Somewhere, beyond the sea (Day 3, 11 Feb)

I am having the best time! While I miss the kids and all, I’m so glad they are not here. Selfish I know but I am a firm believer in taking time out for ourselves from time to time, though Nick is berating himself for being a horrible father.

We got a nice table for breakfast, a coveted booth-type seat. Our hostess Grace is from the Philippines and she’s really friendly and addresses us by name.

I ended my meal with a crepe, too bad they didn’t have any bananas, it would have gone well with the chocolate and vanilla sauces I drizzled on the crepe. Settled for some stewed apples instead and made a roll of it!



After breakfast, we changed into our swimwear and snorkeled around our bungalow again. I saw a bit more than yesterday, thank goodness I invested in the underwater camera bag, I can snap away as much as I like!




Next we took a kayak out to the house reef which is a tiny island after Dhigu, it took a bit of work getting there, most people would kayak from Dhigu but Nickypoo insisted on starting from Veli, it’s his form of exercise. As the tide was low, we got stranded on some rocks halfway and he had to get out and push.

Eventually we made it to the house reef. I doodled in the sand, saw some washed up sea cucumbers. The currents looked strong especially when boats passed and we debated whether to go in the water but decided to anyway, because there was some turquoise fish I spotted from the surface and I wanted to see them in person.



When I found one, I chased it around snapping away indiscriminately because I couldn’t see a damn thing on my camera screen, what with the water’s reflection and the foggy snorkel mask!

These are the sea creatures we saw, there was even an octopus. After surfacing he spotted a cuttlefish but it zoomed away before I could whip out my camera.






As we made our way back to the kayak, this Great Blue Heron came to rest on the shore. And on the way back kayaking, we saw people dining in the middle of the lagoon.


A dip in the pool was next and after half an hour, we went back to the room to chill and have the first of our instant noodles.

No nap today, it was back to Dhigu via pontoon to do another walkabout and visit the Chef’s Garden, Coral Nursery and have a look at the black tip reef sharks we spotted lurking around Fuddan the night before.



We arrived back on Veli at the appointed 5pm meeting time for our sunset cruise, only to find ourselves transported back to Dhigu as the boats depart from there! There was only 1 other couple on the trip with us, the majority had opted for sunset line fishing. Keisha and Amer were from Washington DC and expecting their second child.

We only travelled for less than 30 mins before stopping in the middle of nowhere to wait for the sun to set. The boat crew invited us to sit on the roof of the boat, I was wearing a dress and mindful of exposing too much as I went up the ladder.

There weren’t proper seats or anything, we sat cross-legged on the floor and it was a little precarious because the railings were less than a foot high, and the boat was rocking, we had no life jackets on.

They served us some champagne and canapés, which were mainly samosas and spring rolls. It wasn’t a brilliant enough sunset as I would have hoped, the sky was a bit cloudy. As soon as the golden orb hit the water, we were back on our way to Veli.




Dinner this evening was at the signature Thai restaurant Baan Huraa, Anantara is a Thai brand so we felt compelled to try out the food. Nevermind that they charge US$32 for Pad Thai!

We had a table indoors that was next to a ‘hole’ where we could see fish swimming if we looked down. Unfortunately the weather seems to have shifted, it was extremely windy outside and the fish were struggling to swim against the currents.

I decided it was more worthwhile to order a set menu and the one chosen for 2 pax with about 5 dishes cost about US$110. We had a crispy fish salad, tom kha gai, stir fried veggies, stir fried prawns and a beef green curry.

The salad and tom kha gai was good but the green curry had too much coconut milk and not enough green curry paste. We ended the meal with ice cream, he had a raspberry sorbet, I had coconut but it tasted more like vanilla.

At the end of the meal, our waitress asked if she could make us a fish from a leaf. I had seen them do it for kids at another table and wasn’t really expecting one for ourselves but it was a nice gesture. Will bring it back for Nat, provided it doesn’t get squished!



When we got back to the room, a surprise awaited us, a bowl of chocolates and the bowl was made entirely of orange-colour sugar.

Nick might have had too much sun today, he’s developed a fever and is giddy, probably a case of mild heatstroke.

All the fishes...(Day 2, 10 Feb)

We are 3 hours behind Singapore and set the alarm for 8am local time but woke up at 7plus and decided to have breakfast early, That welcome pineapple turned out to contain a fruit salad, I didn’t know it had been carved!


