Carnival

There was a rumor going around the pool today that there was going to be a ‘Carnival.’ Now I’m thinking exotic, faraway lands… this is going to be great. The image of ‘Carnival’ in Rio de Janeiro immediately popped into my head.

I had decided to meet Keith (from north England) and Sam (from south England) at 2:00 pm to watch the ‘Carnival’ that was causing such a stir around the island.

We got to an eating establishment around 2:15 pm that had curbside seats for the big event. The streets were filling up with excited Balinese people and many, like us, curious tourists.

We patiently waited for an hour for the festivities to begin, all the while trying to get some more info on what this ‘Carnival’ was all about. We struck out on getting any info but we did learn a valuable lesson. Nothing in Bali starts when it says it’s going to start. The ‘Carnival’ was supposed to start at 2:00, then we heard 3:00, and finally the party started rolling out around 4:15.

‘Carnival’ was kind of a letdown. It was nothing like I had imagined. I would sum it up by saying it reminded me of a small town parade, minus the candy, but add millions of honking motorbikes. That was my take on it. I’m sure it’s much more significant than that and if you were to ask a Balinese person, I’m sure they would tell you the ‘what and why’ of it all. My friend Made (Ma Day) actually drove from Ubud to see it.

ps: It took me 40 minutes to cut and paste this post. The internet here is dreadful. Once again, I had photos to upload along with the post but it was too slow to take them. I even made them super small at 72dpi. I'm still looking for faster internet connections somewhere. I finally found free Wi-Fi, so the hunt continues.