Written by Davina Palik. Photographed by Davina Palik & Daniel Kudish.

We recently had the fantastic opportunity to go to Bali to photograph a wedding. We were sandwiched between two wedding weekends in Montreal, so with the crazy travel time (took almost 2 days each way!), we were only able to take a few days there. Still, we managed to get a great feel for the place and had time to lie motionless by the pool for a few dozen hours or so. We were there with our friends Ross and Lesya (it was Ross’s brother’s wedding; photo above is of the two of them), and we had an amazing time double-dating on some delicious dinner dates and sweaty adventures – I must be remembering our 15 km bike ride through the countryside!

The highlight of the trip for us was an early morning visit to a local market. We had spotted it the morning of our bike ride and when we saw the 7am light pouring into the small alleys, crammed with local people picking up fresh food for the day. Needless to say, we knew we had to take a closer look. So on our last day in Bali, we were up at the crack of dawn, cameras in hand, exploring the nooks and crannies of the market. We were the only tourists there, and the locals couldn’t have been happier to see us! Never, in all of our travels, have we encountered friendlier people. They were all smiles, “how are you”s, conversations, and even picture-taking (them of us this time!). They are also such beautiful people to photograph and they love having their picture taken. We got the address of a local family and we can’t wait to send them some prints.

Here are a few of our favorites from the trip: