Chillin' in Jeju, Korea: Hindu New Year in Bali

As I am writing this last post about my trip to Indonesia, reality has already sucked me back into my Jeju life, and sharing those stories definitely helps keep the memories alive.

My bad luck turned as I was on a ferry back from Lombok – indeed the cheap alternative (12$ including hotel pick-up and 5-hour ferry ride) to the 40$ airplane (which didn’t even include airport taxes!)

I met a peculiar Philippino who got his diving license drunk, and who is also known as a dentist in San Diego. Juan is a hilarious guy, and he’d always get out of the van every time we were picking somebody up. So of course it had to happen: everyone forgot about him and half an hour later we saw him from afar, riding on some Balinese guy’s motorbike.

It’s also on that boat that I met the most atypical French – a guy and his wife who have a tepee hostel on a farm back in Europe. He was playing a two-string mandolin and smoking his pipe, a real character!

We got off the boat and headed to the love of my life, Ubud. For only 2$, I sat on the front seat of a van, between the driver and some guy, while the transmission stick kept hitting my thighs. It smelled like gas and sweat (thanks to thecountless people sitting in the back) and lasted for a good two hours.

The search for a hotel wasn’t easy, but we finally ended up on Kajeng road, at a lovely hotel called Puri Bebengan – 5$ a night, breakfast and swimming pool included! Nearby, the monsters were still being built and they looked awesome!

The preparation for Hindu New Year had been going on for a while, and everyone including kids wore the traditional Balinese costume. During the few days Patrick and I had spent together, we had seen gatherings at temples, and women carrying offerings.

One thing to know about Hinduism is the belief in good and evil spirits. The Balinese believe that in order to rid the island of evil spirits, they must make offerings every single day. Thus it is no surprise to find everywhere (sidewalks, statues, doorsteps, stairways, etc.) little baskets made out of banana leaves, filled with flowers, rice, fruit and such things. There also usually is incense burning – which explains why it always smells good on the streets of Bali.

Dogs are also an interesting part of Balinese culture – countless dogs are all over the streets, even sleeping in the middle of the road at night. They eat the offerings too. Yet no one does anything about it because the theory is:

Dogs are eating the offerings so maybe they are evil spirits . But maybe they’re not, and maybe they’re just your reincarnated grandfather. So people decide not to take the chance of ruining their karma and let the dogs be. As a result, hundreds of dogs are running around all over the island, many carrying diseases and almost causing car accidents.

Animals are just all over the place!

Women in Bali always carry stuff on their head – which is sometimes quite impressive considering the huge load of vegetables or anything else they carry. They believe that it is good for one’s posture, and most of them do it without even holding the basket with their hands. Their spinalcord is straight as can be!

Before Hindu New Year, I spent a lot of time with Christian (Papillon is his nickname) and Christine, the French couple, and Amandine and Arnaud, another couple from France.

We would often go to Balina Langoon, this exquisite restaurant by our hotel on Kajeng Road, where the food is delicious and cheap! For instance, fried rice with vegetables and an egg for 1.40$, and a tasty avocado salad for only a buck.

We also went a few times to Bali Buddha, a candle-lit lounge where they serve health tonics, vegetarian meals, and the oh-so-good Minessota pizza – sundried tomatoes, basil and goat cheese! Downstairs there’s a market that sells fresh organic fruit and vegetables, as well as other organic stuff. Bali Buddha is east of the center.

We also witness some scary little shadow play in prepration for Hindu New Year – it was at a temple, near Ubud Palace, and even if you don’t understand Balinese, you can tell by the voice that it’s like one of those kids’ plays to teach them a lesson about evil. Check it out:

I walked around quite a lot and enjoyed the endless rice fields that surround Ubud. I felt incredible inner peace as I was strolling along rice paddies, in the silence of nature. It was beautiful and so cute to see flocks of ducks dandling across the fields.

The only sad sight was that of the cows – which cannot run free in the rice fields. Thus they are locked and tied in some tiny bamboo habitat and basically don’t move around at all. Some people say cows are stupid but whatever, it broke my heart.

North of Kajeng Road the rice fields were kind of upper-class, with gigantic properties rented to famous Westerners. One of them, in particular, had a very interesting statue at the entrance.

Once again I was stunned by the sight of some woman carrying a huge load on her head… without even holding it with her hands!

The waterfalls running in the forest near the rice field were exquisite. Unfortunately, some random dogs saw me from afar and chased me out of their territory. That happened quite often in those fields, as the dogs get very territorial. The only thing is that I had never felt such rage in a dog’s bark and was simply terrified.

On the other hand, I did see beautiful creatures…

… and something incredibly sad. Two ducks were stuck in this crappy little tent (don’t know much about farming so I’ve got no clue why), and their pals were outside, “couacking” and seeming quite confused.

Back in my hotel room, I also discovered another creature which I have come to love because it apparently feeds off mosquitoes. Geckos are harmless, but they do look scary when they’re that huge!

And this outstanding spider that scared the hell out of me as I was putting lotion on by the swimming pool...

Kajeng Road is paved with personalized tiles from hotels, restaurants, and even tourists – so imagine my surprise when I stumbled across this one which reads “Vive le Quebec Libre!” (Long live free Quebec) In Indonesia…!? Wtf!

Then came Hindu New Year, a glorious celebration full of cheers, dancing and partying.

Every city on the island had built giant paper monsters. The Baliene believe that by parading them on the street, they raise awareness among the crowds that evil spirit can take many forms, while flattering the actual evil spirits looking down on the island.

That night, after the celebrations, they take them back to where they built them, and leave them there for a day. The next day is called “silence day” – yes, a day of SILENCE!

No cars, motorcycles or even people are allowed on the street. And believe me, the Balienese are very serious about that. People stay home, meditate and catch up on their sleep.

The reson for silence day is that the Balinese believe that on that very day, evil spirits will hover around the island. When they see the big paper monsters, they’ll think “oh, my buddy’s already here!” and when they see the deserted streets, they’ll believe there is no one, no human, to bother. So according to the Balinese, the evil spirits will go away and leave the island in peace for another year.

How cute is that!?

That's what the evil spirits looked like at the parade (notice the ONLY woman and how sluddy she looks... some evil impersonification of Western women...?):

The cutest part was to see EVERYONE take part in the parade! Everyone, including children! Building a big monster takes between 1 and 3 months, and it may seem childish to some Westerners, but the Balinese are very serious about it.

I made quite a few videos, and as you can see on this one, the spirit of the crowd was incredibly strong!

The next day (silence day), we played pool volley-ball, got tanned and ate our take-outs (all the stores are closed so we had to think ahead about lunch and dinner). We also hung out with some odd French-British couple and played “trou de cul” (asshol card game) for hours.

I had planned to leave early on Saturday and go to a beach before leaving, but I changed my mind and stayed in Ubud (to experience, among other things, a mind-blowing massage!). JAL wouldn’t let me change my plane ticket, so I flew back to Jeju that very day, after a 7-hour flight, 4-hour layover in Seoul, as well as 3 hours waiting in Tokyo (where one can find massage chairs for 5 bucks/10 minutes!)