Absolute Obscurity: Male, Maldives

last month, when i got to know that my company has arranged for me to go to Colombo and Karachi in May, i was so depressed. like why ME, and why these two places? darn. but 2 weeks ago, we (my colleagues and i) were told that Colombo is no longer where we're going, but instead we'll be going to MALE, Maldives. YAAAYYYYY!!! Male baybeh.. well that's because Colombo is in such a chaos now, and due to security reason, we'll be going to Male instead. free holiday in Male, that's freaking AWESOME.

see, i'm not the ~~bitchy~~ beach-ie kinda person. i don't like sea, wide-water, i don't know how to swim and best of all, i don't like scorching hot sun. friends went to Redang, Perhention, Bali, bla bla bla, i'm never interested to go because i don't see the point going there when i don't even know how to enjoy. but Male, it's just so hard to resist the temptation to not to go there. besides, it's FREE. so i'm fully prepared; beach sandals, short pants, bikini top, cap, camera and the most important thing, sun protection cream (MUST HAVE).

we departed from KLIA to Male International Airport on 15th May, 2005hours. once we reached Male, we were transported to our place of accommodation, Paradise Island Resort & Spa via speed boat. it takes around 20 minutes to get there. all of us got the super deluxe room and as you can see from here, all the super deluxe rooms are facing the beach and have their own terrace sitting area. SWEET! we couldn't see how the whole place looks like coz it was dark when we were there. *doink* but we knew, it's gonna be nice.
(p/s: you can look at the pics of the rooms from the website too)

the walk to our room takes ages. from the hotel reception/lobby to my room takes around 10-15 minutes walk. NO, i'm serious, no joke. blardy hell, if you forget to take something then that's it, you have to walk all the way back to your freaking far room, and once you're in the room, you're going to be so darn lazy to walk out again. not good at all.

Walkway to the rooms.

Map of the island/resort.

next morning, all of us woke up pretty early for free breakfast buffet. i went thru the backdoor to see how the view looks like. not really facing beach la, more like a small river but still, the water looks so clear. saw double rainbows leh. spotted a lot of sharks along the way too. geee...i think it's the tame tame one la, not great white sharks la. takkan they let the great whites to swim around the island and let humans go swimming, snorkeling, diving there right?

Can you see the shark? the blacktip reef shark.

when my friend, Cindy and i walked to the Main Restaurant for breakfast, we just went OMG OMG OMG nonstop. let me tell you, it is extremely gorgeous. beautiful, breath taking view, no better words to describe it and you'll have to see it with your very own eyes. trust me, it's really beautiful. speechless..

first day, Cindy and i just walked around the island. some colleagues went snorkeling. Cindy knows how to swim but she's afraid that she'll be drifted far far away by the strong wave. till then, she doesn't have to take the speed boat back to the airport as she'll be there waiting for us. haha...lame. went back to the room around 2pm and we went out again around 4pm just to catch the sunset. stupid clouds just blocked the whole view. bummer! when we were walking back to our rooms, we stopped by the water bungalow area to take some pics. saw two housekeepers who were cleaning one of the water bungalows, and me went over and asked them if we can look-see-look-see the water bungalow. one of the ham sap housekeepers said yes and there, we were given the opportunity to see the water bungalow. it's freaking BEAUTIFUL AND LUXURY. of coz la wei, one night around US$700 leh. then before we left, the bodoh ham sap housekeeper wanted to take a picture with us. but my so mou-yi-hei friend ran away and left me there, so i have no choice but to take a picture with him, with his hand all over my shoulder. fucker!! nevermind la, we got to tipu a bottle of water each from him too, so it's ok la. fyi, a bottle of water cost US$5. moral of the story, next time wanna go Male for holiday, bring own water.

Water bungalows.

Water bungalow.

second day, we decided to go sun bathing. so both of us wore our swimwear and went sun bathing. but seems like we strolled along the beach, took more pics and played with water rather than sun bathing. *teng* i met the Hongkie couple who were on the same flight with us when we came and they actually recognized me. hehe..what to do, i'm so nice. the husband was so nice, he offered me his goggles and asked me to join his wife snorkeling. according to him, what you see from the surface and underwater are very much different. i actually turned down the offer as i was so afraid, but after much persuasion from the wife, i decided to give it a try. plus Cindy was in the water too, she used her Daddy's goggles. so i just grabbed on hold to the handrail, stepped on the stones below and submerged my head. it was fun, i got to feed the fishes too. but i drank whole loads of salty water. yucks. we went back 3 hours later and slept for a while as we'll be flying back in the evening.

Me and Cindy.

when i woke up, i noticed that my skin looks different. holy cow, i'm having a skin allergic reaction. DARN!! i'm allergy to the sun. too long direct sun exposure. only the exposed part was affected. so definitely not the sea water. the part where i had my short pants and bikini top on aren't affected. how weird! it's all covered with tiny red dots and they itch and i look like a red red lobster. man, i'm meant to be a Puteri Lilin. once i got home, i went to the doctor right away. she told me that it's pretty bad and i have to get an injection for it. 3 creams were given to me; 1 for the lips, 1 for the face and 1 for the body. plus 2 different tablets; 1 for allergy and 1 for itch. KNS!!

WARNING: picture below might be a lil disturbing. geli!!
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beach is just not my kinda place/thing. though Male is extremely beautiful, been there once is enough. have to cancel my plan to join some friends to Redang in August and the PD trip in June, i'll consider that.

more pics...