Trang Nhung and her husband spent nearly one billion VND on a 7-day trip to the Maldives, including 440 million VND for 4 nights at one of the most expensive resorts in the island nation.
Bui Trang Nhung, 36 years old, living in Ho Chi Minh City, traveled to the famous tourist island in South Asia - Maldives - with her husband in early April. They chose Maldives because of the beauty and popularity of the island nation, the quick visa application process (only need a visa at the border gate) and wanted to experience more services they missed on their previous trip.
Bui Trang Nhung took photos in Maldives.
The trip lasted 7 days, including 2 days of travel. The most expensive service the couple paid for was 4 nights at one of the most expensive resorts here, Soneva Jani, on Medhufaru Island. The resort is located on a 5.6 km long island, with more than 50 villas on the Indian Ocean. Each villa is more than 400 square meters, with standard room prices starting at more than 54 million VND.
Nhung booked two different types of rooms. The first two nights, she slept in a 100 million VND beach villa. This one was close to restaurants and service areas, so it was convenient to get around. The remaining two nights, Nhung stayed in a 120 million VND villa, which was newly built, further away, and more private.
The ceiling is movable, can be opened to watch the clouds and sky. The floor has glass areas, where you can see fish swimming. From here, Nhung can have a panoramic view of the entire resort and the Indian Ocean. What especially impresses Vietnamese tourists is that the villas have slides from the second floor straight down to the sea. "When I slid down to the sea, I saw a large school of fish swimming towards me, which scared me and made me scream. The school of fish quickly swam away," Nhung said.
The hotel room cost nearly half a billion VND and was also the experience she was most satisfied with. In 2019, Nhung went to the Maldives and stayed at another 5-star hotel. At that time, she set a goal of staying at Soneva Jani before turning 40. "In 2019, I didn't have enough money to rent a room at this resort, so now my dream has come true."
The ceiling is removable, allowing guests to lie on the bed and gaze at the stars.
Nhung also has three other luxury experiences: private dinner, seaplane transfer to the airport and hiring a photography and flycam crew to record the couple's activities. The resort is located on an island, so visitors have two options to get there: speedboat and seaplane. If you go by boat, the price is only one-third.
The most expensive dinner of the five days on the island was dinner and a movie at Cinema Paradiso, an outdoor cinema that serves a la carte dinners. Cinema Paradiso offers a private dinner once a week for $4,000. The food includes sashimi, caviar, and lobster. People can eat and watch a movie, either selected by the hotel or on request, while they eat. This time, since it was her husband’s birthday, Nhung requested a homemade birthday video to be shown.
For their second dinner, they chose the $1,000 stargazing service at the Starstruck Astronomy Observatory. Each table was served five courses, mostly European food. While eating, diners listened to the hotel's expert give a presentation and instructions on how to look at the stars through a telescope. "A dinner at the observatory only serves four tables," Nhung's husband shared. He said his wife liked the stargazing experience, but the food was not to her taste and the surrounding space was a bit dark. For their third dinner, they chose lobster, which cost more than $600.
Nhung poses at the Cinema Paradiso dining area.
The Vietnamese female tourist said that not only the room rates but also the services at the resort were expensive compared to the general level, but "worth the money". Other services they participated in such as scuba diving and a sunset dolphin cruise cost about ten million VND.
"This is my most expensive trip ever," Nhung said. Previously, Nhung had been to many places and always chose luxurious experiences. She once went to Dubai for 6 days and spent half a billion VND or was willing to spend 200 million VND to hire a photographer when she went to Japan.
Nhung spent most of her time in the Maldives taking photos. To get the photos and videos of a lifetime, the couple had to work hard. "Once, while I was busy filming a video for my wife, I accidentally stepped into the sea. Luckily, both me and the equipment were fine," Nhung's husband said.
For the female tourist from Ho Chi Minh City, the memorable moments were also the times she ran barefoot on the hot wooden floor nearly ten laps to take pictures. "That was the most labor-intensive photo and video set. But the result was satisfactory," she said.
Nhung traveled by seaplane.
When sharing about the trip costing nearly one billion VND, while the price of a normal tour with the same duration is only from 30 million VND, she received many comments saying it was "a waste". Nhung admits that she loves traveling and also loves herself. That is the reason why she always puts luxury services within her financial capacity. She wants to spend money to enjoy life "so that when she dies, she will have no regrets".
"The most beautiful place is the place we have been to, the most beautiful time is the time we can live as ourselves", Nhung said.
Trip cost details
Phuong Anh
Photo: NVCC
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