Celebrations, Temples and a Visit from Saskatoon Friends


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Asia » Indonesia » Bali » Kuta
March 23rd 2014
Published: March 23rd 2014
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Balinese New Years MonstersBalinese New Years MonstersBalinese New Years Monsters

The good spirit fending off the evil. Every village and town creates their own version and parades through the streets!
Our final week in Bali was fun and busy as we tried to fit everything in one last time (especially the massages)!

To us, Bali seems to be all about special cultural celebrations. Just about every time we are out and about we come upon a gathering of some kind often related to the Hindu religion or a moon phase. There are hundreds of temples and shrines around. Every home seems to have one in their yard. As well, each village has a temple and there are the larger district temples of which families and clans have their own smaller temple inside. You see people coming and going to the temples with offerings and incense all day long in every part of Bali whether it's a large temple or a small offering on the beach. We have witnessed many ceremonies of cremation, prayer, music, song and food. It's very interesting to watch their ceremonies and festival preparations.

Balinese New Year occurs every 210 days and consists of many days of preparation, festivals and celebration. The festivities are in fact going on right now with parades and decorations all around. The most important and unique to Bali holiday related to the New Year will occur next week on March 31st. It's called "Nyepi" which signifies Day of Silence. The local people stay silent, fast and meditate for 24 hours. They do not use electricity, drive cars or motorbikes and are not allowed to walk on the roads. Even the airport is closed. It's also kind of an environmental awareness day. Tourists are expected to stay in their hotel and keep silent without using the electricity. If they don't want to fast they will have to shop for food the day prior. Some of the bigger hotels may have food available. We won't be affected as we will be on Gilis Island and the tradition is only celebrated by Balinese people not the rest of Indonesia.

We've certainly seen enough temples in Bali!! However each one is unique and worth the visit. We took another island tour to the east this week and marvelled a few more palaces and temples. The first one we stopped at was built out of volcanic rock the 11th century and is known as "The Bat Cave Temple". As well as the amazing shrines there is a creepy cave entrance with hundreds of small bats
New Bali DressNew Bali DressNew Bali Dress

Bali is a shopper's paradise!
hanging upside down and squealing. Apparently the bats have some significance to the Hindu Gods!

Our next visit was Semarapura Palace which is a heritage site from the 17th century. Parts have been destroyed from conflicts and wars but some of the structures like the palace courthouse and floating quarters are original. It was used by both the Indonesian rulers and Dutch who controlled Bali from 1908-1945. The paintings on the ceilings are incredible.

Next we headed to the biggest temple in Bali known as Besakih Mother Temple. Built on the top part of a mountain during the 8th century it is massive with 80 fair sized temples inside and 7 courtyards inside. It was quite the climb to the top! It was very busy with people decorating and bringing offerings in preparation for up coming New Years.

Our final stop was at a series of tunnels that the Japanese used during World War 11 to hide ammunition and supplies. Apparently Japan promised Indonesia they would help them to gain independence from the Dutch but all they really did was use the country to assist in their war effort as Indonesia gained independence peacefully anyway. Many Indonesian people in particular young women were abused by the Japanese during the war.

We have been exploring other areas around Kuta such as the famous Poppies Lane 1 & 11 and Legian Street. Popular with tourists and backpackers it's fun to watch the goings on from cool little bars to the sale of "Magic Mushrooms". We also stumbled upon the memorial to the people who were killed in the 2002 bombings by a violent Islamic group. So sad to see the names of so many local Indonesians as well as tourists. I think there were about 200 who died. Kind of gives you an eerie feeling as you walk along the area that was affected. Local people we talked to said it blew out windows for miles around.

We had a great day on Saturday when we met up with Kim and Ross Johnson from Saskatoon who are in Bali for a month to visit their son and his family (including their new granddaughter)! I used to teach with Kim during my Lakeridge days and she has recently retired. They kindly picked us up with their driver and van and we headed out for the day. We stopped for lunch at Cafe Sulewesi where we got to sample a buffet of delicious food from the Indonesian island of Sulewesi. Next we headed to Double Six Beach for a few hours and then ended the day at the famous "Echo Beach" for sunset and an excellent seafood barbecue. It's popular with surfers, tourists and expats. It was sure nice to spend time with some fellow Saskatonians!

We can't say enough about the local people here in Bali. They are so kind and friendly. Everyday my man who collects 20 cents to use the bathroom at the beach has a big smile on his face as he rolls out the toilet paper and responds "I'm fantastic" when I ask how he's doing!

We leave on the fast boat on Tuesday for our next destination "Gilis Island". We we are looking forward our week there. Until then!

Mallory and Warren


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Gatot Kaca StatueGatot Kaca Statue
Gatot Kaca Statue

The Air Warrior. Lots of these beautiful statues in the area.






24th March 2014

Wow! How interesting about the New Year. I wonder how they get 210 days? Bali certainly is a beautiful place.
26th March 2014

amazing
wow you sure do see a lot of temples!!! always find your commentary and pics very interesting...Kev, Jaxon and I just got back last night from a week in Huatuculo, Mexico..very hot but great Barceló resort...got home to great news that we won a Rotary draw for an Alaskan cruise..would love to get another call to catch up...take care, love, Cath

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