Wilson Lǎo Wài: Chinese New Year in Bali

During Chinese New Year, traditionally Chinese families get together for the celebration, otherwise known as "Spring festival" which lasts 15 days. Shanghai experiences a mass exodus, as 9 million migrant workers leave to be with their families. We learned to give the traditional hongbao, which is a red envelope with a monetary gift to Chinese people that are working with us. We also learned that loud fireworks go off most of the night every night during the festival (luckily we have ear plugs). As much of the workforce leaves to be with their families, expats like us that are dependent on them often leave too. It reminds us of Christmas day in the US, when the only open restaurant is IHOP, and maybe a convenience store for groceries. It is just taken to the next level as you can't drive anywhere, everyone is trying to leave, including the people that provide the transportation.

Although we were only gone for part of the holiday, we did have a little celebration at the kids school. Claire and Carlie prepared for this for several months, learning two chinese dances to perform.

Year of the Dragon

Carlie

Claire

Chinese dancers

BALI

Carlie and Claire with Balinese dancers

We were greeted in Bali with a hands together bowing. The island was beautiful, with beaches and mountains. The predominant religion was Hinduism. We had discussions on how the Hindu temples differed in Bali from the Buddhist temples in China. The biggest difference was that temples were everywhere. Most houses had a house temple. Our hotel had it's own temple. You could not walk very far without seeing a temple. Offerings were everywhere as they were offered daily. The offering was a woven basket that often had flowers or rice.

Bali temple

Offering

We took a ride inland to Ubud. We drove through jungle and rice terraces to get to our destination- Elephant Safari Park. We got to ride feed and interact with the elephants. The elephants were rescued Sumatra elephants, which are critically endangered.

Feeding a baby elephant

More please!

Jungle trail

Claire got chosen to participate with the elephant showing their math skill. Here's the video:

On our way back south to the beaches, we stopped at some rice terraces for pictures.

Back to the resort

I have to mention on a personal note, that Indonesian food is now one of my favorite cuisines, and I recognize it in Shanghai now and seek it out. This was some of the best food!