Saturday, July 29th 2006

Saturday was supposed to be my day off but unfortunately I wasn’t feeling so good.
I had a cold. I had a running nose & headache…arrrgghh…so annoying. I hate being sick.
So I decided to stay in my room the whole day, just watching DVD and resting.
Around 2 pm, just when I was about to take a nap, I heard this ‘Balinese Gamelan’ music in the cemetery just at the back of my room.
Yes, the back at my boarding house is a Balinese Cemetery.
It’s a bit creepy at night coz the cemetery is very dark with shadows of big trees but I’m used to it now.
In the morning, children like to play there and also in the afternoon, guys like to play football there. So it’s not as scary as people would think of it.
Anyway, when I heard of it, I immediately realized that there would be a Ngaben Ceremony (Balinese Cremation Ceremony).
Ngaben is a Balinese/Hindunese cremation ritual and it is very interesting to watch coz it is like a feast where the family of the deceased gather together to cremate the body.
The body is placed inside a decorated wooden house (cremation tower) and then they are burned together and the ashes are thrown in the sea.
The Balinese / Hindunese believe that cremation will liberate the soul of the deceased into the heaven.
It’s a big ceremony and usually cost a lot of money.
So, I immediately grabbed my camera & went out of my room to take a few shots. I was a little bit bored also being in the room all day.