit my shoulders. What did I do wrong? I thought. Is it my fault? I wondered.
After that I started having anxiety problems.
Lessons learnt:
- No, it wasn’t my fault. I was the victim, not guilty. Even if I had been wearing a tank top and short skirt, the clothes do not justify an aggression.
- Meditation is good to control anxiety.
6. I fell and got an infection
It was raining. The ground was slippery, I slipped and fell on my bum. My left elbow was hurting but I laughed, until I realized that I was bleeding.
I immediately cleaned the wound, 4 times.
The next morning I had an infection.
I went to the hospital where they cleaned the wound, covered it, did an x-ray and gave me antibiotics.
I had the wound covered for a week. After a few days I saw another doctor who checked that it was healing well. I had never had such a small wound take so long to heal.
Lesson learnt:
- So it was normal to get an infection, for two reasons. One, with the rain and humidity there are a lot of bacteria. Two, since I’m from another country my body isn’t used to this bacteria.
7. My bank card details were stolen and the card blocked
The day I had to see the second doctor my main card stopped working. I didn’t manage to get money from any ATM.
I wrote my bank. They told me that the card was blocked for suspicious activity, and asked me if I had done those transactions in internet.
Shock. Those transactions were not mine! There was an approved purchase of 37 euros and a blocked one of 300 euros. Thanks god the bank blocked the 300 euros transaction!
But of course, blocking the card meant that I could no longer use it. The bank will provide another card that my parents will send me to Asia.
Lessons learnt:
- Bank card data stealing is real, though I don’t know how to prevent it for the future
- Confirmed: it’s better to travel with several cards in case something happens
8. There was a mistake in my Vietnam visa
To go to Vietnam for one month I had two options: to apply for an e-visa, which is paid in advance; or to ask for an approval letter to apply and pay for a visa on arrival at the airport.
To avoid the hassle of queues at the airport I preferred the e-visa, though I did a mistake and applied through an agency instead of the official website.
When I received the e-visa, on Tuesday morning, I saw that there was a mistake: instead of 30 days they had given me only 23.
I contacted the agency immediately. After discussing with them all week, they told me that it was a mistake made by the immigration department and they couldn’t correct it. Finally, on Friday evening they sent me an approval letter for a visa on arrival.
Lessons learnt:
- I guess it wasn’t the fault of the agency, but I think it’s better to apply for visas directly from the official websites
- Even if all the application is online it’s better to apply far in advance
9. It rained a lot (in dry season)
I always thought that rainy season means “rain every day” and dry season “almost no rain”, but in Bali the weather is not so mathematical.
In Ubud it rained almost every day for two weeks. In Canggu I saw more sun but it also rained half of the days. I gave up one of the day trips I wanted to do because of the weather.
In fact, the day I left it rained a lot. When I was going to the airport it started raining and by the time we took off it was still raining. I later learnt that one hour after my flight the airport was flooding and flights were delayed. And it was dry season!
Lesson learnt:
- Do not trust the weather and be ready for everything
10. Bali has no public transport
There is no public transport in Bali. The only way to go around is to rent a motorbike, take a taxi or touristic tours.
For someone who doesn’t know how to ride a motorbike and is traveling on a budget this is hard. I had to pay a taxi from/to the airport, from Ubud to Canggu, to a couple of places I wanted to visit.
In addition Ubud and Canggu are not walkable. In Ubud the traffic is crazy and the sidewalks have holes. In Canggu there are no sidewalks and distances are huge. In order to print my Vietnam visa I had to rent a bicycle. And at night both places are very dark.
Lesson learnt:
- Bali is not my place, it’s a place for people who can ride a motorbike or for groups who can share the taxi expenses.
Conclusion
I was unlucky. Some of the things that happened had nothing to do with Bali, but everything happened when I was there and I ended up dealing with anxiety. I admit that the island is beautiful and the culture is interesting, though I couldn’t enjoy it.
We can always learn from challenges.
Maybe I’ll go back, one day. If possible, with someone who can ride a motorbike.
Which problemas have you had while traveling, and what did you learn from them?
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Dear Laia,
Stay strong and alert. I could see the pain.
I believe that travelling allows one to assess more.
I know that you are person who turns negative into positive and move on.
Thanks for sharing,
Hi Sivam,
Thanks so much for your message and sorry for the late reply.
You were one of the people who taught me how to turn negative events into learnings, when we were in Toulouse, so… thank you!
Cheers!
Omgosh so sorry to hear about your mishaps. I really appreciate the candidness in this article and share, especially since I’m going to Bali for a month during my year-long travel! I’m really scared of the dogs too but my friends keep telling me they didn’t see many… cheeky monkeys, yes but not dogs… hmm.
Hi Nancy,
Sorry about the late reply. So glad to hear that you’re going to start a year-long trip!
About the dogs in Bali I think it depends a lot on the place, I had friends staying in a different homestay and they said there weren’t dogs in their street. Instead there were a lot in mine… If you’re not going there in high season, a good idea is to book only one night or two and if you don’t like the area you can look for another place to stay.
OMG I can’t believe all that happened to you in just one place!! I always tell fellow travelers that it’s all part of the traveling experience, the mishaps and misadventures, but it sounds like you’ve been through an unusually large amount of bad juju. I was in Bali for 2 weeks about 6 years ago and absolutely enjoyed my time there. I hope sometime in the future that you’ll get to come back to Bali and enjoy it without all the mishaps.
Hi Jin,
Yes I completely agree with you. Mishaps and misadventures are part of the traveling experience but my time in Bali was quite unusual (fortunately!). I had traveled alone for more than a year before that and didn’t have that many. Things are back to normal now and yeah, maybe in the future I have the opportunity to go back and experience Bali in a different way.
Wow, so sorry to hear of these unpleasant experiences. As a fellow solo traveler, I do understand that things do not always go as planned. We have to learn to be open and flexible. I hope you do get the chance to visit Bali again and have a better time. Thanks for sharing your story. 🙂
Thanks Juanita! Yes, we have to learn to be open and flexible when traveling. After reading about others’ experiences in Bali I see that mine was quite unusual, so maybe it should give it a second chance in the future 🙂
I enjoyed your post Laia and I’m sorry for all your misfortunes. But I’m happy you are honest writing about your experiences – things like that definitely shape the way we view a place (fair or not).
Frank (bbqboy)
Thanks Frank! Yes, I agree that the way we view a place depends completely on the personal experience we had there (fair or not). When people ask me how was Bali it’s difficult to answer in a few words. I couldn’t enjoy it, but it wasn’t Bali’s fault, I could see why people love it. This post was the only way to give a complete and honest answer.
Wow glad you wrote about this! Great advice! So sorry you had to experience that fist hand. We had a similar experience in Italy with an ATM. But I immediately called the bank and they said everything was fine and that no money had been charged!!
Thanks Maegan! Glad to hear that you could also solve your problem with the ATM in Italy. It had never happened to me before and never thought it could… let’s hope it’s not very common!
I sure hope the string of bad luck will not end with your travels to Vietnam and you can enjoy yourself again. I think it was too much bad luck all together. I hope the anxiety issues will clear once things go better. Take care.
Thanks a lot Naomi! So sorry about the late reply. I’m back and trying to catch up with old comments. Things in Vietnam were much better and while the anxiety hadn’t completely disappeared, I’m feeling much better now.
I still can’t believe so many bad things happened to you in one month! But hopefully this is the end of the bad luck. I had my card details stolen and used before too while traveling. Thankfully the credit card company recognized the charge as fraudulent and stopped the card. But I had to wait for a new one as well. Though I still travel with only one card (one credit card and one ATM card). I feel like I need to build in more contingencies too!
Hi Anna! I think my string of bad luck in Bali was very unusual. Fortunately it stopped there and Vietnam was much better 🙂
Oh no, so sad to hear that you had your card details stolen too 🙁 I actually never thought this could happen. In my first long trip I had only two cards and I never used one of them. In this trip I’m carrying three and I’ve needed all. At some point I thought I would have to ask my parents to send me money through Western Union. We definitely need to have some back ups.
Love the honesty in your post! Although I’d be the person to definitely get bit by a dog as I sometimes think I’m a dog whisperer and want to pet them all which is obviously not the case haha. In the first hostel I ever stayed at during my first time solo traveling I got inundated with bed bug bites and ended up in at the ER in Berlin so I completely understand how solo traveling isn’t all just beautiful fake-smiling Instagram posts and rainbows.
Hi Alex,
Thanks, glad that you liked the post and so sorry to hear that you ended up at the ER for bed bug bites. Hope you never get bitten by a dog!
It sounds like yo turned some really negative things into positive lessons learnt! I think it’s really valuable to appreciate that while a country may not be a great fit for us, it’s to do with the circumstances and what we need, not because it’s a bad place.
Thanks Sonja,
Yes, this is what I wanted to explain here… that I couldn’t enjoy Bali because of the circumstances, not because of it’s a bad place. Many people love it and I could see why.
I was just reminded of this post when a woman wrote me today on my personal email:
“Hua Hin well yes of course there are rats and roaches, just go to ubud in Bali, it is the Far East with lots and lots of people from a whole different culture, if it was the same as Europe well ????? Yes, accommodation on those street signs can be wonderful, I got a studio apartment at the end of soi 88 for 14 euro a night for three months and it had everything I needed … About 1,200 euro for nearly three months … As for the strays, yes, you just have to learn a sound and use it to keep them away but they do were the reason I did not settle in the east …
Complaining has no place in a blog, it is spoilt, better I feel to be “surprised” and explain that”
My reply to her?
” I’m not saying it’s worse than Europe, I’m just stating that it is what it is and that some people have a hard time with it. I think a lot of people only write the shiny, happy version of places. I think travel magazines are for that. As are inflight magazines. I find that all very boring. I can get that anywhere.In my opinion a travel blog should cover the good and the bad of a place and a blog should be opinionated because it is a person’s experience. And it certainly wasn’t complaining in this case, it was stating what many people may not know*
* many years ago a friend had asked us if we should go to Thailand and where we should go. This was before the blog. We had given her an itinerary. Well, when she came back she lashed into us, telling us how dirty Thailand is and that she regreted ever having been. It’s like she blamed us for having ruined her holiday. We never ended up speaking again”
———-
Keep writing the truth Laia and don’t worry when people get on your back about Expats complaining. They’re just jealous.
Thank you so much Frank for this long and meaningful comment.
I completely agree. What I like the most in travel blogs is to read about the personal experiences. We can read about the top places to see in Lonely Planet, wikitravel and other travel guides. I want to know how was the real experience, what they liked and what they didn’t. I find it both interesting and useful to have an idea of what I can expect. And I understand that we don’t always have to agree – not every place is for every person. I didn’t have a good time in Bali but I can see why people like it.
I believe that giving an honest opinion is not complaining. It’s being realistic… no place is perfect.
Thanks a lot for your feedback. I really appreciate it. I also enjoy your blog because of your honest opinions. Keep like this 🙂
My next trip will be Bali, thanks for the first view, i will follow your steps !!!
and come to korea !
I hope you enjoy Bali! I’ve never been to Korea, maybe some day.