Cui Yanbing, who goes by her Chinese name Ice, says St. Regis will be her last stop in the Maldives. [Photo/China Daily]

But it was not as easy as she had thought. The company, which had paid her relocation expenses, wanted its money back. "There was a second choice－to go to the Maldives."

So she went. And despite having no experience with a camera she found herself behind the shutter, clicking pictures for tourists, many of them Chinese.

The work continued for some time before Cui landed another job, as a receptionist at a luxury hotel. When St. Regis announced its pre-opening last October Cui joined the team as the hotel's only Chinese butler.

"In a way, I feel that I've been carried to the shore of the Maldives, and to Vommuli, by the current of fate."

Yet it has also been an upstream swim－the position of a butler is considered much more challenging and is of course higher-paid than that of a receptionist. People come to the Maldives to relax and be free of worries. But for those who are here for a living, the daily problems, from overcoming language barriers to battling loneliness, often teem below the surface.