With consistently growing tourist numbers outpacing infrastructure, Quentin Long finds out if Bali bliss is still within reach.
I came to live in paradise and now I am part of the ruination of Bali," laughs Kathryn White, MD of local villa management company, Bali Luxury Villas.
As a 20-year veteran of Indonesia’s tourism engine, her sardonic wit is like most humour, imbued with a small regrettable truth; Bali is at a precipice, possibly falling victim to its own success as hordes of tourists become entangled and strangled in its creaking infrastructure.
From where we sit at a luxury villa in Pererenan, the ruination is relatively far away. About 11 kilometres to be exact, but a good 40 to 60 minute-drive.
That snail’s pace drive between Pererenan (or Canggu) and Seminyak is the embodiment of the ‘ruination’ that many expat locals decry. The infrastructure has not kept pace with the tourism boom, slowly but surely demolishing the peace and tranquillity that made the island such a desirable destination.
But within the local perspective is a lot of hot air, nimbyism and general hypocritical anti-change whinging whilst pocketing the proceeds of the tourism boom. Yes, the infrastructure is shocking, but there are plans to fix it. Yes, Seminyak and Kuta are not what they used to be, but neither are South Yarra, Bondi or New Farm.
The truth of the matter is, Bali bliss is still there, it’s just not where it used to be. People need to move with the times.
Hence we find ourselves at Villa Astika Toyaning in Pererenan discussing the delights of Bali with Kathryn. The luxury walled villa is the quintessential Bali bliss experience.
A whopping 1600 square-metres of gardens, a pool, four bedrooms, a TV room and an indoor/outdoor living and dining area. White tiled covered walkways lead from space to space. A meticulously groomed garden and lawn with frangipani trees provide the final touches for a relaxing oasis.
Our two-year-old spends hours either feeding the fish in the ponds or playing in the 10-metre-square pool with us. If holidays are about creating family memories and spending time together, this is hard to beat.
The ultimate in relaxation for weary parents, though, is the staff. The hardest decisions are working out what to eat for the day with Neuman, our private chef.
Each meal is home-cooked comfort with exceptional produce and flavours. Our final evening’s Cambodian curry in a green coconut sauce is such a fine balance of spices and creaminess with velvety chicken, we are upset to have not discovered the dish on one of the four previous evenings. But then we may not have tried the local duck…
Another Bali haven that has retained its blissful state throughout it all is Ubud. The mountain village melts the hardest of Bali hearts with lush forest, small boutiques ranging from touristy trinkets to quality artisan homewares and one-off designs.
And if the staying power of Ubud could be found in one place, it would be the Maya. It was the first high-quality, high-profile resort to open in Ubud. It may not be the most modern resort compared to newer arrivals in the last 12 years but it retains an unrivalled charm many of the newcomers lack.
The smaller hotel-style villas are cosy, bathrooms are extravagant and slightly avant-garde and the traditional thatched roofs give the entire complex a sense of quaintness and authenticity – one that reassures travellers they are having a relatively unique Bali experience.
The Maya’s highlight is it’s spa and adults-only infinity pool found on the edge of the property at the bottom of a gorge. It’s so far down you reach it via a lift.
Relaxing in the pool after a treatment, surrounded by the steep cliffs overflowing with jungle and listening to the gushing of the river below is like luxuriating in the nectar at the base of a huge green flower.
Before arriving in Ubud, on a day visit to Kuta things are not as bad as one might expect. It is crowded, full of low-cost built-for-tourists shops selling ‘Kiss Me Ketut’ t-shirts next to the ubiquitous Bintang singlet and pink leopard-print suits. The new retail and restaurant space below Sheraton Bali Kuta, The Beachwalk, is clean and fun. But it’s much the same as a mall at home.
Seminyak is where I find evidence of some of the ruination. Expectations were high and the disappointment higher.
Bintang-clad shoppers meandered noisily up and down the crowded streets past overpriced boutiques, which lead to overpriced cafés – smothering the worthwhile and decent quality outlets.
Café Bali is the best in Seminyak and shows what the place should be. The fantastic colonial bohemian interior of eclectic mirrors and chandeliers is backed up with some great menu items. The steamed dumplings were so good, the second serve was ordered before the first was finished.
However, the celebrated Potato Head Beach Club proved a disappointment. Food and drinks were great, but watching the shenanigans of stick-thin bikini chicks crammed on day beds next to oversized pink bodies and the odd leathery tattooed 60-year-old clinging to long faded glory is not fun, but pretty sad.
A disappointing day in Seminyak is easily forgotten back safely behind Villa Astika Toyaning’s walls. It may move, it may hide a little bit, but if you look you will always find Bali bliss.
After youth-led protests in 2025, this year Nepal elected a 35-year-old former rapper as Prime Minister. In a country where tourism is its biggest industry, what’s next for travellers?
In 1986, Nepal changed its clock. It had used India Standard Time since 1920 so, to differentiate, it wound its clock 15 minutes ahead of, not behind, its big-brother neighbour. Boss move. “Nepal is strongly opposed to the idea that our identity is connected to India,” says Community Homestay Network (CHN) guide Bikal Khanal.
