Silent day in Bali

Nyepi day is celebrated March 16th 2010. The Balinese calendar has 35 days instead of 30. Nyepi is the day of silence for Hindu followers. Its starts from down on Tuesday, to sunrise on the following day. The entire island is closed down, the airport, the ports and harbor are all closed down as well. No one is allowed on the street or even to turn on the lights for a full 24 hours. No fires are allowed either. Balinese cooked with fires. To enforce these restrictions, Bali traditional police called Pecalang will control the streets. The only exception are hospitals, hotels and public safety facilities. No one is allowed to work except the staff of those institutions. Around 1:00am I heard an airplane taking off, we never hear any planes here, the runaways must have been busy till that time. After that still a few fire crackers and the usual concerto of insects and amphibians! It is funny, I was wondering why the roosters here, are even signing in the middle of the night, and today I read in a book, they get confused by the sounds of frogs and insects and often think it is the morning again!
My big deception was that we weren’t allowed on the streets. I would off love walking in this profound silence. Our hotel even had the doors of the hotel shuts, I didn’t even know we had doors! Our hotel as given us a flashlight for when the authorities shut down the power, but I was told it will be somewhere in the middle of the night, while everyone is asleep. They also organised a nice buffet, usually here everything is a la carte.We must attend between 5 till 6:30pm. The cost is around $18. They didn't abuse of the situation too bad!I don’t know what is going on but the hotel is completely full. I woke up to the phone call of my husband and felt like I was disobeying. I was keeping my voice down. You couldn’t hear a sound coming from the street, it was like we were suspended in time. Only the diner felt different. The restaurant is never full, and I have never seen the hotel fully book, I was wondering how they would seat everyone. Sure enough everyone was seating to whatever chair was available. I was seatted with two gilrs from Switzerland and I felt rude, interrupting their diner as they were eating. So I went to the buffet right away. They spoke a good English and we had some really interesting conversation, and the diner turned out to be pretty good and fun. They have been to different parts of Bali, there is just so much here to see. They spoke highly of Gillie Island, and they stayed on a small island near by, that is usually not visited by tourist. They said they never seen so many crazy people like this in their entire life, apparently they have magic mushroom growing on the island, and everyone is on it! They loved the island and probably had a good time! It sure didn’t sound like Nyepi in the restaurant as matching people with other tables turn out to make everyone having conversations. It was quite loud. Those girls are leaving tomorrow and most of the guest. They couldn’t find a hotel anywhere, so they kept driving till they got to our hotel, many people did the same thing. Starting from one end of the town to the other end, we are at the other end of town, people had to wait last night for the parade to finish before they could cross the town. Can you imagine how peaceful it is, strangely even the birds have quiet down.
The hotel has kept the spa open. I didn’t bother going as I am sure everybody is going to do just that, as there is nothing else to do. I kept working all day in this wonderful silence. You can’t have a better green day, if the airport is shut down, it means thousands of carbon fuel saved. No pollution either as no one is allowed to drive. It is a huge energy saving. The next day is said to be a cleaned and new world, where humans have exhibited their control over themselves and forces of the world. The elderly Balinese usually fast.But fasting is not mandatory, more a personal choice. I tried to fast lunch and couldn’t I was too weak! My hypoglycemia is really starting to bother me, I have to figure out what I am doing differently, I think it is the humidity. It seems like it is also getting hotter and more humid.
I don’t think I will ever get to experience this again, unless I come back to Bali, but I think it is a great idea, we could do the same, without religious belief, simply to show the world Ontario is committed to be green and so are its habitants. And many provinces could follow. We have a green day, but it does not have the impact the silent day here as. Everyone would cry it is not possible, they have made it possible here, and they have more tourist than Toronto could ever dream of, so it is possible. Again, my only disappointment, I would like to feel that silence and walk outside. Next time I will have to be staying somewhere that has a view on the busy streets!