Bali fell silent on Tuesday morning as the island powered down for the Balinese Hindu New Year Nyepi, the ‘Day of Silence,’ where people must stay inside, keep lights off, and noise down for 24 hours.
But apparently not everyone followed the rules.
At least four tourists were caught in Kuta by pecalang, traditional village security guards who were on duty during Nyepi to keep watch.
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Kuta village elder, I Wayan Suarsa said that since Nyepi commenced at 6 am on Tuesday, violations were committed by at least four tourists.
“Two people were domestic tourists and two were foreigners. They were in the street during Nyepi,” Suarsa told VIVA News.
The two domestic tourists were from Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara, while one of the foreigners was from Taiwan, and the other’s nationality was not identified in reports.
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For the foreigners, Suarsa says they were taken back to their hotel, which would be under sanction. The hotels definitely know the rules in Bali, whereas tourists could just be clueless, he said.
“We gave a letter of reprimand and sanctions to the hotel because they let their guests out on the streets during Nyepi. For the guest, maybe it was done out of ignorance.”
The Sumbawa tourists, however, had to directly face sanctions themselves. VIVA’s report did not detail what exactly the sanctions are, but in the past, Nyepi violators have been fined around Rp 100k for their disobedience.
The tourists from Sumbawa had been riding a motorbike to Jimbaran, according to Suarsa.
“They already knew that today is Nypei, so why do they go out?”
Correction: Local media originally reported that the foreign tourist caught in Kuta was Chinese, but more recent reports have revealed the tourist was actually Taiwanese. We have corrected our story to reflect this update.
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