Sunday, March 18, 2007
MALDIVES 2007. proud to say I WAS THERE.
so maldives. it wasnt as awesome as what some people described it to be, but nevertheless, i truly enjoyed my stay there.
maldives is so so beautiful. every photo taken is comparable to the photos on getty images. the sea, the sunsets, sun rise, everything. you can actually see the bottom of the shorebed while sitting on a boat!
the island that we visited was called Noonu Atoll. it was an awesome welcome: the whole village was there. we were served with flowers and a coconut drink each. Made me wonder if they plucked flowers from the whole island just for us. there was also a short performance by the maldivians.
their great hospitality did not stop there -- they built a guest house just for us, and a whole row of swings outside the guest house, they imported stuff like bread just for us and moved out of their houses, all just for us.
we seriously dont deserve their hospitality. all we did there was drink their water and eat their food. help build a preschool? they can do it so much better than us.
one of the maldivians told us: when you all leave, i will be very sad. we will be back to our normal lives. this village will be quiet again.
i didnt know what to say.
building the preschool was fun, though we were as much a hindrance as a help. we were actually filmed on maldivian national tv! those brick passing sessions, water collecting sessions, and sand transporting trips were real fun, in an odd sort of way.
on one of the days, we went island hopping. i really enjoyed the boat ride. took loads of photos and got really high singing songs and entertaining ourselves on the boat. I TOUCHED A SEA CUCUMBER. its one of the most disgusting things that i have ever touched. like seriously. its so slimy and it wobbly and eww. took a photo with it. i really couldnt stand the slime.
one of the most memorable experiences that ill take away from this trip is waking up early in the morning before everyone else and just walking around taking photos. its so peaceful and beautiful. everything about this village, their stone houses, their pretty seaside, the villagers, is beautiful, somehow.
there were this pair of twins who run like turtles!! omg. they are so freaking cute! oh. and the villagers built a turtle pond for us overnight. there were new born sea turtles inside! they actually peeled off the shells to make them come out earlier so we could see them. oh mann. they are so freaking cute!!
The 5th night was Singapore cuisine night. I didn’t help cook but helped clean up afterwards. Omg. The plates just kept coming in! we washed from like ten plus to twelve midnight. Poor locals had to wash all our crap every single day. Don’t understand how they could stand us.
The next night, Entertainment night was awesome, not the items I guess, but the people and preparation that made it awesome. Sherlene, Zai, Bryan and I made up 4 pieces and practiced them within a day, on four different instruments, violin, piano, saxophone and voice. I was pretty amazed at ourselves=) and we had real fun doing it.
Maldivian night was interesting I guess, just that we weren’t really used to the food and their repetitive dances.
I needa complain. Sri Lanka Airlines sucks. Seriously. When zhao dong and I asked for two glasses of water, the air stewardess glared at us and walked on. We waited like ten minutes but no water was served. Then we kept pressing the call button but no one bothered to come. So in the end we gave up. Such poor service. I bet she thought we were kids that’s why.
Leaving was bitter sweet. I really wanted to go home, but at the same time, I really wanted to stay.
No more rashes, and concrete toilets, and toilet flushes that don’t work, and bathes at 12 midnight cause of the lack of toilets, and sand filled sandals, and stuffy rooms, and really dry hair that I have to keep combing every few hours, and weird noises outside the window at 3 am in the morning while playing bridge, no more sitting/sleeping in unglam poses on the boat and when transiting in the airport, no more dragging sand bags and carrying bricks and buckets of water under the hot sun, but at the same time,
No more bridge sessions with my bridge club, no more staying up at night doing shifts so that we could wake up on time to watch the sun rise, no more awesome sunrises and sunsets, no more walking on sandy beaches with our bare feet, no more picking shells, no more beautiful outdoor restaurant and 5 meals a day, no more awesome coconut juice, no more random song singing, no more sitting on the bamboo swings, no more crab kissing, no more looking at cute kids running all over the place, no more gossiping sessions,
No more abby and her hair combing with me, and her brainless one liners like, “omg the sea water is salty!” and her classic, “omg you guys suck!” in her bimbotic voice, and the awesome catwalk that we did,
No more grace and her swollen lips, and insisting that it was the crab that she kissed, her cute green football shirt that I really liked, and her insane laughter that usually ends with her spitting out something at someone,
No more jing and sitting on the swing but swinging it sideways, and just talking, and the stupid Chinese accent that she and bing used during our bridge sessions just to irritate grace and I,
No more sherlene, my awesome violin partner, who was the best partner that I could ever ask for for entertainment night, our wild singing sessions and our limited song selections,
No more hash and her icy stare, and wicked smile, and her really great sense of humour,
No more surya and her ultra long bathing sessions,
No more lynette waking me up in the mornings just because I knew I couldn’t wake up early by myself to take photos of the streets,
No more zai, on his really cool saxophone, and stupid shoulder taps that I keep falling for, and his “that’s damn gay la” along with bryan, and his incessant whining about not being able to go fishing,
No more bryan, and his really awesome voice, and his cam whoring, worst than girls,
No more timothy and fan jian, the lame club, who go around telling everyone, “let me tell you a joke”, when half the time they end up being the only ones laughing at their own jokes,
No more miao chin and her perpetually stressed look, and her “I need to complain!”, and her counting the number of times that she sprays insect repellant on herself,
No more rayshio and our numerous plane rides together,
No more mr sim, for being mr sim,
No more xiaochen and abel for just being there,
And of course, no more spending 10 days with bingxin, who is dying to spend another ten days with me.
That’s Maldives 2007 for you.
hui jun published at 3/18/2007 07:01:00 PM
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