We arrived in Bali late at night and went strait to the Villa they had booked.
I have never stayed anywhere as nice as this: 6 bedrooms, living room, dining room, pool – it’s absolutely beautiful and it is so fun to have the whole place for me and Matt, Danny, Nick, Jeremy and Munesh. Most of the crew has friends in Bali.
We got first pick so of course we took the master bedroom. I took a few pix but their website is really the best place to see what it was really like – Karishma Villas.
Bali is as hot as Singapore and the only place in Indonesia that is Hindu instead of Muslim. Apparently this means that it’s more liberal, artistic and touristed than the rest of the country. That’s one of many reasons Islamic fundamentalists have chosen to bomb it a few times.
That night, everyone went out to party with their friends so Matt and I had the whole villa to ourselves. We lounged, we swam in the pool, we placed board games.
Next morning we had breakfast all together and went into town for the shoot. This was a big one – beautiful temple, Balinese dancers and a bright, blaring sunny day.
There were about 20 little girls ranging from 6-12 ish.
Here is Matt with the older dancers.
The shoot took about half the day. Danny’s been to Bali about 30 times and wanted to take us for the best bbq ribs on the island.
The ribs were as delicious as Danny said and I washed down a whole rack with 2 beers.
The afternoon shot was on the beach with a bunch of kids from the village. They had a ton of fun spending the afternoon running around playing in the ocean.
Bali has perfect sandy beaches, turquoise waters and it was at least 100 degrees in the shade. I don’t know how Matt kept dancing over and over.
After the shoot we had about 2 hours to kill so Matt and I went to get massages. I’m not a huge fan of massages but I have to admit, I enjoyed it.
On the way back to the beach I started to feel a little nauseous. I thought it would pass but as I was sitting on the beach, in front of the seafood place, I realized it wasn’t going to get better.
The evening sun was baking me, there was no AC, the only shade and fans were inside the hot, stinky seafood place and I just kept feeling ickier. Between the sun, bbq ribs, beers and massage it was all over for me. I started throwing up and decided that I probably shouldn’t stick around for the sunset shot. I was kinda disappointed as it would have been fun to be with Matt in the ad but there was just no way.
Luckily, they found a girl who lives in Bali to fill the “Matt’s girlfriend” role. Mel knew her – she’s from LA and her claim to fame is a couple reality TV shows – Paradise Hotel and Property Ladder.
After a couple hours in AC and a nap I was feeling much better. That night we were having a big party/bbq at the Villa. The whole crew plus a bunch of their friends came over. We had great food, swimming, games and loads of drinking. It was a really lovely night and we're all starting to get comfortable and have fun with each other.
By the way, we're a pretty diverse group: Mel and her team (Dane, Manesh, Zinc and Jeremy) are all from Singapore, Danny is from Australia and Nick is from the UK.
The next morning we all lounged around until the afternoon shoot. We drove out into the rice patties. Bali is extremely green and lush. I hope to go back there sometime because I'd like to explore more.
Matt and I didn’t have that much to do so we played hide-and-seek in the rice patties.
The storms finally moved in at the end of the shoot so we packed up and went back to town. That evening Matt and I went to what Danny said was the one of the best restaurants on the island: an open-air, softly lit, flower petal decorated Italian restaurant right on the beach. After that we went to a club down the beach – Ku de Ta. It had great cocktails, funky house music, very modern decor and beach beds that we lounged in and watched the waves crash on the beach. It was perfectly romantical and an excellent way to finish up our Balinese excursion.
The next morning was a very early flight through Singapore to Hanoi. I was stuck next to a nose-picking, throat-clearing Chinese man with jimmy legs.
