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Friday, August 26, 2011

Maldives: Six Days in Paradise Final Volume

~*Day 6: The Last Day in Paradise*~

That's us heading out for breakfast for the last time.

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I can't help loving my golden tan in this photo and I find it amusing that the breeze had my hair parted in the centre unwittingly. I kinda look like blast from the past. I cringed at my mum's hairstyle which was exactly like this in the 70s and early 80s.

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Outfit of the day:
♥ No label knitted lace top
♥ Shorts worn underneath
♥ Fendi shades
♥ Worn-to-death Pretty Fit embellished sandals

That would be the last time we ate breakfast with our feet buried in the sand having the same old buffet food, listening to the same old chillax music and looking at the same old couples eating daintily around us.

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After that, we went for the last walk along the beach and in the shallow waters.

Pardon the overexposed shots, the sun's glare was reflecting off the sand and it was pretty difficult to correct this via photo editing.

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The last time kh stood on this boat, the caption read:
"A boat had beached itself along with a lunatic who thought he was Captain Jack Sparrow."

If you would very kindly take this humorously, this caption would read:
"Jolene is not Helen of Troy and her face could launch just one boat."

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Remember the tree that was planted with collective effort the previous day?

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We tried and failed to get more up-close shots with the sharks but they kept avoiding us.

Try spotting the shark in all the pictures below!

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So if you did a Photo-Hunt and tapped the screen, you would have this:

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Sharks are no fun when you've got a gigantic water snake nearby.

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That coy Maldivian bird kept escaping my clutches. Each step I advanced towards it, it took two steps away from me.

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We decided to book a spa appointment while waiting for our seaplane to arrive. But before that, it was more lounging in the pool and tanning on the deck chairs.

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Yes, our final parting shot of our water villa.

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Parting shots of Constance Haleveli.

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~*Day 6: Guided Tour Around & About Male*~

While waiting for our night flight back to Singapore, we embarked on a guided tour around Male island (pronounced as Ma-Lay) which is the capital of Maldives and the most populous island of Maldives chain of 1 192 islands. The guided tour was a complimentary service from Atoll Paradise from which we booked our package.

I learnt so much about Maldives from this guided tour. I think I could write a whole thesis on Maldives' focus on the environment and tourism, as well as some misconceptions about their culture and social issues. I've also gained immense reverence for Maldives current president-- Mohamed Nasheed and could go on writing about him. However, I don't think I want to bore all of you with my verbosity so I'll just do a photostory.

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We took a walk through the market and saw many fruits and vegetables which did not look quite like the version we're used to back at home. Are you able to guess what these fruits and vegetables are?

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Don't cheat!

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Did you get any correct?

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The fishing boats had sailed back.

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Our cool guide walked like he owned the streets. Motorbikes are the major mode of transport and he seemed to be able to skilfully dodge these riders who rode perilously without helmets and some even with two kids in tow!

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Most of the eateries are housed like this.

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I did not snap many photos of the cultural places we visited as I was too engrossed in listening to the history of the place narrated by our guide as well as other guides who were there. Moreover, I did not feel it was appropriate to take photos of sacred places such as the tombs of the past sultans and their families.

I also did not snap the Sultan Park which is filled with a rich history and hence an important landmark of Maldives. It so happened that there were many foreign workers there chillaxing on their offday. It was impossible to capture the beauty of the park with so many people sitting on every ledge and every patch of grass. I learnt from our guide that almost half of Maldives population consist of foreign workers as many Maldivians do not envision themselves working long term in the tourism industry where they would be located on an island resort far away from their families and friends.

And all along in my ignorant mind, I thought tourism created jobs for many citizens of Maldives and how we would be helping their economy by boosting the revenue earned from the tourism sector.

After that, we dined at Lemongrass Restaurant.

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Our drinks

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I never knew Coke Float with chocolate ice cream could be delicious too.

Our Thai-influenced food.

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Food was good but it was grossly overpriced.The total bill for the 3 of us added up to SGD$90+. Such dinner in Singapore would come up to say SGD$40+.

Even the guide was appalled and asked the waiter to check the final value again. Sadly, it was indeed correct as everything was calculated according to the prices stated on the menu. I guess we sort of miscalculated when we ordered since the currency displayed was the Maldivian Rufiyaa. In retrospect, even if we had known the price for each dish, we would have carried on ordering the same dishes.

