There are 2 boats going, this is the other

Powderblue fish

Butterfly fish probably?

Parrot fish

Needle fish

A suddent drop off with some fish doing their fishy things

Back to the boat, one of the Chinese got a cut on his leg

Every morning and afternoon, one or two boats headed out from the jetty to various spots with 2 GOs organizing them. We had brought our own snorkeling gear since Club Med lends you gear only when you snorkel with them. The boat took us 25 minutes out into the Indian Ocean. There is a swim test with life jacket on before we took off. On our second excursion, it’s hard to relax and enjoy the fish while pushing other people’s fin out of my face, and try to ignore people bumped into me! There are less people in the morning. However, it was no guarantee of a good excursion. They do not pre-announce what sites are going to visit, but decide on the spot according to currents and etc. There are 2 of the sites we saw were deep – 20m, so if you didn’t do surface dives, its really limited what you could see. Lots and lots of fish, I’m so jealous to hear of many sea turtle sightings because we didn’t saw any.

We went sailing too. Again, swim test without life jacket is a must if you want to do it by yourself. If you fail or doesn’t want a swim test, the instructor will accompany you and bring you out to the sea. You have to be careful about tights. They have times listed on a board at the sailing shack.

Kayaking is tiring! We went kayaking for a few times. When there’s no wind, kayaking is good. The paddles are in plastic and metal. There are some small island that you can paddle to! Once we were ‘force’ (LOL) by Yuta the Japanese instructor to join his kayaking race in the afternoon. So we registered ourself and was exciting and looking forward to it. But unfortunatly, I was doing Paf-Paf and had forgotten the time and miss the race!

Heavy…ok!

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On the first morning, I was enjoying the beautiful scenery while waiting for the GO to attend us and introduce the village. There’s a big Chinese group with Mandarin speaking GO, but I might not understand what she said, so we opted for an English speaking GO who’s an Indonesian.

At the other side, opposite our water suite.

Scene in front of the main area in the village

A row of deckchairs in front of the swimming pool.

And suddently, I saw a Chinese lady sitting  in the shade below the coconut trees at the beach with an umbrella…

Lady and umbrella!

There are also 3 Chinese ladies wearing jeans, blouses and carrying branded handbags I thought they were shopping in Paris. When I came back from snorkeling during noon, I still saw them walking around the village with their jeans on! Too bad I did not take any photos of them!

Tell you a secret, on the second day, they were still in their jeans at the beach!

The Sunset Cruise

Sunset cruise is USD15 per person. The captain will drove all of us to the middle of Indian ocean to enjoy the sunset view, then we will have some boozes, the Filipino husband and wife will sing so that the dolphines would show up (so sad the dolphines din’t).

While waiting for our boat to arrive, every one saw a couple of eagle rays swimming in the crystal clear water at the wharf.

The Filipino husband and wife

Pirates! ..duhhh… Hahahaha… kidding…

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Paf Paf ticket and T-shirt. The T was not that good in quality. The staff recommended me to buy a slightly bigger T as it might be out-shrank after wash!! Ouchhh!!

This is a very popular hobby for people learning to design their own patterns on t-shirt. It’s also one of the activity that you can do when it’s rain. Templates of various designs are available, from coconut trees, to divers, variety of fish to sea turtles, from Club Med logo to wordings. I only have to dip the sponge into the paint provided and then “paf-paf” the paint through the templates onto the white cotton t-shirt.

Paf… Paf… Paf…

Washing

Cleaning and drying

The front and rear. I then realised I don’t like the front after I finished paf paf!

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We stayed in Water Suite and are simply the most beautiful and breathtaking rooms I have ever seen. It was built on stilts and enclosed by ocean water, creating a fantasy that the water is all yours and only yours! Each of the water suite has a terrace and you can go snorkeling right from your doorstep! I loved being able to jump right into the water from our suite and the idea of being away from the main area. We had brought our own snorkeling gear and saw some incredible exotic fishes, beautiful eagle-rays and cute baby sharks. There’s one baby sharks swimming beside me but she means no harm. We ran into a few of our neighbours from Taiwan and Japan while snorkeling off our deck.

Eagle rays, taken from our water suite

Baby shark

Apart from the panoramic view from the Indian ocean, our suite comes furnished with a huge kingsize bed with soft and hard pillows for a wonderful sleep, faces the french folding doors out into the balcony for amazing views in the morning. It has a small lounge, a double sink bathroom with an amazing free-standing bathtub looking out the architecture glazing to the wonderfull blue sea and of course, a deck complete with deckchairs and life jackets. There is a full walk-in-wardrobe which has a mini bar fridge and a safebox. We had mentioned that we were honeymooners and they had left us a nice welcome note, some fruits, cookies, chips, bubbly and soft drinks. The power outlet were UK style so I don’t need to bring a travel plug. If yours are different from UK style, there is a travel plug provided in the room.

You can have your breakfast served in your suite. Just fill out the form and hang it on your door before 2pm, or you can make a call start from 6am.

You definately should bring your booties to explore the resort as there’s a lot of broken coral in the water. On the other side of the jetty, the beach is more pristine and no sandals needed. Mozzies were a bit of a problem but luckily I brought the mosquito repellents.

Swimming pool facing the ocean

The Iru bar. No one around because it’s still early in the morning.

Discover their all-inclusive unlimited bar and snacking offering affords you the freedom to enjoy unlimited beverage and snacks.

