My Easter Break With My Family To The Maldives

It is a long post over 2000 words, “Read It At Your Own Patience!”

On March 30th 2012, my parents and I left home to the airport after a light meal. We were dropped off  at Terminal 1 where the check-in counter of Malaysian Airlines was. The check-in was fast as no one was in the line. But it was packed with people who were leaving Hong Kong for Easter break at the Custom/ passport control, it took ages but it was O.K for me. After passing through the Custom, my dad wanted to look at some shoes in the shops so we went, then my mum wanted to look at some handbags. It was pretty boring…

Next, we went to the Traveller’s Lounge, it was again full of people but we found some seats so we were lucky. Later, our flight was boarding so we left the lounge in a hurry for no reason or perhaps my parents could not stand the crowd. We went there and we boarded the plane. The plane was a 777-200 bound for Kuala Lumpur, the plane was nice and big. I started surfing the in-flight entertainment but then it was cut by the safety video, I thought to myself it was so annoying. I had a power nap and woke up just after it took off…

I went on the in-flight entertainment and continued watching movies. Since it was about 2:30 PM I didn’t try to sleep. I watched a few movies – Aliens In The Attic, The Simpsons and Top Gear. The landing was very smooth except the brakes were hard when it touched the ground; and everyone went forward in their seat but the seat belts kept us from not falling. After we left the plane and went to the Malaysian Airlines’ lounge because we had to wait for our transiting flight to Maldives. In the lounge I had two small packs of peanuts and a Coca Cola, there was a TV and the replay of the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Malaysia was on so I was in luck. About 20 minutes later, we boarded the plane it was a 737-800 bound for Male International Airport. The plane had a touch screen in-flight entertainment system, so I was impressed and the safety video wasn’t on the in-flight entertainment system, the flight attendant did a demonstration of it. I was again surfing the in-flight entertainment, I watched some documentaries on sports such as Formula One and Tennis it was interesting. Before landing I started drifting to sleep again and when the plane just skimmed the tarmac on the runway I woke up. About 5 minutes later my family was out of the plane, going as fast as we could to beat everyone else through the immigration. We were the first ones to pick up our luggage and we left the terminal remember I was in Maldives and we were going to take a speedboat to this resort called Four Seasons at Kudda Hurra. The speedboat took 30 minutes and it was about 10 PM at night. The ride was super bumpy, we were sitting down on a seat there was a handle and I had an iron grip on it. We were the only ones on the boat so it was private (excluding the Captain and crew).

We arrived and the hotel staff greeted us, they were very nice. One of the staff went to get a buggy so he could bring my family to our villa, they took care of our luggage. We were only staying at Kuda Huraa for one night as the next morning, we needed to take a seaplane to another Four Seasons Hotel at Landaa Giraavaru. When we arrived at the villa I charged to the bed and jumped on it, I took off my shoes and relaxed. A whole day of traveling I was relived that I could sleep in a real bed. I took a shower, brushed my teeth and went to bed. I woke up next morning and my parents were already awake, we did what we would always do in the morning and went for breakfast. I ate a lot, so I was very full. I walked around and played around with my mum’s new camera. I took a lot of nice pictures, I might put some photos on this blog and show you how beautiful the scene was. A couple of hours later we boarded a speedboat to go to this floating jetty on the middle of the water. A seaplane was waiting there for my family and other passengers who were going to the same hotel – Four Seasons at Landaa Giravaruu at the Baa Atoll. It was a very small plane called Twin Ottor airplane, the seats were small but I didn’t really care because the flight was only 30 minutes and we would arrive at paradise soon. They provided earplugs, I already knew this because I had been to Landaa Giravaruu before. The seaplane was very noisy and my earplugs couldn’t block the noise completely, it was stuffy inside the plane and I was irritated. When we landed I was delighted because I knew we were in paradise. We boarded a speedboat and went to the main jetty at the resort and the hotel staff greeted us all. My Uncle Armando is the Regional Vice President for the Four Season Hotels. We were invited to stay at his home – the yellow house.

When this Four Seasons Hotel at Landaa Giraavaru was almost completed in 2004, it was destroyed by the tsunami. Luckily, Uncle Armando was safe from the disaster. So, the owner of this resort hotel had to spend more money to rebuild the island resort. Part of this island was actually man-made land. It has only 100 villas, almost all of the villas are built on the water.

When we arrived, it was about 3 PM in the afternoon so I was filled with energy. My parents took a shower and I watched some TV. After a hour my parents asked each other if we should eat late lunch. I said O.K and my parents thought the same thing too. We went to Cafe Landaa, I ordered a coke and a burger with french fries, my parents ordered something Indian that I had no idea what it was called. After we finished the food,we went back to the house and watched some T.V before uncle Armando insisted that we should go to the Sea Bar with him, he said it was very new. We went there and we learnt that it was built on the water, and it was made out of wooden planks and they put everything what would be in a bar right on top of it. There were tables, nice designed chairs and lying down cushioned seats or you would call it bed, where you could just enjoy the calm breeze and the colorful sunset . We sat on one of those lying down seats set on the edge of the planks, there was no fence or whatsoever if you could fell down or roll over and drop into the water. You had to take off your shoes before you step in to the Bar restaurant so it felt very homely and casual.

