Then it was time to go to Sanur. We had heard about Ogoh-ogoh festival and Nyepi (the silent day). It was the Balinese New-Year and it was just after few days from our arrival to Sanur. That was going to be interesting.
We had bought bus tickets to Sanur for just over 3€/person from the tourist info in Ubud. We were a bit early at the bus station so Edda got an brilliant idea, lets buy some ice cream while waiting! 😂 When our ride came, it was a bit of a surprise. There was no bus, but a jeep. Well, that suited us. It had a good ac and it's smaller than a bus so it gets easier through traffic. It took us about one hour from Ubud to Sanur. The "bus" ticket was only to the center of Sanur, even if the driver had to drive by our place to get to the next one. Well, it was not that expensive to get the driver drop us to our Villa, about 3€.
The location of our Villa D'Abode was a nice surprise. Booking.com, and some other sites showed that the Villa would be about 800m from the beach, but it was only 100-150m. 😊 The staff didn't speak that well English, but we managed to check in. After a while, we noticed that "wait a minute"! This is not the room we booked. Back to the reception and ask about it. They explained that they thought we would not want to be at the pool, because there is a family with kids coming there for few days during the silent day and they might be disturbing. Well, we said we have ear plugs and we want the superior room that we had booked. The price difference was under 30€ for 17 days so it was worth to have the bigger room.
After the room change, we went for dinner to the beach and planned our next few days. Our Villa offered bikes so it was easy to move around. We didn't want to rent a scooter for the first days, and there would also be Nyepi (silent day) when we could not use the scooter.
We had checked that there would be two bigger supermarkets few kilometers away, but the bigger would be closed on Sundays according to Google so we went straight to the smaller. It was small, and we found only really basic stuff from there, so we decided to wait until Monday. We started to bike back and we saw the bigger one, Hardy's Mall. Well, it was open so we went there and bought all the food we needed for next few days. The kitchen in our Villa was not the best to cook in. Just very limited amount of any kitchen stuff such as pans, pots or even cutting boards. We even had to buy a cutting board and a spatula...
In the evening we went for a walk to the beach and when we were walking back, Edda noticed that one bar/cafe played salsa and bachata. We stopped to ask what it was about and stayed there for a while and danced a bit. We met also one Finnish woman, Venla and her son Felix at the same place. Venla was also there for some dance. Suddenly it started to blow and then the rain came. We thought that it's time to go back home.
Then it was the day we had waited for, Ogoh-ogoh. The name is taken from the Balinese name ogah ogah that means shaking/moving. That is why the demons/monsters that are carried are shaken so it looks like they move or shake. There are several parades all over Bali and we found out that the closest to us is just few km from our place and it ends right next to our Villa. We went to the start point and watched for a long time monsters passing by. The carriers had to even sometimes lift the power lines when the monsters were so big. The festival and parade ended to a big square close to the beach where all the monsters/demons were introduced and shaken up a bit more! 😈 The festival ended around midnight and at the same time it was time to celebrate the new year, 1939! Yes, the next morning when we woke up, it was year 1939! 😅
During silent day everybody has to stay inside and no light or sound is allowed to be seen or heard outside the house. Even the airport is closed for 24 hours. Only in emergency cases one is allowed to get outside the house. We had some local family with their kids staying in the same place as we, and as the receptionist told, they might be loud. Even the silent day they were screaming and playing really loud at the pool... In the evening everything was quiet. We had made a big pile of pancakes the day before so we needed only heat them and cook a bit of veggies to the pancakes. We just wrote on our blog and other office stuff during the day. The star sky was amazing. Because everything is closed on Bali and no lights are allowed so there was no light pollution and the stars could be seen really clearly.
