Hailey's Bali Diary Read online

  Hailey’s Bali Diary

  By Hailey McPherson

  Copyright © 2013 Hailey McPherson

  All rights reserved. This book is protected under international copyright law and is licensed for personal use only. No part of the publication, including its cover artwork and photography, may be copied, reproduced in any format by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright holder.

  CONTENTS

  Introduction

  Day 1 — Flying to Bali

  Day 2 — Skinny Dipping

  Day 3 — Ubud

  Day 4 — Villa Day

  Day 4 — Starry Starry Night

  Day 5 — Rainy Day

  Day 5 — Home Movies

  Day 6 — Going Home

  About the Author

  INTRODUCTION

  I’ve been a professional dancer and singer since I started performing on stage as a little girl. I’ve only recently started to build a career as an actress. In February 2011 I moved away from my home and everything I knew in suburban Minnesota to see what the other side of the world had to offer. I moved to Hong Kong with my boyfriend “Liam” to work at a very large international entertainment corporation that probably doesn’t want to be named here. They love publicity, but I’m not sure they’d like the contents of this book. They are a very family oriented organization, and this book is not exactly the kind of thing you should read to your children.

  Liam is a singer and plays guitar and bass. We moved to Hong Kong two months after my 20th birthday. Some people say we’re too young to live so far away from home in such a different culture. It’s been a big adjustment and everything about living in Hong Kong is different from living in Minnesota, but I think it’s better to do something that completely changes your life when we’re young. We can get knocked down and pick ourselves back up faster. Older people are more used to a certain lifestyle.

  I’ve met a lot of older expats and immigrants in Hong Kong. It seems harder for them to adjust to the different culture. Older people are more likely to want everything in a new place to be like it was in the old place. That’s not going to happen in China. Younger people are more likely to adapt with fewer growing pains.

  You don’t have to be as adventurous to have adventures when you’re young. It comes more naturally.

  That’s not an absolute rule, of course. I’ve also met older expats who adjust easily and younger people who just can’t handle the Chinese way.

  A year and a half after we moved to Hong Kong, Liam got a job in Fuzhou, China and we’ve had a long distance relationship ever since. I stayed in Hong Kong because it’s better for my career. Living in Fuzhou would do nothing for me. I also just like Hong Kong more.

  We don’t really live that far apart, but getting from Hong Kong to Mainland China requires a visa, paperwork and lots of waiting. You can’t just pack a bag and go.

  We put up with living apart because we’re trying to save money and get our careers going. Hong Kong is the best place for me right now and China is the best place for him, believe it or not. His band is more popular in China than they could ever be in Hong Kong.

  In late February and early March 2013 we took a trip to Bali. We hadn’t seen each other in person in a couple of months and we just wanted to go somewhere to spend time together. Bali seemed like a good place to get away from everything and have lots of privacy without feeling any real need to do a lot of tourist sightseeing. It also has a very different culture from anywhere we’ve ever been. We thought that had to be a good thing.

  After our vacation was over and I was back in Hong Kong, I considered writing a blog post about the trip. It didn’t work out that way. It was such a life-changing experience that when I sat down to type it up, it just kept coming out. It quickly got too long for a simple blog post and pretty soon there was so much that I didn’t know what to do with it.

  One of my friends said that I should write a book about the vacation. I laughed at the idea at first. Writing a book is a world away from writing a blog post. That’s like singing in the shower compared to headlining a Broadway show. But after I typed up everything I wanted to say about the trip, it didn’t seem like such a far-fetched idea.

  I’m not normally this open about private things, especially my sex life. I grew up in a very closed and quiet family. We don’t announce to the world what kind of sex we’re having or that we’re having any sex at all. I’m not even supposed to have sex since I’m not married. There are still a lot of people in this world who want to hurt women for their sexuality. I was once severely punished by my parents for masturbating. I was afraid to touch myself for a long time after that.

  I’ve had two boyfriends in my life, including Liam. I’m the only girlfriend he’s ever had. We’re not the most experienced people in the world. We’re still trying to figure out what we like and what we’re doing.

  When we first moved to Hong Kong we were like college kids away from home for the first time. We had the freedom to do whatever we wanted in a new place where no one knew us. Being in a totally different culture just made it seem like we were a team.

  After living together for a while we fell into a routine. It didn’t even matter that we were in a strange foreign land. We had jobs and bills and all the same problems everybody else has.

  Then he moved to China and we missed the routine. We talked on the phone every day and on Skype when it worked, but we couldn’t touch each other. I don’t know how well Skype works in the rest of the world, but in China it’s hit and miss at best. Calls are cut off left and right, and even when they’re not, the picture and sound quality are almost always pretty bad.

  In Bali we were a team again. Only this time he wanted to try more plays than just going for a touchdown. I was also a lot more open to his crazy ideas. There was nothing routine about this trip.

  We saw a part of the world we’d only heard about. Bali is a beautiful island with friendly people, exotic temples, mischievous monkeys and lots and lots of beaches.

