Plan B….for Bangkok

Written by Aus aboard a flight out of Bangkok bound for Beijing, March 25th


To start this entry, I think I have to start with a warning.....that this entry is likely not up to our usual standard, because we have been more focused on relaxing and enjoying time with our friends rather than with sightseeing or photography.  This post will be shorter than most, but that does not mean we have nothing good to report, it just means it is a short report. 

As we noted in our last blog, we had our plans for Japan cancelled due to the earthquake and the fallout afterwards.  We have now finished up with our new found time and our plan B, which was time in Thailand, and are now very excited to be heading off to China where we will meet my parents for a two week tour.  It was the one thing remaining in our itinerary that was very rigidly planned, and we are so relieved that it looks like it will be going ahead as planned.  We were certainly sad to miss Japan, but seeing China, especially with the company of my parents, will be great and I'm sure soon enough we'll forget all about the fact that we missed Japan.  In all honesty I suppose we are lucky that we chose to see Macau and Hong Kong first, as we would have been amidst the chaos in Japan otherwise, and I have heard that it is has been quite a difficulty getting out.  And although Thailand was only a plan B, it was a great way to spend a week before heading to China to meet my parents.  There is not a whole lot to report on over the past week though, but I will do my best.

When I last reported we were in Bangkok and had plans to head down to Koh Tao.  We did end up finding a bus to take as down to Chumpon where we caught the ferry wit the company Lomprayah over to Koh Tao.  It was a bit difficult finding 5 seats last minute for the bus/ferry due to the fact that there was a full moon party on Koh Tao’s neighbourng island, Koh Pha Ngan, which shares the same ferry service.  However, we did manage to get some seats for a daytime bus service leaving early in the morning and still getting us to Koh Tao same day, so we grabbed those and were bound for Koh Tao.  The bus ride was long, but comfortable.  The ferry ride was another story!  It was a crazy ride due to extremely rough seas.  We had difficulty staying seated and had to try hard not get tossed around, let alone keep from getting sick, which most people were unable to manage.  I never thought I would see it myself, but unfortunately we can now say that we have seen true projectile vomiting, from an inconsiderate passenger who placed himself directly upwind of the bulk of the upper deck of passengers, and proceeded to try to keep it overboard but managed to spray about 20 people seated behind us.  Thank goodness that our crew of 5 were seated out of the path,  but it did take effort not to make it a chain reaction as you can imagine, it was not a pretty sight.  Anyhow, we survived the ferry ride and did not get thrown into the sea, and we were extremely relieved to be back on dry land when we hit the pier in Koh Tao.

Some photos.
Street food in Bangkok…and I’m still alive!

The ferry ride from hell, before we knew it was going to be hell!…

Being blown away!

The whole reason we were going to Koh Tao was because Tim, who had recently qualified as a divemaster, was seeking further qualifications as a scuba instructor, and he had been in contact with a PADI career development centre where they conducted the training, so he was heading there to start his training for a month.  Trouble is, being in 'Thai mode' for a few months, Tim had not taken the time to learn where this place was or how to get there, so we ended up on a bit of a detour for the first night.  It really was no trouble, as we got to discover Sairee Beach further up the island, but it was amusing that we spent our first day and night on the island searching for a place that was about 100 metres from the pier where we landed.   When we did find the spot we were looking for we all settled in and got comfortable.  Kim and I, having just been frustrated with an unsatisfactory room in a crappy guesthouse the night before (complete with brown water and and a smell of sewage leaking all over the floor), opted to stay in a mid-range hotel instead of another Thai standard room at Crystal Dive resort with Tim and Terry and Rachel.  So, we grabbed a room at Montra right next door, and we ended up with a very similar situation to the one when we had when visited them in Lonely Beach on Koh Chang over Christmas. 

