Departure Lounge, Niyama resort, Trans Maldivian Airway

A number of high end resorts offer their own departure lounge at the sea plane docking area. Maldives sea plane services were under two major operator Maldivian Airway (red color) and Trans Maldivian Airway (yellow blue).

Niyama lounge is situated on the 2nd floor. Besides the refreshment, it offers a shower facility good for those after a long flight. The attendant has explained on the sea plane security and in just 20 minute time, you are escorted to the sea plane. Overall, from the pick up from Trader's to the sea plane, the service and efficiency is excellent.

boat ride leaving Male city

Took a boat ride leaving Male city for the seaplane departure. Note the shore line is already pretty low. Hope the global warming can slow down a bit and Maldives can have a longer survival.

Lime, the cafe, Trader's Hotel, Male City, Maldives

I'm somewhat amazed that pork can be served in the restaurants in Trader's and Niyama, in considering Maldives being a Muslim country. The Maldivian are subtly polite. They smile gently and greet with hand shake without anything exaggerating, especially on my first day of morning from taking a breakfast to an morning strolling around the city.

Lime is the cafe of Trader's, offering a wide selection of Asian and International food. Surprised that they have lots of fresh fruits and probably imported from Sri Lanka. Their coffee and tea are of course very nice. How should we miss the tea from Sri Lanka?

Trader's Hotel, Male city, Maldives

Stayed here for just one night. The hotel hired a lot of Asians and naturally the clientele is more Asian. Overall, the service is pretty good from the airport pickup, shuttle boat (5 minutes from the Airport to the pier of Trader's, to the check-in/out. The room is well maintained with everything needed. The rooftop pool is with a gorgeous view to the city and airport.

Male City, Maldives

There are several flights getting to Maldives, including Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Sri Lankan Airway or Emirates (but in a longer journey). All these need to have a stop over in their capital cities except Mega Airline. Most of the airlines arrive at Male City pretty late at night. For those who need to take sea plane to their resorts, an overnight stay in Male City is needed. So in taking a 30 minute leisure time (the hotel arranged a very early morning sea plane journey), I walked around the city.

a stretching shell, Niyama Maldives

A happy shell...

Coral speaks, Niyama Maldives

There was one early morning the tide was so low (due to the new moon being on a closer distance of traction movement) that the coral was exposed to the morning sunlight. The first time I heard they speak, like cracking sound.

Octopus ink, Niyama Maldives

Was a bit slow in trying to shoot the octopus that was jetting ink in front of me. The ink is so thick and a bit red brown instead of black.

Tribal, African BBQ restaurant, Niyama Maldives

Supposed the resort has 3 restaurants and 3 lounges and 1 deli. Unfortunately, the underwater dance club and its restaurant Edge were not ready. So I had to take turn to try the remaining 2 restaurants. Tribal in a very special deco. and menu, highlighting their lava stone grill of some African touch. The bread, the appetizer (lobster and prawn) are very nice but the meat is so so. It's a bit much too chewy and greasy. Something quite intrigue to me is their banana. Very hard to chew and they cooked it very raw. The texture is quite similar to uncooked taro.