I had to change the
three-part series on Maldives into four because, well, I still have a lot of things to say and photos to share. I mean, it can't hurt right? You're not yet overly saturated with our
Maldives trip right?!? Haha! Actually, I had to add another entry for Male City, the capital of Maldives. But before that, here are the activities the friends and I enjoyed in
Medhufushi Island Resort…
These activities are not included in our package. We signed up for them separately and paid for them in the resort already.
Medhufushi has a sheet of paper given to us on our arrival where the activities, cost, and schedules were provided.
2. Kayaking (around $30). I'm not into water sports so I left the water sports to Eyecandy and some of our friends who signed up for kayaking. I stayed in our villa and took photos of them werkkking their muscles to row, row, row thy kayaks. They were given an hour to roam around the waters freely.
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| Eyecandy and the friends to the horizon! |
3. Jet skiing and Banana Boating. Medhufushi has only 2 jet skis and visitors are only allowed to use one because the other one will be for the guide who will be with you on the duration of your time in the water. The girls enjoyed the banana boat ride.
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| Do you wanna 'banana boat'?! (Sorry, an inside joke with the friends.) |
4. Snorkeling. It was quite funny that this activity is the only free activity in the sheet and we ignored it. Snorkeling is one of the must-dos in Maldives so if you go there, please do it! Simply put, we didn't see any underwater action (reefs, fishes, corals) in Maldives because we didn't go snorkeling (totally unacceptable, haha!).
5. Island Hopping. My idea of an island hopping is that we go to uninhabited islands, soak in the sun, and swim in the beach for a while. At least that's what most people refer to as island hopping in Palawan, Philippines. In Medhufushi, island hopping is going to the inhabited islands of the Meemu Atoll and seeing the locals. The community islands in the Meemu Atoll are so small. You can walk from one side to the other side in minutes!
Being a culture and history nut, this is the part I enjoyed the most, even if the sun is glaring at us most of the time.
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| On our way to the islands! |
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| Our island hopping buddies. |
We hopped on the boat again and went to
Muli first.
If you remember, I explained in the first few Maldives entries that Medhufushi is located in the
Meemu Atoll, one of the administrative divisions of Maldives. It is also known as Mulaku Atoll (or Mulakatolhu). It has 33 islands with only 9 inhabited islands. Muli is the capital of these islands.
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A rural scene from the Philippines Muli |
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| I miss seeing gumamela! |
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| The dock in Muli |
Have you heard of the
2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami? The epicenter of that huge and strong earthquake was in Indonesia but it was so strong (9.0 in the Richter scale) it created a tsunami that devastated parts of Maldives. Muli was one of those islands that was hit by the tsunami and many of its residents perished and lots of infrastructure were destroyed. Muli has long since stood up after that disaster.
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| The trees that grew up well into the new Muli |
Walking in the streets of Muli, I am reminded of the small baranggays we have in the Philippine provinces. The houses are small and commercial establishments are scarce but the air is fresh, the folks are friendly and simple, and the environment is conducive to live in. (I am such a probinsyana by heart!)
Walking through the streets of these little islands are so nostalgic. They have this unique charm to them that even if in my head I don't want to stay there forever, it's not a bad possibility.
After visiting these two islands, the boat took us to a lagoon (basically in the middle of the sea) where the other visitors can swim and snorkel. Having no swimming clothes with us, we stayed put in the boat and drank our sodas. After a few minutes, we went back to Medhufushi.
Medhufushi Island Resort also has interesting mini events for its guests. They have a DJ Night where ladies and gents can party like there's no tomorrow (or okay, until midnight). There's also a manager's night where we got to meet the big bosses of the resort from the resort manager to the recreation manager to the spa manager. It's fun meeting other nationalities! They're all so friendly and warm. The resort also staged a night for the presentation of Maldives' folk dance, Bodu Bero.
Bodu Bero is one of the most popular folk music and dance in Maldives, where one leader and a band of 10-15 people sing in chorus. The rhythm will eventually pick up and a few men will come out of the huddle to dance. E and the friends enjoyed dancing with the folks.
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| A community dance. |
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| The "fight dance" is fun to watch. It's different. |
The Filipino staff of the resort encouraged us to watch the Bodu Bero. We'd like to thank the Filipinos who we met in the resort especially Ma'am Cherry, an English teacher in the resort, and Sir RJ, the resort's head security. We're so happy to meet you po! Hope we get to see each other again.
Maldives truly gave me the shivers. It's so beautiful and serene that it makes me feel that I've just experienced one of the best (really BEST) things that the world has to offer. It ignited a whole new passion for traveling in me. The turquoise waters and the glorious sun, they're both screaming "Stop dreaming and get going!" I hope our travel entries in the blog inspire you to do the same.
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| Leaving our mark. |
Okay, so we're not yet done with Maldives because after our wonderful stay in Medhufushi Island Resort, we also visited Male City, the capital of Maldives. We had to include it in our itinerary because our Fly Dubai flight schedule doesn't coincide with our 4 days and 3 nights stay in Medhufushi. Of course we could've stayed 5 days in the resort but our bank accounts are busted as is. What we saw in Male and our final Eid vacation 2013 hurrah on the next entry!
Don't forget our tips in
planning for Maldives!
