Aussies no longer hold the record for appalling holiday antics in Bali, we’ve been eclipsed by nude-influencers, sacred site pants-droppers and Russian tourists behaving badly.

Escape

It’s a heavenly morning in Bali, a comfortable 24C with just enough breeze to jiggle the palm fronds and send the occasional frangipani fluttering to the ground.

I’m in a cafe in Canggu. The cruisy beats of Ghostnaut and Elior are playing in the background, the coffee machine whirrs and somewhere nearby waves headbutt the shore with a dull thud. Across the road, a lady in a white kebaya shirt and colourful skirt, her hair delicately bundled on top of her head in a bun, lays a little offering basket, known as canang sari, on the step of a shrine. Incense smoke drifts into the air and its gentle jasmine aroma find its way to my nostrils.

And then, like a slap in the face, the island serenity is broken by the muffler-less roar of an engine and a giggly squeal as a woman on a motorbike streams past us at silly speed. She turns the heads – raises a few eyebrows even – of the fellow yogis and surfers around me. And it’s not simply for the noise or the helmetless head. So teeny-tiny are the crocheted triangles of her swimwear, they hardly cover the nipples. As she zooms past in a skin-coloured blur (her barely-there G-string disappearing into the distance) you would be forgiven for thinking she wasn’t wearing any clothes at all.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for wearing a bikini, even showing a bit of dimply arse on occasion. But in Bali and Indonesia, similar to many nations, there’s a time and a place for it. The island’s reputation for laid-back hedonistic tourism just doesn’t stretch this far. Take your itsy-bitsy bikini back to the beach, lady!

Such antics, considered deeply disrespectful to the mostly Hindu Balinese community, are increasingly commonplace on the so-called Island of the Gods. In recent times, a litany of misdeeds has made headlines. They go from the mundane – failure to wear helmets and various traffic violations – to the downright disrespectful. The most notorious examples include that of a Russian influencer who posed nude against a 700-year-old sacred banyan tree, and a Russian man who posted a photo of himself with his pants down on Mount Agung, another sacred site. Both eejits were summarily deported.

It’s no secret that the guilty parties are mostly Russian citizens who, having escaped conscription and the ravages of their war-torn country, are throwing caution to the wind.

According to the Indonesian government, more than 58,000 Russians touched down in Bali after its post-lockdowns reopening in March 2022. Since then, numbers have soared, making the nation second only to the Aussies in terms of tourist numbers.

The negative reputation of Bali’s Russian visitors is now widespread: “Why do they not respect our culture? Why do they think they can do this here and not at home?” asks the cafe barista in the wake of the scooter-riding itsy-bitsy bikini lady.

They’re questions I’m a little uncomfortable answering, given that the behaviour of my fellow Australian countrymen abroad often leaves a lot to be desired. As a nation, we have been guilty-as-charged for drunken escapades, public nudity, fraud and drug trafficking since long before the pandemic.

But here on the ground, it’s fair to say the Russians are making us Aussies look pretty good. According to the Bali Sun newspaper, of the 93 foreigners deported from the island so far this year, 24 were Russian compared with Australia’s six.

Given the statistics, Bali governor Wayan Koster last month called for a crackdown on bad behaviour, asking the Indonesian government to end the visa-on-arrival policy for Russian and Ukrainian (who tend to be lumped into the same category of problem-maker) citizens. Tourism taxes, bans on scooter rentals and other restrictions have also been bandied around.

For now it’s a case of a silly few potentially ruining things for the many. Stay tuned for a new official government guidebook outlining dos and don’ts for tourists, or tap into some common sense: respect Bali’s Hindu culture in all its forms (whether it’s a sacred banyan tree, a mountain, or a temple); wear your helmet and don’t drive like a loon; save your bikini and your budgie smugglers for the beach. And remember, the home of the Balinese people has long been our holiday home-away-from-home. Let’s treat it that way.