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?

More photos:
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