Today is Nyepi in Bali. It’s their new year celebration and an island-wide day of silence. For us that meant a day stuck in the resort, but we have a private pool. It also rained most of the day, so it might have been a wet day otherwise.

Traditionally it was a day of silence so that when the evil spirits came to visit they would think the island was empty and move on. It has become a day to meditate and reflect on the year ahead.

Almost everything shuts down for the day: all roads, businesses, beaches, etc. are closed. The TV networks, phone services, and internet connectivity are all shut down. Luckily the restaurants at hotels and resorts remain open to serve their guests; the staff has to spend the night in the hotel though. After dark, exterior lights aren’t allowed; interior lights are ok in our rooms.

We ran into a bit of an issue with the holiday though. Sometime yesterday all of the ATMs around the island were shut down. Although we were getting low on local currency, we thought that we could make it through the day to find cash on Friday. After lunch at the resort, they asked for cash for payment: their credit card network is also down for the day. Luckily they were nice enough to accept USD as a “deposit” until tomorrow.

The night before Nyepi there are ceremonies at important crossroads all around the island. The island starts shutting down at around 4pm because the roads essentially shut down for these events. They parade out huge effigies and put them in each direction at the intersections to block the paths of evil spirits.

There were several hundred folks gathered at this intersection. Apparently there is judging for the best presentation, and the ceremony lasts later into the night than I did.

As I was getting ready to head back to our resort, I saw several boys buying bowls of noodles from a street vendor. I thought it was worth trying and ordered some for myself. While waiting, the dozen or so boys all wanted to talk to the foreigner, if even to just say “hello”. This was the highlight of my day. The noodles, a meatball soup called Bakso, was also quite good. Dinner was two “snacks” from street vendors for a total of $1.40.

We have one more full day in Bali tomorrow before leaving for Malaysia on Saturday.