Once all settled in and comfortable, we enjoyed some much needed chill time and beach time on Koh Tao, and we also of course took the time to do some diving.  I was unfortunately nursing a cold, so I opted out of the 2nd day's diving.  The first day's diving was fine, but we had some very low visibility, apparently due to the full moon.  Also, we ended up missing seeing the first dive site due to a few miscalculations on the part of our divemaster, and we did not see anything all too spectacular.  Plus, on top of that, a few of the staff kind of rubbed me the wrong way, so I decided to skip the 2nd day.  Unfortunately for me, Kim came back with reports of spotting her first sea turtle on a dive, so immediately I regretted wussing out.  Oh well, I enjoyed my day of rest in the sun, and Kim of course has the sheer delight of bragging about her turtle sighting.  Apart from the diving though, not too much to report on in terms of activity, apart from everything you would imagine from being on a beach in Thailand with your friends.  We had a few days in the sun, had some beers and nice meals in those standard chilled out beachfront bars, and a big night out dancing at one of the clubs.  It was definitely not a sightseeing type trip, more of a relaxing holiday, so not good for blogging, but very good for our overwhelmed and exhausted state of being. 
Pictures from Koh Tao..

The lot of us…  Kim, Tim, me, Tez and Rachel…

The two of us, and some dork photobomber

Some frisbee on the beach in Mae Haad…

Our hotel’s wicked pool…

A Thai bar in Sairee called Lotus, recommended by our friend, Alex…

Diving…

This is Tim when we told him we were leaving him to his peace & quiet.   Just kidding, one of our night’s out.

The Castle, where they have a clever background show of silhouetted girls on a screen..

Our time in Koh Tao just flew past, and it all came to an end too soon as usual.  Yesterday on the bus back to Bangkok we were finally letting it sink in that our so-called free time on this journey is now gone, and we are now on a rigid schedule for another few weeks, which I think will be a good thing, as quite honestly we have little to show for our last week in Thailand.  I just hope that my parents are up for action, because the itinerary looks packed!  After China we are heading back to more familiar territory, likely direct to England for some time in Seaford with Kim's family and friends there.  We did have plans for a stopover in Iceland as well en route back to Canada, but at the moment flight prices are not cooperating with that plan, so we will see.  Either way, the end is most definitely in sight now, and we are trying to stay present and not get too bogged down with all the realities that await us when we finally end this fantastic journey of a lifetime. 

There has been a strange turn of events back home that is very sad for our friend Craig, who was with us when we were last in Thailand over Christmas.  We learned that his apartment building, and our former home – 4100 in Iqaluit, burned down to the ground last night.  Craig has lost everything.  We are devastated for him, but were so glad to get the news that he was okay and to get a phone call into him to let him know we’re thinking about him.   We've yet to learn if he has any insurance or where he will be staying in the near term.  Luckily he is safe, although he is obviously in shock right now.  It is strange luck for us however, as that was our former place of residence, and likely would have been where we resided when we return in a months time.  We have had the feeling that we have been on some sort of serendipitous path that has steered us eerily close to, but ultimately away from, all these crazy bad things happening, such as the earthquakes and the mining disasters in New Zealand, the flooding and the extreme weather in Australia, the volcanic activity that had preceded us in Indonesia, the chaos in Egypt and the rest of the middle east that ultimately had us miss Egypt as a destination.  Most recently there was the earthquake and tsunami and nuclear scare in Japan that we missed by a day, and now realizing that if not on this trip we also would be dealing with the same reality as Craig.  So we feel lucky that we have had all these amazing adventures and have avoided the problems that have been happening all around us.  We are certainly hoping for the best for Craig and all the rest of the residents of the building.  I guess we’ll have to see what the deal with our housing situation is in Iqaluit, as we we had just been riding a high most of this past week having just learned that we had been assigned staff housing  again Iqaluit, and are now wondering what will become of that, as obviously there will be some higher need individuals than ourselves in the short term… only time will tell.

