Bali’s Day of Silence

Canggu, Indonesia
8.6610°S, 115.1321°E 

On our first day in Bali Sarah and I learned that we would be on the island for one of Bali’s most important holidays, Nyepi.

Nyepi occurs every spring as part of the Balinese new years celebration. For Balinese Hindus it is a “day of silence” used for reflection, prayer and fasting. The rules for the day include no working, no traveling (Bali’s airports shut down for the day), no light or electricity, and no entertaining activities. These rules apply to tourists as well, although local hotels do allow electricity and provide food for guests.

Outside of the few exceptions for visitors to the island, the rules of Nyepi are strictly enforced. The only people allowed outside their homes during Nyepi are emergency personnel and police from local villages to ticket anyone caught out on the streets. Because of this, a lot of tourists plan their Bali vacations around Nyepi, so they don’t end up stuck in their hotel rooms for an entire day. Sarah and I didn’t mind so much and planned to use the day to catch up on reading and relax.

Party Like its 1939

The Balinese calendar is based off of the phases of the moon, so instead of re-celebrating 2017, Sarah and I would be ringing in the year 1939 while in Canggu.

Leading up to Nyepi, there are a number of ceremonies and rituals run by the local temples. One of the ceremonies that takes place a few days before Nyepi is the Melasti Ritual, which is always performed by the sea. It’s a purification ritual, and the members of the temple clean themselves and items from the temple in the ocean’s surf to get rid of all the bad karma from the previous year.

By dumb luck, Sarah and I happened to be on the beach at the start of this ritual so were able to get some great photos.

We were nervous at first about taking photos of a sacred ceremony, but a member from one of the temples assured us its okay to take pictures. We were told during a certain part of the ceremony that if we wanted to stay we’d have to cover up with sarongs. Because this ritual caught us by surprise we didn’t have anything to cover up with and had to leave the beach.

The day before Nyepi there are big parades in the villages that are centered around “ogoh-ogoh” statues. These mostly Styrofoam statues are held up by a group of men from the temple, and are meant to represent demons and bad spirits from the previous year.

Most villages perform a ceremonial burning of the ogoh-ogoh at the end of the parade, but to my dismay the local village didn’t burn the demonic statue that was paraded through the streets of Canggu. I was really hoping for a late night fire on the beach!

Sarah and I spent our day of silence reading and relaxing by the pool at the hotel, which fortunately stayed open during the day. Because no one is allowed to keep lights on anywhere on the island of Bali, the sunset and star gazing from the roof of our hotel on the night of Nyepi was amazing.

Sarah and I spent a few hours during Nyepi mapping out plans for the rest of our time in Bali. During this conversation we realized that after three weeks in Bali we still had not tried one of the meals the island is most famous for – babi guling.

The Whole Pig

Babi guling is roasted pig. Aside from Bali’s popular fried rice and fried noodle meals (nasi goring and mei goring), babi guling is probably the island’s most well-known meal.

There are a handful of very popular tourist spots in Bali for babi guling, including Ubud’s Ibu Oka that became a destination restaurant after Anthony Bourdain visited several years ago. Since we missed our chance to eat babi guling at Bourdain’s recommendation, we decided to find a restaurant in Canggu serving the roasted pig dish.

We headed to a place called Mama Canggu’s for our pig feast. The Balinese do not waste any part of the pig so most dishes are served with pork rinds, pig ears, and blood sausage. Not a meal for vegans, but as a meat eater (and pork lover), I thought it was delicious.

We also decided during our silent day conversations that we wanted to venture off the island of Bali for a day or two. There are a handful of very small islands close to Bali called the Gili Islands that many people recommended we visit. We decided to jump on a ferry and spend a night on the island of Gili Air.

 A few other pictures from our time in Canggu….