Club Med and GoPro's Epic Alliance: Unleashing the GoPro Trident Crew

In a thrilling blend of wanderlust and innovation, Club Med and GoPro have rekindled their strategic partnership, igniting a creative force known as the GoPro Trident Crew. This dynamic collaboration seeks to redefine the art of storytelling, capturing the essence of unforgettable experiences across Club Med resorts in East, South Asia & Pacific. As Club Med continues to pioneer all-inclusive holidays, this partnership with GoPro promises to elevate the art of visual storytelling to new heights. 

The partnership officially kicked off with a spectacular event at Club Med Kani, Maldives, in May. A diverse group of 11 content creators from Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, China, Spain, and Austria embarked on a four-day adventure, blending the exhilarating spirit of Club Med with the cutting-edge technology of GoPro's action cameras. 

Zafigox 2019: For Women by Women

Founded by Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, ZafigoX, the highly-anticipated two-day annual event was officiated by the Deputy Minister of Women, Family and Community Development, Hannah Yeoh in Sheraton Imperial Kuala Lumpur Hotel.

Brought to you by AirAsia and Zafigo, the third instalment of the women-only travel event returned better and bolder with a diverse group of 26 extraordinary women (and 1 man), travel experts and service providers; as well as exciting opportunities to discover new travel experiences and destinations, participate in workshops and discussions, and learn how to travel smart and savvy.

AirAsia and AirAsia X Free Seat [Promo period: 13 - 19 June 2016]

Have you already started planning for your 2017 vacays?

Well, if you haven't, this might given you that incentive to start planning on where you want to go next year! Because the AirAsia Free Seat campaign is back and gamed to run from 13 - 19 June! The travel dates are from 4 Jan to 21 Aug 2017!

AirAsia is giving away up to three million promotional seats in its latest Free Seats campaign across its entire short- and long-haul network. Starting from a base fare of RM0, excluding taxes and fees, guests can fly to any of the more than 120 destinations in 24 countries served by AirAsia and AirAsia X, the low-cost carrier said in a statement.

Maldives Part 4 - The Art of Doing Nothing

The art of doing nothing is actually not true. It was just something I saw on a t-shirt in the resort's souvenir shop. There are actually quite a lot of things to do at Huvafen Fushi. But with the view we had and the relaxed mood we were in, it was just as easy to just laze around and do nothing.

Non-motorised water sports are complimentary so everyday, my sis and I went snorkeling. Each guests gets their own set of snorkeling gear that they can keep with them for the rest of the stay. The underwater was simply stunning. I never quite understood the appeal of scuba-diving but having seen what the shallow reefs had to offer, I am tempted to tryout for a scuba-diving license now. Over four days, I spotted a reef shark, a sting ray and a tiger fish. Too bad, there were no sea turtles in sight. Motorised activites are chargable to the room so plan your days carefully.

Underwater world.

We also went kayaking on our second day there. In the middle of the afternoon. With the mid-sun beating on our backs, we went around the whole island in a hour. Bad move because it was really hot! The kayaks have a glass bottom which lets you look at the reefs beneath you. I prefer snorkeling for an upclose view of the reefs. Still no sea turtle.

 

Kayakking under the sun.

The resort also has a daily stingray feeding session at 5:30pm. The stingrays have been coming to the lagoon beach for ten years now so it's pretty much clockwork routine for them and allows them to be familiar with humans. (God bless Steve Irwin's soul..). The resident stork whom I call Si Bangau also drops by every evening for food.

Stingray feeding

On days when all we wanted to do was chill out and escape the sun, we hung out in the island library, the Lair and played with the gaming consoles. I was so happy when I found Need For Speed. (yes, I do realise that I went all the way to Maldives to play video games). The resort also has a resident kitty cat which demanded to be let into the Lair when we got there. I wanted to ask if I could take it to our room....

Now seeing dolphins is a personal dream of mine so we booked ourselves on the resort dolphin cruise as soon as we got there. The cruise only takes place on Sundays from 4 to 7pm at USD175 per person. But if there are more than 6 people, it gets cheaper. What an experience it was, being able to see wild dolphins in their natural habitat. According to our guide, Lana, this particular pod has over 200 dolphins in it and during that hour, we certainly saw plenty of them. It was magical.

