Exploring Bali

After the festival ended we had a day to chill out, topped off with a volunteer appreciation dinner. The next morning we took a taxi to Canggu, along with two of the friends we had made in Ubud: an Oregonian named Marley, and a girl from Hong Kong named Kirin. Canggu is a cool little surf town on the west coast with good beginner waves, good food, and some cool beach bars. After finding a home stay with an Indonesian family we rented some motor bikes to hop around on. The next morning was spent surfing (Sara was much better than me!) and cruising around some rice paddies on our bikes. At the volunteer dinner we had told everyone we were going to Canggu and a few people said they’d see us there; when we stopped in to eat at a warung we ran right into our good friend Liam! A few nights later there was a party on Echo Beach and Sara set up her silk in front of the DJ booth and wowed the crowd with beautiful performances.

March 30/31 was Balinese New Years, which is a unique holiday. For months leading up to the festivities, craftsmen work on giant ornate sculptures of demonic monsters called Ogohogohs. On the eve, they attach the head to the body of each Ogohogoh and parade them around for all to see, while the youth bang away on drums and cymbals and sing to create quite a racket. The purpose of this is to scare away the bad spirits, and also to draw them into the ogohogoh sculptures to try and take their form. The bad spirits think they can use these demonic bodies, but there is a cactus inside which catches the spirit and traps it inside. Later the sculptures will be burned.
The next day is called Nyepi, the day of silence. The entire island shuts down – no cars, no flights, no people leave their housing complexes at all. Our homestay fed us breakfast lunch and dinner and we relaxed in our room all day catching up on american TV series’. The people of Bali are silent for Nyepi because on this day the bad spirits return in search of bodies to possess, but they can’t hear anyone and can’t find anyone to infect. To be honest the night of Nyepi had a rather spooky vibe! The entire ritual is a cleansing process for the island and it’s people.
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The following morning we left for Padang Padang, on the Bukit peninsula. We found a decent homestay and got motorbikes again. After riding for 30 minutes we discovered the beautiful Jimbaran beach. White sand, smooth water, no crowd, perfection. We had found the place to celebrate Sara’s birthday!! We attended a party in Ulu Watu and ran straight into Taylor Steury’s friends from San Francisco – Ellina and Makayla. Never met them before, and had only been mentioned in a single instagram tag, and with no effort they found us on the island – such is the synchronicity of Bali. By the time April 3rd rolled around we had a full crew of friends on the peninsula to celebrate. We all got together on the beach and later for drinks,dinner, and CAKE. It was a proper party in island paradise.

2 Comments

  1. What fun–and a great place to celebrate my Sara’s 24th birthday!! It will be hard for you guys to come back to the “real world” when this trip is over, so, keep enjoying paradise to it’s fullest!! I am living your adventure through you vicariously!! Thanks!!!
    Love and Kisses and Light—Mama Bear

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