We had improved weather in our last 2 days in the Maldives, so thankfully have had a bit more opportunity to get around the island. Of course we’ve continued to eat plenty of good food in between times. There are basically 3 places to eat. There is a buffet which has breakfast and themed dinners, a restaurant which serves good pub fare (steaks, pizzas, pasta) and a Japanese themed restaurant which was by far the pick from a food quality perspective. We did find that we really had to manage the wait staff to slow down the food service to a more relaxed pace congruent with being on holidays.
With the improved weather we were able to enjoy some of the activities on offer. We went kayaking in the coral lagoon around the island. Having not kayaked in quite a while and having my long legs not quite able to stretch out meant that it wasn’t an overly comfortable experience for me, but overall, it was good to paddle out the the edge of the atoll.
We also went snorkelling on the reef on the other side of the island. We have had some fish swim under our room and close to us. We’ve seen reef sharks, stingrays, reef fish and the odd bird come to visit, but nothing like the teeming fish on the reef. They are spectacularly coloured and there are big fish and little fish all going about there business. We were able to swim to the drop-off at the edge of the atoll, where the depth increases to about 20 metres.
Deb was straight in while it took me a little longer to get used to the swimming part. I’ve never been a great swimmer and having all these other things to concentrate on was a little challenging at first.
I mentioned earlier that there were a lot of Russians here and as native english speakers we were definitely in the minority. I wasn’t sure if it was that inability to communicate, that meant it was pretty hard to connect with them, with very few even acknowledging a smile. Many of the Russian family groups seemed to spend their meals together scrolling through content on their phone, possibly because they were getting access to content they not normally be able to access. It still seemed antisocial to me.
The one exception was a russian guy who is into music and photography, also two of my favourite things. He seemed to be travelling with a friend who was middle-aged, but had clearly forgotten how to do up his shirt buttons (not the best look). My new friend’s girlfriend whose name was of course Tatiana did not speak a word of english, but had the most magnificent and intricate braids, which incidentally I think she recreates every day because at night her hair is always down. It’s always good to find people that break down the stereotypes in our mind and travelling is a great way to do that.
We had our last buffet breakfast before getting our seaplane back to Male. Overall the stay at the Movenpick Resort Kuredhivaru resort was pretty amazing. The location is stunningly beautiful, even on rainy days. The staff were excellent, especially our concierge, Olga. The rooms are clean and well-maintained. There were probably two things that disappointed me. The quality of service in the restaurants was patchy. On one occasion they brought out a main meal while I was still eating my entree. The other thing is that they do misrepresent what the “All-Inclusive” package includes. Any additional items you buy are very expensive. A bottle of wine from the mini-bar will cost $70-$80 USD that you can buy in Australia for $20 AUD. So the package doesn’t really include that much apart from meals and a limited choice of wines and cocktails. Overall though a very enjoyable 5 days of relaxing after the busy Sri Lanka schedule.
Once in Male, we had the job of sorting out our return to Australia given that our flight had been cancelled. It took a good hour of constant sweat in a very hot terminal at the airport to get booked on the Monday flight. They did offer us an alternative to go to Dubai and then get a Brisbane flight from there. This wouldn’t actually get us back much sooner, so we decided to just stay in Negombo an extra day and fly back tonight. This meant we could go back to the Ceylon Club and have those Paprika Prawns we had on the first day here, a great way to book end the trip.
With that I’ll sign off the blog for this holiday. Thank you to all those who follow it. I look forward to doing more next time I travel.
It’s really hard to distill a busy holiday into a few key things, but for me in no particular order, Climbing Sgiriya (Lion Rock), Dambulla Cave Temple, Galle and the Le Grand Hotel, and of course our time in the Maldives.
For Deb, the key points the elephant safari in Dambullah, the sea at the Maldives and discovering egg hoppers for breakfast.
We’ve loved Sri Lanka, lots of friendly people who are passionate about their country. I had probably expected something a little more like India, but found something quite different. It’s not as manic or busy and the cities are clean and there is less traffic. For those considering a sub-continental holiday Sri Lanka is a great place to start.
Until our next holiday!
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