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Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Maldives: Six Days in Paradise Volume 2

~*Day 2: My life is like a stroll on the beach...as near to the edge as I can go*~

As much as we would like to sleep in like what people on vacation usually do, we had to peel ourselves off the sheets once the sun rose as we could not afford to miss our complimentary breakfast.

You know, that's one meal settled and lots of money saved in a place called paradise where money and debit still exist. ;P

It was such a sunny day that I set my hat on my head and felt like I was ready to brave the sun. Alas, the wind was so strong; I had to to constantly hold onto my hat for fear of it being whipped off my head and sent a fluttering into the clear blue ocean.

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Remember that from Volume 1 of the Maldives series, I mentioned that our water villa was located right at the tail of the "jetty"? Whenever we had to walk from our villa to the main island, I would constantly look out for the buggy to hop on. It was really fun trying to catch a buggy to hitch a ride from. You could actually call for a buggy from your room but we decided it was more fun trying to catch them while snapping pictures along the way.

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Buffet breakfast at Jahaz --the main buffet restaurant and bar-- was always enjoyable as we love to people-watch while we tucked into our food.

It was interesting checking out other couples and guessing what nationalities they were. Kh and I were the only Singaporeans there. For Asian, we spied lots of Japanese and Koreans and two Hong Kong couples. There was also a Japanese family with a very cute toddler boy in toll. Of course there were Caucasians too but the Asians clearly outnumbered them.

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I reckon Kh and I were the most uncivilized couple there. People often stared at us and at our plates wondering how these two seemingly thin people could finish all the food.

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I was perpetually hungry at Maldives, much hungrier than in Singapore. Breakfast was what I looked forward to every day to appease my gnawing tummy.

kh and I constantly left our seats for 2nd and 3rd helping. We attacked and devoured our food like how normal Singaporeans eat during lunch time when there are people standing around your table, tapping their feet and waiting for you to scram... only this time, we had all the time in the world and nobody waiting for us to scram.

All around us, the dainty and elegant Japanese and Koreans consumed a small portion of food with delicate little nibbles. Most of them, especially the ladies, had only ONE helping of food before they wiped their mouths artfully and wafted away.

kh and I merely stared at each other in utter surprise, read each others minds with knowing looks and continued lingering on till the buffet breakfast ended. Those refined Japanese and Koreans might have thought we were such glutton and secretly wrinkled their noses in disgust as they walked out from plain sight.

After making sure we stock up enough in our bodies to withstand till dinner, we took a leisurely stroll along the beach.

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I've always loved the beach. There's something about the blue-green in its waters and brilliant golden in its sand, the briny wind in my face and the gentle swish of the waves all combined to give a sense of serenity.

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"At the beach, life is different. Time doesn't move hour to hour but mood to moment. We live by the currents, plan by the tides and follow the sun." -- Anonymous

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~*Day 2: Snorkeling fun! Snorkeling fun?*~

Since we signed up for a scuba diving exploration trip, I decided I had to overcome my fear for water by first going snorkeling in our "backyard ocean".

That was the 2nd time I ever snorkeled in my life... with a life vest of course.

The first time was in Bintan a few years back and after I overcame the initial fear, I let kh pull me as I drifted along with him and marvelled at the sights underwater.

However this time, I just could not do it. Each time he squeezed my palm to signal for me to look out for some nemos or dorys, I would turn my head and saltwater would gush into my tube and into my nose and mouth. If the water level was too low, I would gag and immediately stand up and pull my mask away to cough violently. If the water level was too high, I would flip myself face up while floating with the help of the life jacket. Then, I would cough and sputter till tears and mucus flowed nonstop.

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kh checked my tube and realised that it was facing downwards such that any slight movement of the head would render saltwater in. However, no matter how we adjusted, the tube continued to face down. I decided to head back to the safety of our plunge pool and "practise snorkeling" there.

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I didn't wanna hold him back coz of my silly aquaphobia and told him to snorkel by himself instead of accompanying me and waiting for the fear to wash away.

See the divide between the deep blue and the light blue? That's the edge of the atoll and you couldn't even see the bottom of the seabed once you reach the dark blue parts.

I forced him to put on a life vest just in case. Everyone put on life jackets there too, even those who looked like swimmers so I insisted he did it for safety.

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We did not have an underwater camera and so we used the instant one available in the room for USD25. He took lots of pictures for me to see how it was on the other side of the blue. Imagine my disappointment when I collected the photos from the photo developing shop and saw how how the actual photos turned out. I will try to scan some for all of you to see in my diving post.

