Maldivian's Shades of Blues
Trip Start
Dec 23, 2009
1
Trip End
Dec 29, 2009
Maldives, Maale, Maldives
Thursday, December 24, 2009
After alighting from the 4hours flight, we were arranged to board a decent looking speedboat which journeyed through a 30mins long of a tedious roller-coaster ride on the treacherous waves. During those "flying" moments on the waves, I was glad I wasn't placed on those skimpy junkboats which might have easily capsized. I held on tightly to my partner's arms, and leaned towards the window gingerly whereby gazes upon the dark but starry night sky just somehow calmed my throbbing nerves.
With a big sigh of thanksgiving we reached the small jetty of Clubmed Kani, and my lips curved into a wow as the jetty was beautifully crowned with golden glittering lights. Yes, it's the lights of Christmas! We had reached Clubmed Kani on Christmas eve, and intended to spend a wonderfully perfect Christmas in Clubmed Kani. We were then greeted with the customary welcome drinks, a cold towel to freshen up (perhaps they knew we would be frightened during the boat ride?), and a brief welcome message from a GO.
After a leisure stroll of about 5 mins, we were ushered to an over-water bungalow of room number 111. It was located at the end of the bridge in the leeward side or the sunset facing of the stretches, which was also the furthermost end on the sea. At this side of the bungalow the water was pretty calm and the wind soothing. The feeling was awesome as there were no other bungalows in front of me, but just as I imagined that I could live as Adam and Eve where I could go naked freely in the bungalow and shower in front of the open sea, I realised my restrictions as my room was directly facing the jetty. That was quite a turn-off as we had paid a rather steep price with the desire of owning exclusivity. There were just too many bungalows on a single stretch, and too many stretches, which robbed away the privilege of exclusivity.
The morning arrived with a cheery sunshine, reflecting upon the azure wavy blues like sparkling diamonds, and the blues proudly showed off its transparency as if it were some fountain water. We spotted many fishes below the balcony, and soon realised that it was the abundance of the green grasses on the seabed which attracted the fishes. The plain ignorant me had initially mistakened those dark spots in the sea as withering seaweeds! It was interesting to observe that the stingrays and the baby sharks frequently visited us in the morning and at night. The prettiest ray we saw was the big spotted eagle ray. Other fishes which we spotted later on were the lionfish, the stonefish, the fiery white moray eel, the humbug dascyllus fish, the picasso triggerfish, the orange spine unicorn fish and many other fishes which I'm regretfully not well-learned enough to name their names. These colorful aquarium fishes live amongst the corals, which could be easily accessed when you stay in the water bungalows. We had later on requested for a change of room to the other stretch of the bungalows, where it was the windward side or the sunrise facing, where the small corals thrived. Over here, you would get to see many kinds of coral fishes which you would also see if you go out for the Blue Lagoon trip organised by Clubmed Kani. The windward side, room 175, felt to be better as we were no longer facing the jetty, and so we could enjoy more decent privacy, and we looked out to the crashing waves of the breakwater which was located at about 100meters away from me.
On a holiday, the necessity of a palatable fiesta is almost an universal luxury around the world perhaps... and if this is true, then Clubmed Kani had failed utterly in this respect, at least, in my experience. The international cuisine was not at all up to standard, not at all tasty, and in some of the dishes, it was inedible. I lost count at how many times I puked the food out of my mouth. The chefs tended to overcook the meat such that the meat becomes too dried up to be succulent. The seafood lacked the taste of freshness. The stench of the lamb was not properly handled. Their attempt to mimick the chinese sauces was far from ideal. Even the precious lobsters were overcooked. Most of the times I was really wondering, "Do they really know what they are cooking?" The only two sections that I felt was "still okay" were the pasta section and the korean section. A small chat with one of the GOs informed me that the chefs in Clubmed Kani had not received proper training, which was not the case for other clubmeds. That explained to me why their attempt to cook Char Siew Sauce was actually Dark Sweet Sauce. Or was it that they did not have the appropriate sauces to use? Perhaps it was the high cost involved in importing these sauces... but I firmly believe that this should not be an excuse for the poor quality of food as the price we were paying was definitely far from being cheap. And it just dampened our holiday enjoyment - to a large extent.
One other major flaw was the cleanliness problem in the over-water bungalow. The first room I stayed in, the toilet bowl had foul smelling yellow water in its tank and there was a consistant faeces/urine stench all the time. I could hardly close the toilet door to suffocate myself while I did my business. The next stinky culprit I discovered was its mosquito net hanging over the bed that I had to remove the whole thing and chuck it away. The floor looked stained... or was that the intended design...? The next room that I changed to, looked cleaner and newer, with a flat aquos tv and leathered sun-seats. The toilet didn't stink like the first, but the bathroom shower floor's drainage just couldn't flush out the water. That was surely a design floor error.
In terms of games, it was pretty much standard as is the usual clubmed culture. There were water games, land games, dance classes, art classes as posted on their website. They definitely offered enough programmes going on to keep you occupied, and at the same time, they would not intrude your privacy if you wished to live in solitary.
Their GOs tended to speak french, as if this resort was catered for the French. However to be fair, they did take enough care to translate and made sure they were well communicated. The GOs were friendly towards Asians too, not just the caucasians. The village chef was also a charismatic and amiable man, with a smile on his face all the time. He made efforts to meet guests all over the resort and mades us feel comfortable.
There were a few excursion trips that clubmed offered albeit it was on the expensive end. We went for a 20mins scenic flight (US$136 per pax) which provided us a bird's eye view of the northern atolls. It was a great trip except that it wouldnt be recommended for people who have air-sickness as the plane was rather cramped and the air circulation within the plane wasnt good. The Blue Lagoon trip (US$95 per pax)was good. It first brought us to a sandbank where we did a short snorkelling, followed by the blue lagoon which brought us to see a wealth of colorful corals and fishes. Remember to apply lots of sunblock on your face and neck!
As for the spa, it was pretty much an average experience and I felt that their fragrance oil wasn't very fragrant, the aroma couldn't last, and there wasn't much selection. There were only two air-conditioned rooms, and the rest were all outdoor massage huts.
On the overall I was pretty much disappointed with what Clubmed had to offer at the price that we were paying... as I felt that the issues of the food and that of the room could be solved at the management level and could have left their guests feeling happier. We, as guests, afterall paid that premium price to be pampered in such an exotic landscape.
