PABLO | Japan's Best Cheese Tartlet

Who says only steak can be rare or medium? Our trip to Shinsaibashi wasn't for sartorial purchases but for errrr ...a serious degustation. From the delectable Japanese dishes to yummy lollies with anime designed wrappers, the place, while it's mostly famous for its shopping arcade, is definitely a food haven. Despite the crowd, people seemed to know where they were going and being the tourists that we were, we just went with the flow. We wanted to be where people were as cows flock where the grasses are. And true enough we followed a crowd that led us to a line snaking on the side of a bright store that continued up on the side of the street. In a heartbeat I told my travel buddy (and boyfriend, best friend, among others) we have to try whatever it was. The sign said PABLO and from afar we can tell that it's a pastry looking shop. I rushed to the end of the snaky line and asked the lady in front of me if she's already tried it. She smiled, nodded, did a hand gesture and muttered something I can't understand all at the same time. Then she did a thumbs up sign so I took it as she was telling me Pablo is a must try.



As we were nearing the entrance of the shop, we could see from the glass window a pâtissier (pastry chef) with a round pan that already had the base and the side crusts. That seemed to be the first stage of this so-called tartlet, I thought. Another pâtissier with a big pot poured a liquid cheese onto the round pan that looked like it solidified as soon it was poured. And as the line progressed, we can see each stage of the best tartlet in the making. 

Pâtissiers making sure the cheese is layered evenly on the crust

 

 

 

 

Another pâtissier brushing a yellow (lemon) coat onto the tarlet that  serves as its top layer

After 15 minutes of waiting and watching them make the reason we all lined up for, I finally got to the counter. I was asked if I wanted rare or medium. "I wasn't ordering steak, was I?" I joked then asked what the difference is. A rare cheese tartlet has a soft, light texture and the inside is almost melting. The medium is described as the "exquisite roast" as it has a crispy flaky dough and the inside is solid. The best seller is the rare one so I went for it. We later on tried the medium one when we were already at Shibuya in Tokyo.

A rare cheese tartlet courtesy of the Pablo website |

cheese is light and "melty"

 

The "exquisite roast" - crispy crust with cheese in solid texture

Several curious souls wondering what the line is all about

Rare cheese tartlet with the brand symbol painted using a glossy apricot jam

I am no cheese connoisseur but this cheese tartlet is definitely the best that I've tried in Japan. There are other different cheese tart shops around Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo but they just don't compare to Pablo. Both tartlets are good but I prefer the rare; I don't like the hard, crispy flaky dough of the medium one but the cheese part was just as good. For 741 YEN (800 with tax) this is definitely a good dessert for sharing...or not!

Stores: PABLO has stores in Shinsaibashi, JR Osaka Station, Dotonbori, Umeda and Namba in OSAKA (basically all the touristy area) and Shibuya and Shinjuku in TOKYO

Rambling in Osaka-Shi (Japan)

The first stop of our 17 day trip is Osaka. We planned a 4 day stay in the 3^rd largest city (by population) in Japan and it was an amazing four days. From Sydney to Kuala Lumpur, we took another Air Asia flight to Kansai International Airport (KIX). It was a cold and wet Friday morning when we got there; our decision to only exchange what we needed for the train card (IC OCA) and look for a money changer when we get to the place was, unbeknownst to us, the worst decision we’ve ever had during the trip. In our previous trips, exchanging money is always better in the country destination than in Sydney but it was a dismay to find out that it wasn’t the case in Japan. One Australian dollar was 95 Yen (Japan currency) in Sydney and it was only 86.42 at the airport that time. We thought the rate was just low because it is normal to have a lower rate (and expensive purchases) at the airport but we were apoplectic that rates were even lower outside. I wouldn’t go into so much detail on how we spent half day looking for a money changer after we got to our hotel in Tenmabashi/ Temmabashi (I didn’t want to ruin your blog reading with my complaint but I promise this is the only not so good part of our Japan trip!). Our long walk along the main road of Tenmabashi led us to only one bank (MUFG) but they don’t do foreign exchange hence we were directed to Osaka. Osaka Station City is a 12 minute ride from Tenmabashi station, which is just 2 minutes away from our hotel.

            

         Our ramble began as soon as were cashed up. Osaka Station City is a newly renovated station with a large glass roof spanning over the railway tracks so it gives the station a massive looking open space. There are several buildings that surround the station; the north side has Isetan Mitsukoshi Department Store and Lucua which is home to around 200 stores scattered on eleven floors of the shopping complex. There's also an entertainment section and strips of restaurants, support plaza and offices.

