A 1 hour flight from Columbo, and 30 minutes back in time, and we are in The Maldives capital, Male, an island that's 2kms x 1km! There's a new airport built on reclaimed land adjacent to the capital, which freed up quite a lot of land for development. We transfer to our hotel, "Velassaru", by 20 minute speedboat ride, to be shown around by Olga, a Russian lady, who should never meet a guest! She doesn't like the sun and can go home in 15 months! The hotel is owned by Maldivians, recently refurbed, cutting edge everything and very, very good!
We have a bungalow on stilts, right at the end of a boardwalk, perched over a coral lagoon, great breeze and perfect view of the sunset. Basically, it's 6 days of R&R which involves eating, drinking, sleeping, sunsets on the chill deck while drinking, (lots of Pina Coladas in Angelka's case), snorkelling, tennis,(while being distracted by fruit bats) gym and reading books (the BBC News website too, to feel very smug) with minor altercations, like fish flying through the air in groups of 50-100, marching in step past our deck once a day, around 4.00pm, a movie on the beach, a visit from a friendly heron, the frisson of visiting jelly fish and a baby shark trying to consume a shoal of fish close to shore, a pair of manta ray elegantly gliding by, a full moon beach party.... all, while sipping nine espresso flavours from the machine in our room!
It's a long time since we've had an extended beach holiday, the dynamics have changed, predominately Western Europeans have been added to, significantly, by Russians and the Far East, especially South Korea and China. It must be quite difficult for resorts to judge cuisine as well as cultural differences. In the days of Vlad Putin, a lot of Russian gentlemen think topless for breakfast or the gym de rigeur, while topless for women doesn't really respect a Muslim culture! Apparently, 28 Chinese tourists lost their lives over the course of the last year, while out snorkelling, it appears they don't get coral and the water environment, and panic as a result of being brushed by hard coral, or moved by the gentle tides.... The government have now been forced to issue instructions to hotels as to how this problem must be dealt with!
A great spot, well looked after, pristine flora and fauna, and very, very relaxed! I'd recommend this hotel, more than any other resort hotel I've visited, www.velassaru.com, it's cutting edge everything, however, very understated, quality, class, great management and staff, in their words, the highest standards at affordable prices.
We track back on our routing, first to Columbo, and then to Bangalore. Our flight back to Blighty leaves at 8.00am, as we sit in the back of a taxi heading for a non descript airport hotel, a text pings in to say we've been delayed until 2.00am the next day. Typically, the text is great, but there's no dedicated telephone number or web page to help us sort out their mess! Over an hour waiting for customer services and we are no further on! So, we check out, go 30 miles into town, meet all the happy, smiley faces at The Ritz-Carlton, who recognise us, and set off into town to do some of the things we missed first time around, like the Bangalore Biere Club, to drown our crocodile tears!