Best of the Maldives: Christmas Lights – Ayada

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Ayada - Christmas lights 1

 

“Our many different cultures notwithstanding, there's something about the holidays that makes the planet communal. Even nations that do not celebrate Christmas can't help but be caught up in the collective spirit of their neighbors, as twinkling lights dot the landscape and carols fill the air. It's an inspiring time of the year.” – Marlo Thomas

Christmas lights are such a part of the season that you can actually see them from space. And if you point your satellite window to the Indian Ocean, the bright spot will be Ayada shining out from the Gaafu Alifu atoll…

“Ayada Maldives gears up for its third festive season as it announces this year’s festive program. Running from 20th December through to the 2nd January 2015, the program invites its guests to enjoy a daily round of activities, fine dining and some seasonal fun such as festive-themed movie night in the swimming pool, an afternoon tea party with Santa as the guest of honor, and of course a daily choice of specialty spa treatments at the luxurious AySpa. ‘At Ayada Maldives we’re focusing on making this holiday time fun for everyone,’ says general manager Zafer Agacan. ‘The theme for this year is ‘festival of lights’ and accordingly different areas of the luxury resort’s spacious island are being lit up with creative designs such as shooting stars, baubles, frangipani flowers and a Maldivian dhoni that looks like it’s about to sail down a small hill’.”

Lights are such a big part of the Christmas holiday tradition. Tree lights. House lights. Regent Street lights have become a red carpet affair. Rudolph (with his nose so bright!).  On our own house, we have a lighted nutcracker, two light boxes (flashing “Peace on Earth” and “Joy to the World” in different colours) and a string of vintage coloured bulbs. Lights dripping everywhere.

Last year, we went home to North Carolina for Christmas and one of the highlights (pun absolutely intended) was going to the Tanglewood Festival of Lights (an event so popular we packed a yuletide picnic to eat in the minibus while we queued on the road for several hours waiting to get in).

I’m intrigued by the “specialty spa treatments” Ayada mentions. There is no specific list, so I am thinking – Frank-incense, Cold-agen treatments, Claus-metic make-over, elf-ential oils, midnight mass-age, North Poultice, refleXmasology, and a Christmas wrap.

Putting the “Spa” in your Christmas “Spa-rkle”!

 

Ayada Christmas lights 2

 

Ayada Christmas lights 3

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Best of the Maldives: Australian – Amilla Fushi

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Amilla Fushi kangaroo

G’day Amilla Fushi! The latest addition (opening today) to the Maldives slate is the resort beaut in the Baa atoll with a fair dinkum Oz flavour. In fact, in the anticipation of its development, a bonzer furphy hit the net that owner Tom McLoughlin was even importing a few joeys. One of the Maldives Complete’s barmy army (thanks Verena) did come up with the above snap of the only ridgy-didge boomer on the island.

With bottler down under barbie-master Luke Mangan you can expect big mobs of corker tucker that you can wash down with your favourite amber liquid or dead dingos donger cab sav.

A going off from the sparrows fart to arvo barbie time.

Ace!

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Best of the Maldives: Coconut Chocolate – Gangehi

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Gangehi coconut chocs

It turns out that an alternative to “iron” for a sixth anniversary gift is sugar. One of the sweetest treats I have found in the Maldives is Gangehi’s hand-made Coconut Chocolates. They are like prestige versions of Bounty bars. When I was young, we always had Whitman Sampler “box of chocs” at special celebrations. And you always want to avoid the coconut one. But coconut can be an acquired exotic taste and now it is one of my favourites.

Sweet!

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Best of the Maldives: Toasters – Huvafenfushi

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Huvafenfushi - toaster

The traditional 6th anniversary gift is iron. And probably the most stereotypical gift is the ubiquitous toaster. Mind you, if I received the retro red Dualit model, I wouldn’t complain. It features in the Huvafenfushi villas with kitchens lending a distinctive counter colour to a handy option for a light bite.

A toast to 6 years of Maldives Complete!

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Best of the Maldives: Barefoot – Northernmost

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Barefoot map

 

Welcome to Barefoot resort who opened this week. Barefoot is a proper resort, but located on inhabited island of Hanimadhoo. It has all of the amenities and infrastructure of a resort, with the exception of serving alcohol (a limitation on inhabited islands). But Barefoot has sorted a solution to that issue by anchoring a “Bar Boat” in the lagoon that guests can go to for their drinks.

Barefoot caters to a number of popular demands. First, it is offering rooms at increasingly hard to find value price range. Furthermore, it is designed from the outset to be “eco-friendly”. Environmental credentials have been a popular consideration in recent years, but have tended to be the domain of the premium resorts.

“The Barefoot Eco Hotel is an ecological touristic structure that follows the Ecotourism principles of

uniting Sustainability and Conservation, involving Local Community within its activities…The Barefoot is located within an almost untouched forest on Hanimadhoo island in the preserved deep North of Maldives. This 4 star Eco Hotel is well connected to Male international airport by numerous daily 45 minutes flights. Due to its luxuriant vegetation and privacy everybody can fall in an untouched nature, living the genuine and natural Maldives with all modern accommodation facilities. A half mile private sandy beach and a turquoise lagoon frame the hotel.”

