Ubud, Bali, Indonesia - Day 3

Friday, March 28, 2025

Andi started his day at 4:00am this morning with several work conference calls. “Funny,” he said when his calls were over, “I had a call last night at our 9:00pm when it was 8:00am for my co-workers in Minnesota. They worked a full day while I went to bed. I slept five hours, then got up for more calls this morning which was the end of their work day.”

After 10 weeks of traveling, the time change between Southeast Asia and the United States still has us whacked. Tory showed us how to install a widget on our iPhone home screens that shows a specific time zone. We set our time zone widgets for Minneapolis, so we can easily see what time it is back home with a glance at our home screens. That’s made it a little easier to keep track of the time in two different places around the world.

At 5:30am, Tory, Aden, and I got up to get ready. Today, Andi hired a professional photographer to take family photos of us in Bali. The photographer insisted we start at 6:30am — I assume because it’s not so busy in Ubud at that time of day.

Andi found the photographer on Instagram. His name was Waa, and he agreed to pick us up at our airbnb and drive us to the Tegalalang Rice Terraces where we’d take the majority of our photos today. I was excited for this because visiting the rice terraces is on my list of things to do while visiting Bali.

Waa told us during the drive across town that he used to be a school teacher, but he makes way more money now being a professional photographer. For today’s session, Andi paid him $3,300,000 Indonesian Rupiah ($200 USD). That’s a lot of money to someone in Indonesia, but we’d easily pay $200 for professional family photographs in the United States. Having professional photos taken of us while traveling feels like a special souvenir that we’ll cherish for the years to come.

I’m glad we took Waa’s advice and came to the rice terraces early this morning. We had the entire place to ourselves. The scene was breathtaking! This is mostly a tourist attraction in Bali, and not really working rice paddies. There were a few “I Love Bali” signs and big swings for people to take pictures on, as well as souvenir shops and cafes. Of course, all this was closed/unoccupied when we visited at 7:00am this morning.

The rice terraces were wet and muddy from last night’s rain. Waa asked us to pose on one of the paths that make up the many terraces. “Take one step to the left,” he directed, and of course I stepped right into a big mud hole. My left foot and the toe portion of my shoe was covered in slimy mud. Ughhhh. There was no running water or place to clean myself off, so I used a leaf to wipe off what I could and hoped this wouldn’t show in our photos.

In addition to the mud, there were flies and mosquitos biting at our bare arms and ankles. We were standing in the middle of a lush, tropical field — what else did we expect?! We tried our best to smile for the camera without giving the bugs and the mud away.

Why does taking family photos feel so awkward?! Waa posed the four of us in a variety of scenarios. “Put your arms around your brother,” Waa directed. Tory grumbled.

He directed us to hold hands and walk along the edge of the narrow terraces. It felt weird doing so, but the photos turned out beautifully. Waa knew what he was doing!

By 8:00am, other tourists started to arrive. We’d taken all the photos we wanted at the rice terraces, so Waa drove us to central Ubud to take some snaps of city scenes.

Ubud is chaotic in the most wonderful way. You could walk down the same city block and see something new every single time. All the sights, smells, and sounds are stimulus overload.

Waa had our family walk along one of the main streets while he snapped photos from the other side. I wasn’t sure what these photos were going to look like; there were so many cars and scooters driving between us.

Today is the day before Nyepi, the Hindu day of silence, so there was a special buzz happening around the city. We saw several groups of locals dressed in white and yellow. These are significant colors associated with Nyepi, representing prosperity and happiness for the Balinese New Year.

Yesterday, we saw many locals dressed in all white clothing being transported in the back of pickup trucks to and from the ocean. Our driver, Kadak, told us that all Balinese Hindus participate in a Melastri purification ceremony leading up to Nyepi. (Similar to the purification ceremony we saw at the temple yesterday.) Each neighborhood community goes to the sea for the purification ritual in the days leading up to the holiday.

In addition to the local rituals, the city was bustling with people preparing for the holiday. Everything is closed in Bali tomorrow — all restaurants, supermarkets, even the airport! — so people were busy completing all their errands and shopping today. Hindus must make preparations today because tomorrow, on Nyepi Day, they are prohibited from cooking, cleaning, or completing any other activities.

