A chance question on Facebook recently asking about my favourite restaurant got me thinking - do I have a favourite eating place? On reflection I realised I don't as there are too many to choose from. There are many restaurants I've enjoyed for different reasons, depending on whether I was looking for relaxation, luxury or a fantastic view. So here are some of my favourites:
Most 'desert island' - during one of my trips to the Maldives in 2005 I stayed on board the Four Seasons Explorer. One evening we were taken to a deserted island where the crew dug seating into the sand. When we arrived back on the ship later the remaining crew members played us music on local instruments. A truly magical evening.
Most northerly - lunch in the Icelandic town of Akureyri which is 65°N. We had spent the day diving in the nearby fjord.
Highest altitude (on land) - any of the meals we had in Tibet which has an average elevation exceeding 4,500 metres (14,800 ft).
Most 'chillax' - at a hammock restaurant in Cambodia somewhere on the road between Tonle Sap and Siem Reap.
hammock restaurant near Tonle Sap, Cambodia
Highest above ground - in April 2011 we were lucky enough to spend two nights in what was then the world's tallest hotel above ground - the Shanghai Park Hyatt. Our room was on the 81st floor and meals were in the restaurants on the 87th and 91st floors - almost 400 metres above ground.
Highest on a building roof - in 2009 we were in Bangkok on my birthday and to celebrate we had dinner at the open-air Vertigo restaurant of the Banyan Tree Hotel, located on the hotel's 61st floor.
a vertigo-inducing dinner?
Favourite dessert - at the (now-closed) Bistrot de la Porte des Lilas restaurant here in Reunion Island they had my all-time favourite dessert: discs of chocolate interspersed with raspberries and fresh cream :-)
my favourite dessert
What about you? Do you have any unique eating places to share?
A beautiful satellite photo of one of my favourite countries in the world : the Maldives.
"On a relatively clear day, the atolls and islands of the Maldives glow like a necklace of speckled jade beads floating on the deep blue waters of the northern Indian Ocean. The Maldives are an island nation made up of a chain of 1,192 small coral islands grouped into 26 clusters of atolls. It has a population of about 330,000. The capital and largest city is Male, with a population of about 80,000. The coral archipelago stretches in a north-south chain for almost 560 miles south-west of India, and sits upon a vast undersea mountain range. Arguably the lowest-lying country in the world, the average elevation is just 1m above sea level". The Guardian Satellite Eye. (links are mine)
This was my second trip to the Maldives, which is one of my favourite places in the world. Whereas last time (2004) I had to travel via Seychelles, this time the Seychelles>Maldives flight no longer exists, so I had to travel via Mauritius and Dubai.
The Maldives consists of almost 1200 coral islands spread over 750 km in length, and when you land in the Maldives it's on a special airport island known as Hulhule, which is next to the capital island, Malé.
speed boat with Malé in the background
Your resort will come and pick you up from the airport, and depending on the distance from Hulhule, will organise a boat or seaplane transfer.
As I was travelling with a friend who writes guide books we were actually staying in six different hotels over a two-week period (well, actually five resorts and one boat!).
a seaplane airport
Our first stop was overnight at Embudu Village, a 124-room resort in the northern part of South Male Atoll, not far from Malé.
The resort is in North Malé atoll and can be reached by speedboat from Malé/the airport.
The island the resort is on, Medhufinolhu, was extensively redesigned for the current resort.
It has its own spa, as do nearly all Maldivian resorts
you really have to fight for space in the pool
The fourth place we stayed at was the Soneva Gili - also very luxurious but in a very different, more decontracted style. On my previous 2004 trip I'd stayed at its sister resort, Soneva Fushi which is more land-based; in contrast Soneva Gili has only water bungalows.
inside our water bungalow
each villa has its own private access into the water
Soneva resorts have "No News, No Shoes" policy whereby you are encouraged to kick off your shoes and disconnect from distractions like TV news.
Everybody has their own bike to get around the island on!
Soneva Gili opened in 2001 and is on Lankanfushi Island, in North Malé Atoll.
The smallest bungalow ('villa suites') are 210 m2! There are also a number of 'Crusoe residences', which are stand-alone entities for total privacy. Their have their own rowing boat/boat shuttle to the main island.
some of the secluded Crusoe residences
Even on a cloudy day the colour of the water is amazing.
As each resort was better than the last, I was starting to wonder if our penultimate stay, on board the Four Seasons Explorer, could live up to its predecessors.
Four Seasons Explorer
It wasn't going to be easy downsizing from a 200m2 villa to a 20m2 (shared) stateroom!
our stateroom, Four Seasons Explorer
However the excellent food, service, and programme of activities on-board meant we were scarcely in the cabin apart from sleeping and changing clothes.
lobster
The FS Explorer is a 39 metre long vessel with 10 staterooms and one suite. It has its own dive dhoni, the Azekara, and a programme of activities for divers and non-divers. (A dhoni is a type of Maldivian boat).
Azekara dive dhoni
As well as diving and snorkelling we were also able to visit a local island called Dhangethi, in Alif Dhaal atoll (aka South Ari Atoll). It measures 925 x 350 metres and has a population of 1000.
In the Maldives it is only possible to visit tourist villages/islands during the day - as a foreigner you're not allowed to stay on them overnight.
On the island we saw two types of traditional Maldivian seats, as you can see in the photos above and below.
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