Best of the Maldives: Phone Home – LUX* Maldives

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LUX Maldives phone booth

If there is one day that you phone home it is typically New Year’s Day to wish your loved ones a Happy 2013. Last night, we had trouble getting our text messages to send because even the text traffic was jammed with well wishes.

For everyone sequestered away in the tropical spendor of the Maldives for their New Years, LUX* Maldives has a clever, colourful and considerate solution…a free phone booth. You can call anywhere in the world and talk as long as you like…

“Hotels used to profit from overpriced international phone calls before mobile phones tipped the balance back in favour of the guest. Now it the mobile phone networks who are cashing in as they charge an arm and a leg for roaming. We believe that holidays should be stress free, which is why if you explore our grounds you’ll find an old telephone box that houses a VOIP phone, which will let you make international calls free of charge.”

When I was at LUX* Maldives, I tried out the service (see above photo) to phone home and say hi to everyone and it worked a treat.

A most happy and paradise filled New Year to all the Maldives Complete supporters.

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Best of the Maldives: Private Karaoke – Sun Island

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Sun Island private karaoke rooms 1

Tonight people around the world will all join hands at the stoke of midnight and belt out a chorus of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ for perhaps the world’s most pervasive moment of sing-along. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people don’t really know the lyrics beyond the first line and a few scattered words like “cup of kindness” and…well…that’s about it.

If knowing the words is a concern, then many resorts have karoke on hand But if embarrassment about know the words (or just singing in public) is a concern, then only , Sun Island has private Karaoke rooms specially designed for privte parties. 4 of them actually.

I once went to a karaoke private room in London for my friend David Hooper’s stag party. Rowdy music is always lots of fun, but it’s hard enough for the musically and stage-fright challenged in any event. Performing in front of strangers is a nightmare to some. The private room approach makes it more like having a sing-song among friends. It’s more intimate and party-like.

If you are interested in other New Years traditions, then check out NBC’s slideshow on them (slide #19 seems particularly apropos for Reethi Rah actually).

Sun Island private karaoke rooms 2

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Best of the Maldives: Ice Fountain – One & Only Reethi Rah

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Reethi Rah ice fountain

The big news of the week is the arrival of one of the most famous names in the world at the celebrity Maldivian bolt hole One & Only Reethi Rah. The Beckham family reportedly splashed out on an exceptionally lavish visit for the entire brood. With Romeo now modelling for Burberry, the whole clan is getting into the A-list scene. So big they are that Minivan News speculates that news of their stay alone could boost the Maldives tourism profile.

Hopefully, it will help to reinforce to the notion of Maldives as a great place for families. We get so many reports of honeymooning and otherwise romantic get-aways for famous couples, it’s great to see such a prominent family choose this destination.

In spite of (or perhaps because) of the Maldives’ reputation for torpid indolence, it also appears to have become a haven for top athletes like Beckham – Federer, Phelps, Ronaldo.

Perusing the glossy reporting, a number of the stories alluded to Reethi Rah’s exceptional spa including in its list of luxury amenities its ‘ice fountain’. One might think that the whole point to the Maldives is to get away from the cold. But as the Reethi Rah management describes, ‘ice’ can have many therapeutic properties especially for athletes…

Some of the advantages of the ice fountains is to use the ice to massage the body while using the shower. As it is a form of cryotherapy, multiple benefits are obtained such as:

  • Promotes healing
  • Drains lactic acid out of tired muscles
  • Boosts/activates blood circulation
  • Decreases swelling, inflammation and pain in injured tissues.
  • Acts as an analgesic, reducing muscle spasms

Most professional training rooms will have an ice bath for settling muscles down after an extreme exertion, and icing a joint is a common practice. You will also find ice baths in the finest spas as a part of a circulatory regime. The heat from the sauna/steam bath/hot-tub/birch-switches opens the capillaries and the ice cold closes them. The opening and closing repeatedly is a form of circulatory exercise.

Brrrrr…illiant.

 

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Best of the Maldives: Aquarium Pool – Four Seasons Kuda Huraa

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Four Seasons Kuda Huraa private pool

Perhaps the most tragic natural disaster of the decade, the Boxing Day Tsunami, happened eponymously today. While hitting the hardest in its South Pacific epicentre, its titanic power travelled thousands of miles to the Maldives who suffered fatalities and much loss (which on a per capita basis was actually one of the hardest hit countries in its path).

