Eriyadu Island Resort

Eriyadu Island Resort is a very simple, cozy resort that I've had the pleasure to visit during my business trips. It's not especially big but all the more tranquil.

It's one of the oldest resorts and it's located a short way from Male, barely an hour by speedboat. The island doesn't try to put on modern appearances, it's more like living in the jungle. Lots and lots of trees and bushes that provide a great degree of privacy.

The island is currently being slowly remodeled. The bar has been improved and the villas are gradually being refurbished with more modern furnishings and appearance. The resort has 60 rooms, usually with two rooms per villa. Which, as I found out on my last visit, isn't the most pleasant experience in the world if your neighbor happens to be noisy.

The resort is located next to a beautiful coral reef overflowing with fish. You can see various species of sharks here, and it's great fun to swim among them (they won't hurt you since they're full to bursting with all the fish). There's also tortoises and scores of various fish. There's shark feeding in the evenings, though it looks more like raven and 'stork' feeding. They just wolf those chicken breasts and legs down.

I arrived at the resort shortly before noon and received a pleasant welcome from the staff and even the manager himself. He accompanied me to the local bar, where I was given delicious fresh pineapple juice and enjoyed the view of the sea. Right next to the bar there is a pool hidden in the palm trees with some recliners. The towels are decorated with flowers. It's a small detail but it made an impression.

Then I had a short meeting with the bar manager and after that I headed for lunch at the buffet. Too bad I stuffed myself with a ciabatta at the airport. But I still ate a bit, even if only to try it. I had a grilled fish with some salad. All the food is served at a buffet and every dinner has a different theme (Maldives, Mediterranean, Chinese, beach barbecue, etc.). Given that this is a relatively cheap resort, the food was much better than I expected. My friends had spent ten pleasant days here and they absolutely loved the food.

After lunch I went for a walk around the resort, to peek into the kitchens, the baths, and the freshly refurbished villas. At the beach I met a "Bob", which is what we ended up calling the local species of stork, or whatever those stork-like birds were. But those are at pretty much every resort and you can get wonderful pictures of them. Much better than you can get of those weirdly squawking chickens that run around some resorts.

Visiting this resort was a bit like going back in time to a more peaceful past. Formal attire is not required, unlike some other resorts, it's tranquil, there's lots of greenery, pleasant sand, excellent sea for diving, and since it's so close to Male, you can just hop over there for a day if you feel like enjoying the chaos for a while.

I spent three pleasant hours at the resort in the outstanding company of the staff; sadly, then I had to head back to Male. I recently found out that despite having a circumference of a mere 5 kilometers, it houses not 80,000 or 90,000 but 150,000 people, 50 of whom are illegals. It's no wonder simply walking or driving around the city is one of the most demanding tasks. But I've grown used to it and I'm starting to rather like it.

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Centara Ras Fushi

I had the opportunity to visit this resort thanks to my friend, who reviews resorts for travel magazines and airlines. She asked me to take some pictures to go with her review, so I got to come along with her and even get paid for it. What a sweet deal!

Reviewers tend to be treated like kings. Even the GM (general manager) of a hotel will take an entire afternoon to show you around and talk their resort up. Hopefully someday I'll get invited to write about resorts too. We'll see.

The resort is just a few minutes from the airport, the drive took about fifteen minutes. The staff gave us a nice welcome. A moist tissue and a glass of chilled juice seem to be the standard refreshment everywhere. The hotel's manager met us at the reception and gave us a tour. We saw the baths and the diving center, crisscrossed the whole island on foot, and visited a few of the villas as well.

The baths looked very nice. I got to see the couples' room, which had a small terrace with a jacuzzi with bits of orange and small flowers floating in it.

After the tour we were shown to our villa on the water complete with a little terrace with two deck chairs. The terrace afforded us a great view and also features stairs leading directly into the sea. I just had to take advantage of the deck  hairs right away and plonk myself down.

Inside we found a little surprise waiting for us. There was a bottle of chilled champagne on the table, a basket of fruit, and a thank you letter. Unfortunately it turned out it wasn't meant for us but for a certain Mr. Zhao Benshan. The room was small but it was airy and pleasant. I could watch my friend through a small window applying her makeup for the evening party.

After a siesta we went to cool down in the swimming pool. There was a pair of very comfy chairs in it and a water bar, where you don't even have to get out of the pool to have a cocktail. Quite unlike other resorts there was some music playing by the pool. It's aimed at younger couples who want to have fun, socialize, and not be distracted by children.The resort won't even accommodate children under 12 years, which some people will certainly appreciate.

We enjoyed ourselves at the bar for about an hour drinking Sex on the Beach and piña colada.

Now that's what I call a pleasant afternoon.

At around 5 PM we went back to our villa to prepare for the evening buffet.

Centara was celebrating its 5^th anniversary, I think, and there was a buffet prepared for us and the representatives of various travel agencies on the beach. We enjoyed the sunset while drinking champagne, eating hors d'oeuvre, and listening to a very talented band. :)

The evening was concluded with a four-course Thai dinner that looked like this:

• Appetizer 

• Yam kanoom jeen (rice noodle sald with aromatic roast capsicum flavored with shallots and spring onion served with grilled jumbo scallops)
• Poh pia sod (fresh vegetables in fresh rice paper roll sheet)
• Pla goong mangkorn (lobster in authetic Thai herb salad with roast chilli paste)

• Soup
• Tom yam goong nam sai (spicy prawn soup with mushroom in "Tom Yam" flavor

• Main dish

• Pla nueng manao (steamed white reef fish and colorful of vegetables with spicy lime sauce
• Nua san nai yang rad sauce kapraow (grilled Australian beef tanderloin with hot and spicy basil sauce)
• Gaeng daeng sai ( soft and tender chicken in red curry, Thai eggplant and sweet basil)
• Phad pak boong (stir fried morning glory with garlic and oyster sauce)

• Dessert
• Coconut cream brulee gub ice cream cha kiew (coconut cream brulee served with grean tea ice cream)

I definitely enjoyed that a lot. I've been loving Thai cuisine ever since I moved to the Maldives. It's healthy and very tasty. When the dinner was over, we went over to the bar and relaxed in hammocks for a while before it was time to go back to Male. We didn't feel like leaving, but then who would, right?

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