Tharu dance is traditionally set to hand drums. (Credit: Kate Lewis)
Today, Nepal is the only independent country with a 45-minute deviation to universal time; an oddity that’s become a symbol of national pride. The quirk is nearly as endearing as Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan airport where carved varnished wood and shiny red bricks rule. One sign points to a ‘Travelator’ and another to a ‘Grievance Handling Desk’ while visas are noisily stamped at customs for US dollars, cash only. When am I?
Spot the endemic Nepal gray langur. (Credit: Simon Urwin)
The 15 or 45 minute anomaly sees me tap out completely on timezone calculations. Why bend my brain calculating if it’s quarter to or quarter past elsewhere when I’m in the honking here and now of Kathmandu where the air is high-altitude crisp, the prayer flags flutter and the street dogs howl?
How tourism is changing in Nepal
Bardiya National Park is rich with wildlife. (Credit: Simon Urwin)
India is not the only association many Nepalis would like to shake. With eight of the world’s 10 tallest mountains, including Mount Everest and Annapurna, Nepal has long attracted mountaineers and trekkers, and expedition numbers are continuing to rise.
Tourism is one of the country’s biggest sources of foreign currency, so this growth is not negative, per se. But according to Ang Tshering Lama, who co-founded Phaplu Mountain Bike Club, being reduced to a mere trekking destination is limiting.
“Trekking is just one layer of our identity,” says Ang. “When it becomes the dominant narrative, it limits how we’re seen and how we see ourselves.” Nepal’s recent success, however, in diverting trekkers to less-trafficked areas such as Manaslu mofuntain, where visitor numbers rose by 117 per cent last year, offers hope that tourism can diversify even more radically.
Local men in Bhada village. (Credit: Simon Urwin)
The founder of CHN, Shiva Dhakal, wants that change. “The whole idea of the Community Homestay Network is to promote experiences outside of trekking,” he says. “Community tourism changes lives and helps kids stay home instead of coming to the city or migrating to the Middle East.”
Ang grew up seeing people leave, “not because they wanted to but because there weren’t enough opportunities to stay”, he states. Yet from remote villages to living traditions; food, art, music and emerging subcultures, “there’s so much that’s not being seen.”
CHN is opening some of those doors. It doesn’t own, or fund, any homes. Rather, it promotes homestays to travellers on a single, slick platform, while fostering entrepreneurship in places where women, marginalised castes, Indigenous people and the youth stand to benefit the most.
A new generation demanding more
Dalla Town Hall, where volunteers discuss anti-poaching tactics. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)
The future prospects of next-gen Nepalis can no longer be ignored. On a Kathmandu tour with 33-year-old guide Monica K.C, we pass buildings torched in the September 2025 ‘Gen Z protests’, including the Supreme Court and Parliament House. Seventy-two people died. “They were anti-corruption protests,” says Monica. “Politicians’ children are living a lavish life but the airports are crowded with youngsters leaving to find work.”
We stop in ‘little Tibet’ at the wondrous sixth-century Boudha Stupa. “The wheel of life is Buddhism in a nutshell,” says Monica. “Things such as hate, ignorance and anger keep you rotating around the wheel, so you must follow the principles of Buddhism to detach. If you can’t, there’s no nirvana for you.”
Boudha Stupa’s prayer wheels are used to recite Buddhist prayers. (Credit: Kate Lewis)
In a sun-drenched twist to the usual temple visit, we ascend the stupa’s sloping plinth and roam its whitewashed dome. Tendrils of diaphanous prayer flags stream from a steeple-like structure where the Buddha’s unblinking eyes stare out. No nirvana for you…
Tibetan-style prayer flags embellish the whitewashed dome of Bouda Stupa, a Buddhist temple. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)
The dome is delightfully free of guard rails or chiding from security. There is, however, a stern ‘No TikTok’ sign, perhaps in response to the youth’s newly flexed power. The booted-out Prime Minister, K.P. Sharma Oli, was replaced in a resounding election victory in March by 35-year-old Balendra Shah of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) – a former rapper and mayor of Kathmandu. The RSP’s manifesto indicates tourism is a priority, and that Nepal’s cultural identity in areas such as gastronomy will be strengthened.
Vibrant souvenir shops and cafes around Boudha Stupa. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)
A more confronting stop awaits at Pashupatinath Temple. Today is Bala Chaturdashi, a Hindu festival where thousands of devotees gather to honour their dead ancestors. Vendors hauling foam mattresses do a lucrative trade as people set up for a night of vigil. This includes burning the bodies of recently deceased relatives on bamboo pyres in the Bagmati River, which flows into the sacred Ganges.
A woman at annual Hindu festival Bala Chaturdashi, in Kathmandu. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)
Wrapped in a shroud, the bodies are positioned with their heads facing north to the Himalayas where Lord Shiva resides. They’re covered with flowers and straw and set alight by male family members.
