At the beginning of September, Tim and I began our journey to the Maldives! Tim has worked hard over the summer without too many breaks, especially since I had left for and returned from Indiana in June and July. We were not exactly sure what to expect, but I think we were both anticipating a great week of rest and relaxation. As in our trip tradition, we took our first photo while on embarking on our long journey to the island country.
 |
| On the bus to the Incheon airport to board a flight for China, then eventually to the Maldives |
We always seem to have unique experiences during our travels
to our destinations. This trip was no different, of course. On the first flight to China, we took China Southern Airlines and since we were headed towards China, I guess they thought perhaps we desired Chinese; not bad, just...interesting, as airplane food typically is, I suppose. We weren't exactly sure what we were eating, but when you've booked a vacation in the Maldives, you take whatever free food you can get! Although technically it wasn't free - we did pay for the plane tickets - it's better just thinking of it as free (haha). It's all in your perspective, right? :)
 |
| Some kind of chicken and rice, mystery fruit, kimchi, roll, and sweet red bean dessert. Mmmm! |
We made it to the airport in Guangzhou, China, and Tim and I had to wait out a 21-hour layover. We decided ahead of time that we were going to be just fine sleeping in the airport, but China had another idea. The airline put us up in an exceptionally nice hotel not far from the airport; they drove us there, gave us the room, fed us breakfast, and drove us back to the airport the next day for free! That worked out quite well. It sure beat sleeping on the floor in the terminal!
 |
| The free hotel room. It was even New York themed! Almost like home ;) |
After we got checked into our room, we decided to make our way to a night market right next to the hotel. We were the only non-Chinese people at the market, and needless to say, we attracted some attention from the locals. We had no idea what most of the food that was being prepared and sold, and thankfully, this is one time Tim didn't not feel the need to partake of the street food.
 |
| Night market by our hotel |
So Tim got to go to China after all! Since we were there, he was pretty excited to have legitimate Chinese food. So there our quest began, but after breakfast because, after all, it was complimentary at the hotel. I guess technically it was actual Chinese food since it was in China, but it's never the same at a hotel. But, dumplings for breakfast was a new one for both of us.
 |
| Chopsticks at breakfast? And dumplings? I stuck to using my fork but Tim enjoyed eating like the natives. |
 |
| Steamed dumplings! |
After breakfast, we had a few hours until our flight so we decided to make our way to the market next door again since we noticed most of it was closed down last night and we wanted to experience the "day" market. It was busy, busy, busy! There were people everyone, kids running around, and motorbikes (not scooters, not motorcycles, basically motorized bicycles), and bicycles running right through the middle of the market. There were fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, poultry, everything you can probably imagine and even some things I'm sure most of you wouldn't even consider edible - I know that I never considered some of the stuff I saw as food! It was fun to see but overwhelming to me. Tim was having a blast, of course, and hardly noticed that we got stared at by virtually everyone we passed. He just loves immersing himself in the culture around him, as I'm sure that doesn't surprise many of you reading this.
 |
| Tim and his lunch having a stare-off |
We boarded our plane and a quiet Chinese lady sat next to me. Shortly after taking off, I noticed she got a snack out of her carry-on, unwrapped part of it, and began slowly eating it. I wasn't paying that much attention to it, after all, what did I care what she was eating. However, upon further examination, I discovered she was eating some sort of seasoned, packaged, softened...chicken foot. It had to be softened because she was eating the whole thing, which I concluded must have included the bones. I thought that was pretty strange and, frankly, gross. I've never tried packaged chicken foot before but I think I'll stick to granola bars for a snack. We were given ear phones for watching movies and listening to music, but they looked like a stethoscope. Not the worst idea for a design for headphones but weird nonetheless. China was not lacking in interesting experiences despite the fact that we were there less than 24 hours!
