Best of the Maldives: Chinese Drinks – Shangri-La Villingili

Shangri-La Villingili - chinese wine

The Maldives are renowned for their legendary sunsets, but the night time celestial displays of stars and moon are equally as dazzling on the light-pollution free skies reflecting on the glass-like seas below. The full moon is always an occasion for a special celebration and tonight’s full moon marks the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival in particular.

The event is a time of coming together with friends and family for prayers of thanksgiving for the harvest bounty. Like the American Thanksgiving holiday, there is plenty of feasting and to compliment the cornucopia of foods, Shangri-La Villingili offers the most exceptional range of Chinese libations…

  • Baijiu (Chinese White Spirit) – Distilled.
    • MOU TAI (mao – tai) Produced in Guizhou, Southwest China. Often referred to as Chinese vodka. Distilled from sorghum. Unique because of ‘sauce-fragrance’. Alcohol degree from 53 to 35 (the higher, the more expensive). Official alcohol beverage in Chinese governments. Claims to be one of the three most famous liquors in the world, besides cognac and whiskey.
    • WU LIANG YE – Produced in Chengdu. Often known as the magic liquor of China. Purest, most authentic baijiu distiller. Complex with a fragrant peppery nose, soft and mellow on the palate
  • Huangjiu (Yellow Liquor) – Fermented
    • SHAOXING WINE (shao – sing). Produced in Shaoxing, Zhe Jiang. Shaoxing is the most internationally known high grade yellow wine, made for drinking and cooking. Traditionally drank both chilled and warm.
    • NU ER HONG (nü-eR-hong). Produced in Shaoxing, Zhe Jiang Fermented from glutinous rice and wheat. Alcohol degree is less than 20 degrees. Traditionally drank warm. Nu Er Hong has a beautiful story. In the ancient times, when the baby daughter was born, the parent would carve or paint jars of wine and bury them underground until the daughter got married. Thereafter, the parents would dig the wines out for a feast with the guests, hence its name Nu Er Hong (Daughter Rice Wine)
  • Chinese Grape Wine – Fermented
    • White – Produced in Shaan Xi, Northwest China. Close proximity to Xi An, home of the Terracotta Warriors. Grace Vineyard is one of the most established winery in China, and has been in operations since 1997. The first vintage was produced in 2001. Grace Vineyards Tasya’s Reserve Chardonnay 2008. Color: Pale, straw Green. Aromas: Light oak, tropical fruits, cashews. Palate: Light oak, nuts, melon fruits. Mouth-filling with fresh acidity.
    • Red – Grace Vineyards Tasya’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2009. 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. Color: Deep Ruby Red. Aromas: Blackberry, blackcurrant, subtle oak. Palate: Soft, medium-bodied red wine with blackberry notes. Fine tannins and light oak, good clean finish.
  • Beer – TSING TAO BEER (ching-dao). Brewery was founded by German settlers in China in 1903. Tsing Tao is the number one branded consumer producted exported in China

The catalogue above is compliments of Winnie Toh (photo above) from Singapore who is herself a Certified sommelier by Court of Master Sommeliers and also received the WSET Advanced Certificate in Wines and Spirits as well as the Wine Spectator Awards of Excellence.

This occasion has made me realise how much material I have on the Maldives’ biggest guest country, China, so I am adding the tag “Chinese” today to bring together all these pieces.

Best of the Maldives Online: Maldives Lifestyle Blogger – Samyoyo & Belinda’s Travel (Belinda Young)

Belinda Young 1

One of the things that struck me in my recent fashion research is the prevalence of the Lifestyle (Fashion and Travel) bloggers.  Of the 220+ subjects I discovered, 57 fall into this category.  All of these share a few key things in common – (a) they are female (I have yet to find a male Fashion/Travel blog with a Maldives post), and (b) they are all attractive (bit of a cross-correlation between their being kind to fashion and fashion being kind to them).

They also tend to come to the Maldives once to tick that bucket list destination off the list and then jet off to some other corner of the world.  One big exception struck me – Belinda Young.

Belinda and her sister Samyoyo have visited 14 different Maldives resorts (and One & Only Reethi Rah twice).  Belinda explores a range of tropical resorts all over the world, but she keeps coming back to the Maldives.

