Twenty-eight-year-old Kristen Gray wrote on her Twitter account @kristentootie on Sunday that the decision to move to Bali with her girlfriend had been a game-changer after what she called the “hardship” of living as a Black queer in the United States.

She wrote that she could afford an “elevated lifestyle at much lower cost of living” in Bali while living the life of a digital nomad.

“There was an energy about the [United States] that I had to take a break from. Bali was the perfect medicine,” she wrote. “I also wanted to get out of survival mode and tap into how I could thrive.”

Gray encouraged other Westerners to follow in her footsteps and promoted her US$30 guide on how to move to Bali. The book also contained details on how to get into the country despite the entry ban for foreigners, tips on getting a visa as well as lifestyle enhancement.

https://twitter.com/gastricslut/status/1350698371632173058

Indonesia has closed its borders to foreign travelers from all around the world for the first two weeks of 2021 amid concerns over the discovery of a more infectious SARS-CoV-2 variant. The government later extended the ban to Jan. 25.

The Twitter handle was open for the public until she made it private due to the outrage from Indonesian netizens. They accused the woman of overstaying her visa and not paying her Indonesian tax while working from Bali.

Twitter handle @kaimatamusic wrote that what Gray considered a low cost of living was “built on the backs of [the local] monthly minimum wage of $180.”

https://twitter.com/kaimatamusic/status/1350976666877759491

“The [luxurious] lifestyle she heralds likens Bali to Disneyland, a manufactured experience where we locals are meant to smile & put on a show so she can claim this place is ‘magic’,” the user tweeted.

Another user slammed Gray for not being able to compare the rate between US Dollar and Indonesian rupiah, as $1 is equal to roughly Rp 14,000.

“That’s a whole meal here. […] Learn about your relative wealth and privilege and listen to the […] locals. We [have a right] to be mad at Kristen Gray,” Twitter handle @johnyongism wrote.

In her Twitter thread, Gray compared her previous life in the US with her current on in Bali. She said that she had to spend $1,400 for a studio apartment in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Gray and her partner just spend $400 for a lavish treehouse in Bali.

Netizens compared this to Bali residents who would need to spend between Rp 1.5 million to 2 million to rent a boarding room on the resort island. They later accused her of contributing to the gentrification of Bali.

Intan Paramaditha, the writer of Apple and Knife, slammed Gray for promoting a lavish lifestyle while living as a digital nomad in Bali, calling such practice “cosmopolitanism”.

https://twitter.com/sihirperempuan/status/1350718798098120704?s=20

“Questions of travel must consider the unequal power relations that characterize present global encounters and how they are enmeshed in the historical processes in the past,” she wrote on her Twitter handle @sihirperempuan.

Responding to the brouhaha, the Bali Immigration Office deployed a team to investigate Gray’s whereabouts and claimed to have a lead on her current address in the Nusa Dua area.

“We are investigating her sponsors as well as her address in Bali,” Bali Immigration Office official Eko Budianto said on Monday, as quoted by kompas.com.

He added that authorities could sanction Gray should the office find her in violation of any regulations.