Dolphin sighting.

0%Here's a video of the dolphin cruise: http://youtu.be/tbZVCUPpSgQ . I had to remove the actual sounds because it was just too noisy from the wind and other tourist boats. Music in the video is by Daniel Veerapen, an Malaysian artist.

 

 

There are many things to do in Huvafen Fushi. You can adopt a coral reef and plant it yourself. Then in 50 years (if Maldives hasn't sunk) you can come back and marvel at your contribution to Mother Nature.

 

 

 

Or if you're Asian like us, then take lots of pictures. Whilst there, we noticed all the Asian guests had DSLRs and digital cameras everywhere they went hence the theory: picture-taking is an Asian thing.

 

It's impossible to take a bad picture in Maldives. In fact the only thing that can spoil a picture is, well, us. We took tons of pictures; camwhoring, weird shots, jumping shots.... this shot below...

 

Fireball!

We were saddened when the evening for us to check out came about. The resort manager, Marco and our Thakuru, Nahu saw us off at the jetty as the speedboat took off for the airport. The resort representative escorted us to the Singapore Airlines check-in counter and bide us farewell. We boarded our plane and prepared for the comfortable ride home (flight experience here) It was a memorable vacation to Maldives and Huvafen Fushi was the dream resort (read about it in my previous post). The food was delicious (drool over it here) although I was missing teh tarik by the first morning.

Pristine blue waters, colourful reefs and fishes, majestic dolphins, friendly locals and resort staffs...I see now why Maldives is the place to visit before you kick the bucket.

To finish off this post, a momento of our holiday there.

From Maldives with Love.

 



Maldives Part 3 - Wine, Dine and oh, Sharks!

Let me start by saying when it comes to food, Malaysia still takes the cake. No questions asked.

Don't get me wrong. Food in Huvafen Fushi was delightfully sinfully delicious but having said that, the ala carte dishes are not cheap (once converted from USD to RM). The buffet breakfast was inclusive with the accommodation but unless you go for full-boarding or half-boarding, then you're on your own for lunch and dinner.

Concerned that fine dining every evening might burn a hole in our pocket, I did a little pre-planning before the trip that involved checking out the resort restaurant reviews and bringing our own instant meals and snacks. Over the following four days, we wined and dined on a budget whilst in style.

(Warning: the following pictures may induce stomach acid, growling tummies and salivation. View at your own torment.)

Upon arrival in our beautiful lagoon bungalow, we found a plate of hors d’œuvre waiting for us. After a long flight and 30 mins boat ride, it was a nice treat of cheese, olive, meat and bread.



Fine and budget dining.

After the resort tour and a day of snorkeling, we dug into our super cheap mee-in-a-cup at only RM2 per cup and washed it down with the complimentary bottle of champagne. With our feet dipped in our private pool and the oceanic view before us, it felt like a million dollar dining experience anyway.



Breakfast buffet, Celsius.

The breakfast buffet was held at Celsius, a casual dining restaurant with talcum fine sand for its floor and an outdoor patio that overlooked the blue Indian Ocean. The buffet carried a limited but mixed array of western, Japanese and Chinese dishes that varied from day to day. The egg station doubled as a pancake and waffle station too. I had to practice self-restrain to keep from myself from over-indulging on everything there.



Breakfast in the sands.

One tip I learnt to avoid holiday weight was to start off my buffet meals with fruits. Luckily Huvafen Fushi breakfast buffet had a station solely for fresh fruits such as rambutan, mangosteen, vanilla-soaked pears and cinnamon-apples. In fact, the only fruit missing from the selection was the durian. I guess it was too much for Westerners to handle. If you like, you can select a few fruits and have the chef blend them together to make a yummy healthy drink.



Fruits, eggs and laksa.

I mixed up my breakfast, taking one out of everything and by everything, I mean food that I don't usually get often. One of the more memorable dishes from the buffet was the Maldivian curry laksa. The glass noodles was crunchy while the curry was thick, suntan-filled and hardly spicy. There was also ample chicken pieces in the curry for a meaty bite.

ba dum ba dum da dum.