Furthermore, her resort pedigree is truly top class… 

Most of the Maldives veterans on Trip Advisor Forum have tended to frequent the upper mid-market properties.  Visits to the emerging 5+ star super-premium segment (like Belinda’s list) are quite rare.  And the glamorati who do go to such places, tend not to share much of their travels (though that is changing with Tweeting and now Instagramming becoming a popular activity for celebrities even on their get-away-from-it-all breaks).

I came across Belinda’s travel/fashion blog researching the Maldives fashion database.  She has posted an extensive range of photos that both provide alluring snapshots of the resorts, but also feature her in many striking poses.  I got in touch with her to get permission to use some of the photos and also to enquire a bit about her Maldive expeditions.  She promptly responded with a warm and helpful reply.  After a few email exchanges, she gladly agreed to do an exclusive interview for Maldives Complete sharing some of her perspectives (she also provided both English and Chinese versions of the interview).

· What is your favourite photo of yourself in the Maldives? 談談妳自已最喜歡的一張在馬爾地夫拍攝的照片? 

The photo in Banyan Tree Madivaru [see top]. I wore my customized dress inspired the colors of Maldives. Not enough words to describe, but you know what I mean…

我最喜愛的應該是在 Banyan Tree Madivaru 的這張,當時我身上穿的洋裝是出發前特別訂做的,顏色啟發自馬爾地夫的海洋色澤。在多的言語都赘述了,我相信您看照片就可以體會了

· Which resort most exceeded your expectations?  哪一間飯店超乎妳的預期?

In our memories, One&Only Reethi Rah is the number one. But the tiny, peaceful and romantic Cocoa exceeded our expectation. It’s hard to forget the nature beauty of Cocoa Island. You must be curious why Reethi is the No. 1? I wanna to say is all about the friends…old friends and new friends made our stay really One&Only!

在我們姐妹心目中 One&Only Reethi Rah 是我們的最愛; 但屬中小型,擁有寧靜浪漫氛圍的 Cocoa 卻是超乎我們所預期的美好。Cocoa Island 的原始美相當令人難以忘懷。不過你可能會好奇為何 One&Only Reethi Rah 占居首位,我認為這完全成就於 “人” 的美好,新朋舊友的齊聚互動讓那次的住宿體驗只能用 “獨一無二” 來形容。

· What was the most romantic touch that a resort added to your stay? ? 聊聊妳所入住的飯店中碰過最浪漫體驗?

The sunset cocktail party at Fanditha restaurant in One&Only Reethi Rah. I think the major reason was that we had just been invited to join a sunset beach wedding before the party. Although I am not the bride, I could feel the joy and happiness. The moment was so precious and special.

我想是第二次入住 One&Only Reethi Rah 的 Fanditha 舉行的一場夕陽雞尾酒會;在酒會前我們受邀參加了一場住客的向晚夕陽婚禮,雖然不是主角,但我仍感受到滿滿的幸福,我相信這應該是一種情緒的延續,使得這場擁有幻彩夕照的 Fanditha 酒會浪漫指數破錶。

· You travel all around the world…what do you find different about the Maldives as a tropical destination? 常常旅遊的妳,認為馬爾地夫與其他熱帶渡假海島較不同的一面是?

We just like to travel tropical islands. The beautiful nature and isolation make the Maldives very unique destination. I love doing nothing just staring at the sea all day and feeling the time standing still…

我們真的很愛海島,旅遊一定都去海邊。但馬爾地夫的獨特是來自於她的自然美以及與世隔絕感,也僅有在馬爾地夫我能充份享受放空的快感,時間在此就好像靜止凍結。。。

· What is your pet peeve at Maldives resorts?有沒有你不太喜歡的飯店?

Well….I think….OH!  Too difficult to answer. But back to summer of 2005, we experienced an incredible stay at Dhoni Mighili. Look at the island right now? I think I have no right to judge Safari island Resort, but can’t go back anymore! I hope the same situation never happens on Banyan Tree Madivaru.

