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Published: January 2nd 2011
30 December 2011 With Gregg improved and available for entertainment, life is getting back to normal - whatever that may be. Unfortunately, and again, we managed to sleep through the morning yoga class. I like to think that we are taking the opportunity to go wherever the wind blows and that, today, it wasn’t blowing in the direction of Desa Seni. Just to clarify, this is quite different from laziness.
Since neither of us took the opportunity to celebrate Gregg’s birthday by raising a glass, there was a definite absence of hangovers this morning but there was rain. More rain. Grey skies and rain. Quite contrary to expectation, I can say with a confidence that we will be leaving Bali with paler skin than we were sporting upon our arrival. Since we aren’t here to sun worship, the lack of it has been more of an inconvenience than a disappointment. Had we been visiting for an annual two week holiday, I suspect I might be saying something quite different. We are now, of course, slap bang in the middle of the rainy season and the Balinese live through this season annually with probably significantly less complaint than
I forgot to mention our New Year meal
Just two doors down the road, this is sweet and sour pork, Balinese stylewinter stirs up in us Brits, so I shall therefore take a leaf out of their book and hope that the rain means a good crop of rice next year.
There is, as often in life, a silver lining - our rain ponchos have paid for themselves whilst in Bali and if would have been quite unfortunate had we not been able to give them an opportunity to do that.
New Year’s Eve 2010 If you really want to see New Year in with a bang, spend it in Bali.
We have heard and seen fireworks every night since we arrived in Bali and I have spent the same amount of time wondering why. Initially, I supposed that it must have something to do with the Balinese New Year celebrations (Hari Raya) that were in full flow when we arrived but when they persisted throughout December, I realised that it couldn’t just be that. I still have absolutely no idea what purpose the nightly cacophony serves but I do know that it was leading up to the firework display of all firework displays which took place today. More of that later.
On waking
this morning, we had no more of an idea as to how we would be bringing in 2011 than we had for any of the previous 363 (this isn’t a leap year is it) days of 2010 but we figured that something might come up as the day progressed and that, if all else failed, we would take ourselves into Seminyak to see what was going on. I had read that New Year in Bali is a big deal so we figured that we would find something somewhere and, since we failed spectacularly to celebrate Christmas, we would make up for it tonight.
Before the evening’s festivities could commence we had a couple of other tasks to attend to - namely shopping and yoga. Gregg is starting to get concerned that he is only travelling with hot weather gear and that it is going to be colder by the time we reach New Zealand at the end of January so he was after a pair of trousers, a pair of shoes and a long sleeved top so we hopped on the bike and headed in the direction of the discount surf/sports stores. To put it succinctly, we returned with
nothing. We did manage to satisfy a little craving of mine - yesterday I just really fancied fish and chips and we found some that were both kind on the wallet and pretty tasty. The tartar sauce was much tastier than the vinegary packet stuff that you get in pubs at home and it wasn’t dripping in fat. Mr & Mrs P were both more than satisfied.
Having failed at shopping, we headed back towards the apartment and then on to Desa Seni for our last yoga class of the year. This class was with the lovely Manuela and as we sat sipping ginger tea and chatting to her afterwards, she asked us what our plans were for New Year and suggested a place on the beach called La Plancha where, she said, the Latin Community would be spending New Year, there would be dancing on the beach and we could get there by walking along the beach thereby avoiding the traffic which is, apparently, always hideous at New Year.
Seduced by the prospect of being able to walk along the beach, we decided that we would give this place a go as a starter and that, if
La Plancha from the beach.
The bean bags hit the road when the rain began. it was no good we could always move on.
The walk along the beach was a little on the scary side as it was deserted for large parts and at one point a group of about 8 guys appeared out of nowhere which unnerved us a little but it turned out that they were probably just heading along the beach to another party.
Ah, and what of the fireworks? Well, it is no exaggeration to say that they started before it was even dark and did not stop until well after 2am on New Year’s Day. In fact (and apologies to Gregg for trespassing on his next blog) I even heard some as we arrived at yoga ON New Year’s Day.
Our walk along the beach took us from Kerobokan, in the direction of Kuta which is, as previously mentioned, the biggest tourist/backpacker town in Bali. As we walked along the beach, we watched a constant stream of fireworks over Kuta and not an inconsiderable number being let off along the beach and further inland between us and the town.
Pause, think of the government sponsored safety television advertising prevalent around November 5th in the UK
and the restrictions on buying fireworks for home use and swiftly chuck it all out of the window. A few days ago, Gregg read the front of a local English language newspaper which advised that fireworks are illegal and that the police would be stepping up their anti-firework activity over the New Year period. This would entirely explain why we have seen them available on every other street corner and shop counter over the last week being sold out of black bin liners like kids toys.
The lack of real regulation gives rise to conflicting opinions in me. The free spirited part of me thinks that it is utterly refreshing to be living, if only briefly, in a place where individuals can still make their own choices as to how much danger they wish to put themselves in, but the risk averse part of me was pretty scared for my own, and others’, safety at points during the evening and found the recklessness of others frankly frightening. Two examples in particular spring to mind. The first is the number of people (including westerners) who abandoned all sensibilities and stoop HOLDING Roman Candles up to the sky in a crowd,
later turning the firework inwards to their faces to check whether it was finished or not. The second - the two fireworks that backfired into the crowd outside La Plancha and narrowly missed taking human casualties.
I will remain conflicted in this respect but, for all of that, the fireworks contributed to an amazing carnival like atmosphere. There appeared to be few people around who were out to bring the new year in in a state of alcoholic oblivion (and we were ideally placed to judge since we raised bottles of water to welcome it) which was a pleasant change to a New Year’s Eve party that we might have attended at home.
We were at La Plancha for a good 3 ½ hours before the countdown began (which, I am pretty sure, was actually early - yes really early AND in Bali) and the continual sky show made it feel like a lot less than that.
Not long after we arrived, the rain did too and gazebo like shelters were (sort of) hastily constructed. I don’t think it actually stopped raining until long after we went to bed but it was so light and otherwise warm
that, after a time, we really didn’t notice it.
If we were impressed by the evening’s show, we had no idea what we were in for as the clock ticked towards midnight. At around 11.45pm the skies went absolutely wild. We could barely hear a thing other than the banging and cracking of Roman Candle after Roman Candle, even the countdown struggled to be heard over it. The spectacle was like nothing we have ever seen before (and very little of it organised) or are likely to see again and it was, without doubt, one of the very best New Year’s Eve nights we have ever had together.
Eventually, we decided that we needed to find our way home and, mindful of the advice that we had earlier received about how busy the roads were likely to be, decided to walk. With fireworks still being let off on the beach, we decided that we did not want to risk finding ourselves in the trajectory of any errant lump of gunpowder and therefore decided to take to the roads.
As we wandered through Seminyak, we were greeted with shouts of
Happy New Year from many of the locals
we passed, from those walking in the opposite direction to us, shopkeepers sitting outside their 24 hour stores with friends and even the staff of a laundry who were working but having a whale of a time celebrate to thumping house music at the same time.
Eventually, we reached a point where it was clear that the roads weren’t as busy as we had believed and, with tired feet and legs, decided to hail a cab to take us home.
As we settled down to sleep, my ears were still ringing from the night long explosive concerto as I thought to myself that I really hadn’t experienced New Year before spending this one in Bali.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY - may it be a good one for you all.
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