We had breakfast on the outdoor patio on the second day and had to bare the scorching hot sun to get stunning photos with natural lighting. But the real treat came swimming past in the form of a pack/flock/school of reef sharks and several other fishes swimming back and forth along the water edge. Now that was a sight you don't see everyday or in any other city in the whole world. We ate so much at breakfast that we could afford to miss out on lunch or snack on our Malaysian-bought snacks.

For day 2 dinner, we ordered in or as the resort called it,in-bungalow dining. Now this was when a funny incident happened. My sister ordered the Male fish curry (Don Riha) and chicken pizza. Less than 30 mins later, our order arrived and we dug into the Male Fish Curry which came with rice, chapati with mango chutney and kuliafilla salad. There was also a bowl of Caesar salad which we initially mistaken for the kuliafilla salad. Half way through the meal, I realised the staff must have misheard Chicken pizza as Chicken Caesar salad. Apparently pizza sounded like Caesar.

Fish curry.

However the Male fish curry more than made up for the mistake as the portion was big enough for two and the fish was fresh and well cooked in the curry. It is possible that the fish was caught fresh from the ocean. The remaining champagne did well to wash down the thick curry. The mango chutney complimented the thin chapati well and I really wish there was more. A basket of bread rolls also came with the dinner and we used them to lap up the curry. Total bill was about USD62.

 

On our final night in Maldives, we decided to splurge and headed to Celsius for a under-the-moon dinner. And what an ambiance it was, with the ocean crashing in the pitch black background, dim lighting to set the mood and music gently strumming from the live band. If this was Malaysia, we would have been driven indoors by the humidity, heat and mosquitoes. But it wasn't.

Starters.

To start, we had the smoked mackerel tartare with beetroot, pear and almond dressing. Honestly, It was...weird. Two bites and it was gone. Not because it was super delicious but because it was a rather small portion. The mackerel reminded me of tuna with mayonnaise. Hm, maybe it was something a top notch chef would appreciate but not this little Malaysia girl.
 


Finger-licking good.

My sister ordered the orecchiette with duck and chantarelle ragu, vine ripe tomatoes and pecorino. In that one sentence, there are three words that made me go "What?" This dish was actually shell-shaped pasta with duck and mushroom sauce, tomatoes and italian ewe cheese. And it was an unexpected form of comfort food. The orecchiette soaked up the duck juice beautifully while the duck meat was succulent.


Goat cheese ravioli

I had the goat cheese ravioli, seared prawns, pine nuts, raisins, golden brown butter and parmesan. Colourful was the word that came to mind, even though you can't see it clearly in this picture. And at first bite, it was a flavourful explosion of savoury and sweet and a nice mix of textures from the nuts and parmesan. The ravioli was cooked to perfection and the goat cheese just came oozing out, complimented by prawns and raisins. The restaurant manager dropped by to check on us and unfortunately I was having a heavenly mouth-orgasm from this dish to answer him properly.

Souffle to end.

After the main course was done, our souffle with orange, macadamia, Baileys and vanilla ice cream came. Based on hours watching Masterchef and Top Chef, I know that souffle has to be eaten instantly or else it will loose its heat and collapse. Pictures were taken swiftly and with that we dove in. The hot souffle simply melted in my mouth and I could taste the distinctive taste of Baileys in the soft gooey texture. The orange topped off the ice-cream with a refreshing citric kick.

Total bill for dinner came up to less than USD150.

Couples can opt to have their romantic dinner by the swimming pool where the floor of the pool resembled stars in the sky or at UMBar. Nearby a chef will whip up a fresh meal on the grill. While waiting, they can go for the buffet line.

All these good food would have caused us to pack on the weight but surprisingly we didn't. I suspect it was because we kept ourselves occupied during the trip with numerous activities which I will go into in the next and final Maldives post.

You may wipe that trail of drool off your chin now.

To be continued in Maldives Part 4.

Maldives Part 2 - Waking Dream Resort

First impression of Maldives...