Waa led our family down a maze of alleyways, through souvenier stalls and shops. A lot of the stalls were closed today in preparation for Nyepi, or because it was 9:00am. Good for photos because the streets weren’t too overcrowded.

Tory was really starting to grumble by this point. The morning sun heated up the streets and the kids were getting hungry. I just needed caffeine; we’d been awake since 5:30am.

Waa wanted to keep taking photos, but Andi told him we’d taken enough. We thanked him for his time this morning, and ducked into a restaurant called Sala Bistro for breakfast. I really didn’t expect to find such nice restaurants in Bali. This place was clean with a variety of Western and Indonesian food options.

Andi and I both ordered coffees. He and Aden ordered chicken teriyaki bowls for breakfast, Tory had a caesar salad, and I had eggs with arugula over sourdough toast. Our food tasted fresh and delicious, and the wait service was fantastic.

The four of us hopped in an Uber after our meal. Andi asked the driver to stop at a supermarket on the way back to our airbnb so we could buy some new meat. We didn’t trust the freshness of the groceries we’d bought the other day after the airbnb’s refrigerator was on the fritz. We definitely don’t want to get food poisoning, especially after Andi’s bout in the hospital earlier this week.

Traffic was absolutely terrible today. It took us 40 minutes to drive a mile’s distance. The city felt especially chaotic with the excitement of Nyepi. “Traffic is really bad,” Andi said to the Uber driver. The man just smiled, completely unphased by the madness.

Finally back at our airbnb, the kids retreated to their respective rooms. Andi and I sat on the living room sofa together; he responded to work emails, and I did some blogging. My feet were so disgusting after stepping in that mud puddle at the rice terraces. Andi went to the kitchen and got a bowl of soapy water, then he washed my feet for me. Ha ha! What a guy!

“I’m literally perspiring while sitting on the couch doing nothing,” Andi said with exasperation. “Bah! I hate this feeling.” The air inside our airbnb was hot and sticky, and there was no escaping it other than to sit inside the air-conditioned bedrooms like the kids were doing. Sometimes we don’t feel like sitting in bed though, so we’re forced to sit in the living room and sweat.

Andi and I each took a shower in preparation for afternoon massages. Andi arranged with Koman, the airbnb host, for two massage therapists to come to the airbnb this afternoon. They brought along one massage table which they set up outside on the garden patio, and then drug over a pool lounger for serve as the other massage table. “Dibs on the good table!” Andi joked, but then one of the therapists invited me over to it. Ha ha! Andi was resigned to the pool lounger.

We both enjoyed 90-minute massages for $300 IDR ($18 USD) each. Yes, please, sign me up all day long for this treatment! Getting a massage in another country is one of my favorite things to do because they’re always a different experience. My Balinese massage was a good mix between a typical Western-style massage and a Thai massage. The masseuse did a little stretching of the muscles, but mostly provided a relaxing full-body massage with some pressure-points and rolling.

Indonesians aren’t embarrassed by nudity though! “Take off your clothes,” the woman said to me kindly, as she pointed to the massage table. She just stood there while I striped down in front of her, then covered me with a thin sarong. At one point, the sarong blew off in the wind and she just left my body exposed. I know she’s massaging me so obviously there’s no hiding, but still — it felt a little awkward!

Andi and I each showered again after our massages because we were covered in oil. Then, around 5:00pm, the four of us walked down the street to see if the ogoh-ogoh parade was happening. Andi and I were really excited to witness this local tradition! The night before Nyepi (Silent Day), Balinese Hindus parade “monsters” made of bamboo and paper mâché through their local communities. The ogoh-ogoh monsters symbolize the evil spirits of the world. Then, after the parade or in the coming days, the ogoh-ogoh are burned to symbolize ridding of these spirits for another year.

Balinese Hindus strongly believe in the connection and balance of good & evil spirits of the world. They worship and present offerings to both good and evil spirits alike, appeasing both to keep harmony in the mortal world.

As we walked through the neighborhood of our airbnb, we saw fresh baskets of offerings on the ground in front of every house. These offerings were bigger and more elaborate than the ones we’ve seen previously displayed around town. The offerings were displayed on a banana leaf and contained the usual flowers and incense, as well as rice, smoldering coconuts, and eggs with single holes cracked into their shells. Several women stood in their doorways tending to their offerings, and we saw a few men there as well, sprinkling drops of water on the Canang sari.

