Some of my friends in Ubud

So these are some of my new friends from around the world.  On the left is Hanna from Holland and the right is Anna from Sweden.  They are in a heated debate over who has the most nits to pick.....ok, just kidding these are the new pets I'm bringing home for the boys from the Monkey Forest.

Now these are some of my actual friends.  Me on the left, then Hanna, Anna and Made.  This is the night we all went salsa dancing, but not before dining next to a really obnoxious group of young Japanese boys who wanted to have their pictures taken with us.  

This is the Ogo Ogo, which had I not asked, would have thought translated to "really ugly guy with man-boobs".  Thank goodness he got burned.  His image will be haunting my memories from some time.

That's it for now.  May not have a chance to post before I return, so enjoy and thanks for traveling with me half-way around the world.  Wish you all could have come with me.

Love,

Mimi

The Day After

It's been several days since I've posted, I know.  Sorry to those of you who have been vacationing vicariously through me.  It is now the day of silence in Bali (except of course for the tourists, who can't seem to stop talking about how quiet everything is.)  I went last night to the center of town and stood in the football field (not the gridiron we think of at home, but more just an open patch of grass that is home to stray dogs, broken goals and fallen coconuts) to witness the celebration of Nyepi Day.  All of the neighboring villages brought their very large Ogo Ogo's (which are the evil spirits) to parade through the streets of Ubud and eventually burn them to rid them from their lives.  Sadly, this exorcism must only last for a short period, as the damn demons keep coming back and have to be burned once yearly.

So while I and nearly five hundred other tourists watched as the locals paraded their spirits through the streets, it occurred to me that we have nothing on a national level that resonates the way Nyepi Day does.  I'm thinking of lobbying for a national holiday of rest, where travel outside the home, use of electrical devices (namely video games), cooking and certainly fighting amongst siblings is expressly illegal.  That's right, illegal.  If it was just forbidden, no American child would refrain.  As it is, here in Ubud, if you're caught on the street, you'll be thrown in the pokey!

So today, on the day of rest, the hotel lobby is full of Americans, Canadians and Australians, feverishly connecting to the internet and busy scouring cyber-space for anything to crowd our already over-crowded thoughts.  In my next life, I want to come back to a less developed country. That way, there is no guilt over just enjoying sweeping the dead flowers and monkey poo-poo from the roadside.  

I know I have been waxing over my new friends, so I am including a few shots of them and of some of the things I've been doing while in Bali.

I'll be returning in two days.  Can't believe it's almost over.

Miss you all,

Mimi

Nyepi Day

Apparently, there has been great confusion and uproar over my last blog post.  I am not taking drugs, nor am I entertaining taking drugs (except in the form of red wine)...I was simply inquiring about the drug culture in Holland, which is, in essence far more lenient than in the States.

Okay, so now that that is cleared up, I just finished sharing a bottle of wine with Helen and we're sufficiently tipsy and tired from swimming all afternoon. :)  You should know that on Saturday is the biggest holiday in Bali - it is their New Year, Nyepi Day.  So Friday night is the, dance your brains out with baskets of fresh flowers on your head and eat nasi goreng til you puke night...but then on Saturday, you must stay at home, no electricity, no work, no play, no music...and contemplate on all the things you didn't do last year, but still have on your list of "to do's" for next year.  They even have police on the streets monitoring to make sure you or your kids don't get the urge to just frolic naked in the streets, still drunk from the night before.  So Saturday will be for me, as with everyone else here (though the hotel restaurant is still open, so scrambled eggs and toast are still on the menu for me) a day of rest.  Cuz, I haven't had any rest since I've been here :)  Oh yeah, that's all I've been doing.  Well, I'll rest even more restfully on Saturday.

Feels like my vaca is on the tail end, even though I have a few more days.

Miss you all,

Mimi