Spending Nyepi in Bali--Part 3, Day of Silence

As we've mentioned previously, one of the things we love about Bali is its strong culture.  While Indonesia is predominately a Muslim nation, the island of Bali is mainly Hindu.  In fact, 84% practice Hinduism, while 13% are Muslim, 2.5% Christian and 0.5% are Buddhist.  And Nyepi is the New Year for the Balinese Hindu.  Do you know how it is celebrated on this tiny island, home to over 4 million inhabitants plus tourists?  

Spending Nyepi in Bali--Part 2: The Ogoh Ogoh

A couple of weeks ago as we were passing by a village gathering hall in Canggu on our rented motorbike, we saw this giant headless statue, seemingly made of paper mache, painted and finished in a high gloss.  It looked like quite a lot of effort went into its creation.  We also couldn't help but notice its huge breasts and extremely long fingernails.  Then we saw the head laying near by.  It was frightening, and not at all congruent with the beautiful voluptuous body.

(Warning:  some images may be disturbing if taken out of the context of the ritual of Nyepi.)

Spending Nyepi in Bali--Part 1

A Melasti Ritual, Sanur Beach, Bali

We love Bali--this is no secret.  But it's not only the beach, the sun and the cheap massages that endear us; we love the Balinese culture that is ever-present in day to day life.  And on this visit, we are getting a huge dose of it.  Balinese New Year, or Nyepi, happens to occur during our time here.  It's a first for us, and it is like no other festival or holiday in the world.  There are 3 main components to Nyepi, the first of which we will describe here.

Best Family Beaches in Asia

For those who know us well, we’re a family of beach bums!  We absolutely love being at the beach:  the kids love to play in the sand and frolic in the water and mom and dad love to laze in the sun, go for a swim and maybe even read a book. As such, we consider ourselves somewhat of ‘connoisseurs’ when it comes to picking to perfect beach. 

So what do we consider a perfect family beach?

Bali: The Good, The Bad, & The So-So

Our time here in Bali is at its end and our overall conclusion of the island is a positive one.  There’s certainly plenty on offer here, from trekking, to diving to adrenaline sports like river rafting and mountain biking, to shopping, or to enjoy the cultural offerings although traveling with young children has certainly limited our options.  Nevertheless, we did thoroughly enjoy our time here, but for probably different reasons than most.  

Three Weeks On, So How Are The Girls Travelling??

It’s been 3 weeks since we left Australia, so how are the girls adjusting to life on the road??  Much to our delight and surprise, Maddy and Yasmine are handling it very well.  Naturally, there are challenges but also we are seeing the reward already too.

Choosing Bali as a first stop has worked out very well.  Although there is much to see and do here,

Guest House Friendships

One of the best things about travelling is the other travellers that you meet and if you’re lucky, often the most obvious place that you make friends is at the guest house/hostel/pension which you are staying at. 

Life In Sanur

We've been thoroughly immersing ourselves in our new life of leisure here in Sanur for the past 5 days.  We've been sleeping, eating, swimming, getting massaged and pampered, eating again, sleeping again, more eating, more swimming, and even fit in some culture!   And we're doing all of this for less than what we'd spend for a dinner out at home!

With 2 Kids In Tow: On The Move To Bali

We finally did it-- we've started our 'big trip' at last! It's been a more hectic start than we would have preferred, but no severe consequence except for some over-tired kids and a couple of parents stretching their limits and some quick lessons learnt.

Update on Visa Requirements

Its a mixed result on the topic of visa requirements for the countries that we are planning to visit.  On the upside, about half of them will not required us to pay or obtain any visas in advance.  But on the down side, it looks like we'll have to fork out a bit of money for the visas that we do need to get, plus