Essays on place, tourism, infrastructure, and whatever else is worth writing about.
8 EssaysThe question most people start with is why they taught their children to throw garbage into the river. The assumption underneath is that someone, somewhere, decided to raise careless children.
Read EssayBali produces 3,436 tons of waste every day. Two-thirds is organic. The landfill closed on 1 April. The infrastructure to replace it does not exist yet.
Kuala Lumpur has three entries on the world's best coffee list. Bali has none. The cafés in Bali open early. The list comes out once a year. The coffee is every morning.
Indonesia generated $701 in revenue per international tourist. Japan $1,445. Thailand $1,509. Vietnam $1,886. The gap is not random. It follows the pipes.
Rendang is number one on CNN's World's Best Foods list. Nasi goreng is number two. Indonesia has 1,221 restaurants abroad. Thailand has 20,000. The food is not what's missing. What Bali does not put on the table, Indonesia does not sell to the world.
Someone did the math recently. Seven million international visitors in 2025. At any given moment, roughly 135,000 foreign tourists are on the island. Bali's population is 4.4 million. That is about three percent. The math is correct. The question is wrong.
In February 2026, the Governor of Bali announced that foreign tourists would be screened by their bank statements. Quality is a claim that works in two directions. If Bali asks tourists to prove they are good enough for the island, the island should be able to prove it is ready for the tourists it wants to attract.
The existing language kept missing what I was watching. Overtourism pointed toward a crisis not yet fully arrived. Crowded described a feeling at a particular hour. Tourism-heavy is the word for the middle distance.