Fourteen days, a dozen of our gorgeous models and one epic luxury villa. Yep, this is how MAXIM does Bali…
When the famous Mandala Group from Bali invited us to stay at their villas with a promise of a rock star experience, they weren’t lying. The Mandala Group (known as @mandalaplaces on Instagram) has long been seen as the place where the “cool kids” stay when they go to Bali and we were ready to put them to the test and find out why.
We arrived to a beautiful tropical oasis, sharing the first week between the cosy, art-inspired Mandala home and the epitome of a famous person’s pad, the iconic Mandala House. Waking up to the serenity of rice paddy fields with the buzzing town centre of Canggu a five-minute walk away, we had the best of both worlds. Early rises, with hair and make-up starting at 6am, led to relatively early nights with the models banking their beauty sleep in order to put their best faces forward for the shoots that were to following in the coming days. The incredible sunrises were not to be missed and our obsession with “golden light” was fulfilled as it proved to be a Bali specialty at both sunrise and sunset.
Our second week was a whole new world away from the busy moped and latte culture of Canggu. The new addition to the Mandala Property Family, known as The Rocks in Uluwatu, has to be seen to be believed. Nestled at the bottom of the famous Uluwatu Cliffs, with absolute waterfront positioning, we were at one with the ocean. Photoshoots were dictated by the timing of the tides coming in and out as our beach would disappear at high tide under the crashing waves. The freshly renovated property was nothing short of a dream.
The local monkey population seemed to also love our villa and were on hand to swoop in on unsupervised meals – especially the banana pancakes – and swipe the occasional pair of sunglasses or anything else left lying about. Needless to say, we learnt our lessons about leaving things out in the open, very quickly.
It was wonderful to welcome back some of our Models from the Destination MAXIM –Thailand trip, including Ashley, Elizabeth, Arielle and Kalyssa and celebrate the successes they had experienced as a result of their previous experience with us. Our trips are fast becoming the “go to” for models wanting to increase their portfolios and grow their social media. The Bali trip was also a great success for a number of the models who managed to achieve new agency signings and international assignments as a result of the exposure from their MAXIM appearances.
A big thank you to the amazing staff running the Mandala villas who lost count of the coconut drinks and iced lattes they kept on constant flow to keep us cool and fuelled. We look forward to new adventures in 2019.
For models interested in joining us on future Destination MAXIM Australia trips, simply DM us on Instagram at @maxim_aus or email us at maxim@maxim.com.au
Photographed by Rocky Batchelor
Styling by Belinda Roelofs
Hair & make-up by Yuni Wilson
Swimwear & lingerie by Mary Holland
Videography by Cameron Brunt
Shot on location at The Mandala Group
For the full article grab the February 2019 issue of MAXIM Australia from newsagents and convenience locations. Subscribe here.