The weather is perfect, not too hot and not humid either. We are in an over-water bungalow, and don’t need to venture far to see fish, they are at our doorstep.



Had breakfast at 73 Degrees, the usual bacon, baked beans and sausages was on offer but they also had a small selection of Asian food like chicken congee, fried noodles and fried rice.



Read a bit of the newspapers we took from the plane last night and went back to the room to freshen up before heading out again to explore the island.

We walked to the Thai restaurant Baan Huraa and along the way saw lots of tropical fish swimming among the dead coral. Even saw a couple of eels and octopuses, and a posse of crabs scaling a rock wall, like an army invasion!



Went to book ourselves a sunset cruise for tomorrow and a dolphin quest for Saturday and then checked out the infinity-edged pool. Am sure it will be perfect at sunset.

Chilled at the jetty, I snapped pictures while Nick snoozed before stopping by the library to use the computer. It’s not much of a library, just one shelf of books and hardly any English ones. Lucky I brought my own book, ‘Things I Wish My Mother Had Told Me’ though I’m not sure if I’ll get down to reading it!




Snoozed a bit in the afternoon, before taking out a kayak to the sister resort of Anantara Dhigu, about 200m away. It’s a much bigger island and we took a short walk around, spotting a stingray along the shore but it moved each time I tried to take a picture.

On the way back kayaking we saw tiny fish skipping across the surface of the water, chased by bigger fish that also leapt out in their pursuit of the prey. We snorkelled around our bungalow next, there’s a limited variety because there’s not much coral here but these are the fish I saw.



Just when we returned from the snorkelling, a room attendant dropped off a little complimentary snack, some fruit skewers and mini juices. What a nice surprise!


The resort had a complimentary hour of cocktail and canapé session for guests just outside 73 Degrees in the evening, so I put on some white capris and a Trina Turk one-shoulder top.


The staff were present to chat to guests, we had a cocktail drink each and some crostinis, which came with an assortment of toppings i.e. olives, sun dried tomato paste, artichoke or salmon.

We talked to a couple of Malaysian hospitality interns, one of them was called Wendy and we saw her at breakfast earlier. She’s on a 6-month attachment and had only been at Anantara for 2 weeks.

The highlight of the evening was surely the sunset, the area where we were was a perfect vantage point to witness the myriad of hues as the sun set over the horizon. The infinity-edged pool glistened as dusk settled. I was a happy camper, I absolutely love sunsets, it’s my favourite time of the day.



For dinner we decided to take the short pontoon ride to Dhigu, the plan was to eat at the Italian restaurant Terrazzo but they were full and we didn’t have a reservation. Settled for sitting at Fuddan, the restaurant on the 1st level but we could still order Terrazzo food.

I had a tomato soup and he had minestrone. For my main, I opted for a chicken and mushroom risotto that came with peas and truffle oil. I love truffle oil in risottos, my dish reminded me of the Skinny Pizza one though the latter is better. Nick had spaghetti with romana sauce, it was bacon with cream and cheese so it was a tad salty. The damage? About US$120.


Food here costs an arm and a leg and lacks variety, which is why I came prepared with some cup noodles and cereal bars! Can’t afford to spend so much on food, and even if we could, I just find it too extravagant.

The plan is to have nice dinners and skip lunch because we tend to still be full from breakfast. Of course if we are hungry we’ll just order something but the cup noodles and cereal bars should be sufficient for snacking.

Singapore to Maldives (Day 1, 9 Feb)

After months of anticipation, we are finally at the Anantara Veli resort in the Maldives, redeeming the lucky draw prize I won from Marina Square’s GSS draw.




The flight was ok, though Nick found it bumpy. He is starting to develop a phobia of flying, his life flashes before him each bout of turbulence and his paranoia rubs off on me! As soon as the tyres hit the runway, he unbuckled his seat belt and rushed to the loo to hurl in one of those little blue SQ paperbags.


It was a pretty full flight, and about 70% of the passengers appeared to be from mainland China. I was surprised initially but the stewardess said there are usually tour groups on this sector. It is still CNY so that also explains the high numbers.