Osaka Station City, Osaka Prefecture

The south gate offers the same sort of attraction on a different layout - there's Daimaru Department Store and Taiyo no Hiroba – a 3 floor terrace that has a perfect spot for sunlight during the day. It has benches and offers a good view of the Umeda skyline. Umeda Sky Building is another attraction in the area, just 900 metres away from the Osaka Station City, the spectacular high rise offers a magnificent view of the Osaka city. The building is 173m tall and is consists of two towers connected to each other by a Floating Garden Observatory. You can have a great view of the city for 700 yen (AUD$7.3; PHP300). We only spent a day in this area; we weren't too keen on shopping because we were saving that for Tokyo, our last stop. We didn't want to be carrying all the shopping bags while moving to places via Shinkansen (Japan's bullet train). For other things that you can do around this area (northern district of Osaka or "Kita"), you may check  http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4020.html and http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4009.html

Our second day was spent appreciating the architectural splendour and riveting history of the Osaka Castle and wandering around the southern downtown of Osaka. The Castle can be seen from where we were staying. Hotel Keihan is 1.5km away from the Castle and took us about 18 minutes to get there by foot (if you're not staying in the area, the nearest train station to the Castle is the Tenmabashi station, 180m away from Hotel Keihan and 1.7km away from the Castle). Outside the Castle grounds on a Saturday morning, there were several health enthusiasts jogging and riding a bike along the path. The Castle is so massive the whole ground covers 15 acres. Sloped stone walls make up the foundation of the castle and it is overlooking a moat. It's a classic architectural piece with a park that covers 2 square km of green space and a garden (Nishinomaru Garden) home to about 600 cherry trees. It was unfortunate that we were a little too late for the Cherry Blossoms season though we still caught a glimpse of some cherry trees still in bloom.

Osaka Castle: Moat and Stone walls in the background

Some of the cherry trees left for us to see!

Osaka Castle

               

Some more cherry blossoms for us to experience!

On the grounds of the Central Tower there's a number of stalls that sell snacks and drinks. It's definitely exhausting to go around the massive park and having a 300-400 yen hotdog or chicken tenders after the tour isn't too bad. 

After spending half of the day at the Castle, we took the train from Tenmabashi to Shinsaibashi via the Keihan main line, we got off at Yodobashi station and changed platform to get to Shinsaibashi station. This journey cost us 330 yen. Most of the reviews we've read prior to this trip said it would be better to get a JR unlimited pass for a week for AUD$300 but trips like this are not within the JR line and they'd end up to be more expensive if you get the JR pass then pay extra for trips within the non JR line, later on I'll explain why we opted not to get the JR pass.

Shinsaibashi is Osaka's premier shopping centre. It's approximately 600m long, this shopping arcade has a hundred of retail stores with a mix of mid to high end fashion ranging from local to international brands like Samantha Thavasa (Japanese fashion company), Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Fendi, amongst others.

Some of the international brands at Shinsaibashi

Whilst we spent an enormous amount of time looking and going around the shops, we didn't buy anything sartorial. All of our purchases were for our palate's satiation like snacks from a cheap snack and lollies shop and Japan's best cheese tart PABLO. Two reasons why we weren't too keen to engage in a major shopping spree in Osaka's primary shopping area: The first reason I already mentioned earlier; Osaka was our first stop and we didn't want extra kilos on our shoulders travelling to Kyoto, Nagoya and Tokyo. Second is I was a bit disappointed with the prices. A friend, who went to Japan months before me, said shopping in Osaka was the best, way better than Hong Kong (which I found really cheap because of Forever 21 at Causeway Bay, she knew I liked the shopping in Hong Kong the best) and Manila (because of the weekend/night market and bazaars called "tiangge") but it wasn't as cheap as I expected it to be. Shirts and blouses from a non branded shop would still cost around AUD$30-50 and the very plain ones were still AUD$15-20. You'll also won't be able to haggle because of the language barrier and, moreover, most of them have fixed price already. 

Shinsaibashi Shoppers on a Spring Saturday Arvo

Meiji Almonds and Macadamia cost 88 yen in this shop while they cost 214 yen at Family Mart

There's also heaps of eateries and restaurants around Shinsaibashi and they were all good - well at least the ones that we went to. I wouldn't talk about the food in Japan and how great it was because I feel it deserves its own blog but all I can say is once you've tried the authentic Japanese cuisine it would be very hard to eat Japanese elsewhere again.

Our third day was spent in Universal Studio . The second most popular theme park in the country (next to Tokyo's DisneyLand/Sea of course) is located at Osaka Bay Area (a collection of city districts on a man-made waterfront islands) in Sakurajima Island and is 18 minutes away from the Osaka City Station by train (station is Universal City Station). We knew we would have needed one whole day if we wanted to experience all the rides but we were too exhausted from the previous days' activities hence we couldn't be bothered getting up early. We got to the theme park around 1130 am, there was no line at the ticketing as we expected; we knew lines would be at the rides already by that time. It was a pretty busy Sunday at Universal - it was a mistake to go on a weekend but it was the only full day we had. The park is massive, occupying an area of 39 hectares with several souvenir and food shops and a lot of room for photo op. Going around the park we saw several characters doing a meet and greet with the tourists - Shrek and Fiona, Snoopy and Friends, Sesame Street gang and Hello Kitty and Daniel - if you wanted a photo with them you'd have to wait for approximately one hour in line and again, we couldn't be bothered.

