Ubud, Bali, Indonesia - Day 4
Saturday, March 29, 2025
Nyepi Day — Bali’s Day of Silence.
Our day in Ubud, Bali was quiet and peaceful.
Nyepi is a Hindu holiday in Bali where the island observes 24 hours of complete silence, with no work, travel, or entertainment. After Melukat purification rituals held in previous days to cleanse the body, mind, and spirit and Ogoh-Ogoh parades and celebrations held yesterday evening, the silence of Nyepi ushers in a fresh start to the Balinese Saka New Year.
In a daily world of constant noise, it was surreal to wake up this morning to complete silence. The only sound I could hear outside the guest house of our rented airbnb was the cooo of mourning doves. Kadak, the driver we hired the other day, said Nyepi is a day to let the Earth rest.
Andi and I woke up around 6:00am this morning. Then, I fell back asleep around 7:30am and slept until 11:00am. 11:00am! I can’t remember the last time I slept that late into the morning. There was no noise outside, and no real reason to rush out of bed today. No one — even non-Hindus and tourists — are allowed to leave their homes or hotels today. I caught a cold last week and have been awake coughing every night since, so sleeping in today was just what my body needed.
Andi and Aden were like tigers in a cage today, pacing the floors of our rented airbnb. Neither of them are very good at sitting still. Conversely, Tory and I were perfectly content to sit in our air-conditioned rooms. I blogged and caught up on the news, and Tory laid in bed, played games on her phone, and listened to music.
Andi brought us all plates of deli meat, cucumbers, cheese, olives, and crackers around 2:00pm. I wasn’t the least bit hungry because I’d exerted zero energy today. “The natives were getting hungry,” Andi said. God bless Andi, always providing for us while we’re traveling. If it weren’t for him planning our accommodations, arranging drivers, ordering food, booking travel and entertainment, we’d all be lost.
I really had no desire to cook dinner in our gross airbnb kitchen, but we were forced to do so since all the restaurants in town were closed. It felt like an episode of Restaurant Impossible as Andi and I prepared chicken, peppers, and mashed potatoes with one dull knife and a barely-functioning stove-top burner.
Our homemade dinner was very “meh,” so I took a page out of my childhood and wrapped the food inside a tortilla. When I was a kid, I could choke down any disgusting dinner wrapped in a piece of bread with butter.
While we ate, we streamed episodes of Schitt’s Creek on Andi’s iPad. What a scene — all four of us lined up on this god-awful orange sofa, crowded around a tiny iPad screen; a long, wooden bench serving as our table/foot rest.
Andi commented on the quietness of the evening, and it occurred to us that it was completely dark outside. No lights are permitted during Nyepi; for those that observe the holiday, at least. We had the lights on inside our airbnb’s living room, but outside our windows it was completely black.
No one was tired at bedtime tonight because we’d done absolutely nothing today. I was sure I wouldn’t be able to sleep, but fell asleep anyway after reading a few pages of a book on my Kindle. That always does the trick for me. Andi and Tory, on the other hand, were awake half the night. Sleep doesn’t come as easily for those two.
At 6:00am tomorrow morning, Nyepi Day officially ends and the city of Ubud returns to its usual noisy, chaotic scene. It was interesting to be traveling in Bali during the Nyepi holiday; a cultural experience we’ll never forget.
