Crystaldewgems....: Assalaam Alailum Maldives (Part 1)

The meaning of the title is like the official greeting in Maldives.
And yes, I'm back from my Maldives trip! Absolute awesome! : ))
And moi could only thank Lawrence for this trip. If not for the fact that there was some work to be done at the Male airport, I would never had the chance to visit Maldives. A visit, such as this, exist purely in my dreams...

The sun was perfect (there were a couple of rainy mornings / noons though) but mostly everything about the trip was awesome. Oh, besides the fact that there was no beer, I repeat NO, NONE, ZERO alcohol in Male but I guess I did survive quite well.

Initially we were supposed to stay at Adarran Club Rannalhi for 5 days, which Lawrence's agent had arranged while Lawrence needs to complete his work in Hulhule Airport but it turned out the resort did not have the flexibility to arrange transfers to and fro the airport. Ermmm wait, I corrected myself yah, they WILL transfer Lawrence to and fro, only if we pay USD$500 per single trip. Eh do we look like farking retards to them?! Per day charges would be USD$1,000 and multiply that by 5 days would be USD$5,000. Eh, even if I REALLY LOOK like a farking retard, I wouldn't spend that 5G at Rannalhi lor. Oh pleazzzzzze! TSK TSK
Plus the beach bungalow kinda smells like sewage (it was old, built like million years ago... KIDDING!) and there were really ants all over the bathroom. Lawrence was ok with that, he said it's norm to have ants since we were surrounded by vegetation. Doesn't make sense right, when I mentioned we were staying in a beach bungalow but surrounded by vegetation. Bleah
Seems like the beach bungalow and/or garden bungalow is surrounded by vegetation and takes 10 steps to the waters so I really do not get the difference between the two. However the ONLY plus point of Rannalhi, in my opinion, is the great views. Crystal clear waters and no dead corals lying in the white sands, stabbing your soles..

After staying for a night (we arrived at night thus needed a room), we insisted we wanna check out. Lawrence needed to work and nobody is gonna shell out 5G for the transfers. The resort insisted we pay the charges for the remaining days and wanted us to sign some form of declaration that we were "pleased with the hospitality of Adarran Club Rannalhi and that we are leaving on our own free will and we won't hold the resort responsible blah blah" PUIIIIIIIIII leh
I'm ok with them insisting on the payment ( I understand there's a losst of opportunity cost) but the letter?! Dun add oil to the fire what! (Anyway that letter is attentioned to Lawrence, should get him to scan to me and post it up). The resort people wanted to hold us back coz Lawrence refused to sign the letter. He declared that since his agent was the one who made the booking, the agent should advised us whether we should sign that letter or not. We tried to stall the signing of the letter by telling the staff that Maldives is 3hours behind Singapore and that since it was like 4plus going 5pm, we couldn't get our agent on the phone.

The staff was all frustrated (I don't understand why they were, we already paid up), why did they insisted on our signing of the declaration form?! Anyway the porters were loading other guests' luggage on the speedboat and the staff were still trying to debate with us. I nearly panicked when the guests started boarding the boat, I was like I'm so not gonna stay at Rannalhi another night! Finally we were let off without the signing of the letter which Lawrence told them the agent would revert instead. Thus we begun the journey back to Male and gotten another room in Traders' Hotel instead. Male is like 15minutes away from Hulhule Airport and it only cost USD$1 per trip to get to the airport. They have this airport ferry service which operates every 10minutes. Apparently if one works in the airport, one gets free transfers! That's really like hooray! :P

And Traders Hotel is like 10 times better than Rannalhi lor! Clean and brightly lit room, no sewage smell and I get some views of the sea. And I get AXN too hahaha! Dun wanna miss my CSI what...
Male is like tiny, erm I had basically finished most of the sightseeing venues in like 3hours.
I spent 2 days in Traders Hotel, at the rooftop pool. Lawrence gotten a day off thus his associates arranged a dive trip for him. And I tagged along even though I couldn't dive. I stayed on the dhoni (a type of sailboat widely use in Maldives) the whole time whilst he was in the waters. And got seasick the moment my feet laid on land. Lol...
Most nights if he ain't working, Lawrence would accompanied me for dinners. We had been to recommended places such as Seahouse and Seagull (best ice cream in Maldives). The only grudge was I had not tried any Maldivian style cuisine yet. The places we been to all recommended western food such as beef steaks or pasta... Hmmmm

There were a few things I realised about Maldives.
1. Most of the Maldivian people I met HAD BEEN to Singapore. (and they told me they like the food at Newton Circus! WTF, confirmed tio tok wan!)
2. No beer in Male but I'm pretty sure the locals get their high from RedBull. (They drink kofi and Redbull even at hours like 10, 11pm..)
3. PRCs are as abundant as white sands in the Maldives. (Everywhere was infested with loud, camera flashing, Crocs wearing PRCs. OMFG!!!!!)

I'm fine with point 1 and 2 but I'm super horrified at the sight of colorful Crocs anywhere I turned. Okies basically I heard the PRCs first before I saw their Crocs approaching. Geeze! Lawrence is more tolerant, he just turned a blind eye (and deaf ear) to them. I didn't take any pic of the PRCs, I do wish I did then...

Arrival hall at Hulhule Airport.

Lawrence playing with his Iphone while waiting for someone to pick us up.

I really wanna pose with the thumbs down sign but can't be bothered lar...

Luv the different colors in this picture

FML, there was something on my lense or else this picture would looked kinda cool.

Finally on the speedboat to Male!

The bathroom looks out to the bed in Traders Hotel.

Pretty toiletries box, luv the orange, so Hermes-like! :P

At Male jetty.

A common sight of rows of bikes.

Luv the vibrant greens and yellows in those tubs of blues.

I couldn't resist a picture again when I walked past them.

Tanning at the infinity pool.

Every room has a picture of the some fishes tagged to them. Ours is a clown fish!

Seahouse

I luv the sunflower garnish!

Mine was a course of chicken in some creamy sauce and beef in some tangy dark sauce which Seahouse named this dish as "Black and White" Amused ttm