Every day at sunrise a pod of dolphins come into the bay to feed in the town of Lovina in north Bali. Since humans have a fascination with dolphins you can imagine the tourism that has developed for these sight seeing tours. In order to catch sight of these beautiful creatures you must get up at the crack of dawn to get onto a boat which will take you out to the middle of the bay. The waters are quiet and still this time of day and the slow rise of the sun above the mountains, onto the bay is stunning. And of course the dolphins are gorgeous! They are everywhere, jumping and swimming, a great way to see these intelligent and amazing marine animals. The only downside is that you have to share the waters with about 25 other boats but at least they are all fairly small boats and there are no giant boats that take up the whole area.
Lovina is a bit of an old school Bali tourist town but it is the gate way to water falls, mountains and further west there is access to amazing diving in Pemuteran and Menjangan National Park.
"Nyepi Day in Bali is a New Year celebration unlike anywhere else on the planet. Bali’s celebrates the Saka New Year as the Bali Day of Silence, an ultimately quietest day of the year, when all of the island's inhabitants abide by a set of local rules, which brings all routine activities to a complete halt. Roads all over Bali are void of any traffic and nobody steps outside of their home premises.
The unique day of silence marks the turn of the Saka calendar of western Indian origin, one among the many calendars assimilated by Indonesia’s diverse cultures, and among two jointly used in Bali. The Saka is 78 years behind the Gregorian calendar, and follows a lunar sequence. Nyepi follows after a new moon.
Village meeting halls known as ‘banjar’ and streets feature papier-mâché effigies called ogoh-ogoh, built throughout the weeks leading up to the Saka New Year. Youth groups design and build their mythical figures with intricately shaped and tied bamboo framework before many layers of artwork. These artistic creations are offshoots of the celebration since its dawning in the early 80s, which stayed on to become an inseparable element in the island-wide celebration that is Nyepi Eve" -Information curtesy of: Bali Information
Please enjoy the following images from Nyepi Eve, the final preparation leading up to the Ogoh Ogoh parades and performances. The night performance photos and video are all from Pererenan's Banjar's amazing Ogoh2, they all had unreal talent with their music, dancing, singing and of course their Ogoh2s. It was an honor to have a front row seat.
The below images are the actual evening of Nyepi, no lights, no sounds just nature at it full glory! I highly recommend everyone experiencing this special holiday once in their lives and I think the world would benefit if everywhere on earth had just one day of silence and reflection per year.
The Melasti Ceremony occures a few days before the Balinese New Year Nyepi and is a purification ritual. This ceremony is marked with the devout Balinese Hindus wearing white and making a pilgrimage to a body of water, usually the sea, in a self-cleansing process to rid the body and the universe of all bad things. It is a gorgeous ceremony to watch with the white cloths and the colorful items used in the ceremony as well as the music that is played along the way. Balinese culture truly is a beautiful thing to witness.