Hanimadhoo’s 6 45’ latitude makes it the northernmost resort in the Maldives. Despite it being nearly a 1,000 miles north of the southern extreme Gan, the average temperate differs by less than a degree. It is completely virgin territory for Maldive resorts for people looking for untouched landscape and unexplored dive sites.

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Best of the Maldives: Back Area Water Feature – Soneva Fushi

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Soneva Fushi - back area water feature

Conversely, you could bring a little water to your beach villa. Soneva Fushi’s Soneva Villa is beach villa in the front and “water villa” in the back. A number of resort have water features in their back area, but Soneva’s water feature *IS* the back area. With a cascading water down the walls to boot. The three palm trees are like little iconic deserted islands themselves set in the water (one of which features the outdoor shower – see foreground). The water villa for people who don’t want to be on the ocean.

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Best of the Maldives: Water Villa Foliage – Park Hyatt Hadahaa

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Park Hyatt Hadahaa - water villa foliage

The charm of the water villa is to nearly literally immerse you into the signature Maldivian seascape. But you do sacrifice a bit of that complimentary tropical isle landscape of lush foliage. Park Hyatt Hadahaa’s water villas, however, bring a touch of that island paradise onto your own private nook with a mini-garden of dense greenery on the deck. The sizeable planter provides a very softening and natural touch to the otherwise hard edges and surfaces of characteristics of water villas. Reclining on the adjacent settee, I felt that I was on my own personal deserted island.

Frondescential!

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Best of the Maldives: Water Villas for Children – Centara Grand

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Centara Grand water villa children room

When we were growing up, we used to ask my parents, “There is a Fathers Day and a Mothers Day, but when is Children’s Day??” My parents always used to answer (disappointingly to us), “Every day is Childrens Day.” Well, there is finally a Childrens Day today. Universal Children’s Day, established to promote the welfare and well being of children around the world.

When I first started Maldives Complete, my very first inspiration was children. In the nineties, Maldives was known for (a) honeymooning, and (b) diving. But when we visited, we found it a great destination for children.

While the Maldives in general is great for children, one increasingly popular feature has become a bit of a child-challenged ghetto…water villas. The obvious reason is safety. The jetties are typically flat walkways which the occasional stumble can send adults (or even bikes and buggies) over the edge into the water below. There have been rumors, often cited by resorts where children are not allowed in water villas, that it is against Maldivian regulations to allow them, but that is not actually the case.

Given that today is International Children’s Day promoting the welfare of children, understanding the ins and outs of children in the water villas is an important subject.

The water villas are typically located in calm lagoon shallows so a rescue is pretty straightforward. As with bringing a child to a locale surrounded by water, however tranquil that water may be, vigilant attention to the child is always paramount anyway. And many parents are willing to pay the price of this extra diligence and supervision for the benefit of enjoying the distinctive water villa experience as a family.

Every resort is different when it comes to child policies in the water villas. I have been trying to capture most of the various policies in the Room Type Profiles. But the resort which seems to have to mot child-friendly approach is Centara Grand according to TripAdvisor’s Maldives Travel Article “Maldives: Children in the Maldives”…

“Reputed to have the most family friendly villas in the Maldives and also the only resort which allows children in the Over Water Villas (OWV) without the need to sign a disclaimer first, Centara is a popular family choice. The pool is also a major draw.”

TripAdvisor Destination Expert Nefertari2 elaborates…

“The Family Water Villa’s on Centara are children friendly. They have a railing, with vertical slats all the way around the decking which is at least a metre high and there is a gate which you can lock at the top of the stairs which leads to steps down into the lagoon. There is also a gate at the entrance of the Water Villa which is lockable to prevent the children from running straight onto the jetty as lets face it the robes won’t stop them falling. They are the most child friendly water villa’s I have seen in the Maldives.”

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Best of the Maldives: Largest Bathrooms – Nika

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Nika bathroom 

If more is better in the bathroom department, then you don’t get any more bathroom than Nika’s cavernous powder room. More of a “water warehouse” than a “water closet”. The side room with room with toilet is bigger than many resort’s bathrooms. And the bathroom itself is bigger than most villas! It incorporates 3 showers (one rain inside and 2 outside front and back). Even sink is big enough to bath a small child in. It even has its own indoor garden (see photo above) included in the acreage.

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Best of the Maldives: Private Jacuzzi – Huvafenfushi

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Huvafenfushi - CUBE jacuzzi

Huvafenfushi has its own bathing with multiple heads, but of a more reclined style. Its bathroom’s Jacuzzi bath has not one but 4 places to rest one’s head. Head rests on bath tubs are a bit of a pet peeve of mine. The Calgon-take-me-away moments are all about blissful floating and yet invariably your head is uncomfortably pushing on some ceramic-hard surface.

Huvafenfushi take me away!

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