We're Back

Saturday, June 23, 2007

We're back from our oh-so-relaxing-and-much-deserved vacation. The Maldives were just awesome. We stayed at the Huvafen Fushi Resort and let me just say that it was the best resort ever. It definitely deserves the 6 star rating. Talk about luxury. This time of year is the off season for the Maldives. The weather was amazing, even with the few days that we had a thunderstorm. They were quite romantic. I took over 200 pictures, but I'll spare you and show just a few highlights.

Our ocean bungalow was a dream. When we entered we thought we'd never want to go back home. The decor was just amazing and the view was spectacular. I can see why so many honeymooners choose the Maldives. They don't get many American travel out to the resorts and now I can understand why that may be. It took us 31 hours to get there (we stopped in Singapore for 8 hours and met with some people that took us around the island. Singapore is very pretty and unbelievably clean!) and it took 22 hours to get home. I'm still recovering from the travel and time change. I think the other reason has to be the price. The resort was outrageous. Meals never were below $100. Each night they have some feature dinner. The Champaign and Lobster Buffet looked really good, but I wasn't that hungry for a buffet. I asked how much it was thinking it might be around $80-100. It was $225 per person! That better be some spectacular champaign. But anyways, back to the bungalow. Check it out.

Everyday at 6:00pm they would do sting ray feedings. They get about 8-15 sting rays that come by for the feedings.

The resort was only half full so it felt like we were all alone on this gorgeous island, but we managed to make a few local friends. Every morning outside our bungalow would be a school of baby black tip sharks. We counted up to 8 at any given time. They were tiny. They like shallow areas like resorts to avoid getting eaten by bigger sharks. It was like having a shark daycare outside our room.

Some more random pictures.

We experienced a few days of unfavorable weather, but it was kind of exciting. At night the waves were crashing against the stilts that held our bungalows above water. It was a little bit of a rush. Two couples actually moved to the beach bungalows. The locals were saying that this happens once every five years. Quite a few of the bungalows had minor damage. We lost our stairs off the deck. Here's a few pictures of how rough it got.

All other days looked like the image below. It was cloudy and overcast, but very warm and humid. We went scuba diving almost everyday and the water read 89 degrees. At night the water was warmer then the air.

We did meet a few nice couples on the island. So we all arranged to have a wine dinner in their underground wine cellar. It would have been awesome had we not had three unexpected people join the dinner. They arrived late and were a little obnoxious. Anyhow, the general manager was nice and arranged for a courtesy evening cruise for just the two of us on their yacht. It was very nice.

We felt compelled to do the cheesy Titanic pose.

As I mentioned before we stopped through Singapore on the way out. It was a great way to adjust to the time difference and break up the trip. Someone from work arranged for us to met with a friend of the owner. He took us around. I told him that I wanted to eat Durian, a Malaysian local fruit. I had heard about it from my mom's sister who lived their briefly. The only thing I heard was that it was quite pungent, but good. He laughed at me and took me to a local vendor. I tried it...and managed to swallow three bites (didn't want to be rude, afterall, he paid for it). It didn't taste quite as bad as it smelled. And it smelled like dirty feet. It is an acquired taste that some love and some hate. Our guide, Wee-Seeng, didn't care for it. Unfortunately the smell lingers for a while and he had to roll down the windows when we got back in the car. Apparently, it makes him gag. I wish I'd known. Cuz it was not good.

I think may face says it all. At least I can now say that I tried it. Well, that's about it for now. I'll post some more pictures of Singapore later.