Bachelorette Party in Bali

One of the girls we've become friends with in Singapore is getting married in April so in March a group of 7 of us went to Bali for the bachelorette party (or Hen's party as the girls from the UK and Australia called it).  The weekend we went was the Hindu New Year in Indonesia so there were festivals going on everywhere when we arrived.  There were tons of people in the streets celebrating and carrying statues of demons made of bamboo and paper that they were taking to burn to symbolize removing negative elements.  It was really cool to see the festival.  We asked our driver if we could get out for awhile to experience it but he said it might not be safe since there was heavy drinking going on.  It took quite awhile to get to our villa since the streets were so crowded.  There were several times we just had to sit and wait for a group of people to go by.

 

Our villa was absolutely amazing.  It was right on the water and had a huge pool.  Normally there are staff at the villa 24/7 to cook and clean but due to the New Year, they had Saturday off.  We weren't allowed to leave the villa on Saturday because everything was closed and it is a day of silence in Bali.  Since the staff had the day off, they prepared everything on Friday and had the fridge loaded with all of our meals.  It was so cute that they labeled every dish - there were bowls of fruit each labeled for breakfast, lunch and dinner etc.  We spent Saturday just lounging in the pool.  Below are some pictures from the day.

On Sunday, we had an evening flight so we spent the day at a beach club.  The beach had black sand which was interesting.  When people came up from the beach they looked like they had just been in mud.  Hanging out at the pool right next to the beach was a great way to end the weekend!

Chinese New Year in Phuket

Mom and Dad were in town for Chinese New Year and we get 2 days off for the holiday so we decided to spend a long weekend in Phuket, Thailand which is only a 1 1/2 hour flight.  On our drive from the airport we could see the Big Buddha on the hill.

On our first night we walked to town to get dinner.  Mom and dad got their food about an hour after we ordered but Jimmy and I still hadn't received ours so we left. We ended up going to a restaurant on the beach called "Mama Jins" that we liked so much we went back every night.

  

Our resort had it's own private beach in front of it which was great.  It wasn't crowded at the private beach which we appreciated because after walking down the beach we noticed the rest was pretty packed.

 

 

Jimmy and I enjoying the lazy river.  They also had jumping platforms and water slides which we enjoyed.

Mom and Dad's room - we both had our own private pool but they had a corner room so their's was huge!!

There was a small restaurant next to our hotel where we were able to get lunch pretty cheap and it was nice to be able to eat in our bathing suits and have a view.

 For Chinese New Year, the resort offered a special dinner and show which Jimmy and I went to while mom and dad went back to Mama Jin's.  We were really glad we went - they had the traditional lion dance and one of the boys climbed to the top of a 30 foot pole where he was dancing - I was so worried he was going to fall off!

On Friday we took a speed boat tour. We started the day at Phanak Island where we walked through a cave with water up to our thighs.  We needed flash lights for a portion of the walk because it was completely dark.  After walking for about 5 minutes we came through to the inside where there was a hidden lagoon called Mangrove Hong.  This was probably one of the coolest things I've ever done - it was just a really neat experience.

After the cave, we went to our next destination where there were men with canoes who guided us through the Mangrove Forest and surrounding areas.

 

Next we went by Phang Nga Bay, which is also called James Bond Island because it was part of a chase scene in Man with the Golden Gun.

We also saw some cave paintings which are over 1500 years old.

Next we stopped at Koh Panyi Village which is entirely built on top of the water and has about 1800 people who live there.  I had seen a video about this village at work because the boys who lived there wanted to play soccer and had to build a soccer field over the water.  Below is the link if you are interested in their story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU4oA3kkAWU

 After having lunch at the Kho Panyi village, we made a stop for some swimming.  Swimming in the middle of the rock formations was a highlight of the day.  The water was a beautiful color and the temperature was perfect.

After swimming for a little bit, we stopped by a beach for some more swimming and snorkeling.  The view was beautiful - my dad and I were talking that it was too bad the pictures could never do justice to how amazing the scenery was.

On our last day we made sure to hang out at the pool bar during happy hour for buy one get one free drinks!

Some days it's hard living in Singapore and being so far away from home but getting to enjoy experiences like this help make it worth it.  I'm so glad my parents were able to come visit us in Singapore and go on a trip with us.  We really had a great time and were sad to see them go.