On the beach in Bali

Our beach experience in Bali was interesting to say the least. When you google beaches in Bali, all the beautiful, white sand, pristine beaches show up. Our beach was a little different. Granted we were staying in the high traffic areas of Kuta,Legian and Seminyak beaches. The resort we stayed at was right on the beach an the first day we strolled out to the beach our mouths dropped open. Trash littered the beach in a 4 foot wide path where it had been left by the incoming tide. We were told this happens once or twice a year with the winds change and it comes from neighboring islands. The sad thing is that there are very few trash cans on the beach and no one seems interested in picking up the trash. We have noticed that trash is an issue all over Southeast Asia. People are content to have piles of trash wherever you can find room. They do not hesitate to drop their trash wherever they are and recycling seems to be non-existent. The only areas that are kept pretty clean are the areas used by tourists. Which does not explain this particular beach in Bali. The waves are pretty good so there are a lot of surfers. They are content to wade out through the trash(literally, you can feel it brush up against you as you swim) and find the perfect wave. Our resort was full and I mean "full" of Australians. Apparently Bali is where they go and they come in droves. The restaurants surrounding the resort have Australian flags everywhere and advertise for Australian football(soccer) teams. The Aussies never seem to leave the resort. They seem content to drink $10 cocktails and hang out at the pool. We were like, "There has to be better beaches in Australia!" The hawkers on the beach meet you at the gate and are relentless. If you buy from one you must buy from all. They hold onto you and attempt to convince you to buy what they are selling. They look hurt when you offer half of what they are asking, but you know they are ripping you off with their first price. So we kept to the pool, although Helen and Alex took a shot at boogey boarding and Alex loved it. He wanted to surf too!! There were quite a few pools and they had lots of kids to play with.