The rest of the afternoon was spent lazing in and by the pool soaking up the sun, taking some videos (which I won't upload here) as well as in the bath tub soaking up the bubbles with a hydrating mask on.

Life is bliss!

By the 2nd day of our stay, I've become as brown as a berry and I really love my tan then.

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We expended lots of energy on snorkeling and overcoming the fear of snokeling and felt hungry way before dinner time.

Kh was too spoilt and would only eat salty food when hungry. In the meantime, decorative fruits had become my saviour to tide me through the next meal. Thank god for these fruits. I wiped out all except the rambutan which was a little overripe by then.

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~*Day 2: An adventurous dinner by chance*~

Preparing to head out for dinner... Here's my outfit of the day and night. For the night, I added some accessories like the hairband and the necklace both of which received many compliments from the staff there. I guess nobody else dressed as silly as I did for an island getaway holiday!

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♥ ASOS blue sundress
♥ No label small floral prints Usamimi hairband (aka rabbit ears hairband)
♥ No label camera mirror necklace
♥ Pretty Fit embellished hooked on sandals

The nerds of the 70s headed out to eat. That's us featuring the opened and closed eyes.

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The 2 restaurants which we wanted to try were fully booked and thus we had to head to the main Jahaz restaurant which was having an Australian-Asian themed buffet that night.

The food looked a lot nicer in daylight and Acqua Panna is my new favourite atas (malay slang for high class) water.

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Once again, it was a cloudy sunset...

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and by then, the food photos didn't look good at all under the low light unflashed condition. The food looked worse with flash photography.

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Could you guess the unknown skewered meat up there? I can't remember if it was kangaroo or crocodile meat. The one in the burger was crocodile. I refused to eat them and chided kh for taking them.

They also served rabbit meat too which fortunately, kh didn't take for he knew I would never eat it. (I used to keep rabbits as pets.)

The rabbit meat incident was quite comical. Many of the staff commented on my usamimi hairband and said I looked like a rabbit. When I was at the meat station and enquired about that certain unknown meat, the staff there replied politely that it was rabbit meat and urged me to try. Kh intervened by saying, "Look at her ears. She wouldn't want to eat her family."

After that, many of the staff remembered us!

Desserts were so so.

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~*Day 2: Circles in the sand*~

After eating, we took a night stroll back.

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This concludes Day 2 of the trip. Look out for photos of my maiden diving experience and one of the BEST fine-dining meal we've ever eaten all in the next volume.

17 comments:

  1. i want to go to maldives too now! LOL! everything just looks so lovely and relaxing. all your pictures make me green with envy haha! :)

    the food looks super yummy too! never mind people when they stare at you. i get a lot of that especially when people see me eat steak and dessert. x(

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  2. Oh, wow, that is the life!! The photos are gorgeous! Thanks for sharing the stories. I almost feel as if I was there. The water looks pretty clear and such a lovely shade of blue.

    Ouch about those snorkeling injuries, though. Hope there were no scars?

    There's so many things I like about your outfit, Jo. The dress, the cute usamimi headband and even that quirky camera necklace which I thought was real at first glance! lol

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  3. Wow, it's ovewhelmingly amazing! I'm getting jealous--it's just so beautiful there. Someday...maybe.

    Anyway, my favorite pic this time is the one in which you put your chin on KH's shoulder. =) The pictures of the peeling nail polish are both cute and funny--it looks like you caught something in the water. ;P

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  4. wow you tan super easily. you looked super light in the early beginning pictures!

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  5. Wow! This place is very nice. I am so happy that you got to go on a really nice vacation!

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  6. how is it that every time i go to your blog, it's always about you going on vacation!??!!? so jealous! hehe! i've yet to go on a beach vacation!!! but when i do go on vacation (actually, even when i'm not on vacation) my husband and i love buffets!!! not good though because the weight is catching up to us. haha!!! love your tan too by the way - summer is soon ending here and i don't even have a tan. :(

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  7. I love your updates on Maldives! Haha I think Japanese women tend to eat very modest amounts. I remember I was on one of my work trips when I met with my client's wife. She ate like a mouse, cutting already tiny morsels of food into even smaller pieces before nibbling on them. Needless to say, she never finished the dish. Despite my small frame, I still felt like godzilla next to her. LOL!

