Best of the Maldives: Music Classes – Oaga

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Oaga - music classes

Exploration doesn’t have to be limited to just underwater adventures or tropical excursions. People can expand their horizons by trying a new activity or even delving into a new skill. Many people find holidays a great chance to try something new away from the pressures and stresses of daily life. Oaga offers a range of classes for guests looking to explore their musical side at their Ka Studio which includes guitar, ukulele, and bodu beru.

  • “Explore the opportunity to learn a new musical instrument or improve your existing skills. At Oaga Art Resort, you can choose from a range of lessons led by experienced instructors who will guide you through the learning process and help develop your musical skills. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced musician, our music lessons are the perfect way to immerse yourself in the world of music and create unforgettable memories.”
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Best of the Maldives: Signature Scent – Ifuru

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Ifuru - signature acent

Despite the splendor of the azure tapestry or the tasty delights on offer, supposedly the sense that evokes the most vivid memories for people is smell. For a aroma distinctive of your visit there, Ifuru has created its own signature scent for people to bring this memory home and relive it every time they apply it (thanks Paola).

  • “The exclusive Ifuru Maldives Perfume has returned and is now available once again at Xanadu Spa at Ifuru Island Maldives. This beloved scent, inspired by the invigorating Sea Breeze, has been crafted in collaboration with Essence On to capture the true essence of island luxury. Designed to transport you back to sun-drenched shores and tranquil ocean breezes, this unisex fragrance opens with vibrant notes of Tangerine, Almond, and Nectarine, followed by a delicate heart of Orchid, Coconut, and Jasmine. The scent is beautifully rounded off with a warm, lingering base of Heliotrope, Cedarwood, and Vanilla, making it the perfect keepsake to remind you of your time at Ifuru Island.”

   

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Best of the Maldives: Dhivehi Phrases – Oaga

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Oaga - dhivehi

In a refreshing break from the pervasive bikinis and palm trees on the #maldives Instagram feed, Oaga featured a series of Dhivehi useful and interesting phrases (with both Dhivehi writing and western forms) on their feed. A couple of Dhivehi dictionaries are on the web, but this collection of sayings is the closest things to a phrasebook I have come across:

  • Aanlheoa – used for greeting, congratulations or cheering some one
  • Hoba – kindness or wellness
  • Samaasaa – tease or entertan
  • Nakaiy – periods of the monsoon calendar
  • Suvvaasthi – expression of happiness “when feelings of joy rise to color how we convey ourselves”
  • Hiy Huba – good-heart, used as expression of gratitude
  • Malaafaiy – special wooden tray
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Best of the Maldives: Maldivian Seating – Oaga

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Oaga - Maldivian Seating

The outdoor net hamocks, “jolai”, are quite common in Maldives resorts, but . Oaga has the most colourful versions I have had the pleasure to lounge in (see below). And the indoor traditional seating platforms I have never even seen before (see above). They have one in every villa for people to chill, maybe play a board game, etc.

Oaga - Hammocks

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Coconut Stages

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maldives coconut

Eskimos (Sami) have between 180-300 words for “snow” and “ice”. In the sunnier climes of the Maldives with its swaying palm trees, it’s the coconuts that have all the words. In Dhivehi, the Maldivian language, there are indeed twelve distinct words for the different stages of a coconut’s life cycle:

  • Rukuehth (ރުކުއެތް) – Flower bud
  • Rukumaa (ރުކުމާ) – Coconut palm flowers
  • Gobolhi (ގޮބޮޅި) – Just formed nut
  • Miri (މިރި) – Young coconut with no meat
  • Gorugobolhi (ގޮރުގޮބޮޅި) – Phase between Miri and Kihah
  • Kihah (ކިހައް) – Immature coconut
  • Kurumba (ކުރުނބާ) – Drinking phase
  • Gabulhi (ގަބުޅި) – Phase between Kurumba and Kaashi
  • Kaashi (ކާށި) – Eating phase
  • Kurolhi (ކުރޮޅި) – No water, hard meat
  • Mudi (މުދި) – Germinated coconut
  • Raa Rui (ރާ ރުއި) – Coconut sap

Each stage has its own unique characteristics and uses in Maldivian cuisine and culture.

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What is in a name…of the Maldives

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Maldives map

One of the blog features has been a dive into the colourful linguistic tapestry of this exotic land (and sea). The resort database includes a field for the Dhivehi meaning of all the resort names as well. So I especially enjoyed this piece in the Maldive Independent – “What’s in a name: Maldives throughout millennia” – which explored the etymology of the name “Maldives” itself as well as a variety of other monikers it had through the centuries:

  • 1500-500 BC: “Maladvipa”, (“Mala” meaning garland and “Dvīpa” meaning island) in Vedic literature including the Mahābhārata and Purāṇas.
  • 483 BC: “2000 Parittadipa” (small islands) by the Buddhist Pāli texts Aṅguttara Nikāya and Khuddaka Pāṭha.
  • 59-62 AD: “Coral Islands” by Greco-Roman periplus, Periplus of the Erythraean Sea written in Koine Greek describing sea navigation and trading routes.
  • 150 AD: “Manioli” by Claudius Ptolemy’s Geographia (Book 7, Chapter 4) describing “1378” islands located southwest of India.
  • 420 AD: “Islands beyond India” referenced by Bishop Palladius of Helenopolis in Historia Lausiaca.
  • 5th century AD: “Mahiladipika” (Island of Women) by linguist Wilhelm Geiger derived from the Pali words Mahila (woman) and Deepika (islands), reflecting a matriarchal order.
  • 7th century AD: “Dweepa Lakshman” (Hundred Thousand Isles) byPallava dynasty documents.
  • 658 AD: “Mo-lai people” by Tang Dynasty records.
  • 9th century AD: “Diva Kauza” (“Islands of Shells”) by Iraqi merchant and writer Diva Kauza (Islands of Shells).
  • 10th century AD: “Munnir Palantivu Pannirayiram” (Twelve Thousand Islands and the Ocean Where Three Waters Meet), referring to the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, and the Bay of Bengal by Chola dynasty inscriptions.
  • 12th century AD: “Dheebat al Mahal” (“Islands of Women”) by Arabic historians Al-Masudi, Sulaiman al-Tajir, Al-Biruni.
  • 1225 AD: “Liu Shan” (Island Country) or “Liu Shan Guo” (Country of the Flowing Mountains) by Chinese customs inspector and geographer Zhao Rugua (1170–1228 CE), of the Song Dynastry period in his work Zhu Fan Zhi (Description of Barbarian Nations or Records of Foreign Peoples).
  • 13th century AD: “Pāpalam Theevu” (Pāpalam meaning cowries shells and Theevu meaning island in Tamil). Tholkāppiyam, by Tholkāppiyam the oldest extant work in Tamil literature.
  • 1300 AD: “Island of Male” by Marco Polo (referenced, not visited).
  • 1343-46 AD: “Deebath Al Mahal” by Ibn Battuta.
  • 1414 AD: “Liu Shan Tieh Kan” (Islands of Peaks) by Chinese admiral Zheng He’s scribe, Ma Huan, while Fei Xin, who also accompanied the commander names it “Liu Shen Yeng” (roughly translates into “Divine or Mysterious islands in the vast ocean or across the sea).
  • 1507 AD: “Maldives Ilha Dywe” by Portuguese explorers.
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Best of the Maldives: Open Community – Oaga

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Oaga - open community1

Happy staff make happy customers and I applaud a range of efforts by resorts to make the staff area as appealing as the rest of the island. Oaga invests so much into making its staff area and restaurant top notch that it is completely open to guests who are welcome to eat there with the staff if they like. They call it their “Open Community” concept. They take as much pride in the staff chef Aboo (see photo below) as they do any of chefs at their guest F&B outlets. Lori and I had a delightful lunch and were very welcomed by the staff taking their own midday refreshment there.

With the post, I’ve added the new tag of “Staff Area”.

Oaga - open community 2

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Best of the Maldives: Villa Reflective Glass – Oaga

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Oaga - reflective glass 1

It’s great to have expansive floor-to-ceiling windows to bring as much of the outdoor paradise into your villa, but with most beaches being open to all, you then become a bit of a fishbowl to the guests passing by. You had to decide whether to opt for view or privacy with your curtains.

Oaga has provided the ideal best-of-both solution with reflective glass on their villa windows allowing you to look out and no one else to look in. The glass also reduces the glare and heat from the glasshouse windows into your villa. And if you want to get a front and back bathing suit shot for Instagram, you can do that too.

Oaga - villa reflective glass

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Best of the Maldives: Murals – Oaga

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Oaga - murals 2

I’ve long been a fan of local artists providing the colour and panache to the Maldives resorts. The local artist community is thriving in recent years with more and more properties embracing their inspired work. But Oaga has gone well beyond just commissioning some lovely pieces to hang on the villa walls, and has set loose an platoon of palette wielders to provide every nook and cranny of the island with vibrant designs and decoration in the form of dramatic and gigantic murals.

I’ve already shared Oaga’s pool mural. The rooms have murals especially the Bodu Haruge Beach Villas with Private Pool have their own special storied behind them:

  • “One slanted wall of all the villas have a large mural, hand-drawn using black ink by process-oriented artist Moosa Mamdhooh Ahmed (aka. Mamdhu). He has based this series of murals on folktales and mythologies, most of which depict epic Maldivian tales. Fun facts: The artwork on our tote bags come from this series and you can meet the artist himself at the Suvāsthi Retail Gallery.”

Here is a sampling of the many I came across during our stay…

Oaga - murals 6

Oaga -murals 4

Oaga - murals5

Oaga - murals 4

Oaga - mural 7

Oaga - mural 5

Oaga - mural and grafitti

Oaga - mural 4

Oaga - murals 3

Oaga -murals 2

Oaga - murals

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Best of the Maldives: Island-Made – Nika

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Nike - construction

When I say “Island-Made”, I don’t mean made on “an” island in the Maldives…I mean made on *the* resort island. Not just a lot of it…all of it. The classic Nika property was one of the first resorts in the Maldives and was constructed entirely in the traditional manner of using coral stone for the material. Various heritage displays are replete with thatched structures, but actually more common are using the rock formed of old coral.

And Nika didn’t stop there. Hotel Insider article “Nika Island Resort – championing local heritage” describes how the resort furniture was all hand-crafted by local artisans:

  • “Every single item here was made on the island,” says Edo, beaming.
  • “Even the bed?” I ask.
  • “Yes. Even the doors. They may not be perfect, they may not have machine-like precision but they have individuality. It’s their imperfections that make them beautiful.”

Nika - coral construction

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