Lipsmacking Maldives

Maldives, named after the sanskrit Maladweep, or garland of islands, is a collection of 26 atolls, is on almost every persons travel wishlist. What is not to love about pristine beaches , clear blue waters, and tiny islands providing tons of privacy and endless instagramming opportunities.

Now an Atoll is a ring shaped coral reef which encircles a lagoon partially or completely. these coral reefs not only provide for a living breeding bio diversity spot which helps support the underewater sea world, and provides fantastic opportunities for scuba diving, but the coral reefs also break the onslaught of waves, and the tiny islands, present within these lagoons are almost always bereft of waves, and most often have shallow pools of water. essentially you have large areas of salty swimming pool like waters with the added advantage of swimming with live fishes. 

What did I say, Maldives is THE destination for adventure seekers, and leisurely laid back holidaying.

the first meal off our flight was a soupy noodles, a favourite with the chinese tourists, super value for money at just 6 dollars a humongous bowl.

I later found out that Maldives is the Gucci bag of holidays for the Chinese. They constitute almost a third if not more of the total tourists to Maldives, which ranges in the numbers of 1.5 million. in the year 2013 the number of Chinese tourists going to Maldives, crossed the indigenious population of Maldives. and the numbers don't seem to be reducing! Chartered flights, special discounts and chinese translators have helped make Maldives their preferred destination.

here is a video of our resort chef preparing a street style wok Noodles, which was a big hit with the Chinese guests as well as us. The use of Ice instead of water , I think is the key here. have a look at the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlQk8dcpOaM

sea shell shaped pasta, served in a creamy sauce with mixed seafood , consisting of clams,prawns,and fish

stir fried sea food,calamari and prawns in an asian inspired Wok style preparation

Tropical fruits, none of which is grown on the mainland, is almost all imported. the sunny island makes you want to eat healthy, not to mention the uber fit swim suit clad tourists

These calm waters were not devoid of their wild life . my vlog of the circling sharks during shark feeding , is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te93wPvynzg

tender coconut water, one of the only indigenous fruit found on the islands.

paradise perfection

our resort , sun island, had live barbeque everynight, with the fresh catch of the day cooked over the flames.

Maldivian dal, made with curry leaves and pandan leaves, is an ode to their Sinhalese ancestry. some of the earliest settlers were from srilanka, and Maldivian language, culture and food has many similarities.

we lived in these gorgeous watervillas which was surrounded by sea on all sides, infact it was perched on stilts right in the sea! catching the sunrise from the comfort of your own room, was the ultimate way to wake up to a day ont he island.

Another fantastic video of me eating banana chips while my brother snorkels in our back yard, it helped that we had a live coral patch walking distance form our rooms, teeming with colourful fishes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM494L28f8Y

a breakfast of three flavours of yogurt, half a dozen variety of fresh fruit, and muesli. most resorts offer a full board or half board package. we opted for a half board, which included breakfast and dinner. Needless to say we over ate at breakfast :)

Maldives is a completely muslim country, and here on this plate I had the best french toasts made with a raisin bread, soaked in egg, and doused in caramel sauce and dusted with sugar, and also my very first encounter with the 'beef bacon' . since no pork is cooked in most of the islands.these beef bacons were totally lean with almost no fat trimming!

anothersrilankan dish, string hoppers and kiri hodi. Kiri hodi loosely translates to coconut milk curry. this one had curry leaves and pandan leaves, it was tasty enough for me to contemplate a trip to srilanka soon.

Koi fishes at the gorgeous spa "aaram"

enjoying drinks under the swaying coconuts. checked off the bucketlist.

pose with tender coconut at the submerged pool bar. checked off the bucket list.

Azure, sapphire, sky ...blues, to drive the blues away.

Gorgeous blue seas had me going gaga, watch the vlog as I do my school girl glee :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQaZze80C14

To mark my dads 60 th birthday , this whole trip was his grand treat to us. this pancake with chocolate cornflakes, with maple syrup and cherries was my birthday breakfast creation for him. Something riffled up from the breakfast spread.

baby foodie was in his elelment the whole journey, he got special eggs every morning, preparedl lovingly by the restaurant staff of Sun Island resort, with butter and milk, whipped through an egg. yummilicious.

Travelling with family, means catering to everyone's different choices, and needs. so Beer, strawberry and cocnut milk mocktails, fresh oranges screwdriver and a Mojito all chilled at the bar.

Most of the staff was from Bangladesh. Here iqbal is cooking some of the most tender medium rare beef steaks, which won over even the most well travelled of tourists all the way from cornwall England.

^0 is a milestone birthday, and Maldives was a milestone holiday. Thankyou for travelling with us in our online journey of our travels.