Even if it was only one day to stay inside, it felt quite long because we HAD TO stay inside. Also, the pool area was so small that we didn't have the possibility to sunbathe or anything. The next day we went to the beach to enjoy the sun. Markus was a bit lucky! He got some wind even if it was really light. He went to take his kite stuff and came back. He managed to kite a bit but even staying on one line was difficult. The other kiters were using 18m2 kites when Markus used only his 9m2 Core kite. During the time Markus struggled with the light wind, Edda enjoyed the sun with some refreshing lemon juice. 😉
Markus friends Minna and Leon were also in Bali at the same time, so we had planned to go to Bali wake park to do some cable wakeboarding. Unfortunately Leon was sick so Minna came alone. It was a 5 point cable that goes around. None of us had tried a round before. The start was a bit challenging and Markus had few good splashes before he managed it. Edda got the start on the first time! The fourth turn was really harp and Edda had some problems there. Usually a big splash! 😂 We stayed there for an hour and were really tired after it. The cashier said they don't sell one hour tickets but only two hour tickets even if they have one hour tickets for sale on their website... We were happy with one hour. After the wake we were hungry so we went to Sanur for a nice lunch!
One of the monsters we saw during Ogoh-ogoh festival
We had bought bus tickets to Sanur for just over 3€/person from the tourist info in Ubud. We were a bit early at the bus station so Edda got an brilliant idea, lets buy some ice cream while waiting! 😂 When our ride came, it was a bit of a surprise. There was no bus, but a jeep. Well, that suited us. It had a good ac and it's smaller than a bus so it gets easier through traffic. It took us about one hour from Ubud to Sanur. The "bus" ticket was only to the center of Sanur, even if the driver had to drive by our place to get to the next one. Well, it was not that expensive to get the driver drop us to our Villa, about 3€.
Edda's favorite lunch 😉
Our room #Q
After the room change, we went for dinner to the beach and planned our next few days. Our Villa offered bikes so it was easy to move around. We didn't want to rent a scooter for the first days, and there would also be Nyepi (silent day) when we could not use the scooter.
Lunch at the beach with some extra chopped chili to make the food tastier 😉
We had checked that there would be two bigger supermarkets few kilometers away, but the bigger would be closed on Sundays according to Google so we went straight to the smaller. It was small, and we found only really basic stuff from there, so we decided to wait until Monday. We started to bike back and we saw the bigger one, Hardy's Mall. Well, it was open so we went there and bought all the food we needed for next few days. The kitchen in our Villa was not the best to cook in. Just very limited amount of any kitchen stuff such as pans, pots or even cutting boards. We even had to buy a cutting board and a spatula...
In the evening we went for a walk to the beach and when we were walking back, Edda noticed that one bar/cafe played salsa and bachata. We stopped to ask what it was about and stayed there for a while and danced a bit. We met also one Finnish woman, Venla and her son Felix at the same place. Venla was also there for some dance. Suddenly it started to blow and then the rain came. We thought that it's time to go back home.
Edda dancing salsa on the beach
Venla told that there is a small market the next day close to our Villa. We went to check it out and there were different kinds of foods and some handicraft sellers. The first stall we stopped by was Bali Buda and they offered some tastings. We tried ginger cookies and they were delicious. It reminded us of home and Christmas. 😋 We bought a bag of the ginger cookies and one bag of beetroot chips.
Sunday market
Eating cake from the market
Then it was the day we had waited for, Ogoh-ogoh. The name is taken from the Balinese name ogah ogah that means shaking/moving. That is why the demons/monsters that are carried are shaken so it looks like they move or shake. There are several parades all over Bali and we found out that the closest to us is just few km from our place and it ends right next to our Villa. We went to the start point and watched for a long time monsters passing by. The carriers had to even sometimes lift the power lines when the monsters were so big. The festival and parade ended to a big square close to the beach where all the monsters/demons were introduced and shaken up a bit more! 😈 The festival ended around midnight and at the same time it was time to celebrate the new year, 1939! Yes, the next morning when we woke up, it was year 1939! 😅
Ogoh-ogoh festival parade
During silent day everybody has to stay inside and no light or sound is allowed to be seen or heard outside the house. Even the airport is closed for 24 hours. Only in emergency cases one is allowed to get outside the house. We had some local family with their kids staying in the same place as we, and as the receptionist told, they might be loud. Even the silent day they were screaming and playing really loud at the pool... In the evening everything was quiet. We had made a big pile of pancakes the day before so we needed only heat them and cook a bit of veggies to the pancakes. We just wrote on our blog and other office stuff during the day. The star sky was amazing. Because everything is closed on Bali and no lights are allowed so there was no light pollution and the stars could be seen really clearly.
