nothing particularly exceptional happened over the last few days- just that the weather made a turn for the worse and gone were the lovely blue skies :-( but thank God we had plenty of it during the first few days rather than none at all. On one of the nights, we experienced a real thunderstorm in the middle of the night when the seas became all choppy and the wind was blowing like crazy. I retired early to the cabin that night and it was certainly something else to have your room swaying all around and listening to the sound of the angry sea as you drift off to sleep.
Day 5:
We had assam fish for lunch on the fifth day!!! with thick chunks of pineapple and okra with the fish chunks :-)
assam fish// spring rolls// stir-fried chicken chunks + kangkong// crackers// carrot salad ( shredded carrot+ coconut + tuna chunks make a wonderful combi)
need i say more?
Afternoon consisted of napping, scrabble and more napping in the lounge.
and dinner was exceptionally interesting that night! ( and that's saying something, considering what we've been having)
pasta penne in tomato sauce// pan-fried fish// five-spice chicken (SO. GOOD.)// long beans// shoe-string fries// salad
I don't even know what cuisine this is....western? asian?? fusion??
The fish slabs were ENORMOUS. just one of them could probably make up a meal on its own ( sleeping + eating all day..... don't dare to weight myself after this hahaha) I took the fish head because i'm strange like that :-)
and to reiterate my above point.... we had brownies with chocolate ice-cream for dessert. The brownies were homemade by the chefs and they were so light and fluffy, i almost thought they were healthy. there's really no end to what the chefs on board can do.
more scrabble and lepaking post dinner.
Day 6:
breakfast the next morning: tuna toast and freshly baked bread were the specialities :-)
i don't even need to repeat what I've been doing.
pumpkin curry// fish fillets// ladyfinger and long bean tempura ( best tempura I've eaten in a while)// black pepper chicken// coleslaw
I love how my plate is always so colourful!
yogurt with honey and sweet juicy mangoes post lunch :-)
And since i wore a really colourful dress that day..... time for photos! Unfortunately the colour of the sky didn't match the colour of my dress.... ( but that makes for greater contrast??? idk)
pardon for the narcissistic spams.
gave up on my model attempts and reverted to my natural state in the end. career options do not include modelling obviously.
Dinner that night- our final dinner on board- was mind-blowing, even for the chef's standards.
aglio olio// beef chunks// seafood pizza// kang-kong ( of course, to keep up with the fusion theme)// roast potatoes (which somehow tasted so good??? with minimal seasoning??? how do these people even do it)// caesar salad with cheese chunks and egg.
The pizza was so good.....I'm drooling looking at this.
Dessert was some frosted cake made for one of the people on board as it was his birthday. this utterly convinced me that these chefs NEED to open a restaurant.
Had a long h2h talk with mom after dinner which gave me plenty of new perspectives.
Day 7:
Last breakfast criesssssss :-( no more selection of eggs in the morning, no more warm chapattis with fish curry.....
Scrabbled & slept the morning away.
And for our final lunch: (sounds so ominous) porridge again!!!
with fresh squid added into the mix this time-how many porridges do you see that have more ingredients than rice???
the new addition was some fried chicken drumlets :-)
then shortly after lunch, we reached Male, where we were given a few hours to roam around the city. (That's if it can even be considered a city- it was so small!!! the 1.5 hours given to us to roam was way too long a time)
there was a fruit market where we saw fresh coconuts for sale!!!!
we got some to try- it was sweet and after we were done drinking, we simply handed the empty coconut over to the stall owner who helped us to cleave it into two to allow us to scoop out the flesh.
he also cleaved off part of the husk to be used as a spoon- ingenious and environmentally-friendly! I approve :-)
found that that the fruits in Maldives basically consist of 40% banana and 40% coconut, which was what most of the stalls sold.
after purchasing a few souvenirs from some souvenir shops with cut-throat prices prior to bargaining, we headed back to our boat for a final pack-up and distribution of fish.
thankfully, the last sunset was a beautiful one :-)
This is how our boat looks like!
Really going to miss the sunsets and its so strange to think i was just there 24 hours ago, even as i sit here in the comfort of my home typing this out. Holidays just have this surreal feeling that makes you feel like you're out-of-touch with the real world- in a good way.
the fish distribution process was an amusing one- there was so much fish to be distributed amongst the families that when it was all laid out on the ground, it looked just like a fish market, especially when everyone was gathered around and people were shouting the names of the fish. Should've taken a photo dang......
they prepared for us tuna sandwiches pre-departure to the airport!
our meagre early dinner ( compared to the extravagance of the previous ones hahaha) since we were to have dinner in the plane later on.
there were packets of instant noodles lying around which we also utilised for dinner! it was such a far cry from the previous dinners, it was comedic.
cutie parents and their huge bowls of instant noodles because we couldn't find smaller bowls.
Left for the airport soon after and I had a fitful night's rest in the plane because I was freezing so i only slept for one hour.
=family with a huge fish that I caught on one of the nights! it was so tough fighting with the fish but i can see why people like fishing because Man vs. Fish is really exhilarating and challenging especially when said fish is huge like above=
And thus, this concludes my trip to the Maldives. It was a great getaway while it lasted and although i wouldn't say it has been the most exciting trip, it was certainly a laid-back and relaxing one like no other. I really would miss that feeling, especially when next year is going to be hell on earth :-( but it is a sad truth that all holidays must come to an end, and until my next holiday, GOODBYE.
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