Bachelorette Party Weekend in Phuket

I spent the other weekend in Phuket for a bachelorette party.  The girl who's spot I took at Gen Re here is getting married in September so this was her Singapore 'hen do'.  There were 17 of us that went to Phuket and we stayed in this amazing villa just up the hill from Surin Beach.  The villa had a wonderful salt water pool (that had a built in bar which got plenty of use) so the majority of our time was spent lounging around the pool.  I actually never saw the beach - we stayed at the villa all weekend long minus Saturday night dinner somewhere in Phuket.  There was the sweetest Thai lady at the villa in charge of cooking the meals (which were phenomenal) - she brought in masseuses both Saturday and Sunday for Thai massages and took wonderful care of us for the weekend.  In true bachelorette party style, not much of the weekend will be talked about outside of Phuket, but here are some pictures of the villa and scenery that I got to enjoy for 3 days!

Could be one of my favorite pictures of the weekend.  The majority of the group, including the bride, were British, so the girls planning the party had these masks made up.  Everyone looked very 'royal'!

Overlooking the Pool

20 person dinner table

One of the 6+ bedrooms.  This was the Master Suite

 

Master Suite Bath

Friday night's sunset

Saturday night's sunset

Adventure to the Tiong Bahru Wet Market

I'm not going to lie, groceries in Singapore are incredibly expensive.  For example, when I first got to Singapore I went to the closest grocery store I could find and got this...for $12.  I later found out that the market I went to was the Singapore equivalent of Whole Foods, so I guess it somewhat made sense?  

Anyways, since then, I've been determined to find a cheaper way to buy my groceries.  I had a friend take me to where she gets her meat, veggies and fruit the other weekend at Singapore's equivalent of a 'farmers market'.  From what I've heard, they call it a 'wet market' because back in the day, they used to keep the fish and meat on ice and it'd melt with the heat therefore making the ground all wet.  I think there are still markets around that do that, but this one has some stalls that have the fish on ice but most of the meat is in chilled cases.  Hopefully it's a little more sanitary that way?!?

There are a ton of stalls here selling pork, chicken, vegetables, fruit, flowers, and other random things that I have no clue what they are.  She showed me which ones to go to (ie the ones who have vendors that speak English) and the basics of how it's done.  I got some chicken, salmon, a huge bag of various veggies, some fruit and flowers and spent a total of $35.  At the grocery store down the street from me, it would have been at least $50.  I'm hooked!  

I'm also one of few ExPats that will apparently venture to get their groceries at a wet market.  I get a lot of strange looks - like why are you here? - but I can handle a few stares to get fresh meat and veggies!

Here are some pictures:

I recognized like 3 things in this entire case.  Lots of mystery meat!

This stall sells the best Thai Mangos and now they are carrying cherries from the US.  However, they're $12/pound. Yikes!

If wanted, they'll fillet up the fish for you...if I only knew what type of fish it was...

Random Musings

Hi Everyone - I just realized that it's been a month since I last posted anything.  I've had some hints from certain people noticing that its been a while, so I'll try and do a couple of posts tonight!  There hasn't been much going on around here - I went to Phuket a few weekends ago for a bachelorette party, and the past two weekends have been in Singapore.  This coming week I'm back to traveling - off to Phuket for work and then to Vietnam (Hanoi / Halong Bay) as we get Friday off for a public holiday.  I'll have some more posts after that for sure!

For now though, I've been trying to take pictures of the random and amusing things that I see here.  Here are a few:

There's a spot across from my bus stop where the couriers go to pick up the newspapers to deliver for the day.  They don't tie them on, just stack them and go.  This one was a good day as the stack of papers was below his head...sometimes I'm shocked at how they can see!

Cavenagh Bridge over the Singapore River in Boat Quay...still waiting to see a cow on it.

This could be my favorite sign so far...not sure what the 'Thin Ho Association' is, but pretty sure I won't be getting a membership there...