Today the Balinese are celebrating Silence Day – Nyepi. It starts at 6.00 am and takes until 6.00 am the next day. It is a day that is being followed by the Balinese New Year. Nyepi day is used for self-reflection and anything that may interfere with that is being prohibited.
There is no noise ( or as little as possible ), no television or radio, no electricity, and for some, also no eating or drinking. People are not allowed in the streets or out of their own premises. There is no exception for tourists. We are also asked to stay inside, make as little noise as possible and there is no electricity at night so that there will be no light. We are given a candle to use to go to the bathroom if needed, but this should be turned off if not needed. Special police is walking the streets to check if everyone complies with the restrictions.
We are staying in a very small guesthouse with only two other guests. We enjoyed the morning just sitting by the pool and reading books. But somehow, after a few hours of this total silence, I cannot help but be affected by this silence. All we heard today was the crowing of roosters and an occasional dog barking. It makes me do some self-reflection of my own. During this holiday I realized that I am so ready to set off and start traveling. I want to leave rather sooner than later. This is what I want to do. I want to see the world and write about it. It seems as if I see the world with different eyes now. Whenever we go somewhere, I remember I need to take pictures, ( something we never really did while being on holiday. I was always convinced I could never take a better picture than the one in my head…) I write down the name of every place we go to make sure I remember the names whenever I have wifi and time to write about it. Having breakfast in the morning with a view over the ocean makes me happier than I have ever been on holidays. Even the bad weather of the past week could not bring me down. I know that while traveling, we will probably not have sunshine every day either, so why be sad? We just have to find something else to do, which we would also be doing if we would be traveling instead of being on holiday.
We just got offered our first house sit today. If we take it, it means that we would be leaving by the end of September… That means we really have to take a decision soon. Until now, Michel has still been a bit hesitant of leaving so soon with our dog. When we started thinking of going on a world tour, we always spoke about going backpacking. We even calculated a budget for backpacking through SE Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Going overland with a dog needs so much more preparation and may not take us to the countries we know and love. However, the opportunity to start with a comfortable house sit for the first couple of months would make it a lot easier. We could take that time to prepare ourselves, set up the blog a bit better, create our own design and layout. We can decide where and how to continue after the house sit – another house sit, continue by car, go back home? We could take that time to set up an online business to earn some money. And all of that without having to pay rent or stay in hotel rooms or on campsites…
Well, as you will understand, we have a lot to think about during this Silence Day. We will let you know our decision in the next week or so..
The thinking will be done here…. If the sun comes back, that is….
Dutchies go Global 