Simple Life.

A simple person inherits the riches of both heaven

and earth.

How would you define simple? After all those hard work you've put through in an education, would you just settle for a basic motorbike rather than a Bentley if you could afford it? Simplicity is defined as the absence of difficulty. No worries.

What I would really like is a rather simple life. My dream was very simple. That was more than five years ago. To get an education locally, to one day be married and have kids. If it was'nt for God, my present life won't be a present. I took a rather sharp turn in choosing the road which was much more complicated than I thought. Simple? not in the context of the absence of difficulty.

As far as my eyes could see, a simple person has much more savings for sure. Even if he or she earns very little. Being very thrifty in each spending, economical in every meal, their hopes lie on their dreams for their children. That one day they children would also cherish the sacrifices fo their parents.

In comparison to a person who lust on material things relys man made goods, a simple person believes in God. Even such a simple mindset that God will always be there to guide and provide in every way. A simple person does not turn to what is on earth, but greater things that are in heaven. With a simple heart, they walk the earth as a faithful servant of God.

One day, maybe one day, I'd like to go back to my old very simple dream. To fall for a man whom God has created for me and that I would have a family. For richer or for poorer, he'll still be able to love me, in health and illness, he'll hold on strong to give me strength. Whatever the consequeces are in the relationship, he won't let go of us. And I too would in return do the same for him. How expensive or pretty the wedding gown would be, it does'nt matter. Because a marriage does not depend on the designer or the beauty of the gown or that glorious day.

That my children will soak in the gifts and creations of God rather than face the technology man has made to influence their lives. I'd rather see them fight over who wins the race by getting to the top of the hill than fighting over the game console I want them to be able to appreciate the good things God has made for man. To jump in rivers, to climb trees and pick juicy fruits, to pick up waste of animals and still love them, to learn moral values and the fruit of the spirit and most important, to make God the center of their lives.

One day, I'd be able to live on the countryside, humble and just, teaching my kids the value of life. To care for my gardening every evening and have my feet soak in the river after. To run the fields with my dogs and to pamper my cats in the nights. To have limited access to the technology world but very close friendship with men themselve. That I one day would turn away from this world of materialism and lust for what will one day be destroyed by nature.

Ask me again if one day I would still humbly drive in a tiny car, though I would one day be a graduate from the worlds strongest automotive industry. Yes I would.

Because all things man made will only last for a moment. Until man themselves come to destroy. Or God plans to take it all away from you.

I want to be simple.

Bali : A visit to Tanah Lot

This day was suppose to start at 4am as we were suppose to go watch the sun rise in Bali. Unfortunately because fo the Nyepi Day the day before, no one can be out until past 6am, after the sun rises from its slumber.

Instead, we got up, get ready, had a heavy breakfast buffet and finally started our Bali-day-out at almost 10am. Moving in Indonesia is rather impossible with public transport. Especiall when you are going to the outskirts of the city. It is very common to hire a Supir which is a chaffuer to bring you around. It does'nt cost as much too. We had our supir for a day and it costs us 300,000 Rupiahs (about Rm100). That's the standard pricing for the service of a supir. Some do put their prices higher.

We started off going to Tanah Lot, 20km away from Denpasar which is almost an hour ride going through small tiny roads sweeping through tiny villages. The way they bring their vehicles in the village area scares me. It's so dangerous! They bring 3 people on their bikes, some four, some have kids standing on the seats, all without safety!

I never knew this place was called Tanah Lot. I know it as the snake temple. Tanah Lot is a famous place for tourists and locals alike in Bali. Tanah Lot is famous for its Temples which are built on rocks. The temple had significant Hindu influence and was built by a priest as a holy place to worship the sea gods. It is believed that poisonous sea snakes guard the temple from evil spirits.

It was a good day. The first day of the year for the Balinese. A lot of them were out enjoying the time with their families and having a picnic in yards. That particular family in the picture even brought one big tin of powdered milk. LOL. Think positive. Maybe they just bought it on the way. I would'nt want to carry a 2kg can of powdered milk on a picnic.

The place was crowded with lots of people coming to see the temple on the rock. There were also people taking business opputunities and offering photo taking services. It's no Polaroid business. They carry around SLRs including one that I saw a Nikon D300. In their bags include a portable photo printer and frames you can choose. They would go around showing their photo samples and asking if you would like to have your photo taken.

Some came in their traditional best for blessings in the temple.