這個問題有點難回答,如果一定要,可能要回到2005年的初夏,當時我們入住 Dhoni Mighili 就像圓了一場相當棒的航海夢。但是看看現今的島?基本上我覺得我沒任何立場去評論一家我沒入住過的飯店 Safari Island,但對於我們個人的 Dhoni Mighili 印象,我們真的回不去了~這點,我希望不會再次發生在 Banyan Tree Madivaru。

· Reethi Rah appears to be only resort (Maldives or other places) where you returned…why did you visit there twice? O&O Reethi Rah Rah 算是妳們旅遊馬爾地夫所有飯店中唯一重返的,什麼原因讓你們再度入住呢?

Not only the One&Only Reethi Rah, we have been The Brando in Tahiti and Song Saa Private Island twice too. For Reethi I think there are 2 reasons. First, we went to O&O Reethi the first time, it had only opened for 2 weeks, and there were lots of small issues not so perfect as we expected.  We got transfer problems on the way back to Male, so the management team invited us return and experience. Secondly, we are going to publish our travel book “Islands Chic” (introduce Maldives/Tahiti/Hawaii), we returned for more photos for the book.

其實不止 O&O Reethi Rah, 大溪地的 The Brando 及柬埔寨的 Song Saa Private Island 我們都曾經重返。對於 O&O Reethi Rah,二個原因造就了我們再次入住,1第一次時飯店開幕僅二週,一些小小的問題真的需要改進,而在我們回程馬列的接送出了極大的問題,也因為如此管理階層請我們回去再試試入住,另一個主要原因則是我們正著手準備出版我們的旅遊書 “時尚島嶼之旅“ (這本書介紹大溪地/馬爾地夫以及夏威宜這三個熱門時尚島嶼),也因為這個因素,我們也希望呈現出更多的海島旅行照片,所以我們就重返了

· The Maldives is renowned for the best snorkeling in the world, but you have seen some many tropical islands around the world. Which other tropical island comes closest to the Maldives for snorkeling quality? ? 馬爾地夫是著名的浮潛勝地,妳遊歷過這麼多熱帶海洋島嶼勝地,還有哪些熱帶海洋地點妳認為能跟馬爾地夫媲美?

I have to tell you….we don’t know how to swim…and…even a little bit of afraid the water (especially the rogue wave). So it’s shame that we didn’t really enjoy snorkeling…crazy right? But we have been to Palau long long time ago…we did snorkeling in there and enjoy it. I think the snorkeling is very good.

Bruce, 我老實跟你說,其實我們姐妹不會游泳。。甚至於有點怕水 (尤其是那種很強勁的洋流),所以有點不好意思的是浮潛活動對我們而言並不是重點,這對於一向喜歡島旅行的人來說很瘋狂吧!不過我們也不是都不浮潛,我們曾經訪訪過帛琉四天三夜,天天浮潛,那裡的浮潛經驗相當好,我相信能媲美馬爾地夫

· What have you not seen in the Maldives that you would love to see or you think some resort should feature (maybe you saw it at a tropical resort in another part of the world)?有沒有任何特點妳會期盼能在馬爾地夫或馬爾地夫的飯店中能體會到 (也許這些特點是在其他熱帶島嶼飯店中所擁有的)

How about the special way to delivery your breakfast to villa likes Canoe Breakfast in Tahiti. But I hope it had a little different from Tahiti…it have to be in Maldives way! But I have no any idea right now.

我蠻想看看大溪地特有的獨木舟早餐在馬爾地夫到底行不行?但一定要有馬爾地夫自已的味道及特色,不過什麼形式呈現,說真的我現在真的還想不出來

· Do you have any favourite foods or drinks you like to have specifically in the Maldives? ? 請告訴我們妳到馬爾地夫旅行時,有沒有特別喜歡的食物或必點飲料?

Local food: chapatti (with Maldivian chili), we ate chapatti almost every morning when we were there.

當地食物 恰帕底 (當然還要配上馬爾地夫土產辣椒),我們幾乎每天早晨都叫 恰帕底

· Which is the next Maldives resort you want to visit? 妳對於未來即將開幕的新飯店最想入住的是哪一家?

