Best of the Maldives: Tennis Tournament – One & Only Reethi Rah

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One and Only Reethi Rah tennis game

 

US Tennis Open finale today features two of the stars Djokovic and Nadal who seem to have no difficulty finding each other in the big tournaments in recent years.

While it’s not a problem reading by the beach or going to the gym, finding someone to play against can be a challenge for tennis fans travelling. Sure many resorts will offer resort staff to play, but if you want a full fledged tourney of competition, then you need to go to One & Only Reethi Rah. Reethi feature a weekly visitor tennis tournament…

“Every Wednesday from 4 to 6 pm our Tennis Club hosts a social tournament where guests will compete against each other in mixed teams. This social tournament is a great way to meet new people and discover our tennis facilities.”

No sign up required and complementary. Though watch out if repeat guest, who opened their tennis court, a guy named ‘Djokovic’, is on one of the teams, be warned that he’s a bit of a ringer.

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Best of the Maldives: Pottery – One & Only Reethi Rah

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One and Only Reethi Rah pottery 2

“I do pottery. I love it. It’s very relaxing; it takes me to another planet.” – Eva Herzigova

Some people think all you do in the Maldives is lie around in the sun all day. And some can’t conceive of wanting to do anything that would require any effort. But another group of folks actually enjoy doing things on their holiday break. Time to do the things they don’t get to do during their busy lives. And some of these “activities” can be quite relaxing in their own right.

One such activity is pottery. Especially, “throwing pots” on a wheel. The rhythmic rotation and the silky wet clay is reported as a very sensual and soothing experience. Perfectly apropos for a Maldives holiday. And the One & Only Reethi Rah has a full pottery studio. Set outside so one can enjoy the beach breezes while spinning or painting your creation, it even features a resident potter, Liliia Lapika Babych (see pictures) who provides classes and tutoring. The studio features pieces created by past guests as well as some of Lillia’s work. You can also make Venetian masks and other items with all of the equipment for glazing, painting and other creative media.

 

 

One and Only Reethi Rah pottery

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Best of the Maldives: Water Rafts – One & Only Reethi Rah

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One and Only Reethi Rah water rafts

If sliding into a pool isn’t exciting enough for you, then bouncing into a whole ocean might do the trick. And it’s available to all ages in the One & Only Reethi Rah water sports lagoon. Which in addition to its water trampoline includes a floating water volleyball “court”, a climbing wall “ice berg” not to mention an old school swimming raft. During my tour, these features were probably one of the tops that I most regretted not having the time to avail myself of. I could have spent hours on them especially with my kids when they were younger. Any one of these blow-up contraptions are worthy of a “Best of the Maldives” distinction individually, but since Reethi Rah is just such a cornucopia of such special features, I’ve decided to combine them in a single post.

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Best of the Maldives: Culinary School – One & Only Reethi Rah

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One and Only Reethi Rah culinary school

Eid Mub?rak!

Yesterday marks the end of the Ramandan and the start of the three celebration of Eid ul Fitr. After 40 days of fasting, you can imagine that the celebration at the end has quite a number of long-anticipated feasts.

If you want a bit of coaching help on creating the most sumptuous and resplendent feast, the One & Only Reethi Rah’s Culinary School is where you need to enrol…

“Classes will be available in a range of culinary styles from around the world such as Maldivian, Chinese, Italian, Indian, Arabian, Japanese ‘Washoku’, Thai cuisine or French desserts and pastries. The experience starts with a guided visit to the chef’s garden where the culinary team will demonstrate how to select the finest and freshest products while guests hand pick organic ingredients for their chosen course. Upon return to the culinary school, One&Only Reeti Rah’s master chef will guide pupils through an epicurean selection of the finest cooking products and condiments from around the world including wines, vinegars, oils and olives. Then guests can prepare exquisite dishes with expert guidance and enjoy their own creations in a sumptuous lunch. They leave the course with a certificate, recipe card and their very own One&Only Reeti Rah apron and chef’s cap. Courses cost run daily for between two to four people and cost $180* USD.”

Lori and I visited it in July and it is a truly lavish set up in its own climate controlled area with access to the finest tools in a lovely surrounding. It has gorgeous bas-relief on the wall depicting an ocean sunset with a Mayan-esque boldness of form (see bottom).