One of the resorts hit hardest was Four Seasons Kuda Huraa (in fact, a work colleague was a guest on the island that day) so today’s post features on of their distinctions. In fact, it features something more Maldivian-like and completely un-tsunami-like.

A tsunami is so antithetical to the mill pond like stillness of the typical Maldivian seas. Swimming in the Maldives is like swimming in an aquarium. And, at Four Seasons Kuda Huraa you can actually ‘swim in an aquarium’ of sorts as well in its glass walled private pool (see above). However, it is only stocked with with the aquatic species Guestus Bikinius.

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Best of the Maldives: Paddleboard Yoga – Four Seasons Kuda Huraa

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Four Seasons Kuda Huraa paddleboard yoga

In the Maldives, it’s all about the water. Many yoga sessions are often at water’s edge. But Four Seasons Kuda Huraa has taken that aquatic intimacy one step further.

“Resident yogi began offering Paddle board Yoga about 5 months ago and has been doing this on a guest request basis here at Kuda Huraa.” GM Tulio Hochkoeppler

I’ve always been intrigued by those big exercise balls which provide a soft, unsteady platform which target the core muscles used for stability. If you thought balancing on land was tricky…

While FSKH’s sessions are literally as close to sea level as you can possibly have a yoga session, if you prefer the other extreme, check out Slovenian climber Martina Cufar’s nosebleed sessions.

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Best of the Maldives: Breathing – Kanuhura

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Kanuhura yoga

 

 

Happy Birthday Lori!

My devoted partner in adventure, my dive buddy, my sunset companion.

In honour of her special day, today’s post was selected by her. Very often I just can’t see and do everything on a resort in our short visits and so she ably and enthusiastically (most of the time) steps in to check certain things out. When Kanuhura suggested their ‘Pranayama’ yoga class focusing on breathing, she was not only keen, but also quite the expert on the subject. Lori recently finished her third graduate degree in the voice (Masters of Music, Masters of Voice Pathology, Speech Language Therapy Diploma) and knows a fair amount about the old wind pipes. When diving, most of the time she comes up with more air remaining in her tanks than the seasoned dive masters (so I would recommend the class not just for yoga enthusiasts, but especially for divers who want to improve their air usage).

Kanuhura describes the class as…

“Controlled breathing technique positively influence and release the flow of energy channels purifying, regulating and activating them creating physical and mental balance.”

Her assessment – “Brilliant introduction to basic yoga techniques focusing on the breathing.” If it impresses Lori then it is truly distinctive.

 

 

Kanuhura yoga 2

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Best of the Maldives: Backpack Lunch – LUX* Maldives

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LUX Maldives picnic

High or low, near or far, you can find you own ideal eating spot with LUX* Maldives gourmet picnic hamper. On some of the other resorts, Lori and I would sometimes order room service and then take the tray out to to the beach for an ocean-side meal. But LUX* makes such a mini-adventure a standard offering…

“Fancy a change of scenery? How about settling down somewhere secluded with a picnic basket brimming with tasty snacks and chilled drinks for a leisure lunch in plein air. Seek out your own private spot or ask directions for to a hidden corner and we’ll take care of everything else. Unfold a straw beach mat and enjoy a variety of plates showcasing local ingredients, fresh breads, crisp salads, hot and cold courses, wines from both old world and new, indulgent desserts and fresh fruit.”

LUX Maldives picnic 2

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Best of the Maldives: Top Table – Soneva Fushi

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Soneva Fushi restaurant table 2

No collection of tree top vistas would be complete without one of the first, Soneva Fushi’s ‘Fresh in the Garden’ restaurant. Sort of Sun Island ‘Zero’ on steroids. And in the open air. Instead of a canopy of tropical plants, you get a canopy of sparkling stars. And if any provoke your curiosity in particular, the Soneva Fushi observatory is conveniently attached by an elevated walkway.

Soneva Fushi restaurant table

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Best of the Maldives: Jungle Treehouse Restaurant – Sun Island

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Sun Island jungle restaurant 2

The Maldives is turning out to be an eight-year old boy’s paradise with all of the treehouses going up, up, up. The Sun Island rendition graces its ‘Zero’ restaurant set in a plush copse of dense tropical jungle. I’m so used to the dappled blues of the ubiquitous ocean, that I was struck by the shifted palette of greens of all shades and hues backdropping this exotic dining venue. Appropriately, the restaurant specialises in ‘greens’, especially salads freshly picked from its adjacent hydroponic garden.

Very Swiss Family Robinson chic.

Sun Island jungle restaurant 1

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