Day of Silence

Today is Nyepi, known as the "day of silence".  This is an important event in Balinese Hindu culture and marks the celebration of the Lunar new year.  The airport is closed for 24 hours, the entire country is shut down.  Youu are expected to stay within your compound and no one is allowed on the streets.  It is very quiet and peaceful, a day of meditation and silence.  They came around this morning with a print out for all of the guest with the following four rules:

1- NO TRAVELING

2-NO FIRE OR LIGHTS

3-NO WORK - NO MAKING NOISE

4-NO HAVING FUN

"It is the perfect time to retreat from the hectic world". "Selamat Hari Raya Nyepi"

The night before Nyepi there is a local parade with all of the Ogah- Ogah, which are huge sculptures of  fearsome demons which are supposed to scare away the marauding bad spirits.  The neighborhood kids and adults spend a lot of time and money building these works of art.  They are then placed on grids of bamboo and some are so huge that 20-30 men are required to lift them up and carry them through the town.  It is quite a scene with the coordination of transport, the gamelan "marching band" and the hundreds of people lined up along the streets.  Carnival!  Bali style!  At the end of the night they are set on fire and hopefully any bad spirits will burn up with them.  The following day, silent day, is to confuse the bad spirits into thinking no one is home and they will not enter your home, or town, and they will continue on their way for another year.  As tourist we are extended the privelage of using electricity and being allowed to swim and talk quietly.  It is most generous when the single, childless workers spend the night here so they can continue to take care of our needs. Now there is complete silence... Even the dogs are quiet!

Ogah Ogah

Breakfast

Offerings

Bali Bagus

Beautiful Bali, how we love it here.  Time passing as in a sweet slow steady meditation.   There is no rush.  The rain and sun dictates your progression throughout the day.  The first week there was rain almost every afternoon.  The heat and humidity intense.  We often stayed in the pool while the rain came down, nothing else to do.  A couple of times the thunder and lightning were so close and sudden, we had to run to our room.  The rice terraces are maturing from bright greens to golden yellows.  Always the clouds.  We have had wonderful walks along the hidden pathways, through gardens, beside small houses, and narrow waterways to get to favorite restaurants and stores rather than on the main road.  I love these "secret" pathways.  At night you always need a flash light and in the rain it can be slippery, but it is so beautiful and natural to follow the curving quiet paths to get to where you wish to go.  Sweet smiling faces greet you as you pass and never seem to mind that you are here in their space.  The Balinese are such kind gentle people with soft voices and smiling eyes.  Remarkable when you realize how life has changed here with all the invading tourist, motorcycles, and crowding.  We enjoy all the fruits of their labors.  Beautiful lush gardens manicured by hard working men under the heat of the sun.  Rooms cleaned every day by teams of quiet young boys and girls, flowers arranged lovingly on your bed.  Fresh fruit sliced artfully and delicious foods proudly served every day.  A morning greeting like a soft song in their accented english.  We've had wonderful adventures with friends living here.  Walking one day with Alexsandra and Cathirose for brunch along the pathways to Elephant, where we enjoyed hours of conversation and fresh juices. Later wandering back by the market, stopping for croissant and coffee.  Then returning to one of their houses where we sat and talked while we watched the rain for a couple of hours. Later dashing out in a fine drizzle with sarongs over our heads to the small open air, thatched roofed restaurant we love called Lala and Lili's for a delicious dinner.  A long casual day with friends and the beautiful textures of Bali. Morning and evening offerings, small handmade trays made of woven strips of leaves filled with flowers, rice, a cookie perhaps and incense, are placed at all the shrines, in cars, on doorsteps, in shops, and even on motorcycles.  Everywhere you look are these little colorful offerings, which the birds then eat the rice and the dogs take a nip of a cookie or biscuit, scattering the offerings but no one cares.  Beauty prevails here, art is abundant.  Paintings, wood carvings, jewelry, gardens, flower arrangements.  Everywhere you look something has been touched and made beautiful.  Of course there are the usual irritations as well.  The noise from the cycles, the crowded roads which you walk alongside and the cars are just inches away from you, the Mosquitos, the buses which clog the roads bringing in the tourist that come for the day, the food that may or may not taste the same as you had the day before, probably prepared by another cook and so unexpectantly different.  But who cares really when we are treated so tenderly, and with such open hearted generosity.  

Rice N Ronnie

From Purgatory to Paradise

We left Penang and flew Kuala Lumpur.  Actually the airport is so far out of town that we decided to book a room for one night by the airport at the Tune Hotel, a chain owned by Air Asia.  Our flight the following morning to Bali was early and we weren't that interested in seeing KL.  Boy, what a dump!  The airport was crummy, the hotel was horrible.  Our room was no more than 8x8 with a phone booth bathroom.  Slamming doors and noise all night.  The air conditioner had to be on because the air quality is so terrible.  People were not friendly, very moody and unhappy.  Dark atmosphere.  The highlight of the evening was walking in the bad air back to the airport to the food court, which was very minimal.  Some rice and veggies and four bottles of water.  Couldn't wait for this night to end.  Next morning we practically ran back to the airport, got through immigration, checked our bags and got our boarding passes.  Only redeeming feature was the Starbucks, which we really needed after such a long sleepless night.  Arrived in Bali to smiling faces, sweet air and gentle breezes.  Lush green vegetation and tropical flowers.  How wonderful to return to this beautiful island.  As my brother wrote:  "It always seemed like an incredible reward after a rather strenuous Safari".   We are at peace.

Street Art

Penang, Malaysia

After prying ourselves off the beach, we flew to the island of Penang, off the north west coast of Malaysia.  The main town of Georgetown, now a Unesco World Heritage city,  is undergoing a vibrant restoration.  Our small hotel, the Ren I Tang, was located in the heart of the Indian section of town.  It felt as if we had landed in India.  Incredible.  Loud speakers blaring Indian music, food cooking everywhere along the street, sari clad woman and dark skinned men.  Wild activity.  Our first morning we opened our shutters and all the sights and smells and sounds of India came in with a vengeance.  We've eaten rich spicy curries with naan, dal and samosas.  There is much diversity in the city with large populations of Malay, Chinese and Indians all living together and creating wonderful food.  The old shop houses were especially lovely as they had beautiful tiles and covered walkways.  Many have been restored and many more are in various states of ruin, but still lived in. I loved the tiles and the covered walkways which help shield you from the brutal sun.  It is hot!  We walked around in the early part of the day and then had to take a break in our room until it cooled off and a hint of a breeze came up, around 6:30.  Then we were off again for cold beers and dinner.  The week slipped by in our simple routine of walking, eating and resting.  Lots of street art, colorful characters, and nice helpful locals who are obviously proud of their heritage.

   

Heritage Houses

Moving On

Farewell Thailand

What a great time we've had living on the beach.  It started out with anxiety about our bungalow.  We complained about the hordes of Russians who took up valuable space on the beach, smoked endless cigarettes, and let their kids run wild and ruin the atmosphere.  Then there was the wind that for a couple of weeks wore you out with it's constant power.  Later it was the glass on the beach that we collected but never seemed to be troubled by when we walked bare footed every night to the restaurants.   Slowly, a pleasurable change took place.  We mellowed out.  We started to enjoy the morning view with our coffee that was never hot enough.  We stopped caring about the Russians, and they started to go home.  We learned to be patient when ordering food because it took forever to get but it didn't matter because we were sitting on the beach and the air was sweet.  We just stopped complaining.  We started appreciating.  That was the gift.  

Venders and Reggae Bar