12 March 2013, Tuesday
Today is Nyepi, the Balinese Day of Silence. Nyepi is a day of fasting, silence and meditation and the following day is celebrated as New Year’s Day for the Balinese. It is a Hindu celebration mainly celebrated in Bali, which has a majority Hindu population, unlike the rest of Indonesia, which is predominantly Muslim.
On Nyepi, everything comes to a standstill on Bali – people are required to stay indoors, make as little noise as possible and keep the lights low. Even tourists are expected to abide by the rules. There is not much you can do if you’re in Bali on Nyepi, so most tourists will escape from Bali and head to the neighbouring Lombok, which is what we have done. Here on Gili Trawangan, everything operates as normal on Nyepi.
We started our day with breakfast at our hotel. It was a delicious and healthy meal with lots of fresh fruits, watermelon juice, a pot of tea and a jaffle, which is a toasted sandwich with cheese and tomato filling.
My sore throat had mostly subsided but flu had set in. Last night, I went to get medication from the only medical centre on Gili T. I got some flu medicine, multi-vitamins and lozenges. It really sucks to be sick while on vacation. I couldn’t go snorkelling or even take a dip in the sea, when the weather was perfect and the water was so inviting. As a result, we spent most of the day just chilling in our air-conditioned room, as if we were observing Nyepi here on Gili T!
We did venture out to the restaurant nearby and had our lunch in a little hut by the water’s edge. We went back to our hotel for our complimentary afternoon tea, then stepped out again to the beach to see the sunset.
For our dinner, we went to the main commercial area near the harbour and had some sashimi for a change. The sashimi platter was cheap but not as good as Japan’s for sure.
We then adjourned to Sama-Sama Reggae Bar for post-dinner drinks and live music. After a day of resting, I had recovered sufficiently to be consuming alcohol again.
As we were enjoying the groovy reggae music by the house band, we saw a group of people entering the bar and they stood near the stage to listen to the band. I thought I saw Adam Lambert among them, but I only confirmed it after an ang moh lady sitting beside me leaned over and asked me, “Is that Adam Lambert?” in her thick accent.
As it turned out, it was indeed Adam Lambert. He had performed a concert in Jakarta two days earlier (10 March), and he was vacationing here in Gili T with his entourage. We just let him enjoy his “anonymity”, and did not approach him for pictures. They didn’t stay for long though. With that, it was the end of Day 6. Back to Bali tomorrow!