Bali 05

Two weeks after monsoon, Bali boasts its most verdant rice terraces of the year. Roads are often blocked and awash with silt and clay, yet preparations are under way and offerings laid out for Balinese New Year: "Selamaat Hari Raya!".

Non-Balinese are warned to stay indoors by nightfall. Those who have not done so in recent years have even been stoned to death by religious fanatics around the town of Sanur. Legend and belief have it that evil spirits arrive on the night of Hari Raya. All the inhabitants of the island must stay silent indoors, with no power, gas or motors allowed . To do otherwise might attract the evil spirits who, upon their arrival, encounter empty houses, farms and villages and therefore disappear until next year. During such times, law enforcement is handed over to the Balinese-Hindu religious police who are affiliated to local temples.

My mistake was to get chatting to the locals too close to sunset. Having met some locals lads, I walked with them through a series of hamlets, where the locals crouched informally outside their shacks on the street and bid me good evening "Selamaat Soray!". Yet dusk had already fallen when I realised I was at the top of a hill with over half an hour to walk home. Scurrying back through the increasingly empty villages, my presence was now less appreciated and, on passing a temple, I heard a commotion and was pulled to a stop by two religious guards brandishing antique swords. My lack of Indonesian may on this occasion not have been to my advantage.

As I was unable to explain myself, I hurried away from them homewards. Hours later, the religious police came to the gate of our property, clanging with sticks and remonstrating loudly. They demanded a Rp.10,000 fine for my alleged breach of the peace. Bravely, my father promptly refused to accede to this barely disguised bribe, but only after pointing out that I had been led astray by locals who, themselves, ought to have been indoors at dusk. Moreover, their clattering at our gate had woken up all the dogs in the neighbourhood and a cacophony of howling descended the dense undergrowth of the mountainside. That, surely, would be enough to entice evil spirits arriving on this day.