Nyepi the Day of Silence and the Hindu New Year in Bali.

Today Friday is the Day of Silence and I suppose that I am not allowed to post or use the computer but I rarely do what is expected when it conflicts with what I want to do, but today will be quiet as the name suggests. I have a good book and the internet so all will be well.
Yesterday was an exceptional day what with the white water rafting in the morning and the Nyepi celebration in the evening it was a full on day, so a quiet day today will be in order. I went out last evening and found a vantage point to view the ceremony, the photos taken before the parade have come out clearer than the ones taken whilst being jostled and generally buffeted around with the overhead lights conflicting with the flash. The ogoh-ogoh are paraded and at the centre of the ceremony are confronted with the good spirits and are violently moved back and forth in conflict eventually they win and proceed.
There were thousands of Balinese and tourists all paying respects to the Nyepi New Year ceremony the main road in Ubud was totally blocked and at the height of the ceremony it was impossible to walk up or down the street.

Only a couple of days left after today so I had better think up another adventure or it will be too late.

John

 

Which one is you John ?????   Nice pic's and you have certainly left no stones unturned in your stay there, bar only those that were not suitable for one reason or another.   We should keep you there as a tour guide.

I heard on the news the other night that Ambrosi the smiling assassin in the nightclub bombing was actually working in Bali at one time as a tour guide, but we don't want you to copy him, just thought I would mention it.

Vic wrote:

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Which one is you John ?????  

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Hi Vi, neither I was in the back seat juggling the camera whilst being told to row forwards. No easy trip, this was work, I have seen documentaries where the rafters were sitting round grabbing the ropes and laughing but not this one. Had plenty of time to make plans for the rest of my stay in Bali and have tentatively decided to go to Amed on Sunday on the east coast a place renowned for its snorkelling locations. I have never used snorkelling gear but it cant be too hard anyway providing the weather looks fine that is what I will be doing on Sunday. Just been for a last walk around Ubud, up Hanoman, left at Ubud Main Road through the markets and back down Monkey Forest Road. As usual calling in to Cocos Supermarket and into a different wayun for lunch. All a bit sad really. Was going to do my clothes washing as I do in the van when it looked like rain and the proprietor here suggested that I take it to a laundry. All my clothes except the ones that I am standing in cost me about $1.30 to be washed, dried and ironed. Not that I have brought much it all fits into a small back pack but the price was amazing. John

Geez.......I hope the Ogga Ogga man didn't get him, I'm supposed to be picking him up at the airport early in the morning...... 

Edit:  I was thinking, he would have had to book out by 11AM today so would have lost his in-house wifi connection, which is probably why we have not heard from him unless he find one somewhere else.  His mobile does not work over there so he can't use that until he gets back in Oz......

-- Edited by Vic on Monday 26th of March 2012 09:54:15 PM

Spot on Vic, In have had to wait until I arrived in Perth to post and even now haven't time to post about my last day but will get there.

The weather was good on Sunday morning so we all went with Made the proprietor to Amed, there were four of us, Hocky my new Malaysian friend and a couple of ladies. All of whom had snorkeled before and were off gliding over the coral reefs in no time. But not me I thought it would be easy but never ever having snorkeled before I needed some advice about getting rid of water after the snorkel gets submerged, I seemed to blow the water out with excessive force whilst the snorkel was still under water and have no more air left to get rid of the second intake, not very satisfactory. In the end I got it and set off to see the coral but then further problems arose, my mask slowly filled with water and eventually got up my nose, again not very satisfactory so I changed masks but it happened again and the general thought was that the mask couldn't seal around my mustache. So not a very good introduction to snorkeling but I will persevere and go into a sports shop and check it out thoroughly because the weather will only get hotter as I go north and I will want to swim and snorkel some more.

John

Took the shuttle bus from Ubud to Kuta at midday and arrived there by 1pm hired a taxi and went straight to the airport...........wrong decision............... my flight was for 12.30am and I thought that it would be like Australian airports where there are plenty of seats and options to access the internet via wifi. No way, there are no seats before check in so you have to sit on the floor and there is no wifi until you access the second floor but you can't do that before 3 hours prior to the departure.

So now I am back at Vic's place with month's memories of my Bali trip and in the final wash up I made it all on my budget of $200 per week plus accomodation of $400 including breakfast and $300 flight costs.
The last picture is of me traveling light for 4 weeks in Bali with a small back pack and a computer bag. The first a different view of Kuta Beach and the second was the sunset at Kuta last night.

John

Gee John, you could teach backpackers how to back pack.
Nice to see you back in Oz. Back to reality. What a great experience you had.