 |
| You can't see it very well, but in the girl's right hand is a small package; that's the chicken foot. |
 |
| Drinks, peanuts, and a stethoscope-looking pair of headphones! |
Once arriving at the Male airport, we got a taxi to the hotel we stayed at overnight. We couldn't go to our final destination because it was after dark by the time we landed, and speedboats don't run once it gets dark. We had to take a speedboat to our resort island. So we spent an evening in a small hotel room and got up early to catch the first speedboat to our island. It took 45 minutes on the boat and we met a nice British couple celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. We finally made it to the island and got to our room! After we settled in a bit, it was lunch time so we headed to the "food hall" essentially and ate. Once lunch was complete, Tim couldn't wait to get to snorkeling. He took off in the water and I sat down on the beach to read. That first day snorkeling, Tim spotted a sea turtle and we chased it for a while until it disappeared into the deep - the part of the ocean beyond our reef's drop off. That was the only time we saw a turtle.
Our days were made up of that mostly for the next week: eating, sleeping, snorkeling, sitting on the beach, walking around the island, and just having ourselves a grand time. It was beautiful and so nice to spend some quality time together. We didn't really have any internet connection so we really were on a secluded tropical island! Well, ok, we could hop on a speedboat and leave if we wanted but it was nice not having some of the distractions of everyday life.
 |
| View inside our room |
 |
| Lunch - all meals were buffet-style |
 |
| View from inside our room to our back porch with the ocean beyond! |
 |
| Time to go snorkeling |
 |
| He snorkeled any chance he got |
 |
| Here we go! With the GoPro! ;) |
 |
| Underwater photo |
 |
| Master photographer and snorkeler :) |
 |
| A moray eel we caught swimming right beneath us! It was probably 6-ft. long! |
 |
| Tim spotted a lionfish on two different occasions, they stayed close to the ocean floor so photos were difficult while snorkeling but here's a view of it from the top. |
 |
| The drop off - like in Finding Nemo! |
 |
| Purple coral with tiny green fishies |
 |
| We loved seeing all the different types of coral |
 |
| These reminded me of a flock of black birds. They were called red-toothed triggerfish |
 |
| So many different types of fish! |
 |
| We found Nemo! And some of his family :) |
 |
| Chilling on the beach on a gorgeous day |
Everywhere we go we take feet photos, and the Maldives was no exception. Here are some of my favorites:
 |
| Underwater while snorkeling |
 |
| On the deck with our toes hanging over the crystal clear water |
 |
| Relaxing on the beach overlooking a picturesque view |
 |
| We did a lot of sunbathing too |
 |
| View from the beach looking towards our room |
 |
| Climbing on palm trees! |
 |
| Perfect sitting tree |
 |
| We saw a stingray nearly on the beach! |
 |
| We didn't swim with him but we stood pretty close |
On one of the days we were on the island, we decided to take an excursion to see some manta rays. I was a little nervous, but Tim was pretty excited. We had to wait for the rest of the people to show up for the trip and while we were waiting, we made some friends in the local parrots. Once everyone showed up, we boarded a speedboat and went our looking for some manta rays. Eventually our guides spotted some and it was exhilarating swimming so close to the mammoth manta rays! They eat plankton but when they swam towards me with that large mouth I starting second-guessing their preference in food; but they simply swam around us and swallowed up plankton. It was an incredible experience! I caught myself holding my breath a few times while watching them swimming with such gentleness and grace. Truly amazing. Pretty soon, the manta rays moved on and we all got back in the boat to look for turtles. We snorkeled a little a what the guides called Turtle Point, but we never saw any turtles despite the beautiful reef. Next we got in the boat and searched for some dolphins. We spotted some bottle-nose dolphins traveling in a pretty large pod. No spinners, but we did see a couple jump out of the water or flip their fins. After a wonderful excursion, we made our way back to the island.
Much love,
Nicki
 |
| The first day we arrived, there were tons of tiny blue jellyfish stinging us in the water. Tim got stung multiple times and had a few welts for a day or so. By that first evening, however, they had nearly all washed up onto the beach and the photo is the result! |