Club Med wharf

Parrot fish and friends.

Titan Trigger fish. 50cm – 1m long and very aggressive. Divers and snorkellers recommended to stay clear.

Meals are all inclusive, including booze! The Kandu restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner all in buffet style. We enjoy the variety of foods – Asian and Western, and experience seafood at its freshest and best!. Oven-cooked, grill, fried, stir fry, steam, or prepared in salad or sashimi style… u name it! And you will have the G.O.s (Gracious Organisers), fun-loving, gregarious and multilingual young men and women sit with you during lunch and dinner.

Variety of pastry and deserts… (the pastry chef was french and the pastries were delicious)

Indian chef who make delicious sushi. He work in Club Med Hokkaido before and he will be transfering to Hokkaido again next month.

Lots and lots of sashimi…

Buffet themes, daily events and dress code info.

They have a theme with certain dress code each day and we have to go to the notice board for info, but it’s up to you whether to follow or not.

After dinner, we moved to Alouda Bar, adjacent to the Kandu restaurant right on the edge of the lagoon where life music, dancing and cocktail-imbibing lead the way. There’s also some performance staged by the GOs.

Outdoor dinner was served on the forth day at the beach with life music and it was a nice touch. We are all invited to wear all white.

On our last day, we left our baggage outside our suite for collection, and my hand carry at the reception. There’s also shower available once you’ve check out. I use it before dinner because I went kayaking in the afternoon. There are 3 shower rooms and they are super clean, with a changing area and some lockers.

We only have half an hour for dinner and the staff took our baggage to the wharf. As we left, the GOs waved untill we had gone… It’s that attention to service that made our stay special.

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Our magical journey begins on a 30 minutes speadboat ride. It was trilling and yet altogether mysterious at the same time. Lights from the fishing boat and many islands of Maldives dot the Indian ocean! A walk on the jetty flanked by clear waters and schools of little fish led to the island. No words can express the magical feeling of stepping onto the soft and white powdery sand – My holiday has started! I’m miles away from the hectic city life in Shanghai, I’m on this idyllic island!

Maldives, known as “the last paradise on earth”, with palm trees swaying, pristine white beaches and their brilliant lagoons all in an unspoiled tropical island. For beach resort, no place on earth can compare to Maldives… too bad her life cycle will last another 100 years!

We were greated by a team of friendly Club Med staffs who served us refreshing towels and ice tea with a traditional Maldivian music performance. Club med is a garden island emerging from the Indian Ocean. A village just breaking the surface of the water alongside a white sandy beach. This heavenly island resort is an unforgetable destination for romantic honeymoon and diving fanatics!

Happy honeymooning…

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After our inflight meal, one of the stewardess suddenly approach us:

S: Are you just married?
Us: … ermm, yes… (what’s going on?)
S: We got a honeymoon cake for you, do you want to have it now or take away?
Us: ???… we’ll have it now…
S: Ok…
S: Would you like some Champaign as well?
Us: Yes please!

3 minutes later….

One stewardess bought 2 cup of Champaign, some plates n spoons. A second stewardess bought the box of  cake. We are actually just expecting 2 small pieces of cakes.

The cake was simple but we were pleasantly surprise by this little arrangement. It must have been one of our best moment in-flight. The cake was pretty huge and we couldn’t possibly finish it. We are still wondering what to do with the leftover cake…

Perhaps there will be more surprise at ClubMed Maldives?? LOL…

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Collected this package from our tour agent this morning at Pudong airport. It includes an underwater camera, some useful informations about Maldives and ClubMed resort, a membership card, insurance booklet…etc.

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Egypt, New Zealand and Moscow… We finally decided to go to Egypt and Turkey for our honeymoon. The great Pyramids of Giza would have been a great spectacle and we could imagine ourselves enjoying the beautiful night scene from the decks of a cruise on the River Nile. We were full of anticipation and counting down to the departure date.

Then the travel agency recommended Mauritius. According to them, Mauritius was a relatively new route and customers who have been there were full of praise. We looked at the brochure and were captivated by the undersea walk and sailing on the catamaran. Torn between these 2 destinations, we debated the pros and cons. Finally, it seemed that Mauritius was a more suitable place for our Honeymoon. However, it really bugged me to hear that the package was only available in Oct. Feeling disappointed as my family will be visiting me in China, we told the agency to book our tour to Egypt and Turkey.

We looked at the itinerary and did some research on the keys sights hoping that it will enable us to appreciate the wisdom of ancient Egyptians. 2 weeks before leaving, the agency called us up to inform us that the trip was cancelled. Apparently 8 people had backed out at the same time. The rest was not enough to form a tour group. It was such a huge let down! We considered the options available to us given the short notice and choose to go with the sun, sand and sea of Maldives!! It was as if fate was guiding us to beautiful Maldives. What better way to have our honeymoon relaxing in the shade, looking out at the clear blue sea and feeling the sea breeze through our hair.

A week before our trip, which is 3 days before, the agency called up and said they miscalculated the package amount. As we will be staying at the water suite, we needed to pay additional RMB2,000 per person. As there wasn’t much time to change destinations, we decided to go ahead and book anyway. However, we did some checking ourselves and found that they really did miscalculated. Perhaps the tour agency should be more careful in the future with what they quote!

Maldives… HERE WE COME!!!!!!!!

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