"Holy crap! That is a lot of blue!" *I'm blue da ba dee da ba die*

After disembarking from our flight, our first class treatment continued as we exited the immigration hall and found the resort representatives waiting for us with welcoming smiles. From there, they relieved us of our suitcases and guided us to the airport jetty. While my sister and I were gawking at the boat and the clear blue Indian Ocean, we were given face towels to freshen up after a long flight and refreshing cold coconut water.

Water taxi

The boat ride to Huvafen Fushi took approximately 25 minutes which flew by in a flash because we were too mesmerised by the sight of endless blue water, interrupted only to isolated island resorts. For those without sea-legs, anti-nausea wristbands are available onboard.


Huvafen Fushi

Soon Huvafen Fushi loomed into view and we were greeted by the General Manager himself, Marco and our Thukuru, Ali and Nahu (personal butlers). Ali drove us to our Lagoon Bungalow in a buggy and gave us the tour of our home for the next four days.


Pathway to the water bungalows

We have a stunning view of the blue blue ocean from our awesome bathroom and also from our bedroom/living room/kitchen. The patio opened up to a day bed, our private swimming pool and a deck leading down to the sea.


Lagoon Bungalow No. 19 - Our home away from home

The resort had also prepared a complimentary bottle of champagne and a serving of bread, olive, ham and cheese. That was a nice touch!



Complimentary champagne and coffee

Seaside view from the toilet and bedroom.

The ocean is our pool!

After our luggage were delivered to our room, we Superman-changed into our swimsuits and was taken on a resort tour via buggy. Wheee!


A waking dream indeed.

The island itself isn't really that big and everything is within walking distance with sandy pathways leading to every corner of the island resort.  The pathways are shaded by strategically planted trees and bushes that also provide privacy for the Beach Bungalow residents. The best parts about the beach bungalow are that you literally have a beach in your backyard and everything else is just a stone's throw away. All together, the resort has 44 bungalows consisting of the beach bungalows, ocean and lagoon bungalows as well as the beach and ocean pavilions for bigger groups.



Salt & Raw (top), Fogliani's, UMBar (left) & Celsius.

There are four main restaurants that specialises in different cuisine types; Celsius, Raw, Salt and Fogliani's as well as a bar (UMBar) and an underground wine cellar, Vinum where you can wine and dine to your heart's content. More about the resort food offerings in the next Maldives post (yup, as a typical Malaysian, I am dedicating one post to food).


The Lair!

Right next to the swimming pool and restaurants, Huvafen Fushi has a library/entertainment lounge called The Lair. Bright, homey and spacious, guests can rent DVDs, borrow books and surf on the computers. They also have XBox and PlayStation 3 console sets for the kids, teens and young adults. Coffee and tea are available at hand for guest's consumption free of charge.


World's first underwater spa


Huvafen Fushi holds bragging rights for having the first underwater spa in the world called Lime. Apart from the usual relaxing body and facial treatments at above-sea level, guests can also have their massage or body scrubs in treatment rooms several meters underwater. We asked to see the underwater spa and the resort was more than happy to accommodate us in the afternoon. Nahu showed us the spa at night and boy, was it a different world in the glow of the underwater spotlights.

Under the sea. 

After showing us around, we were taken to the water sports center, Float, where we were fitted with our snorkeling equipments by its jolly manager, Peter. Peter then took us through the house rules when swimming around the house reefs to ensure that we don't accidentally step on them or hurt ourselves. They offer parasailing, jetskiing and many other motorised water sports for a fee. Non-motorised sports like snorkeling and kayaking are complimentary although some will require licenses to prove your qualification. For the exercise nuts, there is also a gym (Pump) and a yoga pavilion that overlook the ocean that comes fully equipped with water bottles and towels.

Over the following four days, my sister and I were treated to a relaxing and heavenly lifestyle, a far cry from the KL life we were used to.  Time slowed down to a crawl as we filled our time with a variety of activities at our own leisure (things to do there, coming soon in Maldives Part 4!).

The staffs there were friendly and approachable, greeting us along the pathways and going out of their way to ensure that everything was okay for us. The management even extended our checkout time from 12pm to 8pm simply because our return flight was near midnight! Now that's I call superb treatment!

The stunning Maldivian sunset

It's no wonder that the resort name, Huvafen Fushi means 'dream island' in their national language of Dhivehi. It definitely felt as though we were living the dream.

