Happy Nyepi Day, to you!

The last few days have been spent on the Island of Nusa Lembongan. This island has been the highlight of the trip for sure this far! Quiet and peaceful villages are located throughout the islands (there’s another tiny island attached by is bridge). We spent our days biking, scootering, swimming, and snorkeling around the beautiful white sand cove beaches of the islands.



Although not surf season there were still strong swell and currents pounding into the rocky coastline and reefs dotting the island.



After a foiled attempt to book a snorkeling tour with a local who had began hassling since dawn (tried to take us on a shady boat without lifejackets). We decided to take matters into our own hands and rented scooters to explore the islands. Marilyn and I headed to mangrove point and hired a boat to take us to the reef for a great snorkel. The tour driver also showed me a tip for keeping my goggles from fogging up. What is it you may ask, well it was Johnson & Johnson’s baby shampoo rubbed on the lens's.



After the snorkeling we headed over to the other island and while looking at our map were befriended by Donnie who as it was Sunday said he had nothing better to do and showed us some amazing view points of the islands beaches and neighboring islands. We ate lunch with our new friend then headed to dream beach for a swim and some sun. All in all a great day!



Another highlight of our time there was that we happened to be on the island for Nyepi (Hindu New Year). As Lembogan is considered part of Bali where Hinduism is the major religion, major celebrations were had. March 4th is celebrated with a parade of floats of demons and gods along with music and chanting. It was truly a sight to been seen and all the tourist were welcomed by the locals to watch and enjoy the festivities.





March the 5th on he other hand is a day of rest and tourists are not aloud to leave their hotel for the entire day. We had to stock up on food as our guest house didn't have a restaurant. A neighboring lady took pity on us and feed us some fried rice which was a nice change of pace from the oreos and chips we had stockpiled. What we didn’t know was that the power was also turned off for 24 hours. The hotel was nice enough to drop off some candles before dark. The parade was worth it, and it was nice to give our sun burnt bodies a rest from the sun for a day.



We are off to the Gili Islands next and have heard nothing but great things.