There was also a ditch fire burning, creating plumes of smoke in the air. “Oooh, I love this smell. It reminds me of home,” Tory said dreamily. “What? The smell of trash burning?” Andi chuckled.

A tooth-less elderly man smiled as he made eye contact with our family, and then pointed down the narrow stone street. A few paces ahead, we saw several of the ogoh-ogoh monsters on display. Each community (sort of like a neighborhood association, I gather) hosts their own ogoh-ogoh parade prior to Nyepi Day.

There’s a really big celebration that happens in central Ubud, but our family was content to take in the spirit of the event in the small, quiet neighborhood of our airbnb. I imagine the crowds and traffic around central Ubud was absolute bananas this evening.

The four of us marveled at the craftsmanship of the ogoh-ogoh monsters on display for a few minutes, and then continued walking around the neighborhood. There were several locals out and about, making preparations to their Canang sari. A true excitement filled the air, as is typical before any big holiday celebration. It was a really special travel experience to witness this Indonesian celebration.

Our airbnb host told us the ogoh-ogoh parade would happen between 5:00pm-6:00pm, but clearly that wasn’t the case. After we walked around for a while, we returned in the direction of our airbnb. “I wanted to check out that Mango place,” Andi said. He’d read several good reviews about the restaurant about a mile from our airbnb.

The four of us continued walking toward Mango Restaurant. Surprisingly, it was open until 9:00pm tonight and still serving food. We’d planned to cook ourselves dinner tonight, but why go through the trouble if there was a restaurant option instead.

We were seated on the outdoor patio of the restaurant, and ordered drinks and food. The sun set while we waited, and the mosquitos came out with a vengeance. “Maybe we should take our food order to-go,” Andi suggested.

“You’re not going to ogoh-ogoh?” our server questioned. We wanted to, but we didn’t see it taking place, we told the young man as he delivered our food order to us.

“Oh, it’s going on right now. You can still catch it,” he said with a smile.

“I’m sorry you have to work tonight and you can’t attend yourself,” Andi said to the server. “I know,” he said, with a downward glance, “but I feel it is my duty to work when I am called to,” he said assuredly.

We wished the Mango restaurant server a happy Nyepi holiday, and took our food order to go. By now, it was completely dark outside and there are no street lights here. The four of us walked back to our airbnb in the dark, trying not to be freaked out by random animal sounds coming from the fields of rice paddies on either side of the road.

Tory and Aden weren’t interested in walking back to the intersection of the little village where the ogoh-ogoh monsters had been on display earlier this evening, but Andi and I really wanted to. We agreed to leave the kids at the airbnb and walk down there to check it out.

Just a few blocks away, we found a lively celebration happening. Local Balinese Hindus were gathered, dressed in black with black-and-white checkered sarongs and head dressings were gathered, circled around two of the ogoh-ogoh figures. The men beat on drums and chanted while the monsters were ceremoniously carried down the roadway.

There were a handful of tourists gathered there, too, so we didn’t feel completely out of place. None of the locals seemed to mind that Andi and I were there to witness the celebration. I think that’s one of the things I appreciated most about Nyepi and the days leading up to the holiday — the local Balinese people were happy and willing to share information with us about their culture and festivities. I thought that was pretty special.

Andi and I didn’t follow the procession through the streets, returning instead to Tory and Aden waiting for us at our airbnb. We recounted what we’d just witnessed to the kids, and replayed a few videos that we captured of the scene.

Tomorrow will be interesting — it’s Nyepi, Bali’s day of silence. Beginning at 6:00am, there is to be no noise, no lights, no entertainment, cooking, work, or travel. As tourists, we are not required to participate in the true meaning of Nyepi Day, but no one (even tourists) are allowed outside their homes or hotels. I read there are special guards that patrol the streets during Nyepi to enforce this. We’ve also heard rumors that the government cuts the internet during Nyepi. I really hope this isn’t true, but we’re prepare with some shows downloaded on Netflix to keep us occupied if that’s the case.

We have the makings for a couple meals of food in our airbnb’s refrigerator and plan to have a chill day tomorrow. What else are we to do, but embrace the holiday? More to come…