Singapore, Bali, Thailand Oh MY!
Last November (2017) I took a trip with two friends to #Singapore, #Bali, and #Phuket, Thailand. I'd been to plenty of other countries before but Southeast Asia was going to be a game changer. It definitely was!
We spent 11 days traveling to three countries. I've found that three countries seems to be the magic number for traveling. If you're going to take time off work, make it worth while. How many of us have gone on a cruise and lost the excitement within the first 12 hours of being on board. Then you have 3-5 more days of watered down drinks, awful entertainment and progressively worse cafeteria style food. Just Say'n. This was my first time trying this ever, but friends softened the anxiety.
Three Country Budget HERE!
Day 1-2 | Singapore, Singapore
We arrived in #Singapore and it was like #CrazyRichAsians (That's a movie) ! It was around 2am that we arrived after a 25 hour combination of flights that we booked on expedia.com for roughly $359 . I know, that's unheard of. But I travel so much because I chase the deals. A true #TravelJunkie will go wherever the wind blows you, for the most part.
***Funny Story***
We arrived at 2am and my friend who had been booking everything on her card didn't account for the difference in times. Therefore, she thought she was booking the right checkin time but SIKE , we got there and that was not the case. We were in #Chinatown in #Singapore and it was
extremely dark, oddly clean, and creepy. Because my thoughts are often dark. We ended up at Hostel and it was great. Here's why, I was sleepy (36 hours deep at this time) , I was hungry, I was sweating, and I was thinking very dark scary thoughts. The entire interior of the room was pink, the sheets, the pillows, the walls. It was weird. But all I needed was a hot shower. Once we we paid the $40 for all three of us for one night co-ed because that's something you must consider, we dove into the shower and sheets and woke up to darkness, because there were no windows. LOL! We met cool people in the next hostel though!
***The End of Funny Story***
We spent a few days roaming the streets of Singapore and exploring the beautiful places that draw so many travelers. Like the
Singapore #GardensByTheBay , an #EscapeRoom , and lots and lots of Food Exploring. I am a snapchat filter addict as well so most of my pictures will include a big face LOL.
We definitely could have spent only a day there because it's SO expensive. One meal came out to the equivalence of about $20. I thought I was being frugal but clearly I wasn't . I had #hotpots , #StickyBuns, and #SingaporeMcDonalds. I hate McDonald's but for some reason, overseas McDonald's are amaze balls. They shop, a lot, and I'm not balling so I window shopped to the fullest!
Day 3-4 | Bali, Indonesia
The flight from Singapore to Bali was $73.46 WEEHOO! It's Always cheaper to book flights for neighboring countries. I'll cover more in my How to travel to 3 countries in 10 days. Upon arrival, we decided to go to the beach, mind you, we arrived to East Asia during it's #WetSeason but don't let that detour you. Wet season in Singapore and Bali means on off scattered rain that resembles Florida weather. Anyways, we checked into our Villa and went to beach and paid roughly $1.34 for surfing lessons in the rain. The exchange rate was around 14,919.10 Rupees to 1 USD . The conversion had me completely twisted for a while.
After the surf lessons we walked our soaked bodies over to a restaurant on the beach. I now know that this restaurant was reserved for the resort attendees buuuut sense we were brown people with a good amount of money, #YOLO. I didn't realize what it would mean for representation of apparent wealthier brown people in the countries we visited. This being brought up by a Bali native. After we paid for our meal, I had to do the math to understand the great service we were receiving and intriguing questions we were being asked. What I spent for 1 day in Singapore ($300) would buy me a place to stay, travel expense, and grocery for a month in Bali. LIKE WTF!
We decided to book some spa adventures upon this discovery of currency exchange rate and booked a full 90 minute rub down, Facial with the lighting strike things, and a pedicure. All of this cost me 700,000 Rupees = $46.92 USD. I couldn't even book a facial for that price in the US! After getting the pampering of my life I was ready to marry every woman in that building LOL. Since that was off the table, I tried to tip $10 USD. That was declined by management so I tipped $2 USD for the entire staff. I was confused but I get it I guess.
The next day we headed to the #Elephant lodge and I got to see Indian Elephants up close and personal! I even got to ride one , wasn't a fan, don't recommend it based on the apparent feelings of the animal, but it was amazing. The lodge was clean, and the animals looked healthy and safe. That cost me about $80 but it was worth being able to touch them, feed them, and bathe them! The package included a hot shower and a hot breakfast that was #dank!
Lastly, we walked around to see the Pura Tanah Lot
Day 5-6 | Phuket, Thailand
We left the next day and headed towards the most beautiful #beach I've ever been to in my life. #Phuket Thailand was beautiful but we didn't spend enough time there. We made it to the beach and that's about it. I swear I've never been in waters this beautiful .
*Funny Story*
The villa we stayed in cooked breakfast in the morning and delivered to our doors. AWESOME right! I ate outside of my room and enjoyed the morning sun. My friend with acid reflux however suffered in the food department, she doesn't love spicy food as much as I do, so my addiction to the shrimp wonton soup (Literally for breakfast, lunch & DINNER) was a phenomenon she decided to gamble on. Let's just say she had to the bubble guts on replay like groundhog day. LOL
*The End of Funny Story*
Day 7-10 | Singapore, Singapore
We headed back to Singapore for a few days and basically wined down before having to head back to the US. The trip was so amazing and full of heart to heart conversations with friends and life changing adventures! Basically reflecting on why we should've spent more time in Bali and Phuket. FML.
