new years eve

New Year's Eve. It deserves its own blog, really. How eventful... First off, all the girls wore dresses, which was fun all by itself. Also, by this point, we had accumulated about 15 friends, so we had quite a crowd going. Also fun. The evening's adventures began with dinner. Indian food. a-MAZ-ing! Yohanes told us that the restaurant was about a 30 minute walk away from our hotel, so we all set out in high hopes, knowing that we were hungry enough to get us there in 20 minutes. An HOUR later, we arrived, sweaty and famished. Between the food and the company, the walk was well worth it! (Cashew curry chicken and garlic naan? Divine!) After eating our fill and spending a bit of time just relaxing and conversing, we decided to change locales. We paid up and left the restaurant, stopping briefly on the way out for Yo to buy some obnoxious noisemakers from someone on the sidewalk. One for everyone! We also took about a hundred pictures to commemorate the blessed event, much to my chagrin.

In high spirits once again, we began the arduous trek back. As we neared the heart of Kuta (the highly tourist-y/resort-y/ritz-y area of Bali where our hotel was located), we encoutered throngs of people heading out to clubs and parties all over town. The place was a mess. So we took the road less traveled - a side street that took us directly to the beach! Without ever really discussing it, we unanimously decided that this was the place to be. I mean, there were fireworks and firedancers. What else could we need? The beach was absolutely packed. I actually never even saw the water, which became a bit of a concern for me as people started shooting off random fireworks from within the crowd. Unlicensed unprofessionals shooting off things that explode just a few meters over my head does not instill a sense of safety in my heart. Or liver. Or any other internal organ. Oh well.

As midnight approached, we realized that every single one of us had a different time on our handphones. Did anyone actually know when the new year would arrive? We made the best of it and counted down the new year at least 4 times, much to the amusement of the Indonesians around us. I took that opportunity to call Katy, my bestest and dearest friend with whom I have spent every New Years since about 1997, give or take. (I heart you.) Unfortunately, by this point, the crowd was so loud that I couldn't hear her, but she could her me wishing her a selamat tahun baru at 1:00 in the afternoon. Time zones are funny things. Shortly after that, a roar of voices came from behind us, which spread like a fire fueled by a powerful accelerant down the waterfront. The new year was finally here. Or at least someone had managed to convince us that it was.

After much general gaiety and thousands more pictures taken on the beach, Peco remembered an earlier desire that I had expressed for ice cream. So we went to McDonalds, conveniently located across the street from the beach, where he kindly bought me an ice cream cone. I have not had soft-serv in 6 months. Oh, man..... Here, we accidentally met up with even MORE friends of ours from Salatiga who were holiday-ing in Bali, and we hung out for a bit, watching the beach crowd disperse. After awhile, we were ready to head back to our hotel, none of us being the party/club type. So we walked to our road, conveniently located right next to McDonalds, conveniently located across the street from the beach.

There were a lot of people on our road. So many, in fact, that they formed an impenetrable wall. The whole road is about 4 meters wide and is walled in on both sides, thereby forming a chute of sorts. A chute that was completely plugged and entirely impassable. Our hotel was about half a kilometer down this road. We decided to see how far we could get, but some important looking guys started yelling at people to turn back and get off this road. So we went back near the McDonalds and pondered our course of action. Shortly, Peco and Yohanes, who we had previously left at the McDonald's, joined us. Quickly assessing the situation, they decided we should try again. So we did. It was a mess. Our group got separated in the crowd, and I found myself at the tail end with Peco and Yo. In about 15 minutes, we made it no more than a meter or two into the human wall, with more and more people coming from behind, pressing us forward, a direction in which we could not go. It was a very hot and claustraphobic experience. The guys took excellent care to protect me. In a crowd that tightly packed, I don't think anyone even brushed against me, so good were they at defending my right to breathe. Faced with the realization of how long it would take us to reach our hotel, we decided once again to turn back.

Finding ourselves again at the waterfront, we decided to walk farther down the main road and take the long way around back to the hotel. But not until Yo took 50 more pictures. It is quite a walk, but we figured it would be much quicker than waiting for the crowd to thin out. And it was. There were still masses of loud and drunk people everywhere, but we made it back to the hotel easily in less than 30 minutes. We were hot, tired, and sweaty. So we all ran to our rooms, threw our suits on, and jumped into the pool! Eventually, other friends started trickling back from their arduous walk, and so enticed were they by the pool, that they all jumped in with their clothes still on! Now, why didn't WE think of that?? We were having such a good time that the hotel guard had to come tell us to be a little quieter. Because who is asleep at 2 AM on New Years Eve in Bali?!

After cooling off and drying off, we all went to the guys' room to hang out on their massive balcony. One by one, people said their goodnights as the hour became too much for their sleepy eyes to bear. By about 3, only Peco, the 2 South Africans, the German, and me remained. By 5:30, when we were all still wide awake, we decided that we should definitely see the first sun rise of the year. But where at? Kuta is on the west side of Bali - not a good place to see the sunrise in all its glory. But wait! - Sanur! It's on the East side of the island! Yup. We definitely woke a taxi driver up at 5:30 AM so he could come pick us up and drive us across the island just in time to see the first amazing sunrise of 2009. Once it was up, we all realized how incredibly tired we were, so we all came home and went to bed. All before anyone in the States had even finished their New Years Eve dinner. And THAT..... was New Years.