In my last bit of news before signing off, I am a combination of disappointed and excited to report that thanks to Tim's insistence and hijacking of my computer and passwords, I have now joined the world of Facebook, so we will see how I deal with that, as in the first four days of being signed up, I still have not been able to bring myself to actually log on under my own volition.  Nothing against those who use it, but there are elements to it that put me off, and I think despite being a great tool for keeping in touch with friends and family, I fear it as a dark side.  Anyhow, enough of my own personal struggles with Facebook. 

I promise that next time we will have more exciting things to report, as we are currently only hours away from touching down in the world's most populous nation, and one of the biggest cities in the world, Beijing, where we will be seeing my parents for the first time since last September.  We are obviously excited about our adventures, and we hope to have some time to take a break and post an update.

All the best to our readers, and especially to Craig and anyone else affected in Iqaluit. 

Cheers,

The Knotty Travellers

The Best Laid Plans…

Written by Aus aboard a flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok, Thailand on March 16, 2011



Well as the title suggests, we have been diverted from our planned route of travel.  We were hoping to see Japan before meeting my parents in China next week, but for obvious reasons we have opted to cancel our visit.  We sure hope that things improve for them soon, and that the country doesn't experience a nuclear meltdown as the news media likes to sensationalize.  We are of course sad that we won't get to see the country on this trip, but it sure feels selfish and small-minded to consider our inconvenience relative to the troubles most Japanese are experiencing.  So we are making the best of our situation, and hoping for improvement of their situation.

Anyhow, we were left without a plan.... and we had about 12 days to kill. We considered many different options, including southern China, Taiwan, and even South Korea, but in the end we decided to go back to Thailand.  I was definitely curious to see South Korea, but after spending a bunch of time in Hong Kong and Macau, we felt we were ready to get a break from big cities, so Seoul was less appealing.  Plus, we have been attracted since the time we left Thailand to get back there as we felt there were parts left undone, and to make our decision even easier, we learned as well that we would get to see our friends Tim, Terry, and Rachel who we spent time with on Koh Chang on our last visit to Thailand.  This time we are all bound for Koh Tao on the west side of the Gulf of Thailand, and we are quite excited.  Hopefully the weather is decent, as we have left it a bit late for visiting Thailand now and it is getting hot and approaching rainy season. 

If we had any idea that the earthquake and its resulting consequences were on the horizon, we likely would have decided to save Macau and Hong Kong for after China, and either extended our stay in the Maldives or perhaps arranged a visit to Sri Lanka, and likely would not have flown so far east as Hong Kong.  We are not psychics though, and we thought we were headed to Japan, so going to Hong Kong seemed like a smart idea geographically.  As it turns out, its not really all that big of a problem, as the extra time allowed us to extend our stay in Hong Kong and we enjoyed our time there, and now we're back to Thailand for more fun on the beach and hopefully in the water with our friends.  Koh Tao in Thai, apparently means 'turtle island', known for the abundance of sea turtles that enjoy the surrounding waters, so we are hoping maybe we can do some more diving, which we thought was over for this trip, so that’s a bonus.  Anyhow, for the moment I am chronicling our adventures in Macau and Hong Kong.

Macau is known as the gambling capital of Asia, and it lived up to its name for us.....reminding us of Vegas with all it's bright lights and towering casinos.  But there is much more to Macau that makes it a worthwhile visit.  It, like Hong Kong, is technically a Chinese territory, but is treated differently for political and tourism reasons, and is known as a 'Special Administrative Region', or SAR.  This means most importantly for us, that we did not require any visa to visit, and immigration was easy and straightforward.  Macau has a very heavy Portuguese influence, as it was a Portuguese colony dating back to the 16th century.  There are many churches and small cobblestone streets that are very much Mediterranean, all interspersed amongst modern-day Chinese society and contrasted with the Vegas-like casinos dominating the skyline.  It all makes for an interesting visit. 

