From The
Sunday Times Travel Magazine Dec, 2007, issue
Rangali Island, Maldives
Diving is nine parts struggle (sweating in wetsuits, and dragging oxygen tanks
around) for one part reward: an unforgettable kaleidoscope of sealife. Now
there’s a far easier alternative – and it takes the phrase ‘sea view’ to new
depths. Rangali Island’s Ithaa restaurant is actually underwater.
It’s an extraordinary architectural feat – constructed in Singapore, freighted
by barge to its Indian Ocean location and sunk with a generous ballast of
sand onto its supporting steel piles. But its lifespan is reckoned to be
only about 20 years – so don’t leave it too long to come.
A meal here is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the slothful sybarite: you
dine five metres under the sky-blue sea, encased in an arc of acrylic that
affords you practically panoramic views of coral with your meal. Perhaps
seared tuna followed by rib-eye steak with a (visual) side order of turtle.
If you happen to drink like a fish, the resort also has a fine underground
wine cellar accommodating an impressive selection of vintages.
Above ground, creamily cool beach villas have been fitted with lush,
palm-filled garden bathrooms: they’re your invitation to laze and gaze at
Rangali’s nothing-but-blue-sea panoramas. Splash your cash on a Sunset Water
Villa and you get a glass-floored lounge (above) as well as circular beds
that rotate 180º. So: maximum impact for minimum effort.
* Rangali Island has villas
from £288, B&B
The Datai, Langkawi, Malaysia
Sure, The Datai is expensive – but it’s also priceless. Not least for the view
from its pristine white-sand beach on Langkawi island, on the far
northwestern tip of Malaysia, where the Straits of Malacca and the Indian
Ocean come together. Before you unravels a procession of limestone karsts
that mark the coast of Thailand.
Jutting out from the emerald Andaman Sea, these iconic, jungle-covered
outcrops are as instantly calming as beta-blockers. So are the 112 rooms and
suites: expect a designer masterclass in teak, black granite and white
marble understatement, positioned among the rainforest canopy so sensitively
it’s as if they’d always been there, just hacked from the undergrowth by
some explorer.
They’re resplendent with generous bathrooms and oversized daybeds, and they
come with a cast of mischievous monkeys. Consider these the regional
equivalent of Rod Hull’s Emu: you’ll spot them popping up on balconies, or
sneaking into bedrooms through open doors and windows. For budding David
Attenboroughs, resident conservationists conduct superbly informative nature
walks along discreet rainforest footpaths in search of birds, bats, frogs
and geckos.
For more jaded urban refugees there’s an acclaimed spa peddling excellent body
scrubs, flower baths and facials. Add to that a major room renovation, and
you’d be daft not to hop aboard the next 747 to Kuala Lumpur.
How about some holidays for older, single people, without assuming that we are all millionaires?
S. Barraclough, Huddersfield, W. Yorkshire