After my parents had a good long catch-up with Uncle Armando at this beautiful bar, he brought us to the Arabic restaurant for a late dinner. I was very tired since there was a 3 hours time difference between Hong Kong and the resort. I was starting to get drowsy. My parents and Uncle Armando went crazy and ordered a lot of food that we knew we couldn’t finish. I wasn’t that hungry but it looked like my parents were starving so they ate a lot of Arabic food and I ate not that much. I had no idea what the foods were called so I couldn’t list them out. For dessert I had a babyccinno, honestly it was not bad. After Uncle Armando took me and my family back to his house, we watched some TV. While I was playing my itouch, I was eating an ice cream; then we went to bed. On that day I found out this really cool game called Dream League Soccer. Since then, I was addicted to it.

The next day we were invited to a cocktail at a beach. It was during the sunset time, the cocktail’s set up was fantastic with good food and good drinks and also had some local dancers doing the Maldivians traditional dance.  The sunset scenery was unspeakable beautiful. This kind of memory would keep you alive for long time. It made even special for this occasion that I met my good school mate -  Alpha Adventurer 15 there in the cocktail. He and his family were there for the Easter break too. What’s a small world! They were very nice and we greeted each other. The two families were chit chatting and sharing their experiences. I was playing with Alpha Adventurer 15 at the beach, then we saw a dead cat-fish lying on the beach, all the little crabs started eating it.  But I guess that’s the way of life.

The following morning at Landaa Giraavaru, we woke up very late. We did everything that we needed to do in the morning and then went for breakfast at Cafe Landaa. I ate a lot of food, I thought it was the most I could ever have eaten in my whole life. After that, we went to play some tennis for 2 hours. After lunch we went back to the house, my dad and I swam in the ocean and it was really fun. Then, we thought it was not enough, I told my dad that we should do some snorkeling, so we went. We got the gears on and off to the water.  We saw many different kind of coral fishes. They were just beautiful. I saw this multi color fish which was huge and I really meant it.

After spending some time in the water, my dad had a rest and  watched a movie called “Snakes On A Plane”, it’s not for children I assured you. I kept bugging my dad to play some frisbee with me and I finally cracked him. We played for an hour. I was good at that. My dad made me run a lot, and we were playing in sand so it was hard to move, sometimes it went in to the water, it was hard to get the frisbee out because the strong currents. My mum wanted to take some photos of me at the beach, I was o.k with it. Afterward we had a drink at the Sea Bar again, the Sea Bar was very cool because it was built right on top of the water. I really enjoyed the moment with my parents, sitting down with my favorite drink on my hand, making jokes with my parents, watching the sunset, feeling the sea breeze, listening the sound of seawater and smelling the freshness of sea wind. I really thank to my parents. They really love me. I hope this memory would stay with me for long long time.

We later went to Fuego’s a fish restaurant, personally I didn’t like fish that much, so I was not that excited to eat at the place. Well! Every meal had some fish in it except dessert, I had a chocolate sundae it was legendary I swear! After we finished dinner we went back and my parents forced me to go to sleep because it was late while they watched some TV with Uncle Armando and ate some fruits. I secretly played my iTouch. Until I could hear foot steps. For some reason I fell asleep so fast.

After few days with full of activities, I wasn’t that pumped with energy but I tried not to show it. My family had breakfast and we saw Alpha Adventurer 15 with his family. After we finished breakfast, we went for snorkeling again. Snorkeling is one of my most favorite things, but sometimes I had problem breathing. When my dad and I went into the water I didn’t put the breathing tube properly into my mouth, the whole time I had the same problem. But eventually I had no more problem. It was very enjoyable, I saw over 100 different types of fish. In the distance I even saw a eel, but the staff there said they are vegetarian. In that late afternoon, my parents and I  went for a sunset fishing trip. We were full of excitement as we had no memory of doing it before. We boarded to a local made boat and set off to the middle of the sea to fish until around 8pm! What was the score??? My dad caught a little coral, I caught a small coral fish and my mum caught a bigger fish. It was a fun day and this was my first fishing experience.

The next day, Alpha Adventurer 15 asked if I and my family could go to the beach with them and do some water sports with his family. So we did and I had one of the most memorable time of my life. We did a water sport that was using a speedboat pulling a raft. We sat down on the raft which looked like a giant sofa while the speed boat pulled the raft along and we bounced on the waves at sea. It was so fun! I wanted to do it again and again. The waves were really bouncy because it was generated by the speed boat. Afterward, I and Alpha Adventurer 15 did some swimming and talked about soccer and then we went back to our villas. The next day I and Alpha Adventurer 15 did some snorkeling together and he had the problems with the tube for breathing. But, again we got to see some very cool fishes. The same day he and his family took the seaplane and left Landaa Giraavaru island and moved to the other Four Season resort at Kuda Huraa for few more days.

Before we left the resort, my parents sponsored a coral frame dedicated to me to help the Maldivians reef. This project is called “Reefscapers” which runs programmes at the two Four Seasons islands of Kuda Huraa and Landaa Giraavaru in the Maldives. What I had to do is to attach coral fragments onto the coral frame before the marine biologists put it into the sea. Then the coral fragments would grow bigger and bigger over time, eventually it would create more coral reef and new habitats for the sea life. I was very happy about it. The marine Biologists told me that I could view my coral frame through their website as they would take photos very six months. There was a tag with my name and a code attached to my coral frame. My Uncle Armando told me that I have to come back and visit it every year, I was OK with that. Then before we left my dad and Uncle Armando said that if he came back to the Maldives, he will come to Hong Kong. They made a deal and I was happy with that.

After we did the same travel experience again…

I really had a great time with my parents. My mum always says to me that togetherness is very important to our family. But building some unforgettable memories are equally important for our mind. Do you agree with that?