Continued in Maldives Part 3.

Bed and breakfast prices start at USD1450 per night as stated on their official website. Alternatively, you can also make your booking via Agoda or Atollparadise for special offers.

Maldives Part 1 - Getting There

The opportunity to travel to Maldives landed on my lap over a year ago through during a lucky draw lottery at my company dinner. I had won a 4D3N accommodation for two at the award-winning Huvafen Fushi resort and I was thrilled (who wouldn't be?)

I am eternally grateful to God (and Blu Inc Media and Lady Luck) for this opportunity. As everyone knows, Maldives was expensive, what with everything being in USD for tourists! If it wasn't for the lucky draw prize, it would be another 50 years before I will have enough saved up for Maldives and by then it would be known as the next Atlantis thanks to global warming.

To me, the journey is just as important as the destination especially if it involves a long flight. So I was particularly picky with my flight choice; timing and services and so on. I opted to fly by Singapore Airlines (SIA) because other airlines flew only by night and SIA's timing to depart in the morning made more sense despite having to transfer at Changi Airport.



An ACTUAL Boarding Pass!!

Maldives is three hours behind Malaysia by the way so the best way to beat jet-lag would be to fly there in the morning and back at night so that you can sleep on the ride back (not that I got much sleep on the way back anyway)

He weighs 5kgs...

My 20kg check-in luggage allowance was taken up by snacks, tidbits, 3 swimsuits and bikini, 4 sets of clothes, sun block, toiletries, camera and phone chargers and an extra pair of flip flops. (I only ended up bringing 8kg worth of things...wasted 12 kgs...)

Because I did online check-in the night before, all I had to do upon reaching the airport was to just check-in my luggage, verify my printed out boarding pass and passport and collect my official boarding pass to Singapore. Because it was only 6am, things progressed smoothly as there was no queue.

Admit it: As a child, you thought the
plane can become a playground.

For a 4-5 hours flight, SIA was very comfortable. A pillow and a blanket was provided for everyone and each seat came with its own inflight entertainment system. You are given individual headsets and can play games, watch the latest movies and series or listen to music on it in order to kill time onboard. I spent the entire flight watching Big Bang Theory, Rurouni Kenshin and Ted. Rurouni Kenshin was especially a difficult movie to find online so I was pleasantly surprised to find that SIA offered it on their entertainment system with english subtitles. You can read my review of that movie here.

Watching Rurouni Kenshin onboard

For brunch, I went with the Ikan Rica Rica, an Indonesian dish that was so delicious! The fish was fresh and marinated well with spicy lemongrass sauce. My sister said it looked and tasted better than her fried chicken with noodle. With the sides of salad, bread roll, cheese and cracker, ice cream for dessert and coffee or tea, needless to say, by the time we landed at Maldives International Airport, we were stuffed.

Dining with a view and entertainment.



On the flight back to Singapore however, I was a little disappointed with their pan fried chicken with mashed potato because the chicken was dry. Then again, it was a late supper and we were too tired to eat. For dessert, they gave us a yummy chocolate cake with coffee sauce which we enjoyed. Wonder if I can order it to my house somehow...

Inflight cuisine.

Furthermore, SIA passengers can order all the wine, booze, cocktail, soft drinks, coffee, tea and juice that they want onboard since it was inclusive of the flight ticket. But as I didn't want to start or end my Maldives vacation with a hangover, I refrained from going overboard with the drinks (Hah! Plane joke!) Just coke and coffee for me, thank you!

My sister is pleased there is ice-cream.

As the plane prepared to land, we were treated to a preview of the pristine blue ocean waters from our seat windows and all the cameras were out in a flash (...must resist urge to do...lame camera joke....). Ibrahim Nasir International Airport, North of Male was an island of its own and to get to and forth from it, one would need to take a boat or an air-taxi.

Approaching Maldives.

Seaside airport. 

The resort had two representatives waiting for us at the airport and along with four other people, we were quickly whisked away to our holiday island resort by a luxury speed boat.




Our taxi is here.



First glimpse of Huvafen Fushi.

To be continued in Maldives Part 2.