Blessing for the new year.

They have lots of stalls selling local delicacies, drinks and titbits here. Some sell kuihs and rojak. There was one stall that sold drinks and some titbits. When me and my sister were picking out drinks from the cooling box and wanting to pay, we saw a cockroach lingering around her neck. We had to hold each other back and squint our eyes at the horror we saw. We quickly took the bottle of mineral water and walked away. *fainting*

Don't despise this rojak mangga. It could cause me gastritis on the spot. Delicious but their level of hotness is way above my mild level. The lady only grinded one piece of chili in it and I was already burning like mad. In the end I had to throw it away. Would be better if it was not so spicy.

The tides were high on that day. I was raining so much the day before. During low tides, you can walk to the temple which is on the rock island. We went to the shores to take some pictures but the water was dirty and there were rubbish all over. They should clean the place up and take care of it properly. It's such a waste to see it polluted. 

Outside of the Tanah Lot, on the way to the carpark, lots of shops and stally are opened. Theres also a photo session with an immortal albino python. Shops here includes Billabong, Roxy, Crocs, Ralph Lauren and such. It's not subjected to only normal shops. They also have a row of boutiques here.

Awwhh look! Pretty kites!

Alive forevermore!

As a kid in Sunday School, sitting on floor mats on a bright Sunday morning, we sang

Alive! Alive! Alive foreveremore!
My Jesus is alive! Aive forevermore!
Alive! Alive! Alive foreveremore!
My Jesus is alive!
Sing Hallelujah! Sing Hallelujah!
My Jesus is alive forevermore!
Sing Hallelujah! Sing Hallelujah!
My Jesus is alive!

The Son of God was crucified and risen on the third day. Jesus is alive till today.

Jesus loves you, weather you believe it or not.
Blessed Easter.

Bali : Hari Raya Nyepi

The day of silence and darkness like you've never seen before. I have total respect for the Balinese people. This day has changed my view of Bali as a busy tourist hub.

Little did I know how the Balinese usher in their new year in the Balinese Lunar Calender. Nyepi marks the first day of the year. On this faithful day, Balinese Hindus will fast, pray and meditate from sunrise to sunrise. This means no working, pleasure, entertainment, activities, loud noises or lights. And this is serious business. Even the TV and radio stations are turned off.

A full day of relaxation.

 

No one is allowed out on the streets on this day. To turn on lights is also an offend. Non-Hindu Balinese would too stay indoors and have no lights turned on on this day in respect for their fellow Hindu friends. Tourists are also to respect this special day. No one is allowed out from hotel grounds. After 6pm, which is sunset, no one is allowed to loiter around the grounds. Hotel rooms are allowed to have their lights on but it should not be seen from the outside. Even the hotel corridors have to turn off their lights.

So we went roaming around the hotel grounds in the daytime taking pictures.

Pencalangs, which is the Religious Security Force will be going around doing checks if anyone is making lots of noise or if lights are seen from the outside. Generally, they control the town and make sure that no one is loitering the streets on this day.

On Nyepi the year starts clean, fresh and new.

The day to make and keep the balance of nature.

On that day itself, I think i slept for more than four hours. It was so quiet and peaceful. We wanted to go to the pool but it was packed and there were no more seats left for us. Even the spa was fully booked till 8pm. Instead, we walked around the hotel grounds taking pictures. We spent time sitiing by the fish pond enjoying the breeze.

After I woke up from my long afternoon nap, we went down to the poolside where the hotel organized an Gebogan, which is a type of offering, making session. By the time we got there, they were almost done. But we managed to put in some flowers for the offering.

Note : Fragipanis are to be put on the left ear for women and on the right side for men.

A Gebogan is an offering to be put in the temples or shrines and is a symbol of what nature. besides the flower Gebogan, there are also Gebogans made out of fruits, chicken, small rice pyramids, grated coconut, roasted peanuts and sweet cakes stacked on top of one another. Generally it should form a cylindrical tower. 

After the gebogan making session, it started to rain like nobodys business. But there were still soem who had fun swimming in the rain with soaked beers in hands.

We instead had our evening tea session in the restaurant. It was about 5pm and already getting dark. The workers started using flashlights to read menus and check receipts.

That night was the darkest night I have ever experienced in my whole life. Earth Hour is nothing comapred to this event. With the lights of the island of Bali totally wiped out, this is pure darkness. Unfortunatly due to the rain before, there was not much stars to be seen in the sky.