I managed to watch two movies, Tamara Drewe and The Switch. Didn’t really enjoy my ayam masak merah with rice meal, guess I was still full from the bite we had at the Krisflyer Gold Lounge, their tomato soup was quite lovely though the chicken rice and fried mee siam were dry.


We found our transfer easily enough after exiting the tiny airport but had to wait for others to join. Bought Nick a coffee, he was still light-headed from the flight but soon we were on our way to the boats lined up just outside the departure hall.



I’m fine with boats during the day but sitting on a speedboat for 30 mins when it’s pitch black all around you can be a little harrowing, especially when going over bumps. We could see a billion stars in the sky even though it was cloudy, and at times couldn’t tell where the sea ended and where the sky began.

Upon arrival at the resort, we were greeted at the jetty and check-in was conducted in our room by a China chick who at first was talking a mile a minute in Mandarin till we got her to speak in English.



The room is nice, lots of wood. There was welcome pineapple in the room, who eats a whole pineapple? Can’t see a thing in the dark but am sure the view outside will be gorgeous in the morning!

It's Potty Time!

It's full steam ahead for Nat's potty training, the fact that she's going to start pre-school soon motivated me to stop procrastinating and take action. Also, she seemed ready to commit to the cause whereas in the past the novelty would wear off after a couple of days.

We kicked into high-gear a couple of weeks ago by stocking up more on pull-up pampers and asking her every 30 mins if she wanted to pee. Previously it was only me who would remember to ask her and we would sometimes visit the potty on weekends but this time round, I am making sure Wendy, Lita and Ma keep at it while I am at work.

I bought another Elmo potty online to put at Ma's house so Nat can be comfortable going there as well and Swana set up the Fisher Price one she has. The Elmo potty cost less than US$30 but the shipping nearly killed me at US$80! It just arrived and so did the potty watches I ordered from eBay, you can set the alarms to ring at 30, 60 and 90 min intervals which is really useful.




I also ordered an Elmo DVD on potty training which Adrienne said really helped Caitlin so I am hoping it helps Nat too.


After two weeks of consistently asking Nat if she wants to pee, she has made great progress! I think her diaper usage has been cut by half during the day and she is eager to keep her diapers dry when she is awake. We've already started using big girl undies at home this week and I am hoping that by end-Feb she can go without diapers at all during the day, except for naps.

She gets plenty of encouragement and praise from us whenever she pees, we've had the occasional accident where she doesn't make it to the potty in time but only 3 times so far.

In fact so eager is she to please that earlier this morning she woke up at 1.45 am groggily asking to use the potty. I happened to be awake and helped her, she looked so cute all mussed up and relieving herself with her eyes closed.

And it must have been a big relief because she released 4 hrs worth of pee! I told her gently she didn't need to wake up at night yet because she was wearing diapers still but I was pretty proud of her for trying. I guess she doesn't like the feel of soggy diapers anymore!

C is for...

...Cugini Trattoria and Pizzeria at Club Street.



Saw this place when we were on our 'A' date and resolved to eat here soon. After 'A' though, Nick was supposed to plan 'C' and had intended 'curry' at Samy's in Dempsey but we were busy with CNY visiting over the weekend so I proposed to meet for a weekday lunch instead.



Enter Cugini and Club Street which is not far from both our offices. I had an ulterior motive too, the blue and white interior would be perfect for the party I am planning for Sasha's first birthday and wanted to check it out first hand.

We had a juice each and he had a penne amatriciana, made of pancetta, onions and tomato sauce; while I had a prosciutto and mushroom pizza.



Despite only having an hour, it was enough to catch up and chat and enjoy our meal. He wasn't a fan of all the onions and my pizza was average. Probably wouldn't go out of my way to eat here again, but at least I've tried it.

The restaurant is nice on the inside though, love the turquoise chairs. Too bad he didn't think it suitable for Sasha's party so the hunt continues!

Happy Birthday Pops!

Today was Papa's 68th birthday and we had a simple dinner at home with cake Swana bought from Four Leaves.


Nat and Gigi were eager to blow out the candles on the cake so Papa let them. They flanked his side and we lit the candles twice.




I contributed satay but made a short detour after work to buy an underwater camera bag from Peninsula. I had seriously contemplated using a regular ziploc for some basic underwater shots during snorkeling at the upcoming Maldivian getaway but was advised against it. Can't wait to test it out!