網誌分類：Travelblog |
If you've really been reading this Little One, I hope you had Easter holidays on your side of the hemisphere and enjoyed it. This blog will be extra long, in order to make up for lost time.
It wasn't as if the ink had dried y'know...it was just that Yours simply and Her Highness swapped 5 days of damp and dusty Hong Kong - very briefly - for a short sojourn to none other than this...
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the 椰林樹影, 水清沙幼...a la 馬爾代夫 (Maldives)
I know what you might be thinking, coz 麥太 was so fond of saying to 麥兜 that 「發了達就帶你去馬爾代夫。」 Nope, we did NOT win the Mark Six, but there was some splurging to book the water bungalow in which we stayed... that we did so was strange, really, considering that the first thing that Her Highness-the-tour-organizer said upon seeing those sturdy little houses was, "Thank goodness, I thought those were going to be built on measly bamboo sticks."
No wonder she was even considering whether to cancel our holiday 2 days before we departed. It goes without saying that it took all 3 inches of my indestructible tongue (and a quick virtual spin around Google Earth) to disabuse her of the notions that A) the recently-tsunami-affected Solomon Islands were anywhere close enough to induce any overnight disappearance of the Maldives (with us on it) and B) "No Mom, they don't build no more water bungalow on bamboo sticks coz you saw those last in Philippines 20 years ago".
After these initial pains, it took us 8 hours worth of flying in total (transit at Singapore) before we reached Malé International Airport (pronouced Ma-lee with an accent on the "e" - being the capital of Maldives) and also another 20 minute pitch dark speedboat transfer to the hotel only to find to find a pretty cold reception awaiting us. I do mean it metaphorically and literally, coz I have never in my life been to a tourist destination where:-
- The answer to "Can we have some lime and hot water" was met with a blunt "NO" and end-of-discussion sort-of sniff by the restaurant waiter when huge bowls of limes were sitting at the dessert end of the buffet table;
- A request for extra shower gel from the attendant who brought fresh beach towels (why didn't we have enough in the first place??) was met with an gruff "WHY couldn't you have said so earlier?"
- A complaint to the reception that we where charged for beer from the minibar that was never consumed (now how did that happen??) was a blithe, "You go talk to the boy who cleans the room, not me." (then plop of receiver being slammed down plus dead ringtone in my ears);
- An enquiry of whether we might book the same boat for fishing (after we had already booked it for snorkeling) was met with a melodramatic eyeroll, sigh, headshake and "tch tch tch!" of the particularly sour-faced tour relations lady. as if to combine those two activities on a fixed 4-hour boathire session was a massive project.
I believe my shock was compounded by the fact that I had thought that people from sunny places had compatible temperaments. Evidently I was wrong because the only nice person around the place (our ever-grinning, always-obliging housekeeper-in-chief) was Sri Lankan, and it was even before any of the above incidents unfolded that he had gently and politely informed us that, "We, Sri Lankans, laugh and smile a lot, them the Maldivans, do neither too often."
Hmph, such beautitude graced by people with such attitude - no wonder it is said that the Maldives are going to sink in less than 20 years.
Then again, you see those dark clouds hoverin' above the turquoise blue water in the photo above? Perhaps it was the stormy weather put them in a foul mood. Can't say I was that disturbed though, perhaps it was the novelty of having a room with a view like this:-
Anyhow, with the arrival of Ah Fu, Kummo and her photo-sniping friend the day after, and sobering of the weather on day 3, the rest of our vacation started to really brighten up...
Let's say I'll leave more of the fun stuff for Part II.
