Salamat Pagi from the good old “Isle of Smiles” – Bali!
Strap yourselves in, this is a long one…..
When we got back from France and Belfast last June, Karen decided we needed a holiday…..and as luck would have it good old Jetstar had a pretty significant discounted airfare to Bali. So on a whim we booked the flights and worried about what we’d do here later on.
Anyway…..we decided to do the usual, and book an apartment in Legian Beach through a friend for 8 days then head over to the beautifully remote and culturally exquisite island of Nusa Lembongan for 4 days….
That was the extent of our planning.
June to March came around quickly, and on Monday night we headed off on an afternoon flight that took just on 5 hours. Awesome. Much better than the 14 and 15 hour slogs to the US and en route to Europe. Time to watch a movie and read a Rolling Stone magazine. Nice.
We arrived the night before the annual Balinese religious day called “Nyepi Day” or “Silent Day” where the entire island shuts down for 24hrs from 6am. We had a bloke pick us up from the airport which has undergone a massive lot of improvement since out last visit.
We were through customs and immigration within ten minutes but waited 45 for our bags – standard.
The drive from the airport was quite eerie, as the night before Nyepi is filled with massive parades through the streets, the parades featuring huge paper mâché beats called Ogoh Ogoh which is meant to rid the island of evil spirits. What is normally a number to bumper trip was done in no time, with no traffic around at all. Everyone had gone home after Ogoh Ogoh to prepare for Nyepi with their families.
We checked into our apartment and wandered down to the beach which is now our tradition to have a couple of welcome to Bali beers – but everything was closed and no one was on the streets or the beach. No one.
On Nyepi Day, it is the law that you are not allowed to leave your house, hotel, accommodatIon for any reason. If you are found on the street, the Army who are patrolling the streets will arrest you and throw you in the lock up till the next day – they take this stuff seriously.
We didn’t mind one bit – we had the day hanging in our resort, swimming, reading, drinking, chatting…relaxing! Since when do you relax in Bali? The restaurant service ended at 6pm, and you had to go to your room before 7pm, turn off the lights and keep quiet. The windows of the rooms had cardboard boxes over them to stop any light coming out. The theory is, Bali is supposed to be in total darkness until 6am the next day, so no evil spirits from above can see the island and they will not return. Nice story.
Food was standard for a resort…typical buffet breakfast with eggs, pancakes, waffles, bacon, rice, fruit, pastries and a bunch of noodles and local stuff. Awesome.
So we had brought some movies with us and we had a quiet night in the darkness watching movies and reading. What a fab first day….although a bit sunburnt..
But, tomorrow is NYEPI Day !
Ralph and Karen's Tours 