Best of the Maldives: Blind Dining – Park Hyatt Hadahaa

Park Hyatt Hadahaa - blind dining

The Maldives is a sense-sation for all the senses – the sun warmed sea breeze on your skin, the salty fragrance of fresh ocean air, the sumptuous delicacies of the resort gourmet kitchens, the sounds of the water gently licking the shoreline.

The sense most celebrated here on Maldives Compete has to be sight though. With all our imagery of fashionista guests to resorts highlights, I suspect the site has more Maldives pictures than any other website (Maldives Complete features over 7,000 photos). Today is World Eye Sight Day celebrating the sense of sight and raising appreciation for its gift as well as the issues many can grapple with losing it.

To experience a world without sight, Park Hyatt Hadahaa serve up the unique adventure of ‘blind dining’…

Unique ‘blind’ private dinner: an exceptional three-course feast, crafted with your favorite ingredients, to be enjoyed like never before as you are blindfolded to heighten the senses. Discover unadulterated taste and texture in your delightful dishes, while listening to the lapping of the waves and feeling the gentle breeze on your skin and the sand between your toes. Price – $450 per couple.”

We ourselves enjoyed blind dining here in London at the pioneer of this concept – Dans Le Noir. Hadahaa uses blindfolds, but at Dans Le Noir, the dining room is set in pitch black darkness. The first question is how do the waiters serve you…and of course the obvious answer is – they are all blind! First of all, there is a feeling of helplessness and vulnerability at first, but you do acclimate soon enough. And then it is a lesson in simple manoeuvrability – finding your glass, your fork, your food, your mouth!

But the cross-modal neuroplasty kicks in. Well, not that quickly. The whole notion that people impaired of one sense compensate with extra capability in others is well documented in neurology (but the process does take a bit longer than an evening meal – for a great overview, I recommend Scientific American’s article “Super Powers for the Blind and Deaf – The brain rewires itself to boost the remaining senses”).

More simply, the removed distraction of one sense, especially one so dominant in our lives, allows us to focus more intently on the others. Like taste and aroma. One of the courses at the mythic Fat Duck (voted one of the top restaurants in the world) is served with your eye shut to focus on both the food as well as a spritz of scent they spray when you take a bite to complement the taste. But the all-time iconic depiction of such blind-folded erotic delectation is the kitchen scene in the film 9 ½ Weeks.

If all this talk has made you appreciate your vision just a bit more, in the spirit of the day, I would encourage you to visit Naomi Riches MBE “Great Thames Row”. Just a few weeks ago, this vision impaired Paralympic champion (who rows at my Marlow Rowing Club) rowed the entire 165 miles of our own local coastline, the Thames River. She achieved the Guinness World Record for a woman completing the odyssey in 48 hours to raise fund for her charity In-Vision.

Dans Le Bleu!

Best of the Maldives: Hidden Places – One & Only Reethi Rah

One & Only Reethi Rah wedding pavillion

One of the motivations for “destination weddings” is not just to put your wedding expenses into a better honeymoon, but also to have a more intimate celebration. If you want your private ceremony to be extra private, One & Only Reethi Rah’s Wedding Pavillion is actually one of its several “hidden places”. Tucked behind the Tappanyaki restaurant, it is not general open to the guests without special arrangement. Great for avoiding paparazzi or just the distraction of other guests meandering by.

Best of the Maldives: Yoga – Taj Exotica

Taj Exotica - yoga pavillion

My first ever outdoor yoga session in my life was in the Maldives. I had been introduced to the discipline back during my West Africa travels with one lesson in Togo, but then it was 25 years later when Lori and I did the sunrise yoga at Four Seasons Kuda Huraa. I’m not quite an avid practitioner though Lori and I have a weekly lesson. Lori is well into it, has done some special yoga retreats and did several yoga sessions during our last Maldives tour. I always check out the resort spa and scan the treatments and classes on offer in every visit. And I have never come across the range of yoga sessions offered by Taj Exotica.

Taj features and over water yoga and meditation pavilion (see photo above) as well as two breath-taking over-water couple spa suites and the Heat, Hydro and Relaxation Pavilion, with its welcoming sauna, generous relaxation deck and waterbeds.

