On Monday night, the streets of villages and cities all over Bali were traversed by giant papier mache scary demons called ogoh-ogoh. In Bali’s capital Denpasar, where I was staying, the ogoh-ogoh parade was huge and went for hours and hours. It was such a big event that all the ogoh-ogohs didn’t even go on the same route… several mini-parades leading into the center of town to try (but ultimately fail) to limit congestion.
So what’s it all about? It’s part of the celebrations for Balinese Hindus to welcome the new year, and, well, there’s a few stories. Some say that the ogoh-ogoh are paraded and then burned to scare away demons from the island. The next day, on Nyepi, the day of silence to welcome the Saka New Year, if the demons and bad spirits come back to Bali, the island will be so quiet and dark that they will think it has been abandoned and leave again.
Other theories go that the ogoh-ogoh and offerings are actually gifts to bad spirits to appease them and honor them.
Heaps more pics, including some that are actually clear taken before sunset haha, after the jump…
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Melasti, a purification festival (above, the men are dipping the temple umbrellas into the sea to cleanse them), is held three days before the Nyepi day of silence in Bali which marks the beginning of the Saka New Year. I witnessed several such ceremonies on Saturday, including a dawn ceremony, at Sanur Beach. Today (Tuesday) is the day of silence, but there are very loud children in the hotel I’m locked up in, so while the rest of the island is in silence, I’m kinda being driven insane by noise. The irony.
You can read more about Melasti and the leadup to Nyepi in this story I wrote for the Jakarta Globe. It’s a very interesting tradition.
Here’s a ton more pictures of the ceremonies after the jump.
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The light was really harsh today at Seminyak (above) and Legian Double Six beaches, beating down on the boiling hot sand, bouncing off the waves all glarey… the sand was so scalding hot you could definitely fry an egg on it, leaving me with little inspiration to wander past the shady fringes and down to the surf. Despite thankfully skirting pink skin, the SPF 50+ wasn’t enough to keep my freckles at bay and I am now completely splotched, marked with the same dots that have always reappeared whenever I spend too long under the rays, their appearance able to be traced back to childhood swimming lessons and summer school sports carnivals.
But the brutal light meant I had to play a bit with these pics to make them palatable. Which is always a little bit fun, right?
More pics after the jump…
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And on the sabbath day, the Sexy Dancers rest.
Spotted this outside a sports bar in the relatively upscale area of Seminyak in Bali.
A few points:
1. Do you think I can get a research grant from a major university to conduct a study of which bar actually has the coldest Bintang in Bali? It’s clearly an untested claim with many rival theories… in other words, every bar is claiming the title.
2. The fact that you can advertise on a huge banner that you have sexy dancers in Bali, yet in Bandung, West Java, you can be arrested for sexy dancing just goes to show the huge gaps in law enforcement and justice in this country. Firstly, sexy dancing should not be illegal, because, seriously, where do you draw the line? I get pretty steamy on the dancefloor if someone drops JT’s ’sexyback,’ but whether its criminal is a matter of taste. But secondly, Bali clearly doesn’t face the same restrictions as many other parts of the country, largely due to its Hinduism and tourist industry. But in a secular country, shouldn’t the standards on this stuff be universal?
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Door to my bungalow at the guesthouse we stayed at in Ubud.
It was on Jalan Kajeng, that street of cheap guesthouses just behind Ubud Palace. The place we stayed, Gusti’s Garden Bungalows, had gorgeous gardens (as the name would imply) with ponds and butterflies and little sculptures everywhere, really lovely laid back staff (so laid back I never actually checked in), a swimming pool, yummy banana pancakes for breakfast and clean, basic rooms, all with balconies with chairs perfect for reading. A decent price as well, a little more expensive than some of the other basic guesthouses on the street, but worth it for the pool and garden.
It’s a Lonely Planet stalwart though, so it’s probably best to book ahead.
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