Reethi even have a junior cadet offering as well (see below). With this post, I’ve added a new category tag to the blog for “Instruction” which has all of the posts on the best “Schools” and “Courses” that the various resort offer for those so academically minded.

All it takes is an “E” (Eid) to turn a “fast” into a “feast”.

One and Only Reethi Rah culinary school kids

One an Only Reethi Rah culinary school wall

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Best of the Maldives: Salt Stone Cooking – One & Only Reethi Rah

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One and Only Reethi Rah salt stone cooking

Maldives resorts are full of surprises. Like getting a taste of the highest place on the planet served to you at the world’s flattest place.

One & Only Reethi Rah offers up an epicurean feast of food and drink superlatives which will fill the “Best of the Maldives” plate for months to come. One that captured our imagination was their salt stone cooking. They heat up a block of salt stone from the Himalayas to 400 degrees on which you cook your food at your table. The salt in the stone gently leeches into the food in the process for a very subtle seasoning.

They also have bowls made out of the salt stone (see below) for serving other dishes. This particular salt crystal from this area of the world is pink. I had never realised that salt came in so many colours. I had visited the famous Wieliczka salt mines in Krakow and their salt crystal was blue.

Reethi Rah cooking rocks!

One and Only Reethi Rah salt stone bowl

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Maldives Tour 2013 – Day 2: One & Only Reethi Rah

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One and Only Reethi Rah sign

“I’d like to be under the sea, in an octopus’ garden in the shade”

Possibly the theme song for One & Only Reethi Rah. Reethi is said to resemble an ‘octopus’ since its shoreline was crafted on the eight promontories. It is one of the all around top places for some ‘under the sea’ adventures’ in the Maldives. Its lush ‘gardens’ provide plenty of shade from the bright sun. And it is certainly a place everyone would ‘like to be’.

No surprise that the resort called “One & Only” would have many unique distinctions. In fact, we might have a new leader board topper with this visit’s sweep. I’ve identified 47 potential ‘Best of the Maldives’ items which added to the 7 already posted makes a stonking 54 (the next highest is LUX Maldives with 35). It does make it easier to determine the best “One” of the Maldives, when the feature is the “Only” one of its kind in the Maldives. Some of the things I saw at Reethi were not just the first time I had seen them in the Maldives, but the first time I had seen them any where in my world travels. One note is that such range of luxury doesn’t come cheap and the distinction-per-dollar might not be that far off other top flight resorts.

Curiously, Reethi Rah achieves its “wow” factor without any of the latest trendy features of the super-premium fashion stakes like underwater rooms and museum quality eco-centres. They don’t even have glass floors. Reethi Rah is Maldives luxury done in classic style.

 

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Best of the Maldives: Bath Decoration – One & Only Reethi Rah

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Reethi Rah bath decoration

 

The latest celebrity Maldives visit (also in a ‘family way’) is Marvin and Rochelle Humes. No surprise that they too are staying at Reethi Rah. Daily Mail coverage included a pic of their bath decoration. Petals in the bath water are de rigeur for romantic spa experiences, but Reethi has gone a step further applying this time honoured bed decoration to the other most relaxing (and at time romantic) part of a villa.

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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: Skin Service – Reethi Rah

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Reethi Rah skin service

 

 

There’s soft against the skin, and then there is soft skin itself. With the beating that the sun can give the epidermis, one needs a little help to keep it fresh and supple. Yes, great products, but to that Reethi Rah adds and exceptional service…

“The Sun Spa Esthederm is a unique service which will identify each guest's individual skin sun potential and advise them on the best skin care to maximise their full tanning potential. Institut Esthederm has developed more than 28 different sun care products, which allow all skin types to get the benefits of the sun safely. They also allow users to get the desired results under any kind of sunlight intensity. A full day service by the pool or the beach includes the services of a professional Sun Spa Esthederm therapist who will start by preparing the skin for the sun and then apply and reapply sun cream every hour or two and after swimming according to the guest's skin type and programme. At the end of the day, guests will enjoy an after sun treatment to sooth their skin and prolong their tan.”

It’s sort of like a ‘complexion butler’ or ‘skin crème sommelier’ (“Mademoiselle, we have a charming ‘Bain de Soleil 1973’ for a smooth body and a lingering fresh finish…”).  The only downsides are that the only choices on the menu are from the ‘house’ of Institut Esthederm Paris, and the price is a vintage $200 per day.

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