Nyepi is the Bali New Year, a year is 210 days long, so it's a bit complicated and apparently this year is 1944.. Regular readers of this newsletter will know about it - I seem to have been here at Nyepi several times. If you don't know about it.. new years eve is a festival of the Ogoh-Ogoh - basically, huge evil monsters that are paraded around the streets and hold mock battles until late at night they are ceremonially burned. From 6am until 6am the next day is a Day of Silence. The entire island comes to a standstill, with no scheduled incoming or outgoing flights from the airport and absolutely everything closed. "Nyepi" in Balinese means “to keep silent” and falls on the day after the dark moon. .

I remember the first time I stayed in Ubud it was Nyepi.. it was a wild festival of Ogoh-Ogoh all over Ubud, dozens of the things each with their own gang of creators humping them around banging drums, and total festival atmosphere..It was so crammed with people and parties that we had to abandon Ringo's car and walk back to our hotel on the outskirts of Ubud. The next day, total peace and quiet..

Ogoh-Ogoh monsters.

How things have changed. The last two Ogoh-Ogoh parades across Bali were completely cancelled due to Covid regulations.. this year there was much discussion about getting back to something normal.. we were told there would be an actual parade through Ubud..

So yesterday evening I bagged myself a front line table at the fabled Kafe Ubud which faces Hanuman Street and is the perfect spot to see a passing parade. The waitress told me it would pass by about 7pm, Bondan and his wife came up from Denpasar for the evening and I arranged to meet them there.  The manager at my hotel told me the parade was on and off all day because of an argument between Ubud and Denpasar who wanted to cancel it due to rising covid cases in Ubud.

7pm came no parade.. 8pm nothing.. So we decided to leave and try and find out what was happening. No parties in Ubud this Nyepi, quite the opposite.  Walking back towards the hotel, we found it was pitch dark.. every light everywhere was already off. The day of silence had it seemed, already started. A hot, humid and an electric storm flashed occasional sheet lightning casting ghostly shadows..  In the gloom we came across a lady in Balinese ceremonial dress carrying an offering on her head.. Bondhan asked what happened to the ceremonies.. she told us it was all happening deep inside the Monkey Forest. We decided to go and investigate..

If you don't know about the Monkey Forest, it's a famous park in the heart of Ubud. Full of moss covered statues, jungle paths, deep pools, hanging vines and thousands of sacred monkeys. At the heart is a temple. We got to the entrance and sure enough there were hundreds of motor bikes parked.  Something must be happening - temple security guys known as Pecalang stood at the entrance. We asked if it was Ok to go inside, and was told politely that it was not open for outsiders.

So disappointing.. then I had an idea, a slightly naughty idea.. "Come on guys" I said follow me. I remembered from the time we had our warehouse in Udud that there is a secret pathway that runs along the back edge of the Monkey Forest and is a shortcut to Yellow Coconut Village.. there is a back entrance to Monkey Forest, and I remember not so far from the temple. I found the cutting and we stumbled in.. now pitch black, even the mobile phone torch light barely pierced the darkness.. It was hot and I was sweating, animals moving nearby, fallen trees to get past, a little tunnel, a footbridge over a stream.. I had forgotten how far it was.. "Come on guys, we can make it.."

Finally we tumbled out into the top of Yellow Coconut Village.. and the back entrance. Nobody there.. no Pecalang to be seen and the gate slightly ajar.. We could hear the gongs and rhythmic chanting of a mystic ceremony.. lets go..

Keeping to the edge of the path in the dark we snook down the path towards the noise.. as we came around the back of a large building we saw the temple bathed in flood lights.  We got as close as we could.. Heart beating, I made a short video.. then we spotted two Pecalang just on the other side of the wall and decided to hotfoot it back to safety.

We stumbled back down the jungle path, out on top of Monkey Forest Road, and back to the hotel.

So hot and humid, we all needed a shower and change of clothes.. but wow.. at least we had had an adventure.

Today - as I write this it is the Day of Silence and the streets are empty, Balinese people (including Ringo) do not work at all. It is a day to contemplate life, to think about how to improve relationships and balance.

Something the whole world could do with doing right now.. 

Tomorrow we are going to a Balinese wedding as guests of Ringo. It's in his home town of Bangli far from the tourist trail.. His niece is getting married and Bondhan and I are very fortunate to be invited, we are to wear a traditional dress so it will be super interesting - I hope it's not cancelled like the parade at the last moment.

Lots of new stuff online including products such as Macrame Hanging Shelves from Indonesia...

Plus some stunning deals.

Take care. 

More news next week.