Maldives: Six Days in Paradise Volume 1

~*Prelude*~

I know many of you, especially my friends and some of my long time readers (and many of kh's friends), have been waiting for my "so-called honeymoon" Maldives photo updates.

Anybody recall that the trip happened in January?

Whenever I meet with the various group of friends, they would never fail to ask me if I've uploaded the photos on Facebook or blogged about the trip as they don't recall seeing any album remotely similar to what I call heaven on earth.

That said, I'm currently in the midst of editing day 5 photos while attempting to start writing about this amazing last minute getaway. I've never tried blogging before I'm even done with the photo editing so cross my fingers that I don't get stalled halfway should I get caught up with some other more important matters than editing photos.

I've never felt so busy in my life. During work, I busied myself with work-related matters and out of work when I can't sleep, I'm always busy doing some research and making lots of decisions for my future plans which all of you would hear about in due time. =)


~*Before Day 1: Hulhule Island Hotel*~

After work on Saturday, kh went to pick me up and we headed for the airport to catch the night flight to Maldives, Malé where we stayed at Hulhule Island Hotel for the night.

The room was simple and clean.



A rubber duckie was provided for the young and the young at heart. Kh actually floated the rubber duckie in the tub but it could not really swim well.



I was rather tickled by their pillow menu.




~*Day 1: Bye Hulhule Island Hotel, Hello Constance Haleveli Resort*~

When the new day dawned, we had complimentary breakfast at the hotel lounge. I could not really stomach the food well as my body wasn't used to eating so early in the day.



After filling our bellies, we had to say goodbye to our humble abode at Hulhule and make our way to catch the seaplane at 8am which would take us to our resort.



We were led to what they termed as a first-class lounge while waiting for the seaplane. It sure made us feel like some important personnel.



Outside, the wind was really strong and the whirring of motor was deafening. However, we braved all unpleasant conditions as we simply had to take photos with the seaplanes.



They call it an air taxi.



I thought this shot would make a good outfit of the morning photo.


Outfit of the day:
♥ Alano soft flowy fairy top
♥ Cotton On inner white spag top
♥ Coax denim shorts
♥ No label crochet lace booties
♥ No label fedora hat

Inside and outside of the plane



Throughout the flight, I was mesmerized by the many atolls and resorts dotting and some splashing across the Indian Ocean. The turquoise lagoons around the islands which emerged from the deep blue ocean seemed so surreal.

Soon, the seaplane landed with a ginormous splash a distance away from our resort-- Constance Halaveli Resort, located in the North Ari atoll which is shaped like a curved dhoni (Maldivian boat).

Likewise, the turquoise lagoons amidst the deep blue Indian Ocean was a beautiful sight to behold. Together, the water and sand combined lay in contrast to the exuberant green of the foliage in the middle of the island. I could hardly wait to be enveloped in the heavenly air of paradise.

We hopped onto a ferry which took us to the jetty of the island and finally set foot on our very own heaven on earth!

The guests were each assigned a staff who introduced and got us familiarized with the island. The overly sweet welcome drink seemed to hint of an extremely sweet stay at Constance.



Clambering onto the buggy, we soaked in the serene sights while strong wind flapped against our faces. I've never witnessed such beautiful shades of blue in the skies and seas before. At that moment, I fully comprehend the essence of the phrase "the azure blue sky" and "the sea glittered like myriad of diamonds under the dazzling sun rays". Both of which are phrases I teach my students to use in their compositions to describe the good weather at the beach.

This video would give you an idea of what I'm trying to word above. Scuse the noisy wind though; I don't know how to edit videos.



We finally reached our villa which was located somewhere near the end of the curved dhoni. It was a long ride from the main island.



The open eye up there indicated that the room could be cleaned. The close eye worked the same way as a "Do not disturb" sign. I was rather intrigued by the brush turtle. I've always known such brushes as toilet brushes and never as a creative turtle.

kh and I were so impressed with our water villa. As usual, I went round snapping everything in and about the villa while exploring.

We had a surprise champagne to welcome us for our honeymoon stay.



Peeking at the cozy bedroom in which we spent many hours at night watching movies and using the free wireless internet for we both packed our laptops for the trip.



The bathroom is as big as the bedroom and I could only wish that I had a bathroom like that at home too.





I NEED A WARDROBE LIKE THIS RIGHT NOW!



