- Introduction - The Planning
- Getting there: Penang to Male
- Sea-plane Adventure
- Living the dream
- Maldives back to Penang
- Conclusion
After 5 days of bliss, it was time to head back to the real world :( Our SQ flight to Singapore does not leave till ~11pm at night so we had almost a full day on Dhiggiri during our last day. As usual, we don't get the sea-plane schedule until the day before. We were initially scheduled to be picked up at 3pm but on the day itself, the pick-up kept getting pushed back several times till 5pm. We weren't complaining as this allowed more time to enjoy Dhiggiri one last time with some cold beer.
Last few views of Dhiggiri and of the sea-plane picking us up:
We had a couple of hours before our SQ flight. We dumped our luggage at the airport for a couple of dollars (can't remember exactly how much) and took the ferry across to the main island for some sight-seeing, souvenir shopping and dinner. I wouldn't spend more than a couple of hours in Male. There are a couple of parks, government buildings and mosque to visit. There's also a fish market that's supposedly interesting but it was dying down by the time we got there in the late afternoon. We got some last minute overpriced souvenirs and had a Maldivian curry for dinner before heading back to the airport. (Sorry! We forgot to take pictures of Male itself)
As usual, nothing too interesting at check-in with bags tagged all the way back to Penang but they could only provide boarding passes only to Singapore. The contract lounge that SQ uses was pretty basic but spacious. We were annoyed that there was no shower in the lounge after getting sweaty and yucky during our walk in Male. Had to resort to cleaning ourselves with some paper and water :( There was some hot food in the lounge but we were still full from dinner. There's also no alcohol in the lounge since no alcohol is allowed on Male.
There are no aerobridges in Male airport. This allowed for a photo op while walking to the plane:
The crew that were serving us on this flight seem rather edgy, rushed and just going through the motions. We had a couple of glasses of champange pre-departure and before supper was served. There is no book-the-cook or pre-order option ex-Male. We settled for a noddle dish with some questionable sauce and a beef dish that turned out to be the better option:
After supper, we slept rest of the way back until about 30 minutes before landing. The plane back in Singapore:
On arrival in Singapore, we tried to get our connecting boarding passes but the Thai transfer counter was not open yet and the folks working the transfer counter could not print them out. We were hoping for a quick shower before heading into town for a couple of hours before our flight to Bangkok. Not much luck there and we had to head down still feeling some what yucky. We spent the next few hours shopping in Singapore and having lunch at a food court in one of the malls.
When we go back to the airport, the Thai counters in Terminal one were not open for our flight. Thankfully, I spotted the SATS premium check-in counters which handles check-in for premium passengers for several airlines including Thai. They proceeded to issue our boarding passes all the way to Penang. We next headed to the SATS lounge in Terminal 2 for a much needed shower! We spent rest of the time in the airport in the Thai lounge in Terminal 1. Nothing too exciting about that lounge - just some food and drinks. If we were to do the trip again, we would definitely fly SQ out of Singapore instead of Thai.
The TG flight to Bangkok was the same as the flight to Singapore we took a couple of days ago. Dinner was served and we killed the time with some more drinking and a movie on the IFE.
The plane taking us to Bangkok:
We had a 2 hour layover in Bangkok before our flight back to Penang. This was just enough time to head over to the Thai Spa for another 30 minute shoulder massage. The flight to Bangkok departed from a remote stand and we were bussed there. No special buses for premium passengers though. Same routine again with more champange, wine and food and before we knew it, we were back in Penang and heading back to work the next day :(
I suppose there is very little of interest on a plane apart from the food...
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