We have been studying yoga for over a year now and no two sessions are the same. I’m regularly surprised by the entirely new collection of poses that our teacher Vivian Campbell introduces to us each week. Yoga seems to have no end to the variety of not just poses, but also different styles and technique variations. Taj reflects the diversity of this ancient art with its own equally diverse menu of sessions…

  • Asana, Prananyama, Mudara, Banda
    • Balanced – 90 minutes
    • Advanced – 90 minutes
    • Abhilaya – 60 minutes
    • Advanced Surya Namaskar – 60 minute
    • Gentle – 60 minutes
    • Dynamic – 60 minutes
    • Pranayama – 60 minutes
  • ·Shatkarma
    • Laghoo Shankhaprakshalana – 90 minutes
    • Kunjal Kriya – 55 minutes
    • Jala Neti – 45 minutes
  • Meditation
    • Yoga Nidra – 25 minutes
    • Yoga Nidra Advanced – 50 minutes
    • Hirdayakasha Dharana – 50 minutes
    • Ajapa Japa – 50 minutes
    • Antar Mouna – 40 minutes

Yoga is almost like music in a way; there’s no end to it.” – Sting

Best of the Maldives: Yoga Finish – Thudufushi

Thudufushi - yoga finish

I always have thought that the best part of yoga was “Savasana” (ie. “Corpse Pose”). Completely relaxing at the end of a hard session with the aroma of some essential oil. That was until I did a session at Thudufushi.

Lori and I did a session there (offered daily for free). Lori has gotten me into doing yoga in a private session each week. I’ve always preferred “lazy yoga”, aka Thai Massage, where the focus of the treatment is on muscle stretching (in a variety of contorted moves), but you just lie back and relax. My joints have always been a bit tight with all my weight training for sports and now getting older. But Lori insists I practice the yoga because she “doesn’t want to be putting my shoes and socks on for me in my old(er) age”.

Thudufushi holds their yoga sessions right outside their Serena Spa. And at the end of each session, the therapists come out and provide a final, soothing bit of stretching and massaging. Above, spa therapists Nantin and Narcy are working on Lori and Claudia Galeazzi , our yoga instructor.

Namazzzzzste!

Best of the Maldives: Bedroom Fountain – JA Manafaru

JA Manafaru - bedroom fountain

Art can be anything that inspires the senses. We are most familiar with visual art, but gastronomic delights can be truly artistic in the depiction of creative flavours. One medium of art we are especially familiar with is “sound art”. Not music, but actually composing artistic creations out of sounds that may or may not have any music or rhythm whatsoever. Our son, Chase (himself a veteran of a dozen visits to the Maldives with our family) is a sound artist. He recently released a work “Four Points” based on recordings around the UK shoreline. Our playlists are filled with his pieces and others he has recommended.

Most people will have enjoyed sound art in a spa where ambient pieces are often featured to paint a soothing acoustic environment. A common theme in such pieces is the sound of water. Be it gently curling seaside lapping the shore or a trickling brook or even a rainfall, something about flowing water is viscerally calming. Some resorts feature ambient recordings on their in-room sound systems. But JA Manafaru produces a live performance soundscape in their beach suites with a waterfall situated right behind the bed.

The feature reminded me of our recent stay at Shangri-La Villingili. On the second day we had quite an extensive rain shower for a few hours. But, Lori and I just flung open the French doors to the room and took a dreamy nap lying in bed with the sound of warm rain falling a few feet from us.

Best of the Maldives: Mixed Media Bed Art – Anantara Kihavah

Anantara Kihavah - bed decorating

The Maldives mattress medium just gets more and more sophisticated. The latest artistic talent to showcase is Anantara Kihavah Villas’ mixed medium artistry (thanks Paola). I’m particularly fond of their use of the pink bougainvillea, the underwater scene is especially a propos, and their towel palm tree is the first I have seen using towels in a pictorial rendition.

These bed decorations are ultimately a form of performance art. As evanescent as the blossoms which compose them.

Anantara Kihavah Villas - ocean scene

Anantara Kihavah Villas - palm tree

Best of the Maldives: Swimming Platform – One & Only Reethi Rah

One and Only Reethi Rah - swimming platform

Today is International Frugal Fun Day. When I think of frugal fun, I think of my childhood of bicycling down to the local pond and swimming in the muck filled water. Maybe not the tropical paradise of the azure blue Maldives lagoons, but on a blistering August day just as satisfying. The best part was the raft you swam out to for jumping, diving and just messing about. One and Only Reethi Rah might not be the most frugal resorts (quite the contrary, in fact), but it stills brings that retro-chic nostalgia of a swimming raft. A bit more opulently kitted out with a parasol, lounger and refreshment cabinet.

Best of the Maldives: Turkish Refreshment – Ayada

Ayada - Turkish lounge

Today is International Coffee Day. And for those who want to celebrate with a cup of extra high test, the quintessence of caffeinated elixir is considered by many aficionados to be the Turkish concoction where the consistency is more stew than broth.

The Turkish even have a traditional saying which underscores the sanctity of this buzzing beverage – “Bir kahvenin kirk yil hatiri vardir.” It means “A cup of coffee commits one to forty years of friendship.” It is used to remind us that friendships should not be taken lightly and we should invest in them for a long term commitment.

And an afternoon refreshment at Ayada’s lounge is just the place to leisurely enjoy that friendship. Packed with Ottoman ottomans and the Turkish delights of Turkish Delight, you can also partake of a wide range of teas and shisha as well.