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  8. sugar sugar,

    Make Maldives one of your to-go places in your lifetime. I saw your beach pictures before and I know you’re definitely the beach gal type! I would love to stare at you eating steak and dessert too. Lol

    ~~~

    Joey,

    Haha... thanx for your kind words. Yeah that’s life... and then it was back to the drudgery of work thereafter. The waters are very clear and you could see all the little fishes. The fishes in the water swam right up to the shore. I almost thought they would get washed up onto the beach each time the tide came in. Nope, no obvious scars from the snorkelling but a mini one which has been on my leg since forever after the trip. I’m not quite sure where I got that from.

    ~~~

    Rick,

    You’ve to bear with me and your jealousy for 4 more Maldives posts.

    Haha... the one with me on kh’s shoulder is the one where’re we were smiling like nerds?

    ~~~

    a,

    Yes, I tan and burn easily. I think my tan built up from Day 2 onwards but at certain angles under certain lighting, the tan doesn’t show.

    ~~~

    FleurLapin,

    Thank you! It was a rather impromptu trip and everything except the before and after was nice. =)

    ~~~

    Kym,

    Haha... really? Before Maldives, my last trip was in December 2009 to NYC. I guess I’m really late in my updating and am really quite the ill-travelled soul. I love buffets too but we recently stopped checking out buffet places. Not too sure why, it just happens. I hope you're enjoying marital bliss so far!

    ~~~

    Regina,

    More coming up! Still editing Day 5 amidst doing so many other stuff. The Japanese really do eh? I think they’re a lot more conscious about health and beauty. Actually it’s true that our bodies don’t need too much food. I’ve recently not been eating a lot for no reason. It just happens that I’m not so hungry. I think my tummy (as in the organ) shrank. I can’t eat as much as before anymore w/o feeling absolutely bloated.

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  9. i love reading this posts from your honeymoon! so adorable and funny! and yes, i could spot your husband in the middle of the ocean as little balck pixel in the middle of all the blue around him xD
    OMG i've just noticed that you are so tanned! :O aha

    kisses and hugs :D
    Monstros no Armário

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  10. Thanks so much for this!! I'm saving up for Maldives and can't wait!!

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  11. I would do the same thing as you at the buffett, why not?? I mean I wouldn't care about diet on vacation. You two are one cute couple.

    Seeing your post makes me want to go to the beach more, preferably one in the southern part of Thailand. The thought of tsunami still scares me though.

    Can't wait to see your Chanel, wonder what you bought. A classic flap?

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  12. Skinny Love,

    Thanx... Keep looking out for more to come. Haha... yes that black pixel must be his head. Yes I was so happy with my tan coz I didn't have uneven tank top or strap lines like what I always get in anywhere other than Maldives.

    ~~~

    Melyssa,

    Are you really going Maldives too? Cool! Let me know if you need some advice ya?

    ~~~

    Nelah,

    Actually when I was there, I kept thinking about what would happen to these very beautiful but extremely flat and low lying atoll islands should they be hit by a tsunami. The land is really flat as you can see. I haven't been to Thailand before, not even Bangkok the cheap shopping paradise, which is very rare for any Singaporean lady.

    Hehe... Yup. It's my dream bag, the classic flap. I'll feature it in a post in time to time.

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  13. That looks like the most amazing trip ever. Full day packed with activities and sunshine. I wish one day I could go there (before the island sinks for sure). My parents were there last year and it weirds me out just imaging they were as sweet as you guys haha.

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  14. Winnie,

    Lol at what you said about your parents. Haha... I get what you mean coz we could never ever imagine our parents being lovey dovey and all. However, I saw this very old caucasian couple, all wrinkley and all in their beachwear and they looked like the most perfect couple on the island.

    How do you know the island would sink for sure? Actually *touch wood* I was telling all my friends to go Maldives at least once as we really never know when some of the islands would be destroyed by the next Tsunami. Maldives is made up of soooooo many little islands and some were completely destroyed during the boxing day tsunami in 2004. I kinda feel for them as their govt is deeply passionate about the environment and trying to tell the world to be more environmentally-friendly.

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  15. hahah I love that you pigged out on the buffets! I always try to hold back, but hey you ARE on vacation right, so why bother? Deal with it later ;)

    The Maldives looks just gorgeous!

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  16. Such gorgeous pics! Looks like you had an amazing time. The resort looks beautiful.

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  17. MizzJ,

    My exact sentiments! =)

    ~~~

    Penelope,

    Thanx dear.

    ReplyDelete

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