But for the future resort i think it is Soneva Jani.  I love the concept of SONEVA..  Soneva Fushi not yet! This is only Soneva we didn’t go to yet.  I am still interested in Soneva in Aqua…but don’t know when will it open!

如果是對未來即將開幕的飯店而言,我最期待 Soneva Jani,因為我太愛 SONEVA 集團了,雖然我唯一沒入住過 Soneva Fushi (這也是我唯一一家未入住過的 SONEVA 品牌飯店),也許 Soneva in Aqua 正式啟航時也許有緣份入住

· Which resort is the one you would most like to return to? 有沒有任何飯店是妳想再度重返的?

Cheval Blanc Randheli is the resort that I would want to return to.  I was the one of the first grand opening guests of Cheval Blanc.  Unfortunately, they had lots of issues I had encountered during my stay (I don’t want to mention), but the most important thing was that I didn’t travel with my elder sister Samantha (we always travel together), so I want to experience it again with my dearest.

Cheval Blanc Randheli!我是 Cheval Blanc 開門第一天就入住進去了,但很可惜的是可能剛開業很多事情皆未上軌道 (多到我懶得再提了),但最要的一點是當時我的姐姐 Samantha 並沒有跟我一起同遊,我們姐妹感情相當好,也是最佳旅伴,我相當希望能跟著她再次入住 Cheval Blanc Randheli ,因為我知道現在一切都上軌道了,我不會失望的

· Do you have any favourite “shots” you like to get (my wife and I always get a photo of us in front of the resort sign)? 分享一下妳所喜歡的特別攝影定格 (像我跟我老婆總喜歡在飯店標誌前拍照)

The bottle of water with resort logo (I love the resort logo on the bottle…not all the resorts have it!)

有飯店標緻的玻璃瓶裝水 (我喜歡有飯店 logo在瓶身上的那種,但不是每間飯店都會有的)

· Any tips to offer first time visitors to the Maldives?對於第一次造訪馬爾地夫的朋友們有沒有任何建議?

Bare foot anywhere as you can…you will miss the sand in your toes when you back to city.

光腳!光腳!光腳!~相信我,當你回到城市後,你會時不時想念起腳底有砂,踩砂的那段日子

 

Belinda Young 2

Golden Week of Holiday

Luo Zilin - reclining

China National Day yesterday kicked off “Golden Week” (黄金周)in the country with an entire 7 days of national holiday.

I thought we would feature the top 8 beauties in the Maldives Complete fashion database from China (including Hong Kong) since “8” is such a auspicious number in Chinese tradition. We start with the quite golden Luo Zilin (above)…

1. Luo Zilin (model) – The Residence [ABOVE]
2. Liu Yun (actress) – LUX Maldives

LUX Maldives - Liu Yun

3. Zhang Yuqi (model) – Six Senses Laamu

Six Senses Laamu - Zhang Yuqi

4. Vivienne Tang (athlete) – Loama Maamagili

Loama Resort Maldives at Maamigili - Vivienne Tang

5. Julynn Lau (blogger) – Chaya Island Dhonveli

Chaaya Island Dhonveli - Julynn Lau

6. Muqi Miya (athlete) – W Retreat

W Retreat - Muqi Miya

7. Margaret Pui-Kin Kan (China) – Angsana Ihuru
Angsana Ihuru - Margaret Pui-Kin Kan
8. Wang Likun (actress) – LUX Maldives

LUX Maldives - Wang Likun 2

Best of the Maldives: Tai Chi – Soneva Fushi

Soneva Fushi tai chi

Happy Chinese New Year!  2015 ushers in the Year of the Goat.  According to Chinese tradition, people born in the goat years are calm and gentle, just like the Maldives. 

