Haphazard Journal #10: Eat, Sleep, Dance, Repeat

I know this is so long overdue, but once again, better late than never! We are almost reaching to the end of 2018. Oh how time flies! Looking back, I have so many thing planned this year, but only a few has been realized. Fortunately, I can cross two things of my bucket list this year, which are going to a dance music festivals and Bali! I’ve heard so many good things about Bali, so I was super excited going there. Yeah, I know. “You are Indonesian and Bali is not that far away,” but then again, I haven’t had the chance to visit this beautiful island previously.

So, let’s begin the story time, shall we?

I’ve always wanted to attend a dance music festival. The energy is always something that I long for and plus you get to dance around without any care in the world and no one would even judge you (I hope no one does lol). One of the biggest EDM and Dance Festival in Indonesia (as far as I’m concerned) is Djakarta Warehouse Project or best known simply as DWP and they have announced that they were going to hold the festival in Bali as one of the ways to celebrate their tenth anniversary. So I thought, why not? So, I asked two of my friends to come and there you go, we planned for a few weeks before our departure on what to do, what to wear and of course what to bring.

Even though I’ve never been to a dance festival before, I saw the lineup of DWP X which was extremely bomb, or people say lit (lol) so I was getting more even excited. The festival was held for three days so I bought the 3-day-pass. It was held from 7^th December to 9^th December. On 7^th December, we headed to Bali with an early flight and got delayed for about 15 minutes. When we arrived in Bali, we directly went to our home-stay and drop our bag to exchange our tickets into wristband. And, during DWP, you could go cashless. You can top-up your money to your wristband! Simpler and easier right? A little bit of side story, we actually had had a reservation but day minus one, it got cancelled. It said that the hotel was under renovation so we couldn’t stay there and obviously we freaked out. Thankfully, we were able to find another home-stay immediately.

On the first day, we arrived pretty early as we got the ‘Early Entry’ ticket so we didn’t wanna be late or else we would be given additional charge. At DWP X, there were three huge stages, namely, Garuda Land, Neon Jungle and D’Empire. I and my friend went straight to Garuda Land as it was the main stage and we were looking forward to see the line-up that was going to play in this particular stage. The security at the entrance was pretty tight; I was checked at least 5 times. But of course it’s a good thing right? Better safe than sorry.

I was having an incredible night seeing people from all across the country dance around and just in general enjoying the music. I saw people getting new friends and dancing together even when they didn’t know each other. My highlight of the night or favorite performances would be W.W, Major Lazer, Armin Van Buuren and Diplo! They were delivering such an amazing energy and the crowds’ energy was also crazy. So it was all good fun!

Since we only stayed 4 days and 3 nights at Bali, we planned to visit the beach in the next morning. However, because we were extremely knackered; we got up late and ended up going there at noon while eating seafood near the Jimbaran beach. The food was good; it was pretty cheap and all in all worth the price. After visiting the beach, we went back to our home-stay to get ready. We didn’t really do much actually, because our main event was DWP X, so we spent most of our time there.

Jumping to the highlight of the night, my personal favorites were Kungs, Showtek, DJ Snake and Marc Benjamin. Showtek and DJ Snake especially were super fire! People (well, including me) always got carried away with the beat. The crowd was also chanting for Taki-Taki and when DJ Snake finally played it, the crowd went nuts.

Moving on to the third day, as I am Indonesian and it has been like a tradition that you should bring back souvenirs for your friends and family, we went to a gift shop which were Joger and Krisna. Then we ate Ayam Betutu for lunch, which was my first time trying that. The taste was pretty decent for me. Then we headed back to get ready again as usual.

As it was the last day of DWP X, starting from the start it was already super hype. Just like the previous days, we stayed at Garuda stage since we were looking forward to see The Weeknd. Highlight of the night, other than The Weekend were Dipha Barus, Lost Frequencies and Afrojack. First off, Afrojack performance was fire! The crowd couldn’t stop dancing and singing around. The energy was crazyyyy high! And of course the last performance on Garuda Stage, The Weeknd. He was extremely talented and amazing! His voice is the same like when you heard it on Radio or on your phone. In general, these line-ups were incredible!

I was actually planning to see KSHMR, since he was the closing. However, we were already super tired so we only saw him for a little bit. And that was it! That was the end of DWP X. As we were starving after the festival, we visited a place to eat in Kuta. After finished eating we went to Kuta Beach at 3 am. I know there was nothing to see, but still it is fun just to lie on the sand and see the stars with the company of the sound of waves. The next day, we prepared to go home and caught our flight in the afternoon.

To end this note, I can’t say that I am disappointed with my first visit to Bali and also my first time at DWP. I loved the effects on the stage, the fire, and the visuals on the screen, the fireworks, and the performances and of course the energy! To see people dancing around and having so much fun, including me, was one the greatest feeling. So, I’m definitely looking forward for the next one. As for Bali, what I remembered the most is the hospitality of the people. I rode ojek online for a couple of time and these drivers were so nice and polite! And of course, the view of Bali, you are amazing. Can’t wait to be back!

Well, this is a quite long story time. I do hope that in 2019, I get to experience and achieve many more things! Here’s to 2019, let’s make it the best one yet!