We enjoyed all the ride attractions like The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, 
Jurassic Park (with a 26m drop to escape the dinosaur!!), Back to the Future and the Jaws. But our favourite ride is the Space Fantasy - which we rode 5 times (the ride is in an enclosed area so you'd have no idea if it was a roller coaster with a loop or what). The lines were ridiculously long with an average wait time of 60 minutes all afternoon, we only started enjoying it after 5 or 6pm when wait time was down to 15-20 minutes. We weren't able to experience the main ride attraction - The Hollywood Dream: BACKDROP - as it was the busiest ride with 80-120 minute wait time. We got it compensated though by repeating Jurassic Park and Space Fantasy rides several times.  

Harry Potter coming to Universal Studio Osaka on 15th July

White Cherry Blossom at Universal

While we enjoyed the rides, we couldn't say the same for the the show attractions. There are several interesting shows like Backdraft, Shrek, Terminator and Water World but they don't cater to foreign tourists. I've seen the Water World in Universal Studio in Singapore and I really enjoyed it but watching it again in Japanese (Nihongo) made it quite uninteresting. It would have been better if they have at least some shows in English, but then again 80% of the theme park's visitors is Japanese so I guess it works out well for the majority.

At Hello Kitty Fashion Avenue

Hello Kitty Bun at Hello Kitty's Corner Cafe for 450 yen

The park closes at 9PM however they put everything at stop around 730 for the Magical Starlight Parade - it's a full hour of bright lights, dancing and characters like Cinderella smiling and waving at you - such a pompous show! The end of parade is a sign that the park is about to close and so we got our stuff off the locker, dropped by Hard Rock Cafe to get my dad a shirt (he collects them so whenever I go to a country that has HRC, I make sure I get him one), went to TGI Friday's to have a break from the Japanese cuisine (not that we're sick of it, I just love my Jack Daniel's steak so much!) and caught the next train back to Hotel Keihan.

Our fourth and final day was spent on the other parts of southern downtown. When we went there on our second day, we only got to explore the Shinsaibashi area. One full day would have been enough to see Shinsaibashi, Dotonbori, Amerikamura and Den Den Town but because we went to Osaka Castle first, we didn't have a full day for a complete southern downtown experience. Dotonbori is one of Osaka's popular place for shopping and entertainment but it's the most famous for its food. I reckon the best takoyaki in Japan is here in Dotonbori. Takoyaki, for those who don't know it, is a Japanese snack that's ball shaped and is made of a wheat flour based batter and cooked in a special takoyaki pan. It's usually filled with a minced octopus, tempura scraps and onions. The place that I'm talking about has prawns and other flavours and it's just amazing! 

It's impressing how quick their hands are in using a chopsticks-like utensil to "seal" the Takoyaki ball

Takoyaki was first popularized in Osaka -that explains why the best Takoyaki is in Osaka!

We didn't spend much time at Amerikamura and Den Den Town. At the most we only spent an hour to have a look around. Amerikamura, as the name suggests ("Amerika"), is a shopping area, also at the Minami area where Shinsaibashi and Dotonbori are, that has retail outlets for Western fashion. The place also caters to teenage fashion just like Harijuku in Tokyo. We only noticed the area because of the big clown face statue with a red and white stripes and stars hat, similar to a US flag and the small replica of the Statue of Liberty. There's also a small crepe place that was very busy at that time. I wish we tried it but we were so full from all the good food places at Dotonburi.Den Den Town is known as the electronics district and you can either walk 2 kilometers from Shinsaibashi or catch the train and get off at Nipponbashi station. Since we all know that majority of the popular brands of electronics that we enjoy today are Japanese, you can expect that electronics here are cheaper compared to anywhere else (although if like us, Osaka is your first stop, you can probably wait until you get to Akihabara in Tokyo before you purchase your gadget).

courtesy of www.japan-guide.com

After exploring Namba and its shopping hub, we went back to our hotel in Tenmabashi to get our stuff then head back to Osaka Station City for the train to our next destination - KYOTO.

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FOR THINGS THAT (I THINK) A TOURIST MUST KNOW WHEN VISITING JAPAN: PLEASE CHECK MY BLOG AGAIN COS IT'S COMING SOON!

Osaka Expenses (per person)

¥6000 – Train Card(IC OCA) - 500 is the deposit so the load was only 5500, you can refund the 500 after your trip if you're also flying out of Osaka or just use the 500 at Family Mart and other convenience stores and even some stores at Haneda Airport (e.g. Hello Kitty Store). One way trip is about ¥120-240 | Tenmabashi to Osaka City is ¥120, Osaka City to Shinsaibashi is ¥240, Osaka City to Universal City is ¥180 and the Osaka to Kyoto is ¥560. We got a deal at Kansai Airport to have the IC OCA for 3000 (2500 load and 500 deposit) and an express train to Osaka City.

