Today starts the Ascot Cup Croquet World Championship, but the undisputed Maldives croquet champ is One & Only Reethi Rah. They have their own built-to-purpose, manicured, regulation size croquet lawn at their appropriately named – “The Lawn Club”. It is kitted out with an elegant wooden mallet set (see below). So Reethi’s restaurants aren’t the only place to enjoy a special ‘bisque’, a chilly ‘crush’, or a handy ‘tea lady’.
As a result, researchers have even questioned if these earlier generations possibly even perceived colours differently to modern peoples. With the sea around and the sky above, such a conjecture certainly would have limited the descriptive capacity of people living in the Maldives. Fortunately, at leas today, the Dhivehi language does have a word for blue – “noo.”
Dhivehi Language Day today.
While the Maldives is renowned for romantic islands and underwater reefs, the unique reef bottomology (as opposed to “topology”) has also made it one of the world’s top surfing destination. Not for Hawaiian monsters waves, but for long, gently breaking ones (great for the increasing popular trick riding not to mention beginner learning).
One of the top surf spots is Fuvamulah. So much so that the wave richness has infiltrated their language. Like “snow” to Eskimos and “rice” to Japanese, the Maldivians on Fuvamulah have more words for “wave” than any other language. And like the Eskimos and Japanese, the wave words on not simple straight synonyms, but rather designations for subtle variations.
The Maldivian outlet Sun Online featured a superb piece on the subject titled “Fuvahmulah people could break record for most names for waves!”
“Fuvahmulah has just one and one quarter of miles of reef around the island – resulting in huge ocean waves battering the island unchecked. A wave is not just a wave to the people of Fuvahmulah, who assigned specific names to different types of waves (ralho) – based on their size and the current. This made it easier for the fishermen of the island in the olden days – as they knew just what to do when they heard the name of the type of wave they would be facing that day.”
Eighteen different words have been coined and examples include…
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Happy Thai New Year! The Thai celebrations include a number of traditions typical in many cultures ringing in the calendar milestone – feasting, visiting families. One ritual distinctive to “Songkran” is cleansing. A bit reminiscent of the new beginnings and fresh starts embodied in New Year’s Resolutions. People go to Buddhist temples to wash away their sins and bad luck. The custom has grown quite lively with a now iconic water festival where people splash each other with water.
If you want to wash away your sins and bad luck, the best place in the Maldives is Velaa’s My Blend Spa by Clarins. This indulgent facility includes a number of innovative features from its snow room to its “cloud pod” to its steam room-with-a-view. But one of my favourites was the “Soaking 4 Ways” (my term). Quattro Fradicio.
In a single room, they offer 4 different soaks…
The “Bucket” seems to be the ultimate in drenching. Possibly the culmination of an ever intensifying trend. First there were “normal” showers. You turned them on…water came out. Then came the power showers and massage showers which pushed that spray a bit more firmly. Then, came the soaking “rain” showers. With twice as many and larger outlet holes, the water poured down on you sumptuously. The next obvious step was the “Waterfall” showers where the flow-impeding holes were done away with entirely. Now the “Bucket just drops the entire dose of water on you instantaneously.
No wood week can go without a nod to Soneva Fushi and its all natural aesthetic. One of my favourite features was this ligneous lave at its main restaurant restrooms.
The eco-chic natural look is becoming more and more in vogue in the Maldives. Especially with the recent launches of resorts like AaaVee and Drift Thelu Veliga. Maldives resort styling has gone through a number of style periods from the initial Spartan simplicity, to the more colonial rococo, to the modernistic swank, and now the artisanal natural look. Long before it became trendy, “Soneva” had embraced the aboriginal rustic vibe in its original properties – Soneva Fushi and Soneva Gili (now re-launched as Gili Lankanfush).
Lori and I are big fans of natural wood. Our 18th century barn is packed with exposed ancient timbers and our furniture from our baby grand to our custom doll cabinet is made from burr wood. While Soneva Fushi is duly packed with natural design features, we were particularly captivated by Gili Lankanfushi’s. From artisan coat hangers to a bamboo bike and the drift wood furniture shown here (with Lori doing a bit of her own ex-tree hugging).
Water is the very essence of the Maldives. So it would seem that an ideal memento of one’s stay would be something one can enjoy when one is in the warm water relaxing. JA Manafaru’s bath buddy provide a few variants especially apropos to a Maldives stay. May favourite is the snorkel duck.
I’ve added a new tag for “Finally Seen” for those “Best of the Maldives” pieces featuring things I had called out in the “Not Yet Seen” series. In this case, #23 of this past Christmas’s post.
Absolutely ducky!
The definitive activity in the Maldives might be snorkelling, but the definitive “look” of the Maldives are its lagoons. But a lagoon is more than a pretty pictures. Here is my lakers dozen Lagoon Accessories to make the most tranquil lagoon as active and colourful as any house reef…
1. HAMMOCK – Anantara Dhigu
2. DECK – Baros
3. RAFTS – One & Only Reethi Rah
4. CORAL TOPIARY – Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru
5. CLIMBING WALL – Hideaway Beach
6. DINING AREA – Angsana Ihuru
7. CATCH – Kurumba
8. SHADED DINING – Centara Ras Fushi
9. DIRECTIONS – Anantara Kihavah
10. WINE BAR – Kurumba
11. POOL – Velassaru
12. VOLLEYBALL – Angsana Velavaru
13. GROYNE ISLAND – Maafushi
14. SWING – Anantara Dhigu
An even more authentically Maldivian water sport is Angsana Velavaru’s lagoon volleyball. Offered each day from 6:00 to 7:00 pm free of charge. Great for those ‘diving’ digs and pancakes.
International Day of Sport for Development and Peace today. As you explore sport around the world, one of our favourite pub quiz questions is “What is the SECOND biggest sport in a country?” That’s because, working in the sports industry as I have been, you quickly learn that there is one major sport in the world that has lots of completely different styles, but only one name – “Football”. Soccer, American Football (NFL), Aussie Rules. Completely different games, but one shared name and all dominant in their countries. So number two is intriguing as well as diverse.
What is particularly intriguing are the second biggest sports that are relatively unique to that country. A few of my favourite examples…
All that said, Football isn’t top of the heap absolutely everywhere. Here are a sample of countries where a sport other than Football is number one…
The Maldives is no different with Football being the most popular. And it’s #2 sport, at least among the resort workers, the #2 sport is Volleyball (same as Brazil). And in the Maldives, there are all types of volleyball. Most resort staff field serious teams that play other resorts with regularity on some quite sophisticated courts. Maldivians play court volleyball, beach volleyball…and of course water volleyball. And the resort where it is most prevalent is Club Med Kani. Kani’s main pool seems to always have some sort of major group activity going on and volleyball is one of the popular ones.
Ace service!