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Around 2 years ago I was raving about the so-called Dreamland Beach in Bali, situated at the west coast of the Bali Bukit, the dry hilly area south of the airport.

It’s one of the closest candidates for a Dream Beach, which Bali unfortunately doesn’t have in the abundance of let’s say Thailand or the Philippines. The only other natural white beach, west of the Padang Bai lagoon is currently developed into a 5-star Hotel resort for a Japanese company with restricted access for the average traveler.

Tough luck I hear you say, but for Surfers and Expats there was always Dreamland Beach - up until now:

A relict of the Asian Crisis

Historically the whole area was marked for development as early as before the Asian crisis, with heavy involvement of Tommy Suharto, the son of the former Indonesian president, snatching the area from the locals for peanuts.

Passing the big Garuda bird near the main road, you were in a land of its own, with Golf Courses, Apartment Housing Developments and Country Clubs for the rich and famous. All this was brought to an halt by the looming of the Asian crisis around 1998, when the Indonesian Rupiah lost most of its value, prices skyrocketed and tourism slid into uncertain times. The first Bali Bomb in 2002 didn’t help either to revive the economy of the island and most parts of those developments slept a very deep and undisturbed sleep.

Backpacker and Surfer’s Paradise

Backpackers and Surfers discovered soon the lonely and remote area, the pristine white beach and the fabulous beach breaks. Beach Huts, Bamboo Restaurants and Surf Shops mushroomed in a short time and the area developed an almost mystique and secretive aura. It felt a bit like Koh Phi Phi before the Tsunami, with cheap food, backpacker hostels or rooms and an bohemian atmosphere of free spirits and other young at heart.

All this slowly began to change with the improving visitor situation in Bali end of last year. Suddenly there were talks of re-animating the whole area and continuing the building and construction developments, even though the whole hill has already water shortages and existing villas have to pump very deep or get their water delivered by truck. The first signs of ‘progress’ was the creation of a huge 5-star cement development in a few months, almost appearing like a Djinni from its bottle.

Progress here we come!

Earlier this year all bamboo structures were demolished by heavy equipment and the law for the ‘righteous owners’ was restored. Bohemians, Surfers, Backpackers and local Shop Owners were sent away to make room for Golfers and all-inclusive or package deal tourists.

Prices are again through the roof, with a Rp 5.000 parking fee for motorbikes (5 times the average for Bali), shower fees of Rp 10.000 or toilet usage fees of Rp 5.000 and standardized Drink Price Lists with 3-4 times the prices above the island standard. Yeah, for outsiders it might be only a Dollar or two, but for Bali, those prices are outrageous. I can buy a 19 liter gallon of Drinking Water for Rp 10.000, while they charge here Rp 12.000 for a 1 liter bottle.

Clearly a sign to bring the area back upmarket again.

The whole development comes with the usual corruption, with the parking guys refusing to hand out too many recipes for parking fees, as those obviously find their ways into their own pockets.

We were 5 people on 3 bikes, but only one got a parking ticket. “No need!” you will hear with a big smile.

The beach is renamed as well, now being called “Klapa New Kuta Beach” (Klapa means Coconut in Indonesian). There are no coconut trees around here, but who cares.

This once secluded and quiet bay is now packed with vendors and hawkers, trying to sell you everything from Sarongs, carved wooden souvenirs, T-Shirts, arrow and bows - exactly the same like in Kuta.

Commerce and progress are generally a good thing, if applied in the right places and right doses.

For me, Dreamland Beach is no more. It has lost its appeal and will be just another commercialized tourist trap - call it Kelapa New Kuta Beach, or whatever.

It’s very sad but time to bid farewell. Bye bye Dreamland Beach Bali!

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written by Chris