Traveller reveals what dreamy tourist hotspot is REALLY like – with litter everywhere and buildings falling down

A keen traveller has opened up about his experience of a dreamy tourist hotspot and revealed the less desirable side of the island rarely shown on social media. 

Joshwa, a travel influencer who regularly posts about his journeys around the world on TikTok, posted a series of clips from his time in Bali.

Bali is an island in Indonesia, located within Southeast Asia.

Known for its beautiful beaches, delicious cuisine and jaw-dropping landscapes, the island is often portrayed as a luxury location.

However, though Joshwa praised the ‘fabulous culture’ and ‘great hospitality’, he noted there were other aspects, including how locals don’t reap the same benefits as tourists.

One of the content creator’s videos showed decrepit buildings, abandoned beanbags along a beach and litter piled high.

The clip also featured footage of makeshift buildings with metal roofs and poorly maintained roads.

He captioned the video with: ‘Amazingly stunning Island.

‘Bali’s fabulous culture, beautiful people, with great hospitality did not fail to impress.

‘However, the island lacks the infrastructure that it needs to be able to sustain 1. The littering and pollution issue and 2. the over tourism issue that currently is not sustainable.’

The footage attracted over 700,000 views and thousands of likes, with many taking to the comments to share their verdicts on the tourist hotspot.

One penned: ‘Went once. Not for me. Gilly Islands were the best part about the trip but Bali is a hard no for me.’

While someone else pointed out the economic situation of the country and said: ‘The biggest bill in this country is literally $6, with the average salary $250 per month, what do people expect.’

Another added: ‘You go to another country for a cultural experience… that’s Bali stay at the resort if your an influencer cause that’s who you are a resorter… I like to embrace and immerse myself in the culture mix with the locals they are beautiful people!’

‘Finally someone is actually showing facts…,’ one watcher chimed in.

In another video, that attracted over one million views, Joshwa highlighted the struggles of local residents in Bali. 

The camera panned to show a busy restaurant, before flipping to fragile-looking buildings.

At one point, it featured a sign that read ‘please stop littering’, stood next to a pile of plastic bottles and other rubbish. 

He captioned the video: ‘I really agree with what Zoe said. Bali was very pretentious for me. Maybe just me, but full of people that aren’t really my style. you get one or two humans. others seem to be lost in a world. somewhere.

‘The locals are the best people, so caring, kind and hospitality is off the charts. it’s such a shame they can’t share their Island and enjoy it to the full extent tourists do!.

‘I’m going to do a longer reel on this but it’s just crazy it came up at the same time. because just the other day I was saying how Bali is for pollution, poverty, lack of health standards.

‘Whilst everyone is in a beach cop live in lavish life spending thousands of pounds and the locals cannot enjoy their life or even integrate with the tourists because of the lack of the above.

‘Molly Mae’s sister wasn’t telling lies.’

Joshwa’s videos come after Molly Mae’s sister, Zoe Rae, left Bali after just 48 hours because it didn’t live up to her expectations.

The fitness influencer, 28, had planned the trip to Indonesia with her husband Danny to celebrate their first wedding anniversary.

And despite staying in a huge sea view room at the Radisson Blu, a five-star hotel, they decided to leave early and jet to Dubai instead.

Zoe explained that Bali looks better on social media than in real life, as influencers make it look luxurious, despite it being a developing country. 

In a new YouTube video, Zoe told the camera: ‘Since landing in Bali, something for us wasn’t quite right. 

‘We came here with high expectations because we had seen on social media that everyone was having such a lovely time. Lovely places to eat and beaches, and lovely gyms and coffee shops. 

‘But I don’t think the reality of Bali is shown much at all, and I do think it is down to a lot of influencers posting the more luxury side of things.’ 

She added: ‘Before joining the army, I spent five months travelling South East Asia. I did Thailand, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, I did a lot and spent time in these countries. But there is something very different about Bali. 

‘We got told Uluwatu where we are now is one of the best places to go, so if this is one of the better places, I’m not sure where the other places are like. 

‘I wasn’t going to sit down and say anything, but people want to know.’

Danny then joined the video and said: ‘You either go on holiday to travel and experience culture or you want to go away and relax.’

Zoe continued: ‘Yeah, and we could have got a flight tomorrow as today is our anniversary, but time is precious and we just want to get out, and why delay it. 

‘We missed the mark, maybe we didn’t do our own research, maybe it is our own fault. I did a lot of research though. 

‘I think it is just personal preference, and our preference was that this isn’t for us, and we are making the executive decision to go enjoy our anniversary somewhere we know that we love and can relax and can drink the water.’