I was really excited about my hen party...

...mainly because, most of my girl friends are scattered around the world. One in Dublin, another two in New York, one with me in London and the rest back home in Malaysia. I've not seen them for a while now - and (physical) absence does make the heart grow fonder. We've kept in touch all this while through e-mails, Facebook and What'sApp (I'm trying to imagine life without technology...) but when we do get together, it gets pretty rowdy!

So for starters, the girls had to organise TWO surprises. One was the hen party, the other (which I was in on) a baby shower, for one of the girls in the group who is pregnant! She had no clue that we were throwing her a baby shower and only thought she was coming for the hen party. The funniest thing was when she arrived and the "surprise" room was still not ready, we tried to stall her for the longest time at the door. Hahaha...but in the end, we met our objective!


SURPRISEEEEE!!!



I blew the balloons!! Ok but one of the girls had to help me tie them up. Nails were too long!



All of us posing next to the hoard of gifts.



Somehow I look more excited than mum-to-be. I got her baby a colourful playmat.



Looking on as she meticulously opened all her gifts.



Diaper cake! One of the girls did an amazing job on this.



Two of our friends are baking experts. So cuteeee!

As you can see, a lot of thought and love have been put into the baby shower. It was just so nice that I could be there to share the moment with mum-to-be (especially since she's all the way in Malaysia and I can't visit her immediately after her delivery). Besides the cupcakes, we had some Malay kueh as well which was very yummy and someone brought pizza! Uhh...although technically we're not supposed to be bringing food into the villa. Oops.

The second event the hen night happened shortly after. The girls led me into another room (after leaving me alone for some time) which they decorated (wow!) and I was shown the "outfit" that I had to put on before we went out for dinner. Let's just say I kinda expected it because during the baby shower preparation, one of the girls accidentally blabbed about the theme. Hahahha...

Lovely origami swans by the window.

My outfit all laid out. As you guessed, it's a Japanese theme.

Trying out the umbrella. All of the props were owned by one of the girls!

All suited up. Add bright red lipstick and it's geisha district, here we come.



Almost everyone in theme. Maybe some mixed up Chinese for Japanese but what the hey! Haha...



The Hen Night goodie bag. Everyone got one of these.

Boxes folded and ribbons tied by one of the girls. So amazingly pro!

So everyone got dressed and I trotted (literally, in those wooden chinese clogs) to dinner at Rakuzen. Because why else would I dress like a Japanese Geisha and NOT got to a Japanese restaurant? The most embarassing thing was the girls wouldn't let me put down the umbrella (lest I look too inconspicuous) and the clogs were making a lot of noise. It was "clop clop clop" every step I took! I suppose dinner wasn't too bad as we had a room to ourselves. Or so I thought...at one point some wise-crack from the table opposite us was taking photos of me with the not-so-innocous looking cupcake in my mouth. Luckily for him, I did not go to his table and break his phone.

The Japanese restaurant we headed to. The chefs were staring at one point. They must be Japanese.



At the dinner table. My sis looking on.



One of the silly things I was asked to do. Notice the look of "ewww gross" from my ex-flatmate next door.

 

If you're wondering why the disgust, here's why. Well I guess it wouldn't be a hen party otherwise! Thanks baking queens!!



Hmm...amazing attention to detail.

After dinner, we headed to the rooftop bar as the girls had to continue to torture me in accordance to tradition. Not only did they make me walk right in on my own but I had to later do a Geisha dance around the table. I don't remember the last time my face was as flaming hot as it was that night! Oh the mortification! I'm glad the girls had a good time although I must say, the drinks at the bar were expensive for watered down cocktails! That aside, the girls developed a "points system" where I could do certain tasks and earn points to remove my outfit (don't worry, I was wearing a black dress underneath). Here were some of more challenging tasks:


With some of the girls before I embarked on my tasks.



My sister!

Geisha Dance 20 points - I think I almost stabbed some passerby with my umbrella while twirling with abandon.

Kiss on the Cheek from Random Stranger 10 points - Gross. But easy enough!

Get a Stranger to Carry Me Back to the Table 30 points - Tough. Especially when the stranger did not speak a word of English and ended up coming back to the table without me. Luckily he had a friend who spoke English and helped to translate. At the end, I just jumped on his back to get the message across.

Get a Stranger to Take Off His Shirt 30 points - ONLY 30 points for this? It's outrageous! I had to convince this 17 year old (or slightly older) guy from Sweden, get permission from the bouncer and it took me a good 20 minutes of persuasion.

Success! My last and way hardest task for the night.

Finally, hair down, lipstick wiped off, Geisha outfit removed.

Slightly more than half of us stayed overnight at the villa (which by the way is AMAZING). We spent the rest of the night chatting, eating Ramlee Burger and talking about the weird pregnant/cancerous fish in the aquarium right above the bed where myself and SE were rooming. The rooms were really nice except for the room with the aquarium!

All in all,my Hen Night was enjoyable and a great opportunity to reconnect with everyone. Reminds me of how much I miss you girls...can't wait for our next reunion. Thank you to everyone who made this such a special day/night for me. The organisation and planning were amazing. The secrecy was pretty impressive, up to the point KPC blabbed...haha...even my own sister refused to divulge any information. To everyone who came, you made my day/night,I'm truly grateful to have wonderful friends like you.

So who's next?!