I was at Relax Inn (Ground Six Restaurant probably because its on the sixth floor) for dinner last week. Its a very nice place to have dinner at the sixth floor of Relax Inn with beautiful view of the sea. The menu includes mouth watering dishes which I liked.

Rice with some vegetables and Prawns masala

Restaurant is spacious and well arranged

There are many places in Male’ where you can have dinner and this one which I would like to recommend.

Long awaited 3G service from Dhiraagu has been launched. I just activated my 3G account, speed is good (as per Dhiraagu – Dhiraagu operates the fastest 3G Plus network, offering download speeds up to 2.6Mbps. ), but not yet tried much. Now can can do video calls, browse the Internet, check emails in a smarter way.

Its easy to activate, just send an activation SMS, you get it activated instantly. You can find more information on the packages here.

I feel the charges are not very much encouraging to use the 3G service. If we have an access to Wifi, then it would be better to use Wifi. Dhiraagu has 3 Data plans. The best price per MB is coming to Mrf 3.00 which I feel is too much and if you are using above 50 mb which is free in the package. When I checked with the Dhiraagu customer care regarding the extra data used, they informed that it will be 1 laari per kb which works out to be Mrf 10.24 per MB which is surely not attractive. Hopefully Dhiraagu will come up with some affordable plans soon

I came to Colombo yesterday and registered Dialog for my roaming facility. I got a surprising message saying that I can use Dialog Wifi for free and the login information was also provided. I could not find Dialog Wifi network anywhere I travelled, but when I reached the airport, I got into the Wifi from Dialog and used internet for about 1 hour, then just turned of my laptop for my dinner and tried to login again, sorry, bad luck, its saying wrong login details.

I got it, its just for one session or so. I was using my Dhiraagu connection for roaming. I could find that the 3G data connection was available only from Dialog in Sri Lanka for roaming customers. I tried Mobitel and Airtel, both did not work for data roaming.

Tonight we had the Pongal Celebration in Maldives. Dr Abdul Kalam was the prestigious guest of honour. There were some Ministers from the cabinet at this functions. The function was held at Dharubaruge in Male’.

Some cultural programs by the expatriates working here and a troop from India had come for this program. There was also a program by a Maldivian troop. The program went well.

The Entrance Pongal Celebrations

Indian Cultural Programs

Traditional dance

This kid stole the show

A Hindi Song , Solo dance

Group Dance

Ex President of India Was the Guest of Honour, Home Minister of Maldives was the Chief Guest

This was a contribution from Maldives

This program was organized by India Club. Dinner was also served. The show was full around 1000 plus people were there to watch the function.

Jose Hernandez, Astronaut has tweeted this picture of Maldives island taken from space.

This isn’t your first close-up of another planet’s biosphere… it’s actually the Maldives islands on Earth, as viewed from the International Space Station. A couple of ISS astronauts have been twittering amazing pictures of our planet.

You can find more pictures taken from space by Jose Hernandez here.

Maldives is facing deep financial crisis, severe shortage of foreign exchange. Tourism is doing well, but still having problems with inherited debts.

Last week the Government announced the handing over the management of IGMH hospital for Apollo Hospitals India

As per Miadhu news

Maldives will privatize its airport but could also sell down other state enterprises and bring private capital to a domestic bank, the International Monetary Fund has said. “A central plank will be the privatization of the airport, but stakes in the telecommunications company have already been sold and other enterprises and services (such as electricity, water and sewage) could also be divested,” the IMF said in a report.

Other health facilities like the Thalassemic Center, Villingily Health Center, Hulhumale Health centre will also be handed over to private parties to manage. Government of Maldives is selling its stake which they hold on Telecom company Dhiraagu,  Male’ International Airport, Bank of Maldives  are also in the list.

Speaking at a press conference today, Finance Minister Ali Hashim said the government employed international bank HSBC as a financial advisor on the share sale to provide a valuation review.
Hashim said the US$40 million will be used to improve the balance of payments.

To improve the economic situation, the Government has also done pay cuts and even layoffs.

Hopefully Maldives recover from this financial crisis soon and get back to normal

I was at Kanuhura Resort in Maldives last week. Here are some sunset pictures taken during my trip

Kanuhura resort is one of the best resorts in Maldives, the beaches are excellent , you would really love it

There are a good number of expatriate nurses working in Maldives especially in IGMH. Recently the Government has informed that all the new recruitment application will be accepted only with IELTS clearance with a minimum score of 5.5. For the existing nurses, they will have to get IELTS cleared before the next renewal of registration.

The existing nurses will have to join some training classes in Male’ and get the exam cleared as soon as possible or they will have to go back. This new rule will surely improve the standard of nursing staff.

Apollo Hospitals of India will be managing the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospitals in Male’. IGMH is the biggest healthcare facility in the Maldives.

The Government of Maldives has signed an agreement with Apollo Hospitals to mange Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Male’. The agreement was signed during President Nasheed’s visit to Chennai, India.

The agreement was signed on behalf of the government of Maldives by the Minister of Health and Family, Dr Aminath Jameel and on behalf of Apollo Hospitals, its Managing Director Dr Preetha Reddy signed the agreement.

There should be drastic changes after this agreement hopefully.

Beach House Maldives is a good resort now under re-branding to Hilton. This would be Hilton’s third resort in Maldives. Bit far away from Male’ International Airport. We traveled by Island Aviation Flight from Male’ to Hanimadhu Airport. From there we traveled on a speed launch to the Resort

At Hanimadhu Airport

Hanimadhu Airport from outside

Saffron Restaurant

Restaurant at the Beach where we had our breakfast

Entrance of the Spa at Beach House Maldives

Spa with all the natural beauty

Swimming Pool on the beach with a bar, have a drink and enjoy

The Turtle club for the kids

Sit and relax

Oh ya, bit tired

Ya true, its at Beach House at Manafaru

Had a nice trip, I recommend this resort if you are planning a vacation to Maldives