Wednesday 23 March 2011

Maldives Trip Part 1

For our first wedding anniversary, my husband and I decided to vacation at the Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru in the Maldives.

This truly felt like a secluded paradise on earth with the crystal clear blue waters and picturesque sandy white beach, far away from the madding crowd.

Our villa came with its own outdoor jet pool and sun deck.


It was simply bliss to float in the ocean, gazing up at the azure sky.


Can you spot the silver fishes?

The jetty lit up at night.

The jetty is surrounded by the corals on all sides, with a diverse variety of fish and even sharks swimming around it.

The stingray comes around to the jetty every afternoon around 5pm.





Sunrise as seen from the jetty.


And on the other side of the sky was the pale setting moon.


View of the sunset from our deck.

15 comments:

makeupmag said...

Absolutely stunning. I love how you take us around the world with your travel photos and commentary. Thank you for sharing this little piece of paradise!

PS: You didn't/can't go into the water where the sea creatures are, can you? I'd imagine the stingrays will, ah, sting? :P

Haru said...

There's a sign on the jetty asking the guests not to touch the stingray. The fish do swim all around you though, they are so tame!

Anonymous said...

Congratulation on your wedding anniversary! It makes me wanna have a getaway too :) I've always love travel but not the finance nor time to. But someday i will. That's why i can only satisfied my craving for travel by pictures online, that's one good thing about internet, hehe.. Enjoy the romantic trip! :p

Tracy said...

Beautiful, I'm so jealous! Congrats on ur anniversary. Must be so lovely to have devoted time to each other in paradise.

Ti_Amo said...

Ah! The photos are so beautiful! I hope you had a great time!

Anonymous said...

May i know how much are the hotel/travel charges in general? I would love to holiday in the maldives!

Anonymous said...

I'm the poster who asked for photos in the previous comments section. Woohoo! Beautiful pictures. The comment about the stingray visiting at regular times made me LOL. I wonder what he's looking for at 5 PM daily. Have a great time!

Haru said...

hi Tracy,
Thanks, we had a wonderful time!

hi Ti Amo,
Yes, it was fantastic!

hi Helena,
You can find the hotel rates on Banyan Tree's website.

Anonymous said...

lovely; the clear waters are great

maldives is probably not cheap by most standards, but the philipines are really just as nice for probably a fraction of the cost (i've been to many of the beaches there, fantabulous); unfortunately, the latter doesn't have the best rep for safety and honestly, i would hesitate to go on my own, but it's an option if you're there in a group or something! -h.

Jan S said...

Thanks for sharing the lovely pictures. The water looks heavenly! Congratulations, Happy 1st anniversary and many more to come :)

shopaholic said...

wow, fantastic to have gone there to celebrate! was wondering why the absence. happy for you and a toast to blissful marriage!

MudpieVivi said...

Happy 1st wedding anniversary Iris! Wow I can't believe it's been a year already, I can still remember your post on your wedding and honeymoon vividly! I have always wanted to go Maldives for our wedding anniversary, but somehow we always get distracted by other destinations haha! Yes the comment about the daily 5pm visit from Mr "Sting Ray" made me LOL too! Thanks for sharing! :)

Anonymous said...

let's protect the earth so that we can continue to enjoy the beauty of nature :)

MudpieVivi said...

Hi Iris, now that you've been back a few weeks, would you still say Maldives is paradise on earth, and did Banyan Tree live up to its reputation (worth the price tag?)

I'd really love to consider it for my next holiday destination...BTW we went to Hawaii before, and we spent a grand total of 15mins on Waikiki Beach and got sunburnt :P We really wonder if we'd be able to take the lying-on-the-beach kinda vacation :P

Haru said...

Hi,
Yes, I think Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru was worth the price tag as the service was impeccable and the resort was really beautiful. The villa is luxurious with its own outdoor jet pool (super strong jets!) and outdoor shower. The food was pretty good too with a lot of variety, so we weren't eating the same stuff every day. It definitely is very expensive but for a once in a lifetime splurge, I would still go for it especially since the Maldives may not survive climate change in decades to come. Of course there are other beach resorts that are much cheaper but these also tend to be crowded with lots of families with kids. When we were at Vabbinfaru, there were only adults so it was very peaceful.