Paradise, By Way of Dubai

Oscar, Heather and I took advantage of the long Diwali weekend to head out of India for the sandy beaches, sunshine, and tourquoise waters of the Maldives.  Since we booked everything the week of, our choices of travel times and prices were limited, but we didn't let that put a damper on things.  We ended up flying Emirates, via Dubai, and so were able to acquire two sets of passport stamps in one four-day weekend.

In the Maldives, we stayed at Chaaya Island Dhonveli, and enjoyed our all-inclusive little butts off.  There was truly nothing to do but 'eat, drink, and be merry' . . . Oh yeah. And sunbathe.  We all read a bunch; Oscar developed a gym habit; Heather went surfing with a bunch of Australians, and I went snorkeling in the lagoon. Very relaxing and much needed in the midst of start-of-quarter, performance-review madness.  I saw several sting rays and two of what I think were moray eels.  In addition there were tons of trigger fish, angel fish, butterfly fish, and at least three kinds of blowfish, one of which was about three feet long and wearing and awesome set of camouflage.  The other remarkable wildlife were the bats - not just nocturnal, we saw them out and about during the day much more often than we saw birds, and I'm pretty sure we also saw them fishing.  Very cool.  There were also tons of hermit crabs of all sizes.  On our first day there, Oscar and I were escorted through the bar by a hermit crab about the size of my fist.  Almost every time I went to pick up a shell, it would scuttle away into the underbrush.

After three days of swimming around the atoll, three buffets a day, and cocktails at sunset, we were forced to head back to the real world.  On our way home, we had a seven hour layover in Dubai, so we headed out of the airport and decided to poke around in the Mall of the Emirates.  We found ourselves a seat at the bottom of the ski run in the Kempinzki's Sezzam restaurant and I ponied up to a glass of Shiraz and the biggest (200 g), baddest burger that I have had in months.  Fantastico.  After puttering through the mall for an hour or so, we headed back to the airport to catch our flight to Delhi.  I soothed my nostalgia for home with a Starbuck's run...mmmm, decaf Caramel Machiato with soy milk. Yum, yum, yum.  A

Arriving in Delhi at 3am bites the big one, no matter which way you cut it, but we were able to get home, get some rest and, well, Oscar and I made it into work by 9am or so.  None too shabby.