March 4

March 4

Ogoh ogoh

 Friday, day of Ogoh-Ogoh....
The parade will start around 4 or 5 after about an hour of the favorite Balinese pastime...."hanging around".
It has rained all night, so the streets will be kinda clean and less dusty, which is nice for the paraders and the paper Ogoh-Ogoh, as well, they will have less trouble burning these paper effigies at the end of the parade, to release the bad and naughty spirits to the heavens...
We started the day with a breakfast OD nice fresh fruit and the pineapple pancake, after which we went to get some money-out-of-the-wall, to tie us over the next last few days, here in Bali.
Once in holland I may need a few more euros in case I need to buy something there (at the HEMA)......
 

After we got our cash, we walked over to Kuman and her husband, who were at the beach, peddling their clothing and sarongs. On the way there, I mentioned to Menno that it may be a good idea to get Kuman's oldest daughter (#2 in the birth hierarchy) an email account. Menno thinning that it would be a great idea, since we believe, that neither Kuman, not her husband can read nor write, and this little girl is smart as a whip and very intelligent. She has an older brother, named Madeh, who is the first born, and is spoiled like heck. He goes go a school that the parents can ill afford, but that is the way it goes here,,,, the first born son gets it all... We have never seen him do anything, other than eat chips and ride his motor cycle. The girls, one about 10, the other a bit younger, are both smart as a whip and Tini, the 10 year old, speaks English rather well.
After consulting the parents, we took Tini and her sister to the warnet (warung Internet) and showed her around the computer a bit and got her her own email account .... Her new email address is tini.kadek@gmail.com
While she was practicing, I sent her an email and I think she got it. I paid for the WarNet time and we left having made Tini a very proud and excited little girl.

Before we went back to the hotel, we stopped for a nice bowl of Soto Ajam, I enjoyed it a lot, but Menno objected to the sliced potatoes in it. Personally, I think they belong in a Soto.
While I had a short rest in our airco room, Menno went to hang out a bit longer with his friend Kuman, and offered her to come and say good bye to us on Sunday, before we drive off to Sanur.

At about 5pm we went down the road to the intersection to see the Ogoh-Ogoh which and all congregated there for the parade. Typical to Balinese culture, the parade went into a direction that was not expected by the organizers, police, nor anyone else for that matter.
Sin can-can....(tidah apa apa--- doesn't matter) the Ogos went wherever the bearers de decided at the time.....it really was a matter of the first effigy going into one direction and the rest just followed...lots of laughs.

 

Knowing that they would come down "our" street, Menno and I picked a "ringside seat" at the restaurant across the street from our hotel, and waited for the Ogohs to come down the street. While we waited, we had some delicious Tahu goreng telor...a nice dish of tofu, egg and covered in peanut sauce. We had some fresh lemon juice and a couple of Bintangs as well. Because the Ogohs had not shown up yet we ordered some spring rolls, without a doubt they were the worse spring rolls I ever had.....
Never mind...hours went by and no Ogohs showed. Finally our waitress told us that the Ogohs would be coming down the next street over and the burning would take place on the Dolfin Square, where Kuman usually sells her things.
Menno and I rushed down there and saw the tail end of the burning, as well as hundreds, maybe thousands of motor cycles had beaten us to the show and had front row seats....good for them.

We had a wonderful time, and the whole afternoon, impressed me a lot. The festivities were wonderful, with tons of fireworks and firecrackers. The chaos was delightful and in total opposite to any parade we ever experienced in the west.

 

Our hotel staff had their own celebration...

Tomorrow we will be under house arrest, so we will be respectful of the custom and stay around our room. Last thing I want to do, is attract any bad spirits, by being noisy or having lights on, after sundown....
We stocked up on some kacang and some liquid refreshments...to help us through the quiet day .....Nyipee day