Hello Kitty ICOCA

 ¥700 - Umeda Sky Building - Floating Garden Observatory

 

 ¥600 - Osaka Castle entrance fee (we didn't pay this cos we didn't go inside, most of the reviews said it was so much better outside the Castle Park)

 ¥200 - Nishinomaru Garden at Osaka Castle Park (we also didn't go here cos we were a bit late for the Cherry Blossoms)

¥9790 - 4 day meal (lunch/dinner) if you go to an average Japanese place, a set meal (e.g Ramen and rice toppings, Tonkatsu with rice and miso soup) would cost between 700-800, and an appetizer or side like Gyoza is 200-400. Most of our days our meal cost this much but our day in Universal Studio cost us 1580 for a bacon cheeseburger meal and 2235 for a TGI Friday's meal. A very nice Ebi tempura meal with miso soup at Dotonbori cost 735 and the Takoyaki is 650.  

¥6980 - Universal Studio Osaka entrance (adult)

¥1500 - snacks; I was addicted to Meiji almonds and Macadamia and I was buying them for 214 at Family Mart (and later on 88 at the snack shop in Shinsaibashi). This also included some potato chips, Japanese lollies and bottled water - gotta stay hydrated while walking in the heat!

¥800 - PABLO CHEESE TART, it's worth it! divided 2 because both of us ate =) so only ¥400 

¥842 - Starbucks drinks | When we're so tired from all the walking, the nearest Starbucks would come to aid. It's where we rest our sore feet while enjoying the free wifi and our Vanilla frappe and Fresh Banana and Chocolate frappe 

TOTAL: ¥26,212 or PHP11305 or AUD275/ 304 for the crappy exchange rate that we got (could be lower for you if you omit the snack and Starbucks part and if you eat first before going to Universal Studio)  

Some guides to help you around Osaka:

http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Tourism-g298566-Osaka_Osaka_Prefecture_Kinki-Vacations.html 

http://www.usj.co.jp/e/

http://www.usj.co.jp/e/common/studiomap.pdf

Hotel Keihan (booked through Expedia)

Address: 1-2-10 TanimachiChuo-ku Osaka Osaka-fu 540-0012 Japan 13 38 10

180m away from the Tenmabashi Station

Travel, food and anything that interests the Lakwatserang Sydneysider: Urban Remedy | A remedy for the urbanite

Travel, food and anything that interests the Lakwatserang Sydneysider: Urban Remedy | A remedy for the urbanite: I am a small girl with a BIG appetite. Weight wasn't my problem for the first 20 years of my existence, I didn't care about what I ...

Urban Remedy | A remedy for the urbanite

I am a small girl with a BIG appetite. Weight wasn't my problem for the first 20 years of my existence, I didn't care about what I was eating because I was still slim no matter what. I was totally alright until I finished my degree, started working night shift where, to fight sleep deprivation, I'd binge and would always have a snack on my desk. A (rather long) hiatus in dancing didn't help and a medical condition PCOS (Polycystic ovarian syndrome, a hormonal condition) made it worse. I got back on track when I finally decided to be active again in dancing and joined fun runs, which at that time was becoming a thing in the Philippines.

Fast forward to my days in Sydney, I can maintain 44 kilograms in my 152 cm height. The only challenge is when I'm on holiday. I tend to let loose when I'm on vacation because where's the fun if you have restrictions in what you eat? Though I seem to get back in shape after a holiday by doing strenuous exercise and healthy eating (by healthy I mean no sweets, soda and just a bit of rice - know that no Filipino could ever survive without rice so this is a real big sacrifice) I find it really challenging to lose the 7 kilos I gained from all the holidays the past 6 months. I spent 6 weeks doing an eating spree in the Philippines in December, I haven't lost all the 5 kilos I gained when 6 weeks after I went to a 'dream come true' holiday in Maldives.Four weeks after the company had to send me for a 2 week business trip to the Philippines and while it was a work travel I couldn't help myself but scoff all the Filipino dishes I've missed. I only came back to Sydney after that because my holiday in Japan was booked from there and then my scoffing continued with udon, tempura, tendon, ramen and all Japanese food you can think of, they were just all worth the extra kilo! When I got back to Sydney in May, the first thing on my mind is crunch time -I've got to get back to losing all the extra baggage in my arms, face and stomach but it's easier said than done. I went back to gym as soon as I got back but for some reason I couldn't let go of the sweets. Everyday in Japan, I would eat a box of Meiji  Almonds and another box for Macadamia and it only took me less than a week to finish the other boxes I brought with me from the Meiji land. I think the sweet tooth was really activated because even when I got back I was still eating chocies - (Cadbury) Picnic and Snickers this time.

