"Enjoy beachside access to our bountiful Lost and Found piles!"
The city of Ubud -- made famous by the book Eat, Pray, Love -- is packed with people who don't realize that what they're experiencing is the Epcot Center version of Indonesia. Pretentious westerners attend overpriced yoga retreats and tell you "How zen this place is" in their quest to get spiritually drunk and soulfully laid. It's an island of people trying to be Julia Roberts.
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"And with all the raw sewage, our oceans are teeming with hungry fish waiting to be caught!"
I saw more BBQ restaurants, sushi joints, Italian restaurants, and trendy coffee shops than I did tiny local Indonesian restaurants serving local cuisine. Basically, it's the foreign city you visit if you don't want feel like you've wandered too far from home.
My suggestion? Skip Bali and head to the Perhentian Islands in Malaysia. It feels a lot less like a theme park attraction there.
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