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Related: just today came across this post on X.. "Sri Lanka will become next Bali as long as it gets fiber." https://x.com/strzibnyj/status/189062803752972722

• sureIy 2y ago
  I love how people compare places to Bali and Cancun and then lack everything that people like about those places. Having a beach is not enough. You can find beaches everywhere. Bali beaches aren't even that good.
  • TowerTall 2y ago
    I live on a small island in Thailand, and here, "becoming Bali" is a term that describes a place that has been over-constructed with bungalows and villas; it has become very crowded and very expensive. Most tropical islands started out as hippie places where all houses were cheap, rudimentary wooden bungalows, but then mass tourism and housing investors moved in and pushed the "original hippie population" out and replaced them with expensive villas. That is what is meant by becoming Bali. My guess for the origin of this expression is that Bali was the first place where this happened.
    • chris_va 2y ago
      I don't suppose you can recommend a place in Thailand that is not "becoming Bali" but still tourist friendly enough for non-locals to visit without feeling guilty about ruining the vibe?
      • sureIy 2y ago
        Thailand has a long coast. Point at any small/medium settlement or island and Google it. Even Phuket has areas that aren't super developed. I visited Koh Yao Yai and it was indeed chill, maybe too chill because there was nothing to do there after a couple of days.
• esperent 2y ago
  The thing that's stopped me from going to Sri Lanka so far is not lack of fiber. It's that every time I look up a genuine travel video of the place, they talk about how much the tuktuk drivers hassle any white person trying to walk around. Outside of the few main hotspots, people don't hassle you in Bali. They are an incredibly friendly and polite people in spite of the tourism. Of course, Bali isn't completely hassle free. But you can just walk down the street there, at least outside of the main hotspots. Taxi drivers will hail you, it's a bit annoying, but they're polite and will drive on when you say no thanks.
  • eudhxhdhsb32 2y ago
    > they talk about how much the tuktuk drivers hassle any white person trying to walk around. That wasn't my experience when I traveled there 3 years ago, and I walked around quite a bit. My biggest complaint was the lack of good local restaurants, even in big cities. The juice bars were pretty great though. Still miss wood apple. Another issue was the insanely reckless driving and incessant honking. Even with the plentiful metal bars and hand straps, trying to stand on a crowded bus while they fly around mountain curves is a total body workout.
    • statictype 2y ago
      It’s all relative. Having lived and driven in India for many years, the driving in Sri Lanka is very organized and civil. But I get what you’re saying.
• nisalperi 2y ago
  As a local, Sri Lanka turning into Bali is one of my biggest anxieties at the moment. I've grown up around the hospitality industry all my life, it's not a good outcome for locals. Tourism should be considered an auxiliary industry not the primary industry.
  • graemep 2y ago
    I agree. Its highly volatile, and has a huge environmental impact. The ups and downs of tourism during the civil war illustrated it clearly. So did the impact of the Ukraine war (there used to be a lot of Russian tourists). I was shocked by how cheap hotels had once again become when I last went back to Sri Lanka (2023)
    • sgt 2y ago
      Well, the Russian tourists are back... touring...