  It’s also a very popular place to go right now. I never saw the Julia Roberts movie or read the book, but a lot of other people have. I never heard anybody talking about Bali before we went, but after we came back, suddenly Bali was the place to be. Now people ask me if it’s really like it is in the movie. I don’t know, but it’s probably not. It’s an exotic place by most standards, but it doesn’t have any magical power to make you fall in love.

  Liam and I were completely unaware of the movie and book when we went to Bali. That’s probably a good thing because there’s a lot more to Bali than just the love part. There’s more than enough to eat and, even though their religion isn’t our cup of tea, there are thousands of places on the island to pray.

  Bali is an exotic island with more than enough temples and beaches to keep you busy, but it’s also a great place to rent a private villa and hide away from the outside world. We explored our relationship and each other in ways we never dreamed about before. We crossed a few lines we were always too timid to cross before.

  I thought I already knew everything there was to know about my boyfriend — we’ve known each other since high school — but I learned a lot about him on this trip. I also thought I already knew everything there was to know about me — I’ve known me all my life. But I learned a few things about myself that I don’t think I can ever put back.

  Everything in this book really happened to the best of my recollection. The only thing I changed is the names of some people. Liam’s name isn’t really Liam. They know who they are, but I don’t know if they want the whole world to know who they are.

  DAY 1

  FLYING TO BALI

  At the end of January, Liam told me he was going to get some t
ime off at the end of February. The Chinese New Year was at the beginning of February. That’s the busiest time for both of us. We’re not Chinese and the holiday really doesn’t mean much to us, but it’s the biggest thing in the world in China. It’s their most important holiday and everyone loves to go out and party.

  This means I work a lot more than usual. I’m not just busy because it’s the busiest time of the year. I also try to fill in for some of my Chinese coworkers whenever I can so they can take time off and see their families. Most Chinese people don’t live anywhere near their families and most of the people I work with in Hong Kong aren’t from Hong Kong, so a lot of people have to go far and wide to be with their families during the Chinese New Year.

  Liam works more during the Chinese New Year because his band gets a lot more gigs. Every club and bar in China wants to hire a band for all the New Year parties, so all the bands in China get more work.

  Since Liam was getting some time off after the Chinese New Year, I decided to take some time off as well. It wasn’t a problem for me at all since it was after the Chinese New Year and all of my coworkers were back at work. It’s actually the easiest time for me to get off work.

  He was just going to come to Hong Kong and we were going to spend time together here, but then we decided we should take a trip.

  Going anywhere during the Chinese New Year is difficult and expensive. Everybody in China is going somewhere so everything is booked early and it’s all very crowded. It costs more because all the travel companies know they can make a lot more money during the New Year — it’s their busiest time of year, too. Chinese companies don’t really believe in discounts. They’re some of the most capitalist companies in the world.

  Even going somewhere that doesn’t celebrate the Chinese New Year is difficult because you have to fly out of China to get there. You don’t want to go to any Chinese airport during the New Year, regardless of your final destination.

  After the Chinese New Year, it’s the complete opposite. Everyone is back at work so nothing is crowded. Airports and train stations are practically empty once everyone goes back to their normal routines — at least empty by Chinese standards. They’re still very crowded with millions of people going wherever they go every day, but it’s nothing like during the New Year. Prices drop dramatically because everyone is back at work and not traveling so much.

  Once we decided to take a trip we had to decide where to go. We only had so much time and even less money, so we couldn’t go crazy with wild destinations. The whole point of living so far apart is to save as much money as we can. Spending everything we’ve saved on a vacation would be a big fat waste of time.

  We went to Europe in 2011. That was a great trip, but very expensive. Flying to Europe from the United States takes a long time. Flying from Hong Kong takes forever. Most of Europe is also pretty cold at the end of February. We’re from Minnesota, but we’ve gotten used to the heat and humidity of Hong Kong. We wanted something more sunny and relaxing for this trip. Relaxation was one of our key goals.

  “How about Australia?” Liam suggested.

  “That’s not a bad idea,” I replied. “It’s not too far away and February is summer there.”

  I work with a few people from Australia and they’re always saying nice things about it.

  “And they speak English,” Liam said.

  “Sort of,” I added.

  Some of my Australian coworkers are hard to understand sometimes. At least we’d be able to read the signs.

  “I like the idea of going somewhere that’s totally different,” I said. “We still haven’t seen 99% of Asia and we’ve never been to the Great Wall or Beijing.”

  “Nowhere in China,” Liam said. He was dead set against anywhere in China.

  “I want to get the hell out of China and go somewhere clean and comfortable.” He was pretty adamant on this point.

  China isn’t really all that exotic to us anymore. After a few years here, it’s lost its mystique.

