THE ADDRESS74 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA | MAY 2018
PHOTO COURTESY:MERCURE MALDIVES KOODDOO(BOAT & ROOM), LING DOH KIN(FOOD & MOTORCYCLE)is to chill by the deck and inhale my surroundings. So feet dunk
in pool, I connect my cell phone to a sleek dock. There’s one in
every villa. But barely 20 minutes pass by and nature decides
to rain on my parade: the wind gets raspy, waves wild and
pregnant, grey clouds crack open. Thunderstorm strikes. Was
blasting Imagine Dragon’s “Thunder” necessary? I reanalyse
my playlist as I sprint back into the villa at lightning speed.
The good thing about this tropical South Asian island
nation, though, is that storms pass, skies clear and the
temperamental sea turns tranquil sooner than you’d expect.
Luckily, our afternoon plan of visiting a pristine sandbank, 10
minutes from the resort by speedboat, remains uninterrupted.
We start with a clean-up drive by the end of which we collect
broken Bisleri caps, crushed Milo cans and stray rubber
chappals. After the activity, the afternoon progresses into a
picnic-cum-snorkelling excursion. Some of my co-travellers
take to their DSLRs, others snorkel in the translucent blue
waters. I sit down to read under a tree’s shade, feet lodged in
white, lukewarm sand. Lunch, for which we all reunite, is light,
comprising cold cuts, fruits, Shweppes and tuna sandwiches.
Tuna, by now I’m convinced, could well be the country’s
national fish. It’s devoured at all hours—smoked, canned and,
as I would learn later, even inside samosas.
“You still hot?” Jason enquires across the table, scissoring his
chopsticks through a chow mein heap. My eyes are welled
up, nose tandoori red. We’ve all daringly bitten into the
Waking to 180° views of the sun-dappled ocean leaves you less
groggy (bottom right); The spicy, lemony kick from the traditional
Maldivian breakfast of mashuni (top right), a tuna-paratha dish,
serves as a great start to the day; Picnicking on a nearby sandbank
(top left) and a guided tour of the local island of Maamendhoo
(bot tom lef t) are other refreshing activities on the resort's menu.
fiery githeyo mirus chilli, a Maldivian staple and sweetheart,
over dinner at the Mediterranean-themed Alita.
“Eat one spoon plain rice,” advises my Korean companion.
“Try desserts,” says Malaysian Kin, sliding some chocolate
mousse my way.
It’s a while before the pungency recedes and when it does,
we all crack up. Ice broken, inhibitions thawed, that evening
we challenge the resort’s staff to a game of volleyball, and lose
gloriously. Our opponents aren’t just seasoned players, they’re
all six foot some inches. The status quo (for whatever it’s worth)
is thankfully restored when we win a game of treasure hunt—
and a bottle of sparkling wine.
Day 2 is reserved for an evening tour of Maamendhoo, a
laid-back, spick and span local island on the Gaafu Alif atoll,
and it’s here that I have a gala time. Dive centre manager,
Alice Tessari, who is now also doubling as our guide, starts off
by offering us bits of sweetened supari, a cherished pastime
of most lungi-clad Maldivian men when they are not fishing.
Here, we stroll past children head-butting each other in a
friendly football match in an open field and women lounging
in joalis, traditional hammock-like coir chairs, outside their
single-storey homes, some of which had to be rebuilt after
being ravaged by the Tsunami in 2004. Up next on our trail is
a visit to a humble grocery store where Alice introduces us to
valho mas, but the sticky charcoal-coloured smoked tuna strips
turn out to be too fishy and chewy for my liking. On this sleepy
islet, our path also crosses with Maamendhoo’s only school.