12. Park Hyatt Maldives (III), Malé
Day 4
Feb 10, 2013. Happy Lunar New Year! The year of snake.
We woke up at around 7:10, and for some odd reason, we decide to take a morning walk, instead of going straight back to sleep.
And surely enough, early birds get the worms. We caught the first light of the new year, and it was beyond words. Off to a great start of the new year I suppose. But also our last day in paradise. Sigh~ we will miss this place greatly.
At 7:25, The first light of the year of snake. Or as the year of "little dragon", to put it more eloquently.
We had one final round of morning swim in the main pool, followed by breakfast, and a final walk about on the island. Boy, where did the time go? It was as if we just checked in the day before, and could barely hid our broad smile when we saw the island, let alone the excitement when we first entered our villa. Wow!
It is worth mentioning that during breakfast, all the Asian guests received a starter plate with dim sum, instead of the aforementioned tuna wrap, to coincide with the New Year. What a nice touch!
Dim sum breakfast: shumai and steamed pork buns, with freshly pressed green apple juice.
At around noon, the staff came in to the villa, checked for the iPad, took our luggage, loaded them onto the electric buggy, and after one final check, we said goodbye to our home for the past 4 days. It was the first time we were saddened when leaving our hotel. It felt like something so wonderful was taken away from us, against our wishes.
The Dhoni, where we checked in 4 days ago.
Checking out was a breeze, after I signed over the bill, I handed them a few written postcards, of which they mailed for us, we walked to the the Dusk Jetty, and ready for our goodbyes. A few staffs were there to see us off, but our host, the Tajikistan girl was on break that day, and we were told she is off the premises. Bummer~
After shaking our hands one-by-one, as our boat slowly coasted away from the jetty, the staff waved at us enthusiastically. Maybe they knew we had a great time, or maybe they knew we'd be back? Whatever the reason was, I felt the gesture was genuine. After all, who wouldn't? If you get to live here and enjoy paradise, that is.
Goodbye!
As we sped away from the island, I had to control myself from asking the crew to turn around. As the island disappearing from the horizon, we knew we had done something right, and this trip will go down in our memories as one of the best yet. It was like... sipping a glass of well-aged wine, the memorable after taste was all that mattered.
Malé
Before you knew it, after we reluctantly got off the boat and a quick plane ride, we were back in Malé.
Days ago, I tried to book a submarine tour, but the website wasn't working properly, so I turned to the hotel front desk for help. Last night, during the BBQ, our host informed us that she personally took over the task to book the trip, but it was full. I was impressed! All I had to do, was inform the front desk what I wanted, and the request past down smoothly. I wasn't expecting our host to call every hour, nor was I expecting our concierge in Malé airport doing the same either!
Turned out, our guy in Malé knows the tour manager, and they had a hotline going. If there's any last minute bug outs, we will know.
Instead of letting us wandering into the main island alone, they even provided us a guide at no cost. On top of that, seeing how hot it is, he went into the lounge and grabbed us some ice cold water, we were being pampered for sure!
We boarded a "slow" ferry and soon headed to the main island. The cost was 15 Maldivian dollars/$1US. Seeing how we didn't have any Maldivian money, our guide took care of it without hesitation. ^
The Presidential Jetty by the airport. Fancy!
While walking around the island, he regularly checked with the tour operator. Turned out his real job is in the airport administration, and has a wide network connection. There were people kept coming up to say hi as we walked on.
Street of Malé. It was a Sunday, but Sunday is their Monday as they are off on Friday and Saturday. Interesting.
The Presidential Palace.
Part of the Maldivian military. Notice how clear the water is, even in the port?
The Presidential Jetty, on the main island. With bunch of Chinese taking photos. The canon was a left over from the Portuguese, once dominating the island in the mid 15th century.
As we walked along the port, our guide told us due to the size of the island, one can walk from any point A to any point B on the island for only 15 minutes! And unlike some other guides, his purpose is meet people from all over the world, make some friends, and get off work for a few hours. Ha! And on top of that, he doesn't work for commission, so that's another plus.
Local market. Some unknown fruits.
Local fish market. Industrialized hauling is not allowed, everything is caught the old fashion way.
Friday Mosque
The 1988 terrorist attack memorial by the ministry of defense. The only part of the building, where photography is allowed. The hole was the result of bombing.
Sultan Park. A park and the National Museum.
As you can see, there's not much growing on the grounds of the park. The nation suffered greatly from the 2004 tsunami, and the highest natural point in the nation is only 7ft above sea level while the tallest man-made building is only 15 stories. I sure hope things like that will never happen again.
After the tsunami, China poured in a great deal of aids and money to help out. And that is why, outside the museum, a plaque proudly displayed "China Aid" was featured. The exhibition inside the museum was haphazard, with clothes from different sultans, 10th century Muslim artifacts, ancient Buddhist items, and other historical souvenirs. We stayed in there longer than we should, because the building was A/Ced.
At our request, we went to a local eatery wanting some real Maldivian food for our late lunch. We ordered a fish and soup combo. It was so-so, tasted like a hybrid of Thai and Indian. But I guess it still beats the variety of Chinese food being brought out to the tourists. Our food alone cost $29, yes, it was even more overpriced than the resort.
Afterward, we strolled back to the Sultan Park, and walked past a mosque within the complex. It was built with ivory, and according to our guide, 1000 years ago.
We were granted photos otherwise forbidden, again because of our guide.
The weather in Malé was hot, hot, HOT! Unlike the resort, it was hard to get a breeze. At some points we were just in awe as we saw plenty of school children getting off school in their cumbersome uniforms without breaking a sweat. I was already sweating like a pig!
At close to 6pm, with no last-minute submarine cancellations in sight, we decided to head back to the airport, shower, eat and relax before boarding our flight at 11:30pm to Singapore.
Our last Maldivian sunset. We took the speedboat back. Cost was only $2, and only took 3 minutes instead of 10.
Despite how hot it was walking around the streets of Malé, we still had a great time. Our guide was friendly, informative, told us about a great deal of history, their lives, and what happened since the change of power and how their current situation is. It was one of the best guided tour I've been on. I guess what really made the difference, not just because of his attitude, but that he didn't "force" us to buy souvenirs and such. He treated us as friends.
With his special access and connections, he got us into the lounge for free and made sure everything is ok before he left. Against his wishes, we gave him a $30 tip (the Hyatt concierge suggested that $5-10 is enough, and we later found out some of the locals only make $5 a month). However, 90 minutes before departure, he emerged again, and led us through the airport, skipped the long queue, and got us to the custom checks, otherwise would take us 30 minutes. What did we do to deserve such top notch hospitality?
After the security and customs was the shopping section. Sad to say, we both thought they could of done much much better with the souvenirs. Instead, they all looked kind of cheap, with the majority of them came from massive production in a Chinese factory. Otherwise, there was a great selection of tea products, all from Sri Lanka. We would of be happy if there were some local hand crafted goods.
At around 11pm, we walked the airport tarmac for one final time. Onto a SQ333 we go. This has been an amazing and unforgettable 4 days in our lives. We will be back!
Next up, Singapore.