Our time in Macau unfortunately was preceded by a marathon travel day from the Maldives that left us pretty exhausted.  We left our hotel in Maldives near noon, and then flew to Male, and then on to Colombo, and then on to Mumbai, and boarded our final flight for Hong Kong at 2AM, so we were already exhausted, and unfortunately did not sleep all that well on the plane.  When we arrived in Hong Kong we were absolutely zonked.  But we had to keep going as we were bound for Macau by ferry, which conveniently left directly from the Hong Kong airport.  The ferries here were amazingly fast and smooth, and we were in Macau before we knew it.  We met our hotel shuttle at the ferry terminal and proceeded to check-in to our room at the Royal Hotel and finally rest for a bit after the total of 22 hours in transit.  We were told upon check-in that we were on an 'executive floor' which included extra perks such as free cocktails and food in the lobby bar, so we were pleased with that feature, but for the moment we needed rest.

After getting a bit of rest and a feeling more human, we decided to hit the streets.  Before we left the room I noticed a small news story on the web about a quake in Japan.  I didn't take much notice of it though as I know they happen all the time there.  We decided to hit up the free food and drinks in the lobby before we went out, and while there we saw more news about the earthquake in Japan, of which they reported 19 fatalities, and now there was speculation of a tsunami to follow.  We began to get worried about our trip there, but still assumed we would be OK to proceed with our plans, as our route was mostly southwest of Tokyo, starting from Hiroshima.  As time went on though we began to realize that we may need to consider revising our plans.  We left the hotel hoping that things did not get any worse, and we set out to see the casinos, starting with one of the big ones, the Wynn.

Kim and I had been to the Wynn in Vegas when we stayed there in 2009 on a trip to California and Nevada, so we had fond memories of the Vegas Wynn, and decided to check out the one in Macau.  It was set up very similarly to the one in Vegas, in both architecture and design, but unfortunately also in the stakes of their table games, so we had to give it a pass, as their minimums were beyond our maximums.  We strolled around and enjoyed the atmosphere, but we did not play.  We did a similar tour of the MGM and cruised a few of the bigger casinos before finding one I wanted to gamble at.  We settled on a little one called the President, and I tried my hand at Blackjack.  I started out with a little hot streak and then when I started losing I decided to walk out while I was still ahead.  It only took about 5 minutes for me to get my thrill, and I had won 100 Patacas!  I suppose in the interests of disclosure I should tell you that that is only about 14 dollars, so I guess I get cheap thrills, as that was enough for me to not want to piss away gambling further.  It was fun, and I had enough money to be really classy and buy us both dinner at McDonald's.  Some photos....

Not in Macau, but en route via Colombo, Sri Lanka, where they are cricket crazy and hosting the Cricket World Cup…..

Now in Macau, cruising the streets riding high after winning such a large amount from the casino…

After all that excitement and roller coaster ride of fortunes won and lost, we headed back to the room to get a much anticipated night's sleep in a real bed again after missing out on our sleep the night before.  When we got back to the room we turned on the news and saw that things in Japan had indeed gotten worse, and that the US Government was advising their citizens against travel there until April.  That was the final nail in the coffin for us on making the decision to cancel our plans for Japan, and we hopped on the phone and cancelled flights and hotels.  It was now official, we were not going to Japan, and we would be without any plans again after our 2nd night in Macau.  We headed to bed unsure of what to do, and we let all the options swim around in our heads. 

We woke the next day after a nice long sleep-in and further pondered our options.  We decided we would likely take the time to explore Hong Kong for a few days, since it was right there, and we contemplated how best to use the rest of our time, but were again paralyzed by an abundance of choice, so we focused on enjoying the present and set out to explore old Macau.  Luckily, Macau is very easy to explore on foot, as its all quite a small area, and we were able to see quite a lot in just an afternoon of walking around.  We found some of the old Macau interspersed with the new, and we had a great day exploring.  Here are some photos. 

We found a little park that had all these exercise machines for public use…it was fun!

