Breaking the Ice at the Hard Rock Hotel Penang Foam Party

As the cloud of white foam closed over my head, I felt a moment of panic. My nose quickly filled with tickling bubbles and I gasped. Big mistake. The soapy white bubbles easily slipped past my tongue and down my throat and I was gagging. I couldn’t get a breath in. Every breath existed of more bubbles. I tried to breath through my nose and was snorting foam. I stumbled blindly in my zombie pose, arms outstretched, eyes consistently blinking, to the shower and got hosed off by a staff member. I stood spitting and gagging and dry reaching. The residual stench stinging my nostrils & the detergent I swallowed burning in my chest. 

It’s not a foam party till someone pukes. 

We have been planning a rather wonderful thing here in Penang. Several bloggers I have been following and connecting with online have been maneuvering around Asia. So it was with much discussion and planning that we all decided to meet up in Penang this first weekend in October.

Friday night we had dinner with 2 new families at our favourite Long Beach food court. It was a pleasure getting to meet Jen & her family, as well as Lauren & hers. Then Saturday I went to the airport to collect The Kings. You might remember them from the couple we had lunch with in Bali… And stayed for dinner. They are simply lovely. You can read all about the families who partied with us in Penang on our blog post – Strangers Partying in Penang. 

After we dropped their luggage in their new vacation home they were ready to keep partying and came with me to the Hard Rock Hotel Penang.

On the first Saturday of every month the Hard Rock host a foam party for children at 5pm and adults at 7:30pm. There is a large makeshift pit with a stage holding security and DJ staff. It is open to the night sky and held behind their pool directly on the beach.

20myr ($6.30) per child gets your kids into the party and gives you free access to the pool and slides while they are enjoying the adult-free party.

My kids did not make it in. At 2 & 3 years old all that foam and loud music was a bit daunting, however the fabulous water playground and slides kept them amused for many hours.

Strangely there was a wedding also going on directly to the left of the foam party. I am not sure if it is my idea of a perfect wedding day, but hey, maybe they needed that free DJ and entertainment after spending money on the somewhat expensive looking Lamborghinis that were parked out the front.

Later that night after I dropped my husband and children off back at home I jumped in my swimmers & Aussie boardshorts, picked up 2 lovely US ladies and we headed back to Hard Rock for the adults foam party. It was dark, the pit had lights hooked up to it and the music was loud and thumping. Entry is 30myr (approx. $10).

There is something about dancing with people you don’t know that makes you braver and crazier then any alcoholic drink can do. Barely knowing the people I was partying with made the foam party all that more exciting… Until the moment I was tackled and fell under the foam, and my body didn’t know how to handle it. Well you read that paragraph first. 

After my initial mistake of gasping in foam I managed to keep my mouth shut and enjoy the rest of the night. The foam was slippery and kind of slimy on your skin, but airy and light when tossed into the air. Think a giant bubble bath with strangers and you are imagining the correct image. Okay so maybe that is not quite the correct image, try watching this video from my friends at A King's Life and you will get the correct gist. 

We stopped for a few drinks, which you will find are a bit pricey at the Hard Rock bar. But I guess you are paying more for the atmosphere than the drink.

Towards the end of the night, the two ladies I had picked up and I decided to make a dash for the closed slides. We got all foamed up, raced past the water spraying guard and stumbled up the stairs to the slides. Down we went soapsuds and all to splash into a jumbled heap at the bottom. Quickly a lifeguard made his way over to ask us not to go in the pool with the suds. He mentioned nothing about the closed slides so we decided to go on again and again and again.

Finally wet and laughing hysterically 3 grown women emerged from the Hard Rock pool like drowned rats. Dressing rather quickly we begged a ride from fellow travellers and were dropped at Batu Ferringhi KFC where we proceeded to chat and talk from 11pm to 1am. It's like they were never strangers, forever friends. 

My expectations were high for this night and while the Hard Rock did not deliver on all aspects, my companions certainly did. I had imagined a room full of foam with it floating from the ceilings. My first glimpse of the outdoor pit was a little disappointing, but my last glimpse of it was a sigh of pure childish glee.

Some of the photos below are courtesy of A King's Life & the Edventure Project, both whom also have posts on this amazing night.