It was time to bid our guide goodbye.

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We waited in the Finifenmaa Lounge which was supposedly for the business and first class passengers. Before anyone gets the wrong impression, we are commoners who take the economy class.

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It sure didn't look anywhere near first class but I saw photos of the other airport lounges and realised that this is truly a notch above the other lounges. Once again, the use of this lounge is inclusive in the package by atollparadise.

This is the reason why I could recall so many things that happened in a trip which occurred 7 months ago.

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Yes, I'm pretty much a pen and notebook gal, jotting down notes in my trusty notebook. On a totally random note, I really love this pen which was a corporate gift from my company for my birthday last year.

Bye bye to Paradise!

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The neverending posts about Maldives have finally come to a closure. I hope you've enjoyed reading all about my trip in the parts as much as I've enjoyed sharing the photos and experiences with you.

And just in case you want to refer back, I've included all the volumes as links below.

Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5

15 comments:

  1. You two look like a celebrity couple--he's a singer and she is a young actress who just won an Oscar and is planning to star in a new movie as Xena, Warrior Princess. She is widely loved for the respect and consideration she shows people and places--especially when visiting sacred/ revered locations. =)

    I would love to have one (or two) of those leathe rchairs in the lounge. They look very comfy.

    Ps - Those pumpkins, in the US we call them butternut squash. My mom used them to make great pies.

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  2. you have such a nice tan :O I actually love the skin tone you have on that picture because it's a very subtle golden :) and i couldn't really see the shark, it looks like it's just water to me xDD and how could you be there with a shark, i would be so scared! :O YOU ARE VERY BRAVE! even if you were pretending it was just a water snake aha :P
    and your husband went all the way to maldivas to drink coke? that made me laugh so much xD oh well, boys will be boys!

    you know, every time i come to your blog and see these pictures i feel hope and love, it just makes me wanna smile :)

    i wish all the joy of the world to you both :3
    Love * Sofia

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  3. "shorts worn underneath" lol I always wonder if a girl is wearing safety shorts or something when I see nothing. If they wear oversize t shirts or an unbelievably short dress... i hope it's super windy out.

    anyway enough guy talk. Once again! I have never tried nutella! HAHA I really have to buy a jar!

    I've never walked off a plane onto the tarmac like that :O I must visit more resorts.

    Good write up. lots of photos from this trip!

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  4. I almost tapped the screen :P That looks so fun and Ive never seen water so clear before.. I used to write everything down in a notebook before too but really havent done so in many years haha shame on me. now all are photo memories. If i didnt take pictures, i wouldnt remember so all I remember these days are food lol. Maldives are truly a paradise!

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  5. i see that you and your hubby got tanned from the trip! :)

    i got the chilis right but thought that the pineapple was a humongous atis LOL! <3

    you always look like you're having fun in the pictures jo! =)

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  7. Rick,

    Aww... you're too sweet. I'm reading out to kh what you've typed!

    I've never heard of the butternut squash (sounds real delicious though) and googled "butternut squash". The images shown of the fruit look exactly like what we saw at the market. It's stated on Wikipedia that in Australia it is regarded as a pumpkin, and used interchangeably with other types of pumpkin. Maybe that's what the Maldivians do too. We do not have such fruit/vege in Singapore and when I think of pumpkins, I think of Halloween and Cinderella pumpkins.

    ~~~

    Skinny Love,

    I love it too. It only looked yummy golden under the sun. In all other pictures, I'm just tanned but not golden.

    Yes, it was so difficult spotting the shark when I was editing the photos that I'd to ask my hubby to point them out to me so that I could circle. The sun was too bright and the photos were overexposed. The sharks were mini sized and absolutely shy towards humans.

    Boys will really be boys. I kept teasing him about being too globalized. But I must say that using chocolate ice cream for Coke Float is something different and delicious.

    Thank you for your sweetness. It made me smile too!

    ~~~

    Turtle,

    You! Typical guy! lol

    Oh yes, you're the one who have never eaten nutella before. Could you go buy a jar of nutella and let me know if you like it? Speaking of which, I ate straight from the jar 3 nights ago as there were only those left on the inner sides to be scraped off.

    On your sentence "I've never walked off a plane onto the tarmac like that"
    Me too!