As I said, we had a good fun time exploring, and we took every opportunity to goof around, as I was doing here on this giant keyboard…

We found this robot that could solve a rubik’s cube in like 2 minutes, impressive!

After exploring Macau for the day, we again hit up the freebies in the lobby bar, and we tried to formulate a plan, but were again foiled by our indecisiveness, and left it to be decided while in Hong Kong.  We opted not to visit the casinos again, as even though it was only a small amount, I still like the satisfaction of walking away up on a place. 

The next morning we were bound for Hong Kong, and we spent the time in between trying to figure out our next move, but suffered our chronic indecisiveness that accompanies a world full of options.  That evening we briefly explored the area surrounding our South Pacific Hotel, and we found a big market and a general city atmosphere of eastern and western fusion that is very much Hong Kong.  Hong Kong is a huge city that sprawls out all over the place, and it is full of Skyscrapers, but also contrasted with lots of surrounding green space.  It seemed to be full of expats, and reminded us a lot of Kuala Lumpur due to being so multicultural, but Hong Kong seemed a bit more modern and wealthy.

We spent our next day exploring more of Hong Kong, and Kim enjoyed the chance to get some shopping done.  I spent my time walking around and found the botanical and zoological gardens, and some more city atmosphere surrounding Central Hong Kong.  That evening we went  up the Peak Tram to see the sunset over the city.  It was a nice view, but the seemingly constant haze over the city made it difficult to get any amazing photographs.  It was a nice day, but we both felt that we were not blown away by Hong Kong.  We enjoyed our time here, but we also felt that we had perhaps seen enough of cities, so we became less excited about a trip to Seoul.  Some photos from Hong Kong…

First thing, each part of the world we visit has new things to discover, and they are not always the ones you imagine.  Sometimes its things that are not ground-breakingly relevant, but they are weird and catch you off guard nonetheless.  Here is Kim being puzzled by a non-refrigerated chicken leg being sold at a convenience store….

And another Hong Kong mystery, the computerized toilet

   

 

















The Hong Kong skyline…from the ground

The Hong Kong skyline…from the top of the peak…

When we got back to the room that night it was crunchtime to formulate a plan for the next day, but we found it difficult again to hatch a plan we were both excited about.  I don't know if its finally reaching a point of planning exhaustion, or the disappointment of losing out on our Japan plans, or just general travel fatigue, but we were very overwhelmed again by the choice of what to do with our 10 unplanned days.  Luckily, our decision was made easy for us when we learned that our friends would be in Bangkok, with plans to head further south and check out another island we had been curious about--Koh Tao.  So we easily decided that was as good a plan as any, and we set the wheels in motion to make it happen.  Trouble is, Kim I think was a bit overwhelmed and exhausted, and instead of booking a flight for the next day so we could rendezvous with our friends as planned, she booked a flight for 2 days away.  It was a bit of a tragedy at the time, but after a few minutes we were able to laugh at it, and we decided that in all likelihood that if we went to the airport the next morning ready to go and willing to pay a change fee, we would be able to get on the plane.  So we headed to bed after a good chuckle optimistically hoping that we would be able to fly the next day.
When we got to the airport the next day, Kim was left with the decision on strategy towards getting on the plane.  She opted to play dumb, and we lined up and tried to check in as if we were booked on that day’s flight.  Well I felt sorry for the clerk, because she was scrambling and trying to figure it out, but after a consultation with her supervisor, she came back with the bad news that we were a day early.  I tried to contain my mixture of amusement and disappointment, and we then headed towards the customer service and ticket counter.  Well this time my amusement quickly faded, as we were told straight away there were no changes allowed, and the only way we were getting on the plane was by buying a whole new ticket.  It was not a ridiculously expensive flight, but it was no small change either, so we did briefly consider the idea of just buying the ticket since we had already made the long journey from downtown lugging our bags on subways and many long walkways.  We could just not bring ourselves to shell out all that extra unnecessary money though, and we hoped that our friends would wait for us in Bangkok before departing for the south as they planned.  In the meantime, rather than going all the way backwards in our procession towards Bangkok and going back into Hong Kong Central, we opted for an airport hotel and planned to ride the cable car up the giant Buddha that afternoon.  Unfortunately though the weather did not cooperate and we had some massive rains and winds keeping us in our room.  No big deal though, we found a mall attached directly to our hotel, and we had an interesting meal of Teppanyaki for the first time.  It was good, but I think I still prefer a good old plateful instead of heaps of randomly grilled ingredients served on tinfoil.  We chilled out and took the time to get ourselves organized etc. and tried to make the most of our time indoors.  Kim tried not to feel too bad about herself as we wasted the day away knowing that our friends were laughing at our situation from Bangkok.

