22nd March 2010, 17:50
| #31 | |
| BHPian  Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Mumbai
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| Thanks everyone for your comments. To answer the 3 most common questions: 1> Expenses: I quote: Quote:
Everything in Maldives is quite expensive. e.g. A bottle of water is 5 USD. A drink at the bar is 15 USD. 2> How did I take pictures of the fish underwater? Used my SLR very carefully and gently and took the photos from above the water  . The water is that clear! In future I would buy one of those disposable film underwater cameras to use and buy it in advance. 3> Did we visit anything else? Nope. In Maldives each island is usually rented to a resort and the island is the resort and the resort is the island. You eat, swim, snorkel, sleep, walk there. The Vivanta is on a very small island and one can easily walk around it in 20 mins, there are larger islands where you may need a gold cart to go from one end to the other. Other things to do out of the resort is to go diving off a boat , or on a tour on a boat to an island which has a regular Maldivian village. If you really really want to, you could go to Male the capital, but it is really really small with nothing really to do and a resort can charge upwards of 100 USD for a boat transfer there, so it really really does not make sense. Will continue the story tonight... Last edited by genesis : 22nd March 2010 at 17:52. | |
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22nd March 2010, 20:01
| #32 |
| BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Mumbai
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| When I am home, I like watching TV. I like watching shows like National Geographic and Discovery channel. There was an uncle on one of these shows who was very brave. His name was Steve Irwin. One day my papa told me that Steve Irwin got hurt by a big fish called a sting ray and went to heaven. I felt very sad. I became afraid of sting rays. I want you to meet Zia Ur uncle. He is from Bangladesh. He is the gardener in Taj Vivanta during the day. In the evening Zia Ur is as brave as Steve Irwin. He makes friends with sting rays. He gives them fish and they come and say hello to him. He has been doing this for eight years.  I stood with Zia Ur uncle and his bucket of fish in the evening. The fish was stinky stinky so I wore gloves. First Zia Ur uncle showed me one stingray which was coming towards the shore. It was very big. It had a big tail. Zia Ur uncle told me to be careful about the tail.  Then the stingray brought another friend with him.  Zia Ur uncle fed the stingray  Soon there were many sting rays in the water around us and I was feeling little little afraid  Then I got a little brave and threw the fish at the sting ray. It came close and ate it. I got more brave, took out my glove and held out my hand. A stingy came and took it from my hand. It felt funny.  Soon I was so excited that I was running in the water with the sting rays. I was not afraid anymore!  I even touched the ray at the top of its head. It was slimy, soft and rough. I told the sting ray I was his friend and it did nothing to me.  I was very happy and went splash splash in the water with them. After some time they had to go home. So they turned back and swam into the ocean  And very soon all of them were gone  Leaving behind just the fishies  And a birdie  and a very happy MEEEEEEEE! Last edited by genesis : 22nd March 2010 at 20:06. |
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22nd March 2010, 20:08
| #33 |
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23rd March 2010, 06:58
| #34 |
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| Next day morning we went for a walkie walkie around the island.  The chinese auntie from the school was taking a student uncle for a picnic. They had some round round things which looked like cooking cylinders on their back. My mama told me that they were not cooking cylinders but oxygen cylinders which let them breathe underwater. They were going on a underwater picnic. It is called diving. I told my mama that they must be very brave to go on a picnic under the water.  They entered into the water and swam.  Soon they vanished  And after many many minutes the uncle and auntie came up near a boat which took them away to another reef. My mama told me that there is a sunken boat near that reef which many divers go to see.  I too will dive one day. But for today I was happy seeing many needlefish without going into the water.  I made some new friends on the island. Some were shy.  But soon got used to me so I put them in my pocket.  Some did not want to play  And some changed colors  When they got angry  All the playing made me tired. So I sat in the hubble bubble  Had a thanda thanda cool cool  And then found a nice tree  and went back to sleep again... |
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23rd March 2010, 08:11
| #35 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: TSTN
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23rd March 2010, 10:21
| #36 |
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23rd March 2010, 10:48
| #37 |
| Senior - BHPian  | Simply amazing! Beautiful photos and very touching narration, made us atleast 20 years younger  . Please share the break up of expenses at the end, will be really helpful. |
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23rd March 2010, 12:06
| #38 |
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23rd March 2010, 12:31
| #39 |
| BHPian Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Bangalore
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23rd March 2010, 12:47
| #40 |
| Senior - BHPian  | I am really enjoying your style of narration! Feels like I am in back 5th standard and reading my own essay. The stingray pictures are amazing.  |
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23rd March 2010, 13:09
| #41 |
| BHPian Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Hyderabad
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23rd March 2010, 19:23
| #42 | ||||
| BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Mumbai
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| Quote:
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This was one of the most amazing experiences I have had. It is very humbling. Quote:
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 The narrator (my nephew) is actually all of 2 years old. But since he cant speak full sentences I had to use his imagination which is much bigger and older than him.Here he is in person (slightly touched up to protect his identity)  He lives the good life! Last edited by genesis : 23rd March 2010 at 19:28. | ||||
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24th March 2010, 09:42
| #43 |
| BHPian Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Hyderabad
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24th March 2010, 10:12
| #44 |
| BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Mumbai
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| I want to tell you about one of the bestest friends I made on the island. It is a beautiful bird. Sometimes I followed it around and sometimes it followed me around. First time it came and sat on the stairs of my bungalow when I was in the water.  I got close to it, but it did not let me shake hands.  Then when I was in the pool it came and sat next to me  It was drinking some water  And then it was doing a fashion show for all the uncles and aunties in the pool. Sometimes I felt it was a happy birdy since it got food on the island but sometimes it got sad since it was all alone on the island.  I also want to tell you about what we did in the evening after sunset  We went to the end of the jetty near the reception, where the hotel uncles had put some chairs and a bright light on the water. The water was very clear.  There we watched many many fishies swimming.  They were the most beautiful fishies I have seen.  There were some big black ones which came and made the little fishies run away  But then they came back again  We sat for a long time watching the fishies. Because it was night the water kept coming up and up and soon our feet got wet with the waves. So we walked back down the beautiful quay  to enjoy the last night of this trip in Maldives... |
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24th March 2010, 10:44
| #45 |
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