The Sweet Culprit

It took me two weeks to get awakened by the weighing scale at the gym. I was doing tabata (high intensity interval training), Zumba and yoga but my weight was still the same. I would have expected to lose a kilo or two already based on my previous workout experience. I knew I had to do something; I was doing the exercise but not the healthy- eating part so the former was only helping me maintain the current weight and not doing my goal of shedding off some fats. I needed a kick-start and my research led me into doing a detox. I was a bit hesitant at first  because I couldn't imagine starving myself by just having a fluid intake all day. But I knew I had to. And looking at the benefits of detox cleansing, I knew it was what I needed to get going.

After reading all the FAQs, I knew I was ready but had to do it the week after another
(http://www.urbanremedy.com.au/FAQs/aboutcleansing/tabid/70/Default.aspx) work trip in Brisbane (thought that was my last hurrah before my juice cleansing). I ordered my one day set of juice cleansing on a Thursday for a Monday delivery - brand new week, brand new start. Delivery was said to be between 4 to 8pm but since I had it delivered at work, I got it by 2pm.

My kick-start box

There are 3 different levels of juice cleanse, I chose level 1 as it is recommended for first timers. Level 1 comes with 6 bottles of juice with a total of 958 calories - 151g healthy carbs, 23g lean protein and 22g good fats and all juices are free from gluten, wheat, yeast, dairy and refined sugar.

I started my juice cleanse the following day. The recommended intake time of juice#1 is 7am and 2-3 hours after for the next one. I normally have my brekky 9am at work so I still followed my normal routine.

My juice#1 is the Energising Smoothie - it's banana, mango, spinach, chia, goji and water. I honestly thought this would be the worst drink because it's green and the colour perceives a veggie drink (and I don't eat green leafy vegetables) but I was wrong! It was actually so good I can drink 5 more bottles of this for the day. Although this is just my second favourite, read some more for my favourite drink!

Energising Smoothie

Juice#2 is Metabolism Booster - lemon, cayenne, stevia and water, I took it around 1130am and I was fine, I wasn't hungry but I had gone to the toilet to pee thrice after the first 2 bottles. I guess it was really flushing out the toxins in my body, which is a very good thing. This juice is probably my least favourite because of the cayenne, it had a strong taste my  mind tells me it's spicy but it's not. It's a bit strange but I was focused on my cleansing - I know cayenne is part of the ingredients for a reason, either to balance the nutrients intake or to add flavour to the drink.

Metabolism Booster - can drink hot or cold

Juice#3 is fat buster - another favourite. It's apple, mint and pineapple. I was sipping my lunch while seated across my partner stuffing his stomach with a box of Hawaiian pizza from Pizza Hut. I was still fine, a bit lightheaded but I knew it was all in the mind. In diets and detox like this, the mind plays an important part.

Fat Buster

In between juice#3 and #4 was the most challenging. It was mid afternoon and my mind was busy thinking of all the food that I wanted to eat. The following day I found a note written on my sticky note some time between juice#3 and 4 that says " what are you doing to yourself? sure you gained weight but you are not fat! stop starving yourself!". I just laughed at it then deleted. I wasn't doing this to lose weight (although you can really lose weight with juice cleansing because your intake is less than the normal and the removed toxins means healthier body), I was doing it to give my body a rest from all the unhealthy stuff I digested the past several months. I knew it will pay off.


 Juice#4 is Digestion Enhancer - it's made of lemon, lime, ginger, stevia and water. It's similar to juice#3 but instead of cayenne it was the ginger that dominated the taste of the drink. It was still good but, and this time I've already calmed my mind and it was now more at peace with my juice cleansing.

Digestion Enhancer

Juice#5 is Zingy Uplifter - it's orange, carrot, lemon and ginger. This was my dinner; I liked the orange, carrot and lemon part, I am not really a fan of ginger but reckon taste was alright. I was finishing the day and that was what's important.

Zingy Uplifter

Juice#6 is my juice no. 1, my favourite! It's made of banana, almonds, cacao, chia and water and I took it 2 hours before bedtime. I like the combination of banana, cacao and almonds, it's just the perfect drink!

Calming Smoothie

I feel light and accomplished by the end of my cleanse. The following day I became more conscious of what I am eating and the cleanse has brought me some magical way to stop craving sweets - it could be because I thought it'd be a waste to do a cleanse and get back to my old habit after or could also be my body has quickly adapted to my 40 hour diet; either way I think the juice cleansing served its purpose - to give me a kick-start to a healthy diet.

When I weighed by the end of that week I lost 2 kilos. I cannot say for certain that it was solely because of the juice cleansing but it definitely helped. As they say, a healthier lifestyle is 70% healthy diet and 30% regular exercise - I am well adequate with the latter, juice cleansing gave me a good start in achieving a healthy diet.