I love the coffee maker in the room. It's the expensive kind which uses individual capsules. I'm more of a tea person and not exactly a coffee addict. However with this machine, I savoured rich aromatic coffee about twice a day and totally forgot about tea.



For a video tour of our villa with amateurish commentary, click the play button. Some of you may have seen this video before when I posted it in January.



If you watched till the end, you would know that my camera battery died when I was about to conclude the video tour. What you didn't hear was me cursing and swearing like a drunken sailor after that.

I had wanted to get Canon S95 for this trip but it was OOS everywhere in Singapore at that time. Hence, I had to make do with my loyal but ailing pink bimbotic camera. It was fortunate that kh borrowed an additional point and shoot camera from his bro or we would be left with no beautiful photos for the rest of the day. That camera snapped quite decent day shots but I wasn't too pleased with some of the night shots though it sure beat having no pictures at all eh?

So after being so sore about my camera, I decided to join kh in the plunge pool while sipping champagne and soaking in the sun.







Due to the obvious fact that I am a pig and that my tummy is often termed as the "bottomless pit" by some friends endearingly, I got really hungry and bugged kh to et out of the pool and to seek out some eateries.

While walking to the main island, we could not resist taking pictures coz seriously, having beautiful pictures to capture the beautiful memories superseded hunger at that time when we were still considered new inhabitants to the island.





We decided to seek out Jahaz Bar by the poolside.



We waited almost half an hour for the food but it was totally worth it! I ordered the Black Forest Ham while kh had the Haleveli Burger. We also had Fish & Wedges as sides.



The hearty lunch at the bar actually prepared us for many more costly meals to come.

The above was considered bar food but quality items like parma ham and foie gras set us back by USD25, 28 and 26 respectively. Added to the price was the currency which was in USD. SGD25, 28 and 26 is definitely the norm for the prices of main courses in Singapore but USD is a little on the steep side.

As the Maldives updates progress, you would notice that we only ate 2 very full meals a day to save money. We are quite the poor peasants you know? ;P

I love how my bil's camera captured this shot of the public pool. There is no editing done to this photo except for the adding of borders and watermarking.



Still the same day but a different outfit which calls for an outfit shot once more.




Outfit of the day:
♥ No label tribal design spaghetti strap sundress
♥ Fendi sunglasses
♥ Diva ethnic beaded necklace
♥ Sheer Romance flower clip
♥ Pretty Fit embellished hooked on sandals

After the satisfying meal, we went to the diving centre to sign up for a scuba exploration dive. We also rented diving masks, snorkels and flippers for the rest of our stay.



We called those creatures above "little sharkies". They are really sharks by the way.

I was excited yet a little apprehensive about signing up for the scuba exploration as I'm actually aquaphobic.

I can't swim with the correct strokes, I nearly drowned twice in my life and I have an immense fear for putting my head under the water surface for long. However, I figured that since I would have an oxygen tank with my mouth and nose blocked from water, I need not worry about not being able to burst out from the water surface to breathe in atmospheric air.

We led really lazy lives for the next 6 days. Sing the poem below to the tune of Bruno Mars Lazy Day!



NOTHING AT ALL!
woo hoo oo woo hoo oo
*whistles in the background*

The rest of my day was spent lounging by and in the pool as for the hubby... guess what he did? He actually switched on his laptop and played WORLD OF WARCRAFT instead of doing his paper.

The first sunset in Maldives was a little disappointing due to the presence of clouds over the horizon. I was half expecting to see the orange ball sigh into the water and disappear beneath the horizon slowly.

It's alright though. The sun set was still beautiful as it seemed to have tinged the sky with brilliant hues of pink, orange and purple.





We spent the rest of the night watching lots and lots of movies and called for room service for dinner/ supper at midnight.



I would end this post with a description of our midnight meal.

Once again, the food completely wowed us. We ordered Maldivian Style Tuna Curry with fragrant rice, chapatti, curry leaf sambal and Angus Beef Sirloin with tomato cruise, chilli jam, truffled potato puree, asparagus and a light citrus vinegar salad. Whatever that was on top of the beef (tomato cruise or chilli jam) was truly delicious. It reminded me a little of raspberry or cranberry jam but minus the tart sting.

I'm dying of famine while looking at these delicious food photos.

Look out for Volume 2 in the meantime!