Originally Posted by
invisible
Bolding mine above.
IIRC couple of years ago In Asia forum there was one character, who came and loudly declared that Bali was the worst tourist destination ever because Starbucks there did not taste right and was expensive, food was weird and awful and he was not interested and did not understand of all those 'local cultural stuff'.
You can guess what type of (well deserved) responses he got.
I agree with his sentiment if not the rationale. Bali is terrible. Overbuilt, overpriced, overtouristed. Beaches are nothing special, there are countless nicer, prettier, cheaper, less crowded islands within 3 hours flying time in every direction. When I think "island paradise" I am not imagining a place with McD, Wendy's a Hard Rock Cafe and huge tour buses chugging along the often crowded roads spewing exhaust and pollution everywhere. Sure there are some great hotels, but I am not inclined to fly 20+ hours to go to a hotel and never leave the grounds. Simply no reason to go there when there are so many nicer islands in the vicinity, I am convinced people just go because 1. the name has cache, 2. they can post about it on social media, 3. emperor's new clothes