Crystal Tan

As I'm typing this right now, she's still at the hospital. It's been ongoing for months now, her illness, it kept coming on and off, her kidneys are starting to fail and her liver isn't doing very well and she is also having heart murmurs. I know that she's almost fifteen years old, but it's not time for her to go yet. I still remember the first time she came to our house, I was terrified of her as I got chased by a pomeranian before. I would climb onto the shelf whenever I saw her running. We stayed at Parry Road then. I would stay on the sofa whenever she was in the living room. Gradually, I got closer to her and the fear diminished. She was the reason why I grew to love dogs so much. She's different, from most dogs. She's quiet, just like me. She doesn't like other dogs and only enjoys human company and she allows us to hug her to sleep without fidgeting around, just like a bolster. Only that she gets a little too warm sometimes. She is the princess in our family, always getting all the love from my parents and my sister and I. I make it a point to always get her a gift from overseas whenever I'm out of town b'cuz I always feel that I'm missing out on time spent with her. She's always that one thing I look forward to going home to, be it from work or when I'm overseas. That time when I went to UK and Europe and wasn't home for months, I missed her so much.  Ever since my sister went to Australia to study and then to work, Crystal has been my best companion. She goes for CNY visitations with me and keeps me company. She's always there for me when I'm down, even though she doesn't show her feelings, she would just lay there and literally be there for me. When I'm bored, she is always there for me to mess around with. I love it when she gets super fluffy, that's when I will always snap lots of photos and also cuddle her extra more, where she gets really irritated. And when she gets her furcut, she would turn into an alien that I still love so much. I really can't imagine life without her.. Can you please don't take her away from me. Please let her be healthy and happy again.

LUX* Maldives (Part I)

Maldives, another tick off the bucket list.

Upon hearing that we were gonna take a seaplane, I got really excited (especially after watching the episode on Running Man). It was only a short 30 minutes ride, but it was even more expensive than our air tickets to Male. The view from the seaplane was worth it. Male is a few hours behind SG, we arrived a little early and was told that we had to wait for about 2 hours before our seaplane would arrive. They chauffeured us to LUX* lounge where we had our complimentary lunch and snacks. While waiting at the lounge, we made the bookings for our excursions and dining. We booked the whale shark snorkeling, dolphin cruise (which got cancelled eventually) and a candlelight dinner on the coral terrace for our last night.

We were deciding between Six Senses and LUX* Maldives, but we settled for the latter as we wanted to experience whale shark snorkeling. We entered our water villa and were very pleased (you could see a room tour via the video that I posted in the previous entry). Even though our room was a far walk from the reception, being a corner villa gave us the privilege of having our own little hammock. Our room was 150 and we loved it. Our toilet was facing the sea, so you can poop and enjoy the serenity while at it, or soak in a bubble bath and take in the view. We chose the B&B option as I'm not much of an alcoholic. We booked a 5d4n trip, and honestly, it wasn't enough to explore every bit of it. Initially we thought that it would be too long as there wouldn't be much to do, just lazing and soaking up the sun, but we were proven wrong. For 5d4n, we paid a total of USD$4.4k for our water villa.

LUX* Maldives is an island that is about 1.4km long and there are buggy services to bring us around.

We grabbed some ice cream for free on the first day of our trip, they have a shop selling home-made ice cream.

There were baby sharks feeding everyday at 5.30pm, however it was at west point of the island, where the prestige water villas were located. The prestige water villas were located at a more secluded part of the island, so if you're one who prefers privacy, away from all the hustle and bustle, then it will be a better choice for you. We chose the water villa as it was facing the deep sea and we had a perfect view of the sunrise everyday. 

For our first night there, we had a 4 course meal of lobsters at their Indian restaurant, Senses. We read about many good reviews about this restaurant, so we decided to give it a try.

Lobster salad.

Lobster bisque.

The boy's lobster, grilled to perfection with a layer of melted cheese.

Mine.

In my opinion, I wasn't that fond of this lobster meal which cost us about USD$150 per pax, as I am not a very adventurous person, I don't really like different types of spices. However, the boy enjoyed this meal.

We decided to take a stroll along the jetty after dins as we wanted to find the glow in the dark planktons that we saw on facebook, but to no avail and was greeted by this majestic creature instead. It was practically dancing around in the water. 

5.58am, sunrise. It was a little too cloudy, but we could get used to this.

#hotdogsorlegs

#nofilter

Overexposure.

A special thing about LUX* Maldives is that there are message in bottles hidden at different parts of the island, and if we manage to find one, there would be a prize to be won. Unfortunately, we found none haha. 

50 shades of blue.

Since we went for the B&B option, we had a choice of Eastern/Western buffet spread every morning, each at different restaurants. We ended up frequenting the Eastern Restaurant more as it was a stone's throw away from our villa (yes I am a bum) and I have asian taste buds. Asian food over western any day for me.

I wished that the weather could be this perfect every day, however it rained a lot during our stay there.

We went whale shark snorkeling (which was captured in the video), but didn't manage to spot any. We saw schools of fishes and lots of corals and thats about it haha. 

The buggy right outside the reception that brought us around, there are many around the island and it comes every 5 to 10 minutes. The route brought us through many beach villas, which looked like chalets. 

Only realised that I was in the larger swing after taking the picture haha.

Perfect kind of blues.

Stay tuned for Part II.

A Slice of Heaven

Island life, lovin' it. 

Here's a short clip of what we did throughout our five days at LUX* Maldives. First attempt at making a video, please pardon me if it's not up to standard. Will post the pictures up soon, I promise to make a more detailed post when I have the time.