Am I going to do the juice cleansing again? YES (maybe level 2 this time) and I recommend that you do too!

~if you are following a budget and have the time, you may make your own juice cleanse. There's heaps of websites that offer free juice cleanse recipes like http://www.rawjuicecleanserecipes.com/. I like urban remedy because since I'm a novice in juice cleansing, I want to make sure I am still getting all the nutrients I need while doing it. Happy cleansing!

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URBAN REMEDY
www.urbanremedy.com.au/

A week in paradise

          It was 3rd of October 2013 when a friend from the Philippines messaged and asked me if I wanted to join them for a Maldives trip. MALDIVES. A place I first encountered when my Geography teacher in 4th grade made me locate a country on the map by giving only its latitude and longitude. My answer is Sri Lanka, and I was right. From then on that area on the world map holds a very special place in my heart, I was so proud of myself for getting the answer to that question right. I spent the rest of the Geography period staring at Sri Lanka on the map and its neighbouring countries then I saw a tiny writing (but no drawing) further south, close to west side of my then favourite country. It's Maldives - a place that sits on the Indian Ocean and is consists of many atolls (26 based on my research) that are spread over roughly 90,000 square kilometres making it one of the world's most geographically dispersed countries. The second time I heard about Maldives was when I was having a chat with my classmate in college while waiting for our professor. She mentioned she goes to Maldives to dive because it owns more than one of the best diving spots in the world. At this time internet was already an easy access on anyone's phone so I took my iPhone out of my skirt pocket and started to look up Maldives. My classmate must be so rich, I thought, for going to that place just to dive when there's heaps of good diving sites in the Philippines. How can she afford the flights and accommodation when she's still studying? I ignored the fact that she is a senator's daughter in law and just focused on how lucky she is for having that opportunity. Maldives to me would just be an (unreachable) dream - a beautiful place I can never afford to go to as it is only accessible by the rich and famous. I thought I can only see its beauty through travel shows/magazines and blogs about "20 places to go to before you die". But I realised I was wrong five months ago when I learnt through my Filo friend that Air Asia now flies to this paradise.

          Prior to this trip, I already flew with Air Asia heaps of times - twice going to the Philippines, once to Malaysia, Vietnam and Hong Kong so I wasn't worried that it might cause some mishaps because it's the latest destination of the airline and therefore a new route for the pilots. Flight had a minimal turbulence and overall it was smooth. The moment we stepped out of the airport we felt the scorching sun it felt like 40 degrees albeit it was only high 20s. It was so burning my Body Shop lip balm melted a bit but we ignored the painful heat when, across the airport, we spotted the first view of our Maldives water. It was so clear you wouldn't believe what your eyes were seeing! Everyone just had to capture the moment because it was so picturesque we had to pinch ourselves to know that all these were real.

                                     View outside the airport (this view is 100x better on actual,
                                     I was using an iPhone 5 camera and it didn't quite capture
                                     the tranquility I saw)

          It was Thursday around 3PM local time when we got there, and my travel mates, who are mostly budget travelers and travel bloggers, arranged everything for us. Our first stop was Maafushi Island in Kaafu atoll (in the south atoll, south of Male - the busiest city and capital of Maldives) - it is about 2.5 hours away from the airport and we took a (public) ferry to get to the island. Maafushi is one of approximately 200 inhabited islands and it's home to 100,000 out of the 300,000 locals in Maldives so it's a good location if you want to have a little immersion in the life and culture of the Maldivians. We stayed at Arena Beach Hotel and Spa for the price of Arena Lodge because the Lodge cannot accommodate our big group of 13 - so it's like a free upgrade for us since there's a difference of about USD$100/night between the hotel and the lodge. We stayed on the island for 3 days doing nothing but appreciate the turquoise coloured water, it is so clear you can see everything underwater. Our first night was spent discussing our activities and the expenses that accompanied them. The group came from 3 different countries so it was the first meeting to go over our plan for the next 6 days. On our second day we went to the Sexy Beach which is about 25 minutes away from Maafushi on a speedboat. Sexy Beach is a sandbank, it is surrounded by turquoise water that changes into a deep blue one 500 metres away from the sand bank. It is also a diving site for divers of all levels - some of us did scuba diving while the rest did either snorkeling or sunbathing.

.

   Sexy Beach - there is no shade since it's only a sandbank so make sure you bring your own beach umbrella and a very strong sunscreen (I used Banana Boat, SPF50+)








The following day we went to the Picnic Island - it's a small uninhabited island, also 20 minutes away from Maafushi via speedboat, that was set up with toilets, rooms and eating facilities so, as the name suggests, you can have a picnic there after swimming and exploring the island. You won't have to worry about a thing, you just need to relax, enjoy the island and when your stomach growls, barbeque lunch will be served. The lunch is part of our tour package (see below for the expenses) however don't expect pork or beef because Maldives is a 100% Muslim country. We only had fish and chicken during our stay on Maafushi and we only got to eat pork and beef when we were already on a private island because they aren't as strict as the local islands (and they know majority of the tourists prefer bacon for brekky and steak for dinner). They also don't serve alcohol on the local island so if you're a big booze drinker, your trip to Maldives will be a perfect detox time.

