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Saturday, August 20, 2011

Maldives: Six Days in Paradise Volume 5

~*Day 5: The Supposedly Last Day in Paradise*~

It was supposedly our last day at Maldives.

Thus, we whacked the buffet table like some savages who had not eaten for days.

Of course, we did not do that. We did take lots of food but we did it with professional aplomb.

As usual, the dainty Japanese and Koreans would only fill half their plate and once again used their forks and knives ever so gracefully with such poise.

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Over breakfast and bubbly champagne, kh decided to extend our stay.

We mused about how we had initially thought that 5 days would suffice for an island stay and how in actual fact time passed by in a flash. I for one, thought that I would very quickly get bored with 5 days on an island

After breakfast, kh made some enquiries and arrangement for a one-day extension. Everything was settled in a jiffy.

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~*Day 5: Engaging in Many Last Activities*~

Besides lounging in the pool and making full use of our water villa for the last time, we also ventured out for some boat paddling.

I was still bumped about not being able to see any sea turtles or manta rays, sting rays whatever rays that I kept deluding myself that any grey diamond or triangular shape object on the sea bed was a sting ray. Some of these shapes looked like they were moving.

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We were supposed to take the same seaplane and same SQ flight with our newfound HK friends, whom we knew from diving. Hence, the couple were surprised to see us paddling nonchalantly while they were heading for the last seaplane of the day.

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~*Day 5: Exploring the Island*~

After some paddling, we decided to explore the island. The staff there informed us that it would take just 15 minutes to walk leisurely around the periphery of the island.

We uncovered a few beach villas. Some were single storey and some double. Whether the former or the latter, we could not help laughing at their gates for one could easily slip in through the open "cracks" at the sides. Of course, they were only for show-- to indicate where the entrance to each villa was.

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Some distance away, we saw a single golf range and as usual, kh got into the king-of-pretenders mode and started hitting imaginary golf balls with imaginary putters. I can't help wondering where all the balls would go and if the golf balls were meant to be hit into the ocean, would anyone be picking up these plastic trash?

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Somewhere in the middle of the island, quite hidden by greenery, we spotted what looked like the staff quarters. We also espied many tree planting plaques by couples who had wedded there. Back to where the main eateries were located, we saw a collective effort to plant a coconut tree and I smiled a little smile to myself.

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I cannot help but wonder at how kh was so far away from the shore and yet the water level was still below his knees.

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As the afternoon sun readied itself for sunset, our shadows stretched long and thin.

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~*Day 5: Heavenly Dinner at Meeru Barefoot Grill*~

Soon the sun set and it was time for dinner.

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This time, we managed to reserve seats at Meeru Barefoot Grill (the one which could only accommodate 20 people). The food was on par with that of JING where we dined on Day 3.

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I thought that since it was a BAREFOOT grill place, I could dress down and headed off in my Tee shirt, dishevelled hair with no make up on. I didn't expect the food to be fine dining style and felt totally under dressed for the occasion. Then again, you could never be under dressed at a beach resort.

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Our very last sunset and the clouds just wouldn't clear themselves from the horizon.

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My camera which was better at low light shots was left charging in the room and so all the photos of the food you see here were taken with my BIL's spare camera and simply do not do justice to the food. The flash made the food look so washed out yet it was too dark not to use flash.

I love the salmon tataki and tuna, the yellow fin tuna loin and the angus beef tenderloin steak (in medium rare of course). All their raw food in the form of tartare, tataki etc were all scrumptious that I had cravings for them for the next few weeks.

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Their sauteed and grilled vegetables were a little salty but delicious. And oh their desserts... they're to die for! I really love the honey glazed pear poached in red wine. It was served with Grand Marnier Sabayon and rum ice cream. The bitter chocolate sponge was topped by dulce latte mousse with crispy dark chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Do the mere description in words already make your mouth water?

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Soon a blanket of darkness dusted with brilliant stars enveloped us.

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In highly urbanized Singapore, every part of our country is lit by street lamps. It is quite difficult to spot stars in the sky in lighted places. On the other hand, it was really surreal to see so many stars in the night sky on a dark Maldives island, as if a frolick of fairies had waved their wands and sprinkle fairy dust onto the blanket of darkness.

The camera certainly could not capture it, but every part of the black you see is actually filled with stars.

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The moon was exceptionally low that night. I'm pretty used to seeing the moon hanging high in the sky back in Singapore.

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As usual, we'll watch movies in the lazy comfort of the bed.

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~*The Disappointing Underwater Pictures*~

After complaining on a few occasions about the underwater pictures taken by the disposable camera, I've finally picked out the best from the worst to scan them into my laptop to share them with my friends and readers.

Could you see what I mean by murky blue waters and sea of corals that look like grey rocks?

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Here are some from snorkelling:

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Well, it's fortunate that they look a lot more vibrant when scanned as soft copies.

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Here are the scuba diving ones:

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We saw so many strange and colourful creatures but do you see them in the photos above? No.

It was great that the scanned photos looked a tonne better. Yet, they pale in comparison to what we perceived with our own eyes.

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One more volume to go and we would wrap up Maldives.

12 comments:

  1. Wow, I am beginning to envy your holiday photos. I am desperate for a break. The vacation looks so relaxing and blissful.

    By the way, I wanted to say that I have tagged you to 3 different awards. I should have done this ages ago, had always thought of you but havent got round to do so.... anways, ok. im going into hiding again. Tata

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would love to follow in your footsteps on that island--the activities, the relaxing and the food. It's just so beautiful.

    You're like my wife and the other girls who don't need makeup.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, looks like an amazing trip dear! I enjoyed looking at your photos. :) Followed you!
    xoxo,
    LoveSkinBest

    ReplyDelete
  4. hey babe,

    i ADORE your blog and more than that i ADORE you for how SWEET your posts are... seems like a good trip!!! i am just so JEALOUS cause i can't getaway even during the weekends...

    how i discovered your AMAZING blog?
    i was one of the dozen who PEHSUN tagged on her blog for the blog awards that lovely woman had given us... and i hope you would stop by and say hi... afterall we are from the same region arent we?

    lots of love xoxoxo

    Labile me ADDICT<3

    http://street-chic-blahhhhh.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  5. hey babe,

    i ADORE your blog and more than that i ADORE you for how SWEET your posts are... seems like a good trip!!! i am just so JEALOUS cause i can't getaway even during the weekends...

    how i discovered your AMAZING blog?
    i was one of the dozen who PEHSUN tagged on her blog for the blog awards that lovely woman had given us... and i hope you would stop by and say hi... afterall we are from the same region arent we?

    lots of love xoxoxo

    Labile me ADDICT<3

    http://street-chic-blahhhhh.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  6. I was just thinking: the underwater pictures look way better than you said a couple of posts ago, but then you mentioned the scanner and so and so, and it actually makes sense ^^ Computers always try their best to make colours look more vibrant, for some odd reason. And if not, there's always photoshop. XD
    Anyhow, it's a good thing they turned out looking better on comp. Now you can show these ones to the masses!

    I love that restaurant on the beach. How great would it be to just dig your feet in the sand while eating? Perfect holiday experience. And OMG DID YOUR HOTEL HAVE AN iMAC FREE TO USE? You do realise I'm stinking envious of you right now :p

    ReplyDelete
  7. Squeeze the Pug,

    Aww... thank you dear for the awards. 3 awards? I gotta check it out on your blog soon! I feel very guilty as I've not been writing posts about awards since a few months back and I can't remember what exactly they are though I know who gave me the awards.

    Go for your well-deserved break once you can get some time off and you would truly enjoy the holiday!

    ~~~

    Rick,

    Thank you rick, you're always so kind with your words. I must see a photo of your KH one day! You 2 must be a beautiful couple with beautiful family. I hope my words and text would allow you to indulge in this voyeurism. =)

    ~~~

    Myrted,

    I love to see newcomers around so welcome here and thanx for following!

    ~~~

    Label me Addict,

    Welcome here! I simply love seeing newcomers here.

