I’m sitting just below where Ombak Warung used to be. The broken, unfinished stairs still open onto the same path down to the beach. Anas, who used to work at one of the warungs, now has a tiny stall selling Bintangs and coconuts. Next door, Teko’s surf shop is still intact.
Out in the water, the lineup looks the same. Maybe there are fewer surfers and maybe they’re mostly regulars rather than new faces, but Bingin’s beautiful hollow left still looks the same.
“The break hasn’t changed at all,” says Mega Semadhi, Bingin local legend, former Padang Padang Cup Champion and member of Bingin Boardriders.
That matters. If the demolition had changed the wave, it would have been another, much bigger loss for Bingin. This is the beach’s first dry season since the demolition and parts of it still feel the same. But not everything does. When I arrived at the parking area, there were maybe a quarter of the bikes the beach used to attract. The walk down was quieter too.
Right after the tiny alley that runs past Temple Lodge, the cliff opens up and you can see the whole horizon from above. You don’t need to go all the way down anymore to check what the tide looks like. A week before I met Mega, Bingin Boardriders had been posting on Instagram about building stairs down to the beach. Until then, people had to walk through the rubble or use the few broken stairs left behind after the demolition.
“Now the local government came down and brought some concrete blocks and are making some proper stairs for us,” Mega says, confirming what seems to be the only real development since the demolition.
Last July, the local government demolished every structure built on the Bingin cliff. That included illegal builds, foreign-backed hotels and businesses, but also decades-old local warungs that had long been part of the beach community.
“We wanted the construction to be regulated on the cliff, and we kept writing to the authorities,” Mega tells me. For years, he says, the community had been raising concerns about illegal construction. But when the demolition finally came, local businesses were caught in the same sweep.
“We’ve been coordinating with the local authorities and seeing what can be done,” he says. “For now, we all at least align on the fact that things could be done in an eco-friendly manner.”
For now, even basic facilities are still missing. Bathrooms, Mega says, are one of the first things they would like to build, but meetings still need to be held before the next steps are finalised. He adds that, ironically, posting about what is happening on social media has also helped them get the government’s attention.
Down on the beach, one of the sunglass sellers tries to talk me into buying a pair. He hasn’t made a single sale all day. The beach gets busier around sunset, but still not like it used to. While the cliff sits bare, businesses up on the road are suffering too. “I had to shut my surf shop on this road,” says Mega. “There are not so many people coming this way anymore.”
During the demolition, there was also concern that bigger investors might move in. Those fears grew when a Canggu-based developer began using images of Bingin Beach to promote property investment opportunities, despite there being no official development approval or consultation with the local community. For now, though, those conversations seem to have quietened down. The community is still focused on getting some normalcy back.
“Once we have certain things in place, we can resume doing the usual boardrider events and comps,” Mega says, when I ask whether any events have been held since the demolition.
The lineup may be comparatively emptier now, but the regulars are still out there, sitting in the shallow water. Mega is hopeful that Bingin can rebuild more carefully. “With proper monitoring, we think some good things can be built now at Bingin as a clean slate,” he says. “It is also motivating us to make sure our surf break stays intact. Maybe we even make sure the break is protected by law, so we don’t have to worry about that.”
That, for now, is what slow growth at Bingin looks like: a bare cliff, a quieter beach, a wave that still works and a local community trying to shape what comes next.