Contemplating life and travel, en route to Hong Kong airport

In the end, it was all fine, and it has the added bonus of being a good story to tellm and that I can tease Kim about for the rest of her life, which is always nice, and I’m sure she’ll appreciate that.  And we are now on our way back to the backpacker mecca of Bangkok, anxious for some more good times with friends.  We have had some great adventures since leaving Thailand last, and we have found ourselves in many places far from the established backpacker trail.  We did struggle a little bit with breaking from our trip’s theme of always going forward and exploring new places, but we will be seeing new parts of Thailand that we are excited about, so we are willing to sacrifice the extra badge of honour that comes with each new country visited.  What can I say?  We would have loved to have been seeing Japan right now, but at the same time we thank our lucky stars that our plans were still so flexible, and there is no financial penalty associated with our dropping Japan from our itinerary.   In fact, we stand to save a fair deal of money by missing Japan and sticking to cheaper territory in Thailand, so that will certainly be appreciated when we get back to Canada and have to deal with our new financial reality of relative poverty. 

As I type these last few words in preparation for hitting my publish button, I sit comfortably in a cozy little place in Bangkok’s Rambuttri neighbourhood near the famous Khao San Road.  We have indeed successfully rendezvoused with our friends, and are planning to head to Koh Tao tomorrow morning.  As we have recently learned though, sometimes the best laid plans just don’t work out… so we’re doing the Zen thing and are ready for anything that comes our way.  We are now at the point in our trip where it is almost an effort to ensure that you focus on enjoying and savouring every last moment, as the natural inclination is to become depressed that the trip is coming to an end.  We now have little room left for spontaneity, and we are taking everything that comes our way as an adventure and trying to be ‘in the moment’ as much as possible, as soon we will be out of moments.  The more we travel the more we realize how precious our time is, not just on this trip, but in life, and we are so proud of ourselves for making all this happen while we still can.  It’s funny, as when we started this whole trip we set out with a fairly well structured idea of our route, even if not precisely planned with regards to dates etc., and we have seen our plans altered by many unforeseeable circumstances, such as the unrest in the middle east and the recent natural disaster in Japan.  It just goes to show you that you can’t anticipate the future, as much as you try and plan for it, and if there’s things you want in life, you need to go out and go for it while the getting's good, as things can change on you fast.  That said, I think our plans for life and the medium term future are perhaps less certain than we expected, and we are now preparing ourselves to be flexible if our best laid plans don’t work out quite the way we expected. 

In closing, we hope all is well with our friends and family and other readership, and we look forward to seeing many of you increasingly soon.  All the best.

Cheers,
The Knotty Travellers

Heaven is a Place on Earth!