  We thought about going home, but only very briefly. We spent a month in Minnesota last summer so it really hasn’t been that long since we’ve been there. I’m just getting used to not having my favorite foods anymore. Going back again would just remind me of everything I can’t get in Hong Kong. It’s also a pretty long flight — it’s actually several flights — so it would take up over two whole days just to get there and back. It’s also not at all sunny and warm in Minnesota in February and we don’t think there’s anything exotic about it.

  We narrowed our choices down to Thailand, Tokyo, South Korea and Bali.

  Thailand has a bunch of exotic tropical places to relax and they’re not very expensive. It’s also a very quick flight. That’s important because we didn’t want to spend half of our vacation at airports. Liam liked the idea of going to Phuket because he doesn’t know it’s pronounced foo get.

  The downside to going to Thailand was that we would have to fly to Bangkok and then figure out how to get to Phuket or wherever else we wanted to go. That didn’t sound very relaxing to me. I also don’t want Liam spending too much time in Bangkok. I’m afraid he might like it too much.

  Tokyo is probably a great city to go to, but I don’t know how relaxing it is. We could go to quieter parts of Japan, but then we’d have the same problem as Thailand. We’d have to fly into Tokyo and then take a train or whatever to wherever we wanted to go. It was also the most expensive place on our list.

  South Korea had a few options. We could fly directly from Hong Kong to Seoul or Jeju. Seoul is another big city and probably also not very relaxing.

  “If our only choices were Tokyo or Seoul, I’d choose Tokyo,” Liam told me.

  “Me, too,” I agreed. “I can think of a million things to do in Tokyo. I’m not really sure about Seoul.”

  Jeju is a tropical island that Koreans love to go to on vacation.

  “I like the idea of going to Jeju mostly because I don’t know anything about it,” I told Liam.

  “That’s exactly what I don’t like about it,” Liam told me. “Where would we eat? Do they have normal food or just Korean food?”

  He was concerned about getting food he liked since it’s mostly a vacation spot for Koreans and not international tourists, and we’re not very familiar with Korean food.

  People always say that you should embrace the local food of wherever you go. That’s mostly true, but you have to remember that Liam lives in a relatively small city in Mainland China. At least it’s small by Chinese standards. He never gets to eat any of the things he grew up with. He can’t eat his usual food at home and then try exotic dishes on vacation. The only times he can eat the things he likes is when he takes a trip out of China.

  I have a much greater variety of food options in Hong Kong, but Liam is stuck with mostly Chinese food every day. Whenever he gets the chance to leave the country, he wants to eat more familiar food.

  Bali is another tropical island, but people from all over the world go there so we were pretty sure there would be a lot more than just Indonesian food. We don’t know anything about Indonesian food or much about Indonesia really, so it’s always good to have other alternatives.

  We thought it would be very expensive since it’s a tropical island, but it turns out it’s actually very cheap. Australians go there all the time. It’s expensive for Americans because they’re flying all the way across the Pacific Ocean. It’s only five hours from Hong Kong.

  Bali also had the advantage of being a tropical island that we could fly straight to and not have to deal with any trains or buses and trying to get around in a country where we don’t speak the language.

  The last thing we wanted to do was try to see everything in the short amount of time we had. Wherever we went, we knew there would be more than just that one thing. Tokyo and Seoul are huge cities that you can’t see all in one trip. Thailand and Indonesia are large countries. We wanted to go somewhere and just see a few things in the immediate area without ever going too far fr
om our hotel. This trip wasn’t about exploring. It was about resting and spending as much time with each other as we could.

  We chose Bali because we could get everything we wanted without having to rush to train stations and check schedules. It’s a small island, so we could see some of it without worrying about trying to see all of it. The only place we had to be on time was the airport — and that was going to be true no matter where we went.

  Once we decided on Bali, we looked around and found out that most people stay at private villas. That sounds expensive, but most of them were the same prices as regular hotel rooms. Most people don’t go to Bali in February — even though it’s summer there — so the prices were pretty good.

  I looked up some things to do and see in Bali, but we mostly just wanted to rest and relax. With all the beaches all over the island and our own villa with a small garden and private swimming pool, we knew that relaxation wouldn’t be much of a problem. I looked up swimming with dolphins and thought that might be fun. They’re the children of freedom, playing in the moonlight and dancing in the sun. There was also a famous monkey forest in the middle of the island that I wanted to see, but I mostly just wanted to spend time with my boyfriend. Sometimes he’s enough of a monkey anyway.

  After not seeing each other in person for so long, I knew we’d be spending a lot of time naked on this trip. So I made sure to pack lots of condoms and plenty of the lotion I use on my legs. It has other uses as well.

  I met Liam at Hong Kong Airport because that’s where all the flights are from. There aren’t a lot of flights from Fuzhou to Bali. We decided to just meet at the airport instead of him coming to Hong Kong earlier since he didn’t have much time off. We wanted to use all of what little time we had together on our trip rather than spend more time going back and forth from the airport into town.

  The flight from Hong Kong to Bali left at noon. That meant Liam had to be at the airport well before noon. That’s pretty easy for most of us, but he’s not a morning person. He works nights anyway.