East of Picnic Island - the side that has the best beach 

Front of Picnic Island - the stretch of coconut

and other tropical trees provide protection
against the sun



We left Maafushi Island on our fourth day to experience a prime resort on a private island. We arranged our (speed) boat transfer with Arena because theirs is much cheaper compared to Fihalhohi Island Resort's rate. We also made some sort of "bonding" with Arena's manager Nadeem (thanks to our mum travel mate - Suzette) so most of the rates that we got during our Maafushi stay were pretty reasonable. Fihalhohi Island is further south of Maafushi though it is still on the Kaafu atoll and about an hour and 15 minutes away from Maafushi on a speedboat. The local time in the island is one hour advanced than the local time in Maafushi and Male but I find it strange that the time on my iPhone didn't update (it usually automatically updates when I'm in a place with a different timezone). Fihalhohi is one of the reasons why Maldives is perceived by many as a luxurious holiday destination. Everything was just pristine - white sandy beaches, crystal clear water, water bungalow, green vegetation of the island, numerous water sports/activities, house reef, wide range of international cuisine, tranquility, peace of mind, booze (yes there's booze!!! but you have to pay USD$6 for a bottle of Corona + 10% service charge and 8% GST,   so I suggest you stick to your detox), it's the perfect destination if you want to forget your stress at work or if you want a time off from the social media - wifi is USD$6 per hour so no matter how addicted you are to Facebook and Instagram you'll have no choice but to take some time off from them (unless you're willing to be ripped off). We didn't do any water sports/activities in Fihalhohi, we did everything on the local island because 1.) it's cheaper 2.) we wanted to spend more time just exploring Fihalhohi 3.) we wanted to use all the facilities - they have foosball/garlando, table tennis, basketball court (I didn't use this one), library, badminton, beach volleyball (I just ended up watching cos they were so competitive) and 4.) we were tired during our first 3 days all we wanted was to relax. At night since you cannot really do much aside from scoffing everything on the international buffet, they'd play a movie on a white wide screen at the Fisherman's Bar so you can watch while having a few drinks and desserts. We only stayed in Fihalhohi for one night but I think it's enough to see the entire island in a day.

                                                   Water Bungalow - Fihalhohi Island Resort
                                      Grabbed this picture from a mate, check his website www.jonas.ph

North of Fihalhohi

                                                                                                          






A walk to remember
   Water Bungalow
   Fihalhohi Island

                                                             Beach Volleyball in Fihalhohi  

          We checked out at 1130 AM local the next day but stayed there 'til arvo, we arranged our boat transfer to the airport (though we were going to Hulhumale Island) with Arena in Maafushi because they gave us a good rate of USD$31 each compared to the $70 rate if we arranged it with Fihalhohi. The speedboat ride up north to Hulhule Island, where the international airport is, took us only one hour but it was a bumpy ride, good thing I didn't take lunch otherwise I would have thrown it all out. We arranged a one night stay at an inn near the airport so from there, a van from UI Inn picked us up but for some reason they took us to Airport Comfort Inn - I presumed the latter is a sister inn of the former and like the Arena Lodge, UI also couldn't accommodate our big group. I didn't like this inn, for USD$81 I thought it was expensive considering aircon wasn't working properly, the toilet bowl releases a foul smell every time we flush it (and it's not just our bathroom! I asked the other guys and theirs were the same) and the bed wasn't comfortable at all. I didn't bother complaining as I knew we'd only be there for less than 20 hours and we spent even less time because on our last night we squeezed in a short trip to Male just to see what their city's like and to have a look if we can get some cheap souvenirs. Maldives' shirts of any design costs between USD$10-30, fridge magnets are $5 cheapest and all the others are more than $10. I couldn't be bothered looking as I was really tired and I don't normally wear souvenir shirts anyway so I just sat down while everyone else was busy looking for souvenir stuff. I ended up buying some souvenirs though when we were already at the airport the following day, Duty Free offers the same kinds of souvenirs that we saw from the shops at Male - the shirts are, of course, more expensive than Male but I found the rest cheaper at Duty Free and with better quality. I got a (very cute) notebook with a front cover design of sea shells and Maldives written under it for $5. I saw similar ones in shops at Male for $8 (cheapest) but smaller and the pages/leaves are of poor quality; the one closest to what I have is $20 - which for me is a total rip off! I also bought a sea shell bracelet for $10 - this is, by far, better than those I've seen in Male. This was the only shopping I did in Maldives; while shopping is always a top priority every time I go overseas, I knew it'd be different in Maldives. No one would go to Maldives to shop, one would go there to see an amazing layout of atolls and enjoy the islands with the most pristine white sand and surrounded by the crystal clearest turquoise lagoons. It's the most picturesque scenery I've ever seen in my life. It's the closest to the dictionary definition of paradise; a paradise that's called the Maldives.


THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE TRAVELING TO MALDIVES:

1.) Bed Tax - I don't know about you but I have stayed at hotels in 7 other countries and I never encountered bed tax. It is added on the total room price. Most of the time we book through Agoda because we earn points and can use them on future bookings

2.) Maldives: a Muslim country - I already mentioned that they don't serve pork, beef and alcohol on local islands but also note that there is a "swimmers code" in some areas (mostly local). I find them more strict than other Muslim countries like Malaysia

3.) Sun Protection - while it is already understood that whenever one goes on a holiday, bringing sunscreen is a MUST I still feel I have to reiterate it because Maldives is the hottest place I've ever been to. Summer in Australia can get to 40 degrees sometimes but the heat is nothing compared to what I've experienced there. It was only 20+ degrees but it was really burning! I wore a Billabong rash guard but I still got burnt

4.) Safety/First Aid - I thought it was a standard protocol that all boats should carry (enough) life vests for the passengers? All of our boat rides (except the public ferry) to and from the islands didn't have a life vest at all. Also, the Picnic Island does not have first aid kit. My boyfriend cut his toe from a rock on the shore (it had the same colour as the sand and the brightness of the sun made it so hard to see it), we asked for some medical assistance because it didn't stop bleeding however they didn't have any on the island. We ended up going back to Maafushi (the local island) to get assistance at the local health centre. (The locals were really nice though, while we were waiting for a boat to get us to Maafushi, a local man climbed up a coconut tree and got some coconuts for us - their coconuts are smaller than that of the Philippines and Thailand but they were so good!! The juice, the meat, yum!

EXPENSES (everything in USD)

Day 1 to 3 accommodation - USD$150 ($50/night full board - including breakfast, lunch and dinner)

Day 1: KL Breakfast (Marrybrown), Maccas soft serve, frozen cola - $9.09
           KL Groceries (water, custard buns, etc.- we didn't want to get hungry!) - $10
           Transfer from airport to port of Male - free (c/o Arena Beach Hotel and Spa)
           Port of Male to Maafushi Island via a public ferry - S2
           Grocery at a small convenience store (pringles, coke, etc.) - $5

Day 2: Scuba Diving (Maafushi Dive) $75 ($80 normally but we asked for a discount =))
           Snorkeling including gears and boat ride to Sexy island - $15 (Sexy island is also the diving site so if you're doing the scuba diving then snorkeling after you no longer need to pay $15)
         
Day 3: Picnic Island entrance - $11
           Boat transfer and BBQ lunch (c/o Arena) - $24 (normally $35 but we haggled again)


Day 4: Boat transfer to Fihalhohi (c/o Arena) - $18
          One night accommodation - $248.07 (AUD268.87) $124 if two in a room- half board - including breakfast and dinner (though we got a complimentary buffet lunch when we arrived)
          Wi-fi (yes I had to!) - $6.48 (including GST and SC)    
          Booze (a pitcher of beer, Midori Sprite, Blue Lagoon) - $38.35 (got a 40% off from a complimentary voucher for the Blue Lagoon drink)
          Magnum Almond Ice cream - $3.5
       

Day 5: UI Inn accommodation - $81 - $40.5 each (we stayed at Airport Comfort Inn instead, not very comfortable I tell you)
           Transfer from Fihalhohi to the airport - $31 with Arena ($70 if you booked with Fihalhohi)
           Transfer from airport to Hulhule Island (and back to the airport the next day) - $3.50
           Bus ride from our place to the local port going to Male (3 Rufiyaa each way) - $.39 round trip
           Ferry to Male ($5.5 one way) - $11
           Burger King (Hungry Jack's) burger meal - $11
           Another meal (Highway Restaurant in Hulhumale) - $5.50
           Dinner (Sea House Restaurant in Male) - $15
           Groceries (water) - $.50


Day 6: Burger King double cheeseburger meal - $13.50
           Duty Free Souvenirs - $15
           Other stuff: in-flight drink/airport food $5.45
           Famous Amos cookies - $7
           Tune Hotel accommodation (we arrived 10PM in Kuala Lumpur from Male and our flight to Sydney was 9am the following day) - $55.36, $27.68 each

           Total: USD$663.44, AUD$719.08, PHP29,854.4 - if you'll do scuba diving
                     USD $603.44, AUD$654.05, PHP27,154.41 - if you'll do snorkeling
                     * doesn't include flights

Has anyone been to Maldives for this cheap? =)