The restaurant closes at 630pm so guests are to only call room service and have their dinner served in the room. At 8pm we had our dinner sent to our rooms. Even the waiters that sent over our food had to come with flashlights. And they can only shine it on th ground to lead their path, not anywhere else. On my plate of traditional nasi campur which consists of rice, chicken satay, beef "rendang" and somewhat like vege ulam, I had the best ever pekedel cumi.

We spent the rest of the night drinking Bintang beer and munching on all sorts of kerepek while watching Big Bang Theory and Glee. It was an experience I would never ever forget in my life.

Pure silence and darkness.

When you open the door to the balcony.

This is a picture taken. Not a black box I created in paint.



Bali : Pesta Lomba Ogoh-Ogoh

Finally my first post for Bali, that I'm sure some of you are waiting for. When we were in Bali, we (referring to me, my mum and sister) were in for something relaxing and rejuvinating whilst exploring temples and soaking feet into the sand with much Balinese architecture. Well, this is the place for Eat, Pray, Love. Yes, we were. In fact, so much of relaxing and rejuvination that we were'nt allowed out from the hotel grounds.

We were not aware of the Nyepi Festival that was happening in Bali. We thought it was just another festival where people were merry. You that kind of celebration where there's much fun and laughter all the way. We were soo wrong! So wrong I tell you. If you'Re going to visit Bali during the Nyepi Festival of the Balinese calender, you better brace yourself. Much will be explained about the festival in the next post.

So we arrived Bali on the 4th of March. A day after we celebrated my mums 50th birthday. It was her treat for the family. The three of us went on a hoilday to Bali for the weekend. Compared to Malaysia, Bali is hot. Maybe because it's an island. But it was really hot and you can burn yourseld being out only for a little while without any sunblock on. There was a lot of commotion going on. A lot of roads were closed and the taxi line in the airport was very long (they only had one taxi booth) and most of the taxi drivers were waiting to rip off tourists with their high rates.

On arrival. We were so excited!

After much lining up and waiting, we finally got to the hotel. That is after dragging our luggage from Kuta Square to Kuta Seaview Spa resort, where we were staying. The taxi could'nt send us directly to the hotel because most roads were closed. For what you may ask. On the eve of Nyepi, a Ngrupuk Parade takes place. This is the Ogoh-Ogoh competition aka Pesta Lomba Ogoh-Ogoh. This year in Kuta itself, 13 Ogoh-Ogohs are competing to win the title for the best Ogoh-Ogoh.

Waiting for the first troop to arrive.

The Pencalangs (Religious Security Force) making sure everyones opening up enough room for the first team.

What's an Ogoh-Ogoh you may ask. An Ogoh-Ogoh is a statue made out of paper-mache'. It's not tiny. It's huge and "monsterous". An Ogoh-Ogoh normally takes form of mythological beings for example a demon or a devil. Why? I'll explain later. Months before the parade, villagers will gather its finest artists, designer and sculpturer to build an ogoh-ogoh. It's all about team work. It's amazing how they can come out with this.

During the parade, there will be a team of performers who would perform a mystical tale or a ritual and of course those who carry the Ogoh-Ogoh. It take about 8 to 10 men to carry one huge sculpture. The Ogoh-Ogoh will be paraded around the area to cleanse it from evil spirits and will end with a 15 minute ritual/performance by the team.

She is suppose to be fighting the demons

The reason an Ogoh-Ogoh is in the form of a demon is because it is believed that the Ogoh-Ogoh attracts the evil spirits and will trap them. After cleansing the town, the Ogoh-Ogohs will be brought to the beaches to be burned or slayed. this is their way of cleansing that certain area for the new year which is the day after Nyepi.

The third and fourth Ogoh-Ogoh

We only stayed till the fourth Ogoh-Ogoh. The crowd was so restless and they kept pushing and shoving. Some would bring their kids as an excuse to go through the huge crowd to get to the front. Only one kid and five adults using him. We could not stand any longer. We went to stand at the back and had some jagung bakar. Theirs is quite nice because you can choose a sweet and spicy one. Spicy means really spicy! It really was. You can ask for the normal one if you like.

Before we headed back to the hotel, the fourth team just finished. So we waited at the side to watch the performers head back. We had no idea who won the competition.

Aren't Balinese girls pretty?