This Page About Cover Story: Waterworld

Cover Story: Waterworld

It was a dark and stormy night. Well, after the number of drinks you'd have had, it was darker and more fuzzy on the way back to your room.

But it was definitely a dark and stormy morning. Estimated to have been hit at about 9.20am, the islands of Maldives, 80 per cent of which lie less than a metre above sea level, were swallowed by the tsunami.

The picturesque resort of Club Med Kani was flooded and its open-water bungalows lifted off their skinny wooden feet.

Three weeks shy of a year later, the Kani resort village looks as if it has merely been through a good scrubbing as employees, guests and journalists descended upon the island for its reopening. In fact, it looks more of a makeover and whilst its 75 lagoon suites - to replace the open-water bungalows - are not yet completed, one could already picture them above the lapping waves, leading to the shore where wood-finished structures housed the rest of the accommodations, restaurants and various administrative and activity centres.

Club Mediteranee may have started in 1950 as a non-profit tent village but today it is in the midst of a full-scale repositioning as an upmarket, multicultural holiday experience and Kani is as good an example as any.

Besides the completely new lagoon suites, the 20 privately landscaped beach villas have been repaired and refurbished and are joined by some 143 rooms in shady bungalows facing the sea. The entire wiring, water and sewage systems have been redone, bringing the bill to RM75 million spent on the village since the tsunami.

Half of that was shelled out for refurbishment and expansion. So much so that the heavily-damaged neighbouring Club Med in Faru could be closed permanently.

So Kani will be your only destination until Club Med identifies a second site in Maldives, which Joel Tiphonnet, president and CEO of Club Med Asia Pacific, believes Club Med can and will definitely pull off. After all, a location as beautiful as Kani really isn't that rare among the 1,192 islands of Maldives. Clean beaches and a spectrum of blue waters mean that even without Club Med's signature of nonstop activities, Kani is already an excellent destination.

"We call this an exceptional village because this location is unique. You don't get all this just anywhere. When people go on a holiday, they want something better than what they have back home, something amazing," said Tiphonnet.

The activities, though, are an intrinsic part of the Club Med experience. Hosted by a unique Club Med paradigm, an international team of about 20 nationalities of Gentil Organisateurs (GO), a French term meaning Congenial/Gracious Organiser, their collective task is to ensure that the Gentil Membres (GM), or Congenial/Gracious Members, have an incomparable time at the village.

Activities are not just facilitated but participated in by the GOs. Expect to see them playing, dancing, frolicking and even drinking beside you. They seem to realise that good times have to be shared.

No doubt though, Kani is extraordinary in its geography. The first thing you realise after getting off the speedboat, which ferried you from the airport, is that you have to love water. There are other island holidays where the sea is just out there providing ambience but here, it's infused into the resort. It's an island so small you could circumnavigate it on a morning's walk and, inevitably, everything channels outwards to sea.

There's beach soccer, beach volleyball, water aerobics, kayaking, windsurfing, parasurfing, snorkelling, deep-sea fishing and, of course, scuba diving. The Maldives is known as one of the best spots in the world to take a peep at life submerged.

Speedboats and seaplanes are on hand to take you to locations outside of Kani. On one particular excursion, 18 guests were brought to a lonely sandbank, literally in the middle of nowhere, with only some rustic furniture to welcome us.

Of course, for the less hydrophilic, tennis courts, a football field, art and dancing classes and a cosy little Balinese spa await your patronage. The Velhi restaurant offers a constantly surprising buffet spread, with made-to-order specialties from various cuisines. Dining at the Kandu means eating on an idyllic terrace over a lagoon of turquoise water and, as usual, Club Med throws a party every night and, if you're lucky, a stage performance.

But you simply have to get into the water. After all, most of the activities come inclusive in your holiday package. The "landed" activities are fun, but when else are you going to get to kayak or snorkel without a care in the world?

"The'all inclusive formula' pioneered by Club Med has been emulated by other holiday companies, but they don't have the same ambience or choice. We are very different because we increase value. When you have a great product, people buy it," Tiphonnet enthused.

The product that is Club Med Kani even includes safety measures in the light of last year's Boxing Day tragedy - all rooms now come with life vests and glass fixtures made to shatter into smaller pieces instead of deadly large shards. For Malaysians, an value-added option with the air packages is a possible layover in Colombo on the way home to add a regional flavour to your vacation.

"We want to bring Malaysian customers who are pleased with what we offer in Cherating to try other villages. It's not just destinations, it's a different experience." Continue to learn more about windsurfing, please visit New Straits Times.

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