Day 176  - Written by Kim en route from Male, Maldives to Hong Kong/Macau, via Colombo, Sri Lanka and Mumbai, India


There is a heaven, and it is the Maldives!  A tiny, isolated, country made up of many tiny little islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean, who would have thought that it was here that you can find heaven on earth?   It’s an interesting story about how we came to find this little paradise.  As many of you know, as part of the travel theme at our wedding, we had boarding passes made up to act as name tags at the reception.  Each table was identified by the name of a country rather than a table number, and people were seated based on where their boarding pass said they were travelling.  I decided to label the head table as the Maldives.  I wanted somewhere unusual, and decided to Google what the smallest country in the world was.  Apart from the Vatican, the Maldives was what came up as the country with the smallest landmass.  And with that, the Maldives became our head table and it will forever be intimately linked to us, even if irrationally. 
After we decided to make the trip to the Maldives, I did a little more research and discovered a lot of interesting facts.  For example, did you know that the Maldives is so small that in fact many scientists believe that as a result of global warming (ice melting and ocean levels rising) this little country of islands will no longer exist by the end of the 21st century?  In fact, I read that the government tourism agency for the Maldives even considered a slogan that read something like, ‘get here while you still can’.

I also discovered that the Maldives has been under the dictatorship of Maumoom Abdul Gayoom for the last three decades.  Our Lonely Planet guide informed me that because Gayoom runs the Maldives like a giant tourist corporation, he is jokingly referred to as the country’s CEO.  However, the way in which he rules (with an iron fist that often includes human rights abuses and police brutality) is nothing to laugh about.  In fact, I agree with the Lonely Planet author who feels it’s a shame that his shocking tactics are virtually ignored by the rest of the world.

My research also revealed that the Maldives, like any country, has its fair share of problems.  Currently over- population is plaguing the capital, and a nearby island is beginning to be built up in order to cope with the overflow.  Some other interesting details about this little country include the fact that with the help of the Japanese, the Maldives built a huge sea wall around the island capital of Male with the intention of protecting the countries only city, and therefore the countries lifeline.  The sea wall proved handy on the 26th of December 2004 when the Maldives was hit by the Indian Ocean Tsunami.  Though Male was spared, 21 other islands were devastated, leaving 108 dead, and over 11,000 people homeless.  A large number of resorts had to close.  One resort was totally abandoned, but the others were rebuilt within one year.
The more we read about the Maldives, the more we learned about this little paradise and the people who inhabit it.  The Maldives may be small, and the population little, but boy, are they mighty!  There were many attempts to colonize the Maldives throughout history, but none were successful.  To this day, the Maldivian people remain friendly and welcoming, but intensely independent.  Interestingly, the Maldives claims that 100% of the population are devout Sunni Muslims.  Unfortunately, our only interaction with the people were with those who worked at the resort.  As it turns out, a special permit is required to visit any of the inhabited islands, and almost never are foreigners allowed to stay overnight.  Instead, visitors are ferried from the airport directly to and from their resort, of which each usually has it’s own island.  Tourists are permitted to take a pre-set tour of Male, the capital, or they can opt to visit an island with a village, but usually only for an hour or two.  All these visits are organized and include structured interactions with locals.  Because it is extremely uncommon and difficult for tourists to explore the Maldives independently, it is very unlikely that any visitor will get a true and authentic look or feel of the country, its people, and its way of life.

With its colourful history and despite the cost, distance, and difficulty to access, the Maldives did not disappoint.  The long trek was a fun adventure that included my first trip on a sea plane!  We made sure to fully enjoy all that the resort had to offer, not knowing if we’d ever make it back there.  Our beach bungalow was the perfect hideaway.  With beach access, a jet tub, an outdoor and indoor shower, as well as AC and plenty of space to sprawl, our room was our haven.  We opted to borrow the complimentary kayaks for a paddle around the island on which we saw lots of fishies and two giant manta ray.  The first thing you notice when you step off the plane is just how clear and blue the water is, it was even bluer than we imagined!  While at the resort we spent as much time as we could in the ocean.  We made use of the available masks and snorkels and enjoyed afternoon snorkelling sessions around the resort’s house reefs.  The resort also had a dive shop and we were able to get out for two dives.  We had planned to do more, but after an air gauge malfunction on Austin’s first dive, and a faulty mask and BCD inflator hose problem for me on our second dive, we decided that we would stop at that.  The issues didn’t take away from our enjoyment of our surroundings on the dives.  We saw a spotted ray, a number of lionfish, a moray eel, a clam emitting what looked like red smoke, and many other tropical fish and colourful coral.  We had hoped to see sharks, or turtles, as is often seen on dives throughout the country, however we did not.  We still feel lucky to have had the opportunity to dive in a country well known for it’s underwater beauty.  The sunsets were also a daily treat as we enjoyed evening strolls on the beach.

