Wednesday March 25

Wednesday is our first full day in Bali. After an early morning breakfast, we head to the beach by 9 AM. Being this close the equator (like, on it), and having it be our first day in the sun, I don't want to spend the most intense sunlight hours (10 - 2) outside. Once again, we find the beach virtually deserted, and are quickly surrounded by the local solicitors plying their wares on an all too eager audience. My daughter tries to build a sand castle, without much luck. I build her one which she summarily destroys immediately upon completion. So, I content my self with digging her a hole to the water-line that she can play and splash in while I take a quick, 15 minute run along the beach. This turns out to be a big mistake, however, as I run barefoot and the sharp, stony sand of Kuta beach exfoliates my toes to the point of reddish soreness.

We leave the beach and head into the main part of town for lunch. We are looking for something resembling authentic Balinese cuisine and, oddly enough, end up at another westernized hotel. The main road in Kuta has several restaurants and shops, though they all have a western flair - KFC, The Good Bean, Starbucks - and none met our desired intent. The hotel looked upscale and authentic, and we did not know it was a hotel until we were walking to our seats at the outdoor restaurant. Still trying to set the example of sampling the cultural cuisine, I ordered a dish with fried vegetables, sesame beef and white rice. My wife, daughter and mother-in-law all ordered pizza. So much for diversity.

After lunch, we returned to our hotel and my daughter and I spent sometime swimming at the hotel pool while my wife and her mother returned to the villa to rest and relax by our private pool. My daughter and I joined them after an hour or so and started making plans for the evening. In the middle of the conversation, our phone rang. Today I had planned to have lunch with one of our primary vendors who have their headquarters in Bali. I provided them with my cell phone number so they could contact me and we could confirm the time and location. Unfortunately, on the flight over, my cell phone becamed locked and my daughter was playing with and subsequently lost the piece of paper with my pin number on it. Without internet access at the hotel, I had no way of emailing anyone to ask for the pin. So, when our vendor couldn't reach me, they called my office, who then became worried about our safety and called the hotel. Made us feel pretty special that they would go out of their way with concern over us. They provided me my pin, and I was able to converse with my vendor and reset plans for Monday. Turns out my pin was 1234 (DOH!).

Tonight was supposed to be the Ogoh-Ogoh festival. During Ogoh-ogoh, all of the local villages create totems of their demons and, in elaborate parades, march through the streets and eventually burn them in a dancing ritual. We were really looking forward to it. We had asked around at the hotel and some of the restaurants on the best location to see the rituals and everyone indicated Kuta beach would be a good place. When I spoke with my vendor, however, he indicated that after the recent elections, the new government banned it. We held out hope, however, and made our way down to Kuta beach to watch the sunset, and lingered as long as we felt prudent (as the rest of the crowd cleared out) before determining that, indeed, there would be no ceremony.

We also learned - thanks to a note from the hotel, my conversation with my vendor, and some comments made by my staff before leaving - that the rules of Nyepi are quite strictly adhered to. It is considered a day of silence, and no one is expected to be out on the street, the beach, etc during this time. In fact, the hotel informed us we are not allowed to leave the grounds and from 5 AM Thursday morning until 5 AM Friday morning, we should use any lights sparingly and none that can be viewed from outside the grounds. In fact, they had to obtain an exception from the government to allow them to even have lights and serve food in the restaurant - the latter of which closed promptly at 6 PM. We'll see how it goes, though everything seemed to shut down quite early this evening in preparation.