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.
2 comments:
Someday I wish to go here too. sigh... bila lah agaknya.
im sure you will one day ;)
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