    Oh my goodness! We're both from Singapore? So cute that you made your way here from pehsun's blog! How very rare to bump into fellow local blogger in the same sphere of blogger friends. My local readers are either my friends or silent readers. It's the international blogger friends whom I connect with on my blog more often since there is always this continual two-way communication with them.

    Thank you for your lovely words. They put a smile on my face. I would check out your blog soon!

    ~~~

    Bibi,

    They really did look better eh? I was actually pleasantly surprised by the soft copy scans as you could see for yourself how bad the hard copies were from the photos I've taken of them. Thank god for scanners and computers. I did not edit the photos except for collaging to show how bad the photos turned out actually.

    The breakfast buffet place also had sand for their floor as of the other centres on the island as well. I thought it was an ingenuous concept.

    Haha... You made me lol when you said you were stinking envious of me. I think it's an i-Mac, I'm not very sure coz I'm an i-diot. I dun own any i-stuff except that my hubby recently bought an i-pad and so I'm not so i-diotic in using i-stuff now. With that in the villa, we really spent quite some time watching movies indoors too. It was truly an activity-filled holiday.

    PS: I dunno how to use Photoshop and I feel like learning but I know I'm really slow at such stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  8. hey babe!!!

    i totally AGREE with you 100%

    cause every single time i check my sats, the amount of readers from our tiny island city rates show the highest among the rest... but i am yet to HEAR FROM any one of them... i just feel we should support each other and hopefully have one of those date with blogger friends like the bloggers from the states do... what do you think? well i see you have met TESSA who was from SINGAPORE ... she should be here by now or soon for a short holiday... not sure... any ways i have 2 other singaporean bloggers who are following me and they are just so SWEET... i am following you now... i hope you will too so that we can keep each other updated and all... i am just so esthetic that you replied!!!

    and i wasn't at the NDP parade, i was out and about shopping at SUNTEC! so LUCKY U:)


    lots of love xoxoxo

    Label me ADDICT<3

    http://street-chic-blahhhhh.blogspot.com/

    ps: your blog is A-W-E-S-O-M-E <3

    ReplyDelete
  9. It's nice to be able to learn from other people's experiences.

    About the dog, I should have put an explanation in. First, in most parts of the US it is illegal to let your dog run free off your own property--and rude to let it poop on other people's property! ;P But the real problem (aside from the fact that it might bite someone) is that there's a major highway about 1/4 mile from my house. In the past few years we've picked up 5 or 6 strays that were trying to cross it--and many dogs have been hit by cars there. So I do get more annoyed than usual when I see a dog owner letting his pet run free in the area.

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  10. PS - My KH is beautiful, I look sort of like Ben Grimm. =)

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love all your pictures and your funny captions for them Jo :D That 2 story beach villa looks so nice! I def wouldn't mind staying there for a whole week. The little gates in front of them are pretty funny too :P And your underwater diving pictures still look great, although it would have been nice if the camera could have captured the colors and sights you were seeing in person. At least using the scanner helped a bit though.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Label me Addict,

    Yup agree. Checking my stats, I would say local readers take up about 80%. I guess that local readers tend to be our loyal readers by reading silently. I’ve got a few who would occasionally communicate with me but that was when we were all active in a local forum. It’s pretty much defunct now.

    I stumbled onto Tessa’s blog only recently. Yes, I wouldn’t mind meeting up. It’s just that my schedule is pretty erratic as I work till night and it’s quite difficult to arrange meet ups with friends unless 1)it’s impromptu or 2)it’s arranged way in advance. That could be worked out.

    We might probably have bumped into each other that day since I was in the city area too.

    ~~~

    Rick,

    Ah, I see. That makes sense now. Thanx for explaining. I hope you are Ben Grimm before and not after! Lol

    ~~~

    Rinny,

    Glad that you’ve enjoyed reading the posts! You are you would want to stay at the beach villa and not the water ones? You would fall in love with the water ones too. Yeah, I was really thankful for the scanner.

    ReplyDelete

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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