Pancake time during the silent day
Blog writing when we are not allowed to go outside our Villa
The stars can be seen well when there is no light pollution
Even if it was only one day to stay inside, it felt quite long because we HAD TO stay inside. Also, the pool area was so small that we didn't have the possibility to sunbathe or anything. The next day we went to the beach to enjoy the sun. Markus was a bit lucky! He got some wind even if it was really light. He went to take his kite stuff and came back. He managed to kite a bit but even staying on one line was difficult. The other kiters were using 18m2 kites when Markus used only his 9m2 Core kite. During the time Markus struggled with the light wind, Edda enjoyed the sun with some refreshing lemon juice. 😉
Markus' and Edda's way of relaxing 😜
Markus friends Minna and Leon were also in Bali at the same time, so we had planned to go to Bali wake park to do some cable wakeboarding. Unfortunately Leon was sick so Minna came alone. It was a 5 point cable that goes around. None of us had tried a round before. The start was a bit challenging and Markus had few good splashes before he managed it. Edda got the start on the first time! The fourth turn was really harp and Edda had some problems there. Usually a big splash! 😂 We stayed there for an hour and were really tired after it. The cashier said they don't sell one hour tickets but only two hour tickets even if they have one hour tickets for sale on their website... We were happy with one hour. After the wake we were hungry so we went to Sanur for a nice lunch!
First cable wakeboarding and then lunch
There’s a morning and night market in Sanur center. We didn’t manage to go to the morning market because we should have had to wake up 6 am, and it sounded a bit too early 😝 In the morning there are fresh veggies, fruits and other food to be bought and in the evening there is different kind of local foods. We went there one night and Markus found few good meals. It was a bit challenging for Edda when almost all the foods had some meat in it. We found one place where they sold pancakes with different stuffing’s. Edda took one with banana, chocolate and peanuts. It was really delicious. Markus had some satay chicken and a soup. The man who sold the soup said it can be also vegetarian, but we noticed that all the meat is boiling in the same stock, so it was not for vegetarians. Markus wasn’t really sure what kind of meat it was but it was good 😉 Edda didn’t get anything salty, so we went to Warang Little Bird (warang is a local name for restaurant) that Edda saw on the way to the market. It was full but we didn’t have to wait for too long for a table. They had really good food, cheap (~2-3€) and fast. It was only a pity that it was quite far from our Villa…
Night market
Some interesting food at night market
Delicious foot at Warang Little Bird
Our plan in Sanur was to relax on the beach but also do day trips to different places in Bali. One of our day trips was to Uluwatu. It is famous for its temple but also for the nice views of the steep cliffs. We drove there with our scooter we had rented. The traffic is crazy in Bali but after few day Markus figured out how the traffic is working and we managed to drive almost like the locals 😉 We went first to check out Nyang-nyang beach. We found it relatively easy. It took about one hour to drive from Sanur. We parked our scooter and had to walk down to the beach. The views were nice and the way down quite easy. I started to be high tide so there wasn’t too much space on the beach so we didn’t stay there for too long. If the way down was quite easy, the way up was like a sauna! We looked like we had been for an hour in a really hot sauna 😃 After the climb, lunch tasted good!
The beginning of the path to Nyang-nyang beach
Small block dropped
Uluwatu temple was just a 15min drive from the beach. We got sarongs to cover our legs when we entered the temple. We walked around and saw a lot of thieves! (read monkeys) Those little bastards were just sitting on the walls waiting for people to be close enough and then take their sun or normal glasses from their head from behind. After that they exchanged the stolen goods for candy. Clever animals! 😝 We walked around the temple and waited for the sunset, but unfortunately there were a bit too much of clouds, but we saw some kind of sunset anyway. Then it was time to drive back home. It was a bit challenging when the face shield was full of scratches so Markus couldn't see anything and without it he got bugs and other stuff in the eyes. We managed to get home anyhow. 😉
That little bastard...
Bigger and smaller monkeys
Sea, temple and cliffs.
Young girls praying
The thief
We stayed a while in Sanur so in the next post we visit volcanoes, use gas masks, see cute dolphins and more. Stay tuned! 😉
Great to see all the food you are testing.
ReplyDeleteHi John! I'm glad you like it! 😋 Kambodza (where we are now) is not our favorite but we hope for some delicious foods in Vietnam!
ReplyDelete