    ~~~

    Winnie,

    Were you using a touch screen phone? lol

    "If i didnt take pictures, i wouldnt remember so all I remember these days are food" Me too! I remember so many things coz of the photos and blogging and some days out, I only take photos of food so I'm quite unsure what happened that day. Hence now I label my folders clearly. Even if they're just food photos I would name the album "Outing with XXX" etc.

    ~~~

    sugar sugar,

    Do you have such chillis in the Philippines? Over here, our chillis look nothing like those we saw at Maldives.

    I didn't know what "atis" was and went to google. It warrant no results on fruits in I'd to key in "atis fruit" instead. It's the Philippines name. No wonder! Omigosh, I also made the same guess as you! Wikipedia says it's sugar apple. We call them custard apples here. My grandma used to grow them in the garden and I loved it so much. It's a pity it's quite rare to see custard apples in Singapore. I also thought it was custard apples when I saw the fruit but my guide didn't know what I was referring too.

    I feel like eating custard apples now!

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  8. WOW...what an amazing trip! I have not ventured into Singapore as well as Maldives but I would definitely like to go someday! The scenery is gorgeous and the outfit you are wearing is just adorable! Thank you so much for stopping by after vising Nelah! I love her blog as well :)

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  9. I just realised I haven't commented on your post yet ><

    OOoh, last post about your trip :( But I love the pictures, it makes me feel like planning a trip to a warm, beachy country.
    I love that top btw. Looks super cute. And you have such nice legs!!! Good thing you don't live here, it's only 15°C and raining outside.

    Mmmmm... Nutella *drools* You know what I do with Nutella? Bibi + spoon + jar of Nutella + movie = pigging out in front of the tv :p

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  10. Thanks for popping by my blog :D I've just subbed to your blog and apparently I'm your 100th GFC follower :D

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  11. Bravoe Runway,

    Thank you for dropping by here to leave me a note and for your kind words. =)

    ~~~

    Bibi,

    Aww... you needn't feel obliged to comment on every post ya? I'm touched though and I will definitely remember to comment on your posts more frequently! lol

    Thank you for your lovely words always. Haha... if I lived over at your side, I would have pale pasty skin like Edward.

    I did just that to a jar of nutella that was about to be finished just a few days back!

    ~~~

    Ling,

    Haha! Woo... 100th! That calls for champagne popping. It has been stagnated at 99 for quite some time. lol. Thanx babe for making it the 100th. As per so many bloggers' tradition, I think I'll hold a giveaway soon.

    PS: I realised you've got a few blogs and didn't quite know which to follow. I guess I would stick to this link here.

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  12. wow what aan awesome ! so jealous of all the yummy food you get to eat!

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  13. Aww I'm going to miss looking at all your honeymoon pictures! But I love that photo of you on the boat Jo! It's such a pretty picture :) And you really did get a nice tan on your trip. I wish I could achieve such a dark color - the only color I turn is red haha.

    The local market looks really cool. I've never seen pineapples or pumpkins that look like that before. I bet the fish market must have been really smelly - a lot of the fish markets in Chinatown are open air stalls and the entire street smells like fish. I do prefer open markets though because the produce and seafood usually tend to be fresher :)

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  14. Aw sweets, you don't have to force yourself to comment more on my blog! You comment frequently already!! And sometimes the things I write aren't even that interesting. :)

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  15. simplyvonne,

    =)

    ~~~

    Rinny,

    Thanx dear. I like that picture too. And oh, I’m gonna sell that top away too. I simply have too many lacy tops. Oh yes you look like the type who burn instead of getting tanned but you look nice fair and plump (plump as in the skin’s elasticity not that you’re fat lol).

    It didn’t smell too bad. The whole fish market area was parallel to the sea where the fishing boats berthed. I don’t know where exactly the smell come from but they seem to diffuse into the open air quite quickly. Our guide told us that it was their weekend and so there were very little fish left. On weekdays, the tiled floor would be brimming with fish.

    ~~~

    Bibi,

    No! Your posts are always funny! =D

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I love reading sincere comments and hearing your voice. While blatant self promotion of blogs and follow for follow requests are not advisable, I would love if you leave a mark here with a trackback link so that I could connect with you. I reply to comments here or on your blog so don't forget to check back on replies! =)

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