Chinese New Year in Bali

Having  a quite large population of Chinese, Indonesia has its own way in celebrating Chinese New Year, which is also known as Imlek in Bahasa Indonesia. And Bali is not an exception.

It’s been known for years that many tourists from China like to spend their New Year holiday by having vacation in Bali. Most of these Chinese tourists come in group instead of travelling individually. On the day of Chinese New Year, many of them will visit some monasteries in Bali to pray as they do when they are in their home country.

If you are one of those celebrating this Chinese New Year or want to know what Chinese New Year in Bali like, you can visit some popular monasteries such as Vihara Satya Dharma that is located in Denpasar. This is the biggest monastery in Bali.

The celebration of Chinese New Year in Bali is very supported by the local government and Balinese nearby the monastery. Usually there are Balinese security officers (called as ima pecalang) that help the police men to control the traffic so the praying activity can smoothly done.

Besides Vihara Satya Dharma, you can also go to some temples such as Candi Narmada Denpasar which is close to Pura Candi Narmada. It is common to find people pray here. Some people even go to pray in Pura Candi Narmada as well.

You can also find the celebration of the Chinese New Year in many shopping places such as in Lippo Mall Kuta or Mall Bali Galeria. All in all, visiting Bali in the time of Chinese New Year will give you different insight of this island. It is unique and of course in a good way.