Hours later, the ashes are swept into the river where devotees will take a holy dip the next day. As much as Monica assures us it’s not voyeuristic to watch, I struggle to do so. “Here you see the reality of life because everyone ends up there,” she says, gesturing to the river.
Life unfiltered in the Terai region
Tharu woman and master weaver Parbati Chaudhary in Bhada Village. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)
The reality of life needs processing time, which the western Terai region delivers in spades. The Terai is largely separated from India by the Karnali River and Bardiya National Park, where elephants, rhinos and the elusive Bengal tiger roam.
Once a nomadic tribe, the Indigenous Tharu people are now the largest ethnic group here. “They didn’t know their daily life was interesting for international travellers but they’re starting to understand now,” says CHN founder Shiva.
Take a Jeep safari through Bardiya National Park. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)
We fly Buddha Air to Dhangadhi airport and drive five hours to stay in Tharu homes. The journey to Bhada village is a blur of roadside fruit stalls, traffic-stopping sacred cows and fields sown with wheat, rice, mustard, spinach, cauliflower and potatoes. Nepal’s agriculture feeds only Nepal.
Marigolds are an important part of Hindu rituals. (Credit: Simon Urwin)
“The only thing we export is young people,” says our guide Bikal. As the light dims and we plunge evermore rural, mysterious mounds of compacted hay – some house-sized – loom like the creatures from Where The Wild Things Are. Even our trusty driver gets flummoxed by a dirt road that abruptly ends and we find ourselves hurtling across a paddock.
On arrival, some are ferried to mud-walled cottages greened by gourd creepers, with thatched roofs and rustic-chic mosquito nets. Myself and two others are ushered to the home of corner store owner, mechanic and mushroom farmer Man Kumar Chilaruwa and his wife Rajkumari.
A warm welcome at a community homestay. (Credit: Simon Urwin)
They escort us to a bunker-esque back building with steel doors and a folding security gate, behind which is gleaming linoleum, dolphin-printed tiles and a shower cavity that must be gingerly stepped through to reach the toilet.
The ceiling lights emit a rainbow of colours (the bathroom light gets stuck in, frankly, a quite frightening red). We’re nevertheless touched that our hosts invested in all this bling when the average salary is around $275 a month.
In the coming days, we participate in Tharu traditions such as making moonshine, dancing, weaving straw handicrafts and gold-panning. We’re fed well with staples of rice, mustard greens, lentil pancakes, daal, curried chicken and tomato chutney served on antibacterial saal leaves.
Dig in. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)
Sonara community homestay president Indradevi Tharu tells us river snails are often served, and the boiled and pickled flesh of rats hunted in the rice fields. “Perhaps next time?” we say and all have a laugh.
The power of community homestays
Barda community homestay owners Parbati Chaudhary and Ram Krishni Devi Chaudhary. (Credit: Simon Urwin)
Immersing Western visitors in foreign cultural practices is not new. But with the Tharu, I never get that uneasy sensation that I’m being performed for. Despite being the only tourists, there’s no ‘othering’; just warm, composed and ultra-dignified welcomes. Like we’ve always been here.
“I love to have travellers in my village so I can see the world,” says local woman Parbati Chaudhary. “Why would I travel the world when the world comes to me?”
The graceful acceptance the Tharu offer, as well as the slow pace, works miracles on my frazzled nervous system. One day I even take a nap on a vacant homestay bed.
An authentic stay in the Sonara community. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)
Roosters strut and goats bray as we sit on the ground in al fresco kitchens, rolling rice flour into cylinders steamed to make dhikri (dumplings). When water is needed, we fetch it using a hand-operated pump as a family of ducks strolls by, side-eying us like curious neighbours.
Animal lovers will delight in Tharu villages. Kind and resourceful inventions are everywhere, such as snacking stations where two posts lean together, with leafy boughs dangling on rope for baby goats to forage from.
CHN’s CEO, Aayusha Prasain, nods knowingly when one in our group says she cried when she left her host, Shayam Chaudhary, in Bhada. Shayam’s 17-year-old son, Prashant, had translated, which deepened the connection.
“Community tourism turns travel into a relationship, not a transaction,” says Aayusha. “It places decision-making power in the hands of local communities, especially women and youth.” Since 2018, CHN has hosted more than 4000 travellers from 52 countries in 408 households, and estimates women’s participation has increased by 381 per cent.
Elephant watch. (Credit: Simon Urwin)
In the Bardiya community, where vexing human-animal conflict has been a balancing act for decades due to elephants raiding crops, long-time homestay operator Salik Ram Chaudhary says young people keep the older ones on their toes.
Gathering greens. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)
“We can’t keep homestays stagnant,” he says. “We have to upgrade our service and redefine our product or young people won’t see it as an attractive business. If we can keep evolving with this travelling trend we’re confident the youths will stay and continue it.”
Back in Kathmandu, Monica explains that after the deaths of young protestors in September, a determination had spread to not let their sacrifice be in vain. “We want to keep holding the government accountable,” she says. “We don’t know what situation we’re facing, but we’re ready to face it.”
Interested in Nepal but prefer to experience it in total comfort? Read our guide to luxury travel in Nepal.