To herald its arrival, try some of the ancient art of Tai Chi at Soneva Fushi. Traditionally a martial art of self-defence in more recent times is it practiced more for its health benefits to the extent that even the NHS has a page about it: “studies have shown that tai chi can help people aged 65 and over to reduce stress, improve balance and general mobility, and increase muscle strength in the legs.” Tai Chi News explains…

“Qi Gong is the foundation of Tai Chi, wherein the student learns to move their body and feel their internal energy (Qi), through simple, relatively static movements, and the use of the will (Yi) to guide the energy as it flows through its natural channels (known as jing-luo, or meridians.) The main exercise used in Tai Chi is called the Form. This is a flowing sequence of movements, lasting from 5 to 20 minutes. The Form very effectively develops physical skill and health, and constitutes a very enjoyable kind of moving meditation…More advanced students learn the two-person Form (San Shou) and the sabre, sword, staff and spear Forms, all of which provide an exciting, artistic and satisfying level to the training…Pushing Hands (Tui Shou) is a kind of partner exercise, where 2 people develop sensitivity and co-ordination together. This is a very enjoyable, playful and free-flowing kind of exercise.”

????

Best of the Maldives: Chinese Fondue – Vilamendhoo

Vilamendhoo chinese fondue 2

Happy Chinese New Year!

Chinese cuisine is right up there with Maldivian and Indian curries as a common cuilinary feature of Maldive restaurants. In fact, it’s hard to go anywhere in the world without a Chinese dining establishment. I’ve eaten in many and I’ve not yet come across a specialty featured at Vilamendhoo of a ‘Chinese Fondue’…

“Seafood, beef, chicken and vegetables which you will cook in a simmering metal pot of stock at the center of your table. Truly delicious! Choice of chicken, vegetable, tom yam or miso soup. $40.00 Per person.”

Chinese expression for ‘bon appetit’ is ??? (mànmàn ch?!) which translates as ‘eat slowly’ which is easy to do with a relaxed fondue preparing each item individually.

完美馬爾代夫 – Chinese Version

Maldives Complete - Chinese

“歡迎來到完美馬爾代夫的中文版。 鑒於中國是目前來訪這天堂般美麗的地方數目最多的遊客, 和這個網站探訪者最多之一, 我將會儘以我所能使您可以更容易尋找資訊。 感謝陳景翔先生 為這個網站做的翻譯工作。 網站其中占比較大的一部分就是‘博客’頁,並且索引在 ‘最好去的地方’ 頁中裡。我們已經把 ‘最好去的地方’ 的主題以及類別翻譯了, 以便您找到感興趣的主題。若是您想深入閱讀我們的‘博客’頁或其他文章我只能建議您載入Google 翻譯或其他網上翻譯服務。 感謝您的探訪。 我們希望在未來提供更多的中文材料。”

Welcome to the Chinese version of Maldives Complete. Respecting that China is now the biggest visitor to this paradise, and one of the biggest visitors to the site, I thought that I would do what I could to make it easier for you to follow the information. Thanks to Daniel Chan, he helped me with translations of some of the key text to help you use the site. One of the big areas of the site is the ‘Blog’ much of which is indexed in the ‘Best Of’ page. We have translated the ‘Best Of’ subjects to help you locate topics of interest. I can only suggest that if you then want to read the article, load it into Google Translate or some equivalent web service. Thank you for visiting. We hope to offer more Chinese language material in the future.

The paragraph directly above is the English translation to the paragraph above that which is now featured on the Home page of newly launched Chinese version of Maldives Complete. Just press on the Chinese flag icon on the Home page (see below).

I haven’t translated absolutely everything. Some of the background pages in the ‘About’ section don’t get much traffic and are less interesting to prospective visitors. Also, the Blog was really too much of a project to translate. If you add it up, it now has over 250 pages of written text in its posts. If people are really keen on the content Google Translate at least will give them an idea of what I am referring to. I have translated the subjects of the ‘Best Of’s so at least they will be able to easily find certain topics of interest.

I especially like Daniel’s interpretation of the site name in Chinese…

“For the title, I have translated it as “完美馬爾代夫”, where the “complete” term is placed at the front (the Chinese and English sentence structures are quite the opposite) and interpreted as ‘totally perfect’.”

Totally Perfect!

image

Best of the Maldives: Chinese Therapy – Adaaran Club Rannalhi

Club Rannalhi chinese therapy

Looking for am apropos hangover cure from your Chinese New Year celebrations? Well, you might want to stop by the ‘Traditional Chinese Therapy Centre’ at Club Rannalhi.

