Yesterday was the first day of the Balinese New Year. I wrote about NYEPI earlier. I left Dewa’s around 5:00 pm the day before heading toward the royal palace and the Ogah Ogah Parade, the parade of the demon effigies they build. It’s not as large of an event here in Ubud as in other communities. It takes a lot of time, isn’t in the original writing about the holiday and the people here are busy year round with tourist.
It was great fun watching the little boys hoist their demon, shake and jostle their platform and shout loudly as they paraded down the street. They gathered with a crowd at the soccer field with loud gamelan music playing to help scare away the bad spirits.
After that parade, I went to have dinner with friends at Cinta. Around 9:30, I saw the street lights go out and assumed it was another power outage I’ve seen so frequently in my travels.
When I left the restaurant around 10:00 and stepped outside, it was pitch black. The start of the day of quiet, NYEPI, had begun. Most of the shops and restaurants had closed by mid-afternoon to give staff enough time to go home and celebrate with their families. Lights from all those businesses were out as well. I walked by the occasional motor bike headlight and stayed in the street off the sidewalk where there were more obstacles.
A surreal quiet had descended the town of Ubud that was palpable! Everyone was shutting down their life activity in preparation for the day of NYEPI.
Earlier, I had gone to see the parade of effigies known as Ogah Ogah
On my way back from Lovina, the road was absolutely packed with cars and THOUSANDS of motor bikes from people going to their home villages for the ceremony. Along the way, we were stopped while traffic negotiated around the huge statues at small villages we passed through. The ride was normally two hours or less but this one was three hours.
I caught passing glimpses of “demon” statues in all sizes and shapes. I saw traditional Balinese masks on large bodies sporting huge breast, long weapon like finger nails, and weilding some sort of weapon like a sword or ax. I also saw demon statues resembling mummies sporting grotesque facial expressions and blood holding an electric guitar. The later version made by the younger generation.
In some areas, our bus simply stopped and was unable to move for five to ten minutes. The cause wasn’t statues or ceremonies on the side of the road but an impatient driver pulling out to pass a continuous stream of cars and motor bikes stretching as far as the eye could see and then finding no one willing to let them back in the line. Unlike drivers in the US when that happened, horns rarely honked! One of the photo’s I took of the traffic shows that happening.
The parade of demons here wound it’s way down Monkey Forest road and onto the soccer field. A huge crowd of locals and tourist formed to watch and take part in the celebration.
I learned that in the evening, they have a patrol dressed in black who walk the street making sure all “fire” is extinguished. Fire includes lights except for tourists. All the buildings on the street were dark.
During the day yesterday, with the exception of the roosters, there wasn’t a sound! No motor bikes, no conversation, no music, no musical instruments, nothing but a feeling of stillness everywhere. It was great.
Some tourist had difficulty with the stillness and got restless. At one point, a conversation near my room was so loud, I could hear them talking over the sound of my iPod. When they stopped, the stillness settled back in. No one left the compound. I walked to the street late in the afternoon to take a couple photo’s of the “ghost town” out there. The family here was worried because they believe the demons and bad spirits roam there during the day looking for someone.
Today, things are back to normal. Tourist here left early talking loudly and rolling their luggage along the stone sidewalk at 6:00 am. Others complained that their guide had not showed up yet to pick them up at 6:15 am, it was after 7:00 am when they left.
Motor bikes rumble in the background. Life is returning to normal but it will take a while. Dewa went to the market this morning early as he used almost all the rice he had left cooking for us yesterday. Because of NYEPI, the market was nearly empty. People haven’t had time to restock their stores.
Now, I’m sitting here wondering what I want to do and experience with the few days left before I travel home. It’s a very strange feeling especially after being completely still yesterday. I much preferred having months ahead of me and many adventures to launch into. My priority now is making arrangements to get to Kuta, weighing my pack to see if it is under weight restrictions, looking at my things to see what I can leave behind and preparing mentally and emotionally for the return to the US.