Bali Time (and another one off the 30-Before-30 List!)

I am still working my way through a list of fabulous sounding places that I am desperate to visit and try out while I am living on the wrong side of the world, and with Debbie in town for an extra weekend, when better to try out one of the slightly more fancy options?

            We decided that the posh part of Bali would be the best place for us to start. Whilst I am keen to go and see the grimy backpacker parts of town too, with Debbie we opted for a slightly more luxurious (but still ridiculously cheap) villa and lovely beach side bars style holiday.

            Having taken a half day on Friday, we kick started our trip with drink on the roof top bar at Changi airport, before flying over to Bali and taking a 20 minute taxi ride to our villa in Seminyak. From there, Friday night was spent drinking on the beach at Ku De Ta before heading to Hu’u bar for a few more drinks by their patio pool. The night finished at around 4am with an early morning dip and a very deep sleep.

Drinks at Ku De Ta

Drinks at Ku De Ta

4am swim time

Saturday was spent entirely at the villa, with Nick passing out again straight after breakfast (which was cooked by the staff at the villa for us) whilst Debbie and I made the most of the two sun loungers by the pool. In the afternoon three beauty therapists came to the villa. We each had a hour long massage (for around $10 each) and then Debbie and I made the most of the cheap offers and each had a full manicure and pedicure too.

Villa Time

Mani-pedis 

Once we were regrouped and ready we then made it to The W Hotel just in time for a beautiful sunset and some drinks by the beach. This trip marked the first time I had ever crossed the equator (and as such, I crossed yet another challenge off my 30-Before-30 List!), so as per Nick’s instructors, some bubbles were consumed.

Sunset at The W Hotel 

Bubbles for crossing the equator 

The deal with Debbie had been that if we didn’t go out clubbing on the Friday night (which I didn’t think I could handle) then we would definitely go on the Saturday. That was the plan, until we found an utterly fabulous French place for dinner, where we each had three courses (including a massive hunk of steak) and therefore ended the night rolling ourselves home with stomach cramps.

On Sunday Nick had one more massage while Debbie and I made the most of the final sunshine hours before driving to a fantastic local restaurant that Nick loves called Poppies for lunch (and pina coladas in very impressive coconut husks) before a little bit of tat shopping and the flight home.

Final hours of sun

Poppies

It was an extravagant and luxurious weekend, and one that I really do wish could have carried on for a few more days at least! Still, we’re supposed to be back out there for Nick’s birthday in August, so I suppose I will just have to wait until then!

The week of excess continues

Hangover lunch by the river

Having managed to end our Ladies Night earlier than the worst-case scenario, I woke up ready for work on Thursday feeling a lot better than expected (and a fair bit better than Debbie). Still, with myself, Debbie and Jules all free during lunch, we decided that it was the perfect time to book in a girly hangover lunch, and so made a plan to meet at Brewerkz - a microbrewery and amazing burger joint by the river and very close to my work.    We devoured Sprites and pulled pork sandwiches. It was way too much food for a midweek lunch, but it was just what the doctor ordered.

Chinatown dinner 

Once Debbie had spent the rest of her afternoon shopping and sun worshipping we then met up again, this time at Chinatown for a tat shopping and Chinese food tasting session, followed by a cocktail at 28 Hong Kong Street, which is a speakeasy style bar in an old Chinese shop house, and rounded off with Japanese style ice-cream down by the river. For a chilled out night, it was incredibly pleasant.

28 Hong Kong Street cocktails 

Japanese ice-cream treats

            On Friday we were due to fly to Bali in the in early afternoon, but not until I had forced yet more bizarre local food upon Debbie. Whilst dinner on Thursday night was exotic things like crocodile in black bean sauce, on Friday I made her come along and try my beloved bah khu teh (which Nick always refuses to eat).

Bah Kuh Teh love (note the burnt thumb being dunked in iced water)

Thankfully she saw my point of view, and despite burning her hands on the clay pot and having to opt for fork and spoon instead of chopsticks due to a seriously burnt thumb, by the end of the meal she was quite happy to agree that it makes for a great comfort food option. Maybe that will be enough to force Nick to agree to try it too…it’s got to be worth a shot I suppose!

A week of excess!

We started pretty strongly when Debbie first arrived in Singapore, but having truly broken ourselves on Sunday I had thought we might rein it in a bit more during the week that followed. Incorrect!

            Having just about survived Monday at work, we left Nick passed out on the sofa playing games on his giant projector whilst Debbie and I went for a walk and a quick look around the local area so that she could meet Jules the next morning for a morning run at the beautiful MacRitchie Reservoir.

            After a quick loop to the MRT station and passed a couple of recommended malls for when the cloud makes sunbathing less desirable during the week we then started on my normal walk-to-work loop, heading to Chijmes for dinner. Chijmes is a gorgeous old church that is kept beautifully maintained and painted in super clean white and surrounded with really lovely wine bars, restaurants and café. Or at least, it used to be. As we arrived it quickly became very apparent that there was some heavy maintained work taking place, and that everywhere other than the Australia sports and steak bar had closed down during the extensive development works.