Liu Yaping offers a range of treatments which are mostly variations of acupressure massage such as “Tui Na” and “Chinese cupping”. Most treatments run about $60 for an hour session

Disclaimer – I am not a fan the many disastrous environmental effects of many traditional Chinese therapies that call for ingredients of rare species like tigers, rhinos and most relevant in the Maldives is manta gills. Most holistic therapies are harmless placebos which provide comfort. But when a billion people with increasing amounts of money start wanting these obscure ingredients, the side effects for the planet can be tragic. Fortunately, Club Rannalhi’s therapy centre does not offer any of these ingredients based on endangered species in its treatment offerings.

While other resorts have spas offering Chinese treatments (eg. Shangri-La Villingili, Olhuveli, Soneva Fushi, Meedhupparu), the Rannali centre is the only one who specialises in just this area.

New Year of Chinese

Chinese maldives

 

Happy New Year!

‘Chinese New Year’ that is. The Year of the Rabbit. Perhaps an excuse to go to one of the islands where wild rabbits can be found like Soneva Fushi, Hudhuranfusi and Komandoo.

While this might be the Year of the Rabbit, 2010 was definitely the ‘Year of the Chinese’ in the Maldives.

The 114,158 Chinese visitors was an increase of 96.1% which was the biggest contributor to the Maldives’ big 20.7% increase overall for what was still an economically challenged year.

“Tourist arrivals in October 2010 increased by 21.8 percent compared to that of last year. A ministry statement said 74,707 tourists visited the Maldives in October 2010 while 62,432 visited in October 2009. Europe still dominates the Maldives tourism market with 407,519 visiting the country from January-October, which accounts for 63.3 percent of the total arrival – a 9.2 percent increase to the European tourist arrivals within the period of last year. Asia-Pacific follows Europe on the second with 207,736 tourists visiting the Maldives within the 10 months – a 57.5 percent increase to 2009’s amount. China contributes the highest to the tourist arrivals by October 2010 with 104,148 tourists, which is a 109.7 percent increase to the period of last year. From January-October 2010, 95,586 British tourists visited the Maldives.”

And there are no signs of the trend letting up. These numbers put China #3 in the list of most visitors behind the UK and the USA. But, in January the Maldives had their first day ever where the number of Chinese surpassed UK visitors. Furthermore, Minivan recently announced that Mega Global Maldives is launching its first direct service from Hong Kong.

But the biggest driver to this influx is the growing pile of Chinese money. Long gone are the days when my parents told me to think of all the ‘starving children in China’ to get me to finish all my food. Now China is an economic powerhouse with a blossoming financial elite. For a striking perspective on the dizzying momentum of economic China’s growth, check out ‘Shanghi 1990 versus 2010’.

The Sunday Times wrote a piece, “Great Mall of China” on the explosion of luxury consumption among Chinese. Also, the Daily Mail ran a piece titled ‘Duck and Caviar’ in their print edition. They make the interesting observation that years of Communist ideology meant that “the idea of having lots of money and splurging it around is considered distasteful.” They refer to the ‘Peking Pound’ as ‘stealth wealth’ where Chinese prefer more understated activities like bird watching and calligraphy, to splashing around in yachts and sports cars. One can see how the simple charms of Maldivian paradise could fit their bill very nicely.

The trend has significant implications for the tourism business on the islands. Obviously, the language issue will need translations of materials as well as the hiring of Chinese speaking staff. A number of resorts already cater strongly to groups of non-English speaking guests: Germans at Reethi Beach, French at Rihiveli, Italians at many such as Alimatha and Dhiggiri. I’d be curious to see if an entrepreneur opens a resort focusing on the Chinese in a similar way.

Another less obvious implication is impact on water management. Corresponding to the rise of Chinese visitors has been the rise of Chinese fatalities. Specifically, deaths by drowning while swimming or snorkelling. This is not a statistical aberration because no other groups have suffered hardly any fatalities. As a result, it does appear to be a cultural issue…the Chinese are not good swimmers. A number of dive instructors supported this observation to me on my last visit. If more and more Chinese are going to visit with less and less swimming skills, then the Maldives will need to re-evaluate how to monitor and protect swimming guests (eg. restrictions, competency tests, lifeguards).