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Published: March 19th 2007
Suffered a strange sense of deja vu over here in Bali, we're getting to celebrate new year all over again!! Well i say celebrate - we celebrated chinese new year in Singapore over here things are slightly different!!
First things first, new year here is all about the fight of good over evil and new year is a time when they rid the island of evil. First of all the Balinese spend, what must be weeks making these huge statue/float things and they all depict warriors and random creatures and the fight of good versus evil! Then on sunday night they have a massive parade through the streets, carrying all these floats to the temple to get rid of the evil. The parade was really good, theres lots of locals all in their cutom dress, some who are dressed up as monkeys and crocdiles and all sorts of weird things! And the whole place is jam packed - not great when its so humid!! The whole thing ends with the burning of the statues that evening and the next morning!
Anyway things got stranger from there - we already knew that as of 8am monday morning we had to get locked up in our hotel for 24 hours and that we couldn't use any lights, however the whole island seemed to shut down on sunday night! All the shops were closed, so we managed to find a supermarket that was open till late to get some supplies in - didn't quite have enough money though, so went to the local cash machine, which was turned off - because it had lights on it!! Luckily we found a cash machine that was working and got our supplies in - the cheapest bottles of smirnoff vodka you will probably ever see! Then we went into our hotel - which had already started the shut down!! They were barracading the front entrace with massive sheets of steel - its a strict no leaving the hotel policy!! So we stopped in with everyone else had a couple of beers and then went to bed!
Woke up early on new years day to have breakfast - to find that they'd boarded up all the windows of our hotel room, they'd done it to everyones room - so the light can't get out!! Very strange! So today begins the big lock in! Was quite fun really - although we couldn't get a sunlounger cos everyone had gathered round the pool! Dinner in the hotel was only going to be served between 5 and 7, so the manager of the hotel came to the pool to tell everyone that the restaurant would be closing soon. I had a little chat with him and discovered, that the aim of today was for Balinese people to relax while the evil spirits left teh island. Apparently, over the course of the day government officals patrol the island to make sure that everyone is locked up and that there are no lights on and last year they threw stones at hotels whose lights were on!
Had our dinner, then went and got our supplies and sat in the little courtyard area drinking and chatting. Suddenly the one little light had to get turned off and we were all told to be quiet - then from over the wall of the hotel you could see all these flash lights peering into the hotel - it was obviously the police checking up on us - it was so scary, like being in a blackout or something!! From then on all lights were off but luckily we had our torches! Then we found out there was a party in the pool and ended up in the pitch black with half the hotel in the pool!
The strangest way i've ever celebrated new year - least thats something i'll never forget!!
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The great wise one
non-member comment
Lock in
It would appear that the "lock in" to keep out evil did not completely work--you managed to bring a bottle of it in--and THEN a party--the mind gasps (with envy)