28/12/2023 Himmafushi to Kuala Lumpur

Happy 4th Wedding anniversary to us!! Habibur supplied us with a wonderful breakfast as always which we ate at our leisure.

We were joined at breakfast by Marco and his wife, and had a chuckle over the events of yesterday. They had found the beach, and I'm pretty certain we were no where near it, however it looked beautiful on their photos. They enjoyed it so much they had booked another trip back to spend the day there today, and have also decided to spend the remainder of their stay there. They much prefer the beach and that is what they selected the Maldives for, even if the Island itself isn't as nice as HImmafushi. In the course of the conversation it came up we were spending New Year in Kuala Lumpur, and they had been a few years ago for their honeymoon. The advice recieved was avoid the park and the big celebrations like the plague. Despite being a predominantly muslim country, there is alcohol in vast amounts available, and the atmosphere turns into something quite unpleasant very quickly. They're a similar aged couple to us, and because of that, I think they are pretty switched on to atmospheres and vibes. They have done a lot of travelling too, and are what I would call experienced travellers, as opposed to us, who are not so much. I dont think we would have had these same conversations with people like them if we'd been in a resort hotel. Mainly because they wouldnt have been in one, and neither would we, but also because resort holidays are different to just travelling, and winging it in our opinion.

Still a tad fatigued from the excitement of yesterday and a long day ahead with flying to Kuala Lumpur, we elected to have a relaxing day and after breakfast i returned to our room and started sorting things out for packing. Si stayed down stairs for another coffee, and came up a while later. Mike and Carly had sat down at the table, and they all got chatting, abouth where they'd been and where they were going to next. God ive missed this travelling lark, where you meet new people every day and listen to their stories. They leave tomorrow, stop over in KL before travelling on to Australia.

Feeling like we were wasting a day, we made the decision to go out and do something at least! The beach was an option, but we decided instead to wander down to the Fun place, and indulge in a ginger chai tea and an anniversary slice of cake. When it came, the lovely waitress gave me the biggest slice, its almost as if she could tell from the size of my arse that i would be requiring the larger slice. Weirdly, considering there was a lot of chocolate involved and creamy gooey stuff, it was pleasantly not too sweet. Yes i just said that it wasnt too sweet! Moi, with the biggest sweet tooth on the planet. I put this down to the fact, that there has been very little in the way of desert for several weeks. Ugh, are my tastes changing?? Am I turning into a savory girl? My god i hope not!!

Whilst we were sat in the Fun PLace, Marco and his wife arrived. Naturally we asked them how their trip had gone.... Oooops! It hadn't gone well at all. They were taken out by the same boat as yesterday, which was something of a surprise to them. Even bigger surprise (or maybe not) was the fact the boat broke down again in the exact same place as yesterday! Whereas yesterday we were rescued quite quickly in the grand scheme of things, today, they werent and they were out there for a few hours!!! You couldn't make it up could you? we were really pleased we opted to not join them, because i'd had enough of boats yesterday. Also, we had a boat ride to the airport to partake, and one boat a day is now my absolute limit.

They got out the cards and started a game, and we made our way back to the hotel, via a souvenier shop to buy a sarong. Packing was pretty quick, as the Sturdy one was half done anyway. Ali, had allowed us a late check out, so instead of leaving Himmafushi at 0700hrs, we were able to stay till 18.30hrs. He'd arranged a fast boat transfer to the airport for us, which was the last boat of the day. The wind was stronger again and as the day wore on, it picked up significantly. Habibur accompanied us to the ferry,, arrying our bags and loading them in for us and he was then joined by Ali. We'd already said goodbye to Habibur, and thought that we wouldnt get the opportunity to say goodbye to Ali. Just before the ferry left he arrived on his motorbike, and got onto the ferry to shake our hands and thank us for staying with them. Both of them waited till the ferry was ready to go, before getting onto the bike and waving us off, and circling back to make sure we'd seen them, before heading back to the Molar Wave. At least that's how i like to think about it. By the same token, it could have been they were making sure we didnt get off the boat again to traumatise them for longer.

The 20 minute trip to the airport was most unpleasant due to the wind and the large waves. I was certain that the boat would tip every time it hit one. I thought I would be joining a little person at the back of the boat and throwing up but managed to keep it together, discovered why there were plastic bags hanging from the grab rails of the boat though! Getting on and off wasn't too bad, although the boat was being tossed around the jetty like a little tossy thing.

FInally on solid ground and still wanting to hurl, we made our way into the airport, because of the special assistance, we werre unable to check in online, and had to do it at the desk.. As it was an overnight flight, we decided we would upgrade to business class, and also because it was our anniversary. To do it at the desk, it only cost £150 extra each, also by doing it the local currency with cash helped. The plane was delayed half an hour, and after upgrading, I decided to read some reviews. ..I then wished I hadnt, because now I wasn't expecting much from it at all!! Hey Ho its all part of the fun. As we'd upgraded to Business class, our special assistance man thought we should go into the business class lounge. On arriving there we were told that the airline, didn't have an agreement with the lounge so we weren't allowed in. Rude! Then we were invited in for the princely sum of $35 per hour each. .. well you can stick that where the sun doesn't shine, we'll sit with the peasants thankyou.

Boarding was something I was looking forward to, as the business cabin was at the front of the plane which meant that I wouldn't have to go past all the other passengers to get to my seat. When we upgraded we made a point of checking with the crew that we'd be loaded from the front and were reassured that we would be, and also be the first to board. However, when it came to boarding, they put the steps at the front of the plane for everyone to get on and as a result, the lift into the plane was at the back door. The aisle chair they used was wider than the alloted aisle space and we hit every passengers seat all the way down the plane. Lots of glares, but what can you do, at least it wasn't my hips that wete causing the issue this time! As we made the journey from the back to the front, I was pleasedd we'd upgraded. The economy seats were more than basic, little to no padding on them and very upright, and not the cleanest.

Finally we got to business class and the chair stopped hitting the seats. There were only 12 seats in the section which were like reclining chairs with padded arm rests, leg supports, pillows, cwtchy blankies and fold out entertainment screens. The cabin crew bought us a lovely glass of juice once we had settled in to our seats and the plane took off a few minutes later. We were offered a meal, of which there wasn't a choice, and a selection of drinks. with that ordered we sat back and got comfortable. Our Vegetable Biriaani arrived a little while later with drinks, and pudding all seved on china plates with napkin wrapped cutlery and a small table cloth. It was very tasty, but at 0100hours we were bo9th ready to sleep. all our plates were cleared shortly afterwards, and we reclined the seats to their full position, kicked up the leg and foot rest, plumped our own pillows (yes really) pulled up the blankies and promptly fell asleep. The flight is just 5 and half hours and literally flew by. next thing we were waking up to beautiful sunshine, over a bed of clouds, stunning way to start the day!

Much Love

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