Not only is the Maldives the smallest country we’ve ever been to, but Austin and I agreed that it is the most beautiful beach destination we’ve ever been to.  That’s quite the accolade considering we are both well-travelled and the fact that I grew up for a time on the glorious island of Bermuda.  However, to the detriment of many would-be visitors, the tiny country also gets the prize as the most expensive place we’ve ever been.  We had previously considered the Maldives as a stop on this trip (after India and before Africa), but decided it was way out of our budget.  After a couple more months on the road, and motivated by intrigue and excitement of world-class diving and warm temperatures, we ignored practicality (our budget) and booked a flight and five nights accommodation at the 5-star Hilton Iru Fushi Resort and Spa.  Why not?!  You only live once, and who the heck knows when we’ll next be in this neck of the woods and in the game of travel, you gotta take the good with the bad.  In attempt to pull off this luxurious stop over as affordably as possible, we had pre-studied the menus of the hotel’s restaurants and saw that a meal would run about $30+ a head. So, we loaded up on soup, Mr. Noodles, and other snack foods before leaving Jordan.  The preparation paid off.  We managed to not to spend a single dollar on food while in paradise.  We did however make the absolute most of the incredible included buffet breakfast and did not feel as though we went without, despite not splurging on the meals.

Anyways, enough chat!  As with all our posts, pictures speak volumes, so no need to continue with the novel.  Here are pictures from our fabulous five days in heaven…

Our first taste of luxury… the Hilton lounge where we waited for our sea place.  We were treated to complimentary massage, free eats and free internet access.  Bonus!

Excited for my first sea plane flight…

We had front row seats!  Interestingly, our sea plane was a Twin Otter, the same plane we frequently flew in the arctic from Iqaluit to Pangnirtung, and whose skies can also be sued to land directly on ice. 

A look from our window at one of the many islands we fly over…

Do you see that water?! Wow!

We’re here!

Our first glance at the resort… A-MAZING!

Our digs…

The room’s bathroom was a bit samll though as you can see, with barely enough space to fit the outdoor Jacuzzi and my favourite feature, the outdoor shower!

The access to the beach…

Our view of the beach…

A few more shots from around the island…

Aus cooling his feet during a very hot stroll on the board walk…

Our kayak trip around the island…

A look at the over-the-water bungalows that go for over $1000 a night!

One of the giant rays we saw.  It was almost as long as the kayak!

This area of coral was the best for snorkelling…

A couple shots from the dive boat.
Excited to get in the water…

Happy after our dive…

A look at some of the sunsets we enjoyed…

Completely relaxed, and clearly at ease…

The evening of our last sunset…

Lovers in paradise….

My extremely handsome husband…

Niiiiice!

Ahhhhh… how beautiful!  I already wish I was back there and I only just left.  Austin and I are now headed to Hong Kong & Macau, where we will spend a few days before heading to Japan.  At the end of this month we head to China to meet up with his parents.  We’re very excited!  We hope all continues to go well for all of you.  We think of everyone often, and as our time travelling ticks by ever so quickly, we look forward to being reunited with those we love and miss.  Before we leave you, Austin has put together this little interactive map to illustrate our travel route thus far, and to help you find all these curious little places on the map that we have been, and for those we’ve met along the way, you can also see our home way up in Nunavut on this map.  Here it is, if you are interested (you can use the zoom feature if you want more detail):

View Knotty RTW in a larger map</small

Cheers to all,
The Knotty Travellers