Approximately 1 1/2 years since my last visit I returned to the SE Asian tropical island of Bali. After the last trip I thought that would be my one and only visit, but Femme Nue created a nice event with some great models, and since my friend Maddy had not visited this part of the world I thought it would be worth a second visit. It was again a very long trip, where I had a plane change in Taiwan. I arrived in Bali mid-afternoon and made my way to my first hotel without issue (although I was a bit ripped-off in the airport taxi price). I had forgotten how warm and humid it was there. I had arrived a couple of days before a major religious holiday on the island. The day after I arrived there were Pangrupukan parades all over the island featuring dramatic sculptures (Ogoh-ogoh) which represent the darker aspect of human nature. This parade day preceded Nyepi, a day of silence and meditation with and no lighting or other things that could disturb the peace (and no going out into the streets). They take this quite seriously, and reportedly have even deported foreign visitors for violating the observance. My hotel had the windows covered over and had no lights in the halls and lobby (although they did serve meals). It was interesting to be there during this time. I took a few small walks, one trying to find a little grocery store, and I was reminded how absolutely insane the traffic is there. It’s really not geared for pedestrians, and I usually felt like I was taking my life in my own hands whenever I walked or tried to cross a street.
A couple of days later I moved for one night into a top tier hotel where we would have our meetup for the Femme Nue retreat. For this retreat there were 7 models and we split into two groups in two different villas, one more contemporary, and one more traditional in a jungle like setting. At the modern villa we had Nausicaa Yami, Lucy Tyler, Clara Rene, a French model who was new to me, and Vivian Cove. After a few days there the photographers switched villas, and I moved to the more traditional villa where we worked with Sienna Hayes, Sylph Sia, and another model new to me, Tezz Tran. It was a great retreat with some amazing models and I really enjoyed it. We did have a little issue at the first villa due to some miscommunication in the ownership where the staff was uncomfortable servicing us with nude photography present. Vivian Cove also got a very bad case of food poisoning just before the event started, so she was a bit out of the loop for the first few days. I stayed mostly health on this trip, however I did get a bit of diarrhea with an accompanying fever, but with a little medication it went away fairly quickly. Nonetheless, I was pretty cautious with eating during the entire trip. After having experienced Balinese food at a number of meals, by the end of the retreat the food we had brought in started being a bit more western by popular choice. It was nice to have the variety of the two different villas which had completely different vibes. We ended up the tour for our farewell luncheon at the same hotel where we started.
After the retreat, I moved into a villa in Seminyak managed by the same company that ran the villa I stayed in during the trip Humberto organized. It was a nice place with two bedrooms and a main living/dining area, a nice pool, all surrounded by a high privacy wall. It was close to the restaurant/bar/nightlife area which was nice but had the downside of being loud until quite late into the night. But it didn’t bother me too much. Maddy arrived the next evening and we picked her up from the airport. The plan for the vacation was mostly to relax and not over program trips. A couple of days after arriving, Maddy had identified a special Spa treatment that they did in Bali, so we got our driver to take her over for a 2 1/2 hour experience that she really enjoyed. After a few days of just taking things easy, visiting some local restaurants and letting Maddy adjust to the time change, we had our first planned event. We went to the southern part of the island to visit the Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK) Statue/Culture Park. It was a very hot day and walking around and taking pictures almost did me in for a bit. We enjoyed walking around and seeing the sights, art, and statues, then we had a nice relaxed lunch with a view overlooking the countryside. I eventually recovered from my heat exposure. After this we went to the cliffside Pura Luhur Uluwatu Temple which is populated with monkeys. This gave us a nice exposure to Balinese Hindu culture and architecture and Maddy got to experience an attempted monkey theft, but they didn’t get anything from her. We got home a a decent hour though the traffic was pretty bad.
The next day we decided to check out the beach, and even though it was relatively close we decided to take a Grab rather than dealing with the unfriendly pedestrian experience. It was super cheap and we decided that was a better way to go for our future local trips. We went to Seminyak Beach and walked around a bit and ended up going to La Plancha for dinner. We had a nice view of the ocean an the setting sun. The next day Maddy got a Balinese massage at our villa, which was relatively inexpensive. Apparently getting massages in Bali is the thing to do. We spent some relaxing days, enjoying some local restaurants, and on our last day in the villa we returned to Seminyak Beach for dinner.
We checked out of our villa and embarked on the second phase of our vacation. Our next lodging was in Ubud (where my photo retreat villas were also located), and on the way we had the driver take us to the Pura Tirta Empul Hindu Balinese Water Temple. It is a beautiful temple that provided another look at the Balinese Hindu religious culture. After vising the temple, and escaping the tourist-trap exit maze, we drove to our next lodging, and Airbnb. Ubud is known as the spiritual heart of Bali, and this place had a beautiful garden and pool that was carefully maintained by the owner. It was a bit particularly located as we had to be dropped off and walk the last 100m to find the place, but it was a relaxing place. After our long ride and lack of food Maddy’s first reaction was “I hate it” and “the restaurants are probably a health hazard”, but after settling in for a while and getting her energy back her opinion eventually turned around and she ended up liking it the best. It really was a peaceful place. While there we ate dinner at a nearby vegetarian restaurant, Sage, almost every night. While in Ubud we didn’t do any big trips, but we to a Grab into the main part of town a couple of times for some nice meals and some shopping. We spent three days there and then headed to our final destination.
We checked out of our place in Ubud and went to a hotel right across from the beach in Kuta. It was a nice place with a beautiful rooftop pool and view. We spent our last days in Kuta just walking around a bit, having some nice meals, relaxing and shopping. After three nights there our time was up and we headed to the airport to go home. I had a long but relatively uneventful flight home. Maddy had a less than wonderful on her flight where the flight attendants weren’t too good. She got home and readjusted rather quickly. Despite adapting quickly to Bali time when I flew west, my sleep has remained messed up since I got back.
It was a fun and varied trip. We had less sightseeing programmed in than my last trip, but it was nice to just relax and take in the area and culture. I don’t know that I’ll be back again, but I’m glad I made this second trip.
I had a photoshoot at my place with semi-local model Her Stillness Dances. She drove down from Petaluma, and we had a nice day to shoot. Despite good weather outside we ended up spending all our time inside or in the garage. She is fun to work with and poses wonderfully and the time flew by too quickly. Her dance training shows in her posing. While I had hoped to be able to work with her frequently after first working with her last year, it’s been more than a year since we have worked together. She pulled back from modeling for a while to go back to school, so I’m glad I got a chance to work with her now that she’s back to a bit of modeling. Hopefully we’ll work together again soon.
