Maldives :: Wish you were here

Wow. Almost 4 weeks has passed. Marriage life is no joke. So much things to do and very little time. LOL! Anyway, my honeymoon trip was supposedly to be a surprise from my mother-in-law but I found out soon enough when she started asking for my passport. I must be like the luckiest person in the world right now.

Why she chose Maldives is something which I am still wondering. Maybe she wanted us to do nothing. Heh. True enough, there was nothing much to do but chill out. Anyone who is into water activities will definitely love the variety available (from sailing to scuba diving) but us being city slickers, we just toured round the small resort island, enjoyed the breeze and slept through most of the time. Talk about doing nothing, this is the ultimate of nothingness.

Maldives is made up of groups of small and lonely islands (nearly 200 groups!) with population of only 300,000. Located at the Indian Ocean, there are two regions, the North and South Atoll. We stayed in Full Moon Resort which is near their capital city (about 20 mins ferry ride) Male (pronounced as Mah-Lay) located at the northern region. The locals speak Dhivehi and some English. It is a Muslim country and entertainment (clubs, cafe, shopping...etc) is near zero. You can finish walking from one end of the city to the other in a mere 30 mins. It is that small!

Maldives is blessed with gorgeous shorelines, lots of sunlight and clear waters. I spent most of my time here feeling ala CEO taking a break from stressful work.







If you are feeling rich, you can 'upsize' your standard guestroom to this luxurious hut on the shorelines at 'only' US$400 per night. Yikes!




The reception area with interesting architecture.


You will see more boats than cars.


However, the most strangest of all boats was this one. Still trying to find its model and make number,



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The strangest thing about staying in the resorts is there are no free ferry rides to their capital city. I am guessing they prefer their guests to stay put at their resort. We had to fork out US$28 per person for a guided tour which I strongly resent on paying. Being the cheapo SGrean, we wanted to make our money's worth and hopefully to see more of their city and culture but due to bad weather, we only saw like a few buildings. It was a complete bummer.

Maldives Islamic Centre.


Botanic Gardens. Formerly belonged to the Sultan and now open to public.


A typical street shot.


My other half calls this the 'Shinjuku' of Maldives. She has never been Japan.



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This time we went on another tour round their smaller islands hoping to see local people. They are generally camera shy and hard to come by.

Brotherly love.


Some other resort under construction.


Absolutely nothing.


Mother and son. (Man U boo!)


Houses made of corals.



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Sunset at Maldives. The lights over there are beyond words. For a landscape enthusiast like me, it was simply breathtaking. I enjoyed seeing the view more than shooting. Something which I will miss a lot about Maldives.

Shooting the sunset.


Ray of lights.


Stormy weather.


Just after a heavy storm.


Lone ship along the horizon.


Spokes.



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Every morning, we are greeted with majestic lights. I found my sweet spot at this jetty here which leads to Aquum Spa.











Morning beachcombing



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Night scene over there is equally captivating. I have never seen so many stars in my whole life. I felt like a kid all over again. I simply had to take some long exposures (15mins) to capture the star trails just to please myself. Please excuse the CMOS noise.





Thank you for viewing.

Great shots!! It must have cost a bomb to be there~~ HAHA!! HaiZz Maldives have always been my dream as well... Oh ya.. Did u take any HDR this time? Any IR? Hmm...

Oh my god , Nice pics...... you are such a lucky fella to land ur feet on this paradise. Maldives is always one of the destinations on my Holiday List. How much did you spent in total? Mr A.Khoo , are you very tempted to go Maldives now??? hehehe.....

Hey hazmee, thanks u for the wonderful pictures and breath taking narration of ur beautiful trip. All the travel tips will be really useful if any of us r gg for the trip. Thanks for sharing the unique experience. Photos wise i cant really comment as they are all out of my league. But i love the nasty fish eye u got there. Really a twist in everyday photography. The photos will be real good reference for newbies like me . I can sure use some of it as examples. Thanks again ur a real gem!!!

Admin wrote:Great shots!! It must have cost a bomb to be there~~ HAHA!! HaiZz Maldives have always been my dream as well... Oh ya.. Did u take any HDR this time? Any IR? Hmm...

There are a few HDR but I dont remember which ones. LOL! Yes it does cost a bomb but I am glad I didn't know how much it was. Hehehe. Start saving now!

Elaine wrote:Oh my god , Nice pics...... you are such a lucky fella to land ur feet on this paradise. Maldives is always one of the destinations on my Holiday List. How much did you spent in total? Mr A.Khoo , are you very tempted to go Maldives now??? hehehe.....

Thanks Elaine. I don't know the cost of whole flight and accommodation. I did ask travel agent and it should be around S$2-3K per person. Yikes!

latinsnake wrote:Hey hazmee, thanks u for the wonderful pictures and breath taking narration of ur beautiful trip. All the travel tips will be really useful if any of us r gg for the trip. Thanks for sharing the unique experience. Photos wise i cant really comment as they are all out of my league. But i love the nasty fish eye u got there. Really a twist in everyday photography. The photos will be real good reference for newbies like me . I can sure use some of it as examples. Thanks again ur a real gem!!!

Hello latinsnake. Glad you like the photos. I will post more of the travelling tips when I have time. Cheers!

Shall be awaiting for more of ur posts~~