Maldives

The flight ended up being delayed by 3 hours. Quite a bit when you have only 3 days. The airport has its own island and therefore visitors take a ferry or boat to another island. Not knowing exactly where I booked, Maafushi island was still further away. To sum up, plane, ferry, taxi, ferry and 3 hours later, I was at the hotel. And they were overbooked! Saw this one coming. Lucky I emailed mom in the UK while at the Trivandrum airport to contact the hotel to let them know of my arrival. The hotel owner, Ibrahim, had time to find me a suitable replacement. This one is also great, only four rooms, a/c and hot running water…don’t really need the last 2 features even if it’s 31C. The scenery here is magical…like photoshopped magazine pics…except its real.

Prohibited items in Maldives

View from plane of some of the islands that make up the Maldives.

Breakfast area at Shadow Palm

Luxurious backpacker inn for sure!

Someone’s door way. I can live like this…anytime.

To refresh after a loooong day, I went to the beach. Since the Maldives are Muslim, you can’t go on the beach with a swimsuit but ~40 ft away from my hotel, there are bamboo-like screens on the beach for tourists. The beach is basically sandbank. So I stooped in the shallow clear water for half hour then got ready to see the native drumming/dancing show at the hotel I was supposed to be booked at initially. Met Ibrahim on the way and he apologized again, offered to cover the cost of a tour and bought me a coffee.

Now if the couples would move out of my view of the Maldivian sunset…

This morning at 8:30, I went diving. Since the breakfast wasn’t ready before the dive and I skipped dinner last night, I took some chocolate cookies with me. Kids, don’t do this at home! I swam with white tipped sharks…small enough to fear for their own life; saw a large turtle, like the one on Nemo and missed the manta rays! Also did a wreck dive…wasn’t as nice as the one in Tobago. Met 2 couples, one from Spain and the other 2 guys work in Dubai. They’re all headed for a ‘current’ dive tomorrow, also like the one on Nemo, and I’ll be darned to miss this one. Only problem is that I’ll be cutting the required 24 hours between dive and flight really close. I’ll find out in the morning. Good thing I’m only here for 3 days…I can easily be addicted and broke from this! Came back from the dive and my room was cleaned and towels replaced…didnt even use all 9 of them. Much different from ashram life.

Currently sitting at a restaurant around 2pm having something to eat for the 1st time since 3pm yesterday. The food is quite simple but hunger is the best cook! I ordered a ‘Greek’ salad, mango juice, coffee and a tomato with cheese sandwich for 12US. Well at least the coffee here is great. I heard they also catch fish and cook it for you. May have to find out more. Now, I’m dead tired and instead of walking around the 1 km island, I’m going to crash for an hour.

Picture of the gates surrounding the jail…

I support the ban for plastic bottles…anywhere!

The women here dress in black with head cover. Their faces are not covered. The younger men dress in shorts and maybe a tshirt. The older ones, long pants and dress shirt. Very friendly people. I get stared at more than white peeps because the locals are stuck trying to figure out where the hell I’m from and where is my headcover! And of course, I get asked and told I look Maldivian. So now I hold several possible nationalities – Sri Lankan, Maldivian, Cuban, Brazilian, Nepalese and of course Indian.

There are not many inhabitants and a few hotels. More are going up with increased tourism to the area. There are no roads or cars…only motorcycles, bikes and scooters on sand. The grocery stores carry the basics. No whole wheat products, scarce fruits and veggies. Not much can grow on sand except for coconuts. Definitely looks like rising sea levels in areas but was told its due to a harbour being built a few meters away which changed the currents. Sucks – either way!

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