            Disappointed but with plenty of other options up our sleeves we opted to pass some time and build up our appetites whilst enjoy a compulsory Singapore Sling in the Long Bar at Raffles, where drinks are expensive, dress is casual and empty peanut shells crunch under foot.

Raffles Long Bar - it's a Singapore tourism essential

Slings consumed and photos taken, it was then time for dinner, which ended up being a quick riverside kebab along the beautiful (but tourist heavy) Boat Quay. We ended up so full and so sleepy that we had to cab back to the flat (where Nick was in the exact same spot that we had left him) ready to pass out well before 11pm. It was very much needed!

Dinner by the bay 

By Tuesday night we were all slightly more on form, which was especially good as I had booked ticket for the four of us plus Liv to go to Le Noir, an off-branch of Cirque du Solei, which was utterly incredible. Following a quick dinner by the water, by some luck and chance we ended up with seats on the stage, so we had the perfect view of all the action, and I suppose the rest of the audience had a great view of us, biting nails and covering eyes as we watch acrobats, man standing on each other’s heads, girls jumping off the rafters and clowns embarrassing members of the audience by making them join invisible bands and participate in strange mimes and dances.        

Up in the air at Le Noir

Up in the air at Le Noir 

Roof top bar with a view

As the theatre was in the new shiny Marina Bay Sands building (my favourite boat building) we decided that a quick drink (or two) up on the deck was probably essential, and so another night ended well past midnight and with maybe a few more glasses of wine consumed than was really necessary.

Getting ready for a full blown Ladies Night 

And then it was Wednesday, which in Singapore means it was Ladies Night – hours of free drinks and heavily discounted bubbles at a selection of the nicest bars in the City. It would have been rude not to, and as Jules was keen to play too, we went out and had an amazing time touring bars and dancing around.  Nick joined us for the last few rounds, and so yet another night drew to a close in the wee small hours of the morning.

            I don’t know if my liver or my waistline is going to make it to the end of Debbie’s stay without it all going completely and utterly wrong. Fingers crossed she’s having enough fun to make it all worthwhile!

Ladies Night at Lantern Bar

Ladies Night with Debbie and Jules

Ladies Night (plus Nick)

Ladies Night!

Debbie is here!

Debbie came to play for just under two weeks, which means only one thing – I have just (and I mean only just) survived a weekend spent proving to Debbie that regardless of what she thought about Singapore when she lived here during the summers with her parents, if you go to the right places and meet the right people, you can have a great time out here in this utterly bizarre and slightly crazy city / country.

            The end result is a stomach ache, headache and an ouchy bank account, but we had a great time getting to this point, so it was totally worth it, even if it did make for a particularly bad Monday morning at work. Massively jealous of Debbie spending the day down by the pool, basking in the glorious sunshine and nursing her hangover in style!

Having met Debbie at the airport (with a fully printed out sign, of course) we spent Friday evening eating Chinese food on the 73 floor of one of the towers in the city, before heading over to 1Altitude for a lot of drinks and open air dancing on the roof top of another high-rise.

During the first full day we took a tour around Little India, checking out the slightly scary Tekka market to buy avocados and asparagus before a crazy tour around the absolutely mental Mustafa Centre which we were then unable to navigate our way back out of and where Debbie learnt about Asian sizing differences the hard way - see below. A late brunch of eggs was then devoured at my favourite local café Cups and Canvas. Following a quick dip in the pool and a nice cup of tea it was time to venture further afield, cabbing out to Sentosa for an afternoon in scorching hot sun!

Once over the water on the little island of Sentosa we settled at Tanjong Beach Club, dipping in and out of the pool whilst looking at the fabulous views of the beach and tankers, before a quick chair lift up the hill and a street luge journey back down. All the fun and exciting adventures for us this weekend!

Our day ended with a glorious sunset from the top of the Swisshotel (another day, another bar to drink in) before heading home to eat take out pizza and pass out by around 10pm.

Sunday was brunch day. As strange as it sounds, brunch took up the entire day, and was responsible for breaking me quite so dramatically. After a quick dip in the morning we got ourselves dolled up and ready to go out and play.

            We had a table for ten booked at the Pan Pacific for a free-flow Veuve Clicquot and free-flow food extravaganza that ran from 12-4pm, and that was excessive in every way possible. It was, as always, a massively impressive Sunday brunch offering – with all you can eat steak, lobster, curry, cheese, dessert, fruit, noodles, pasta, seafood – everything!

By 4pm we really ought to have called it a day and made our way home, but with Joyce and Matt both insisting that we should complete the day on the sunny terrace of the Cricket Club we somehow ended up going astray on route, and found ourselves opening wine and settling in for a long afternoon and slightly extended evening of ridiculousness.

We dragged ourselves home eventually, and woke up this morning utterly broken, but fairly confident that Debbie had a good time.

            Having cancelled any intentions of a grouped lunch, Debbie has had a full glorious day by the pool, so we should hopefully all make it through to the end of the day in one piece, and then we’ll just have to wait and see what happens this evening!