Hi all for the final time in the Maldives,Last night, we had Mexican for dinner two doors up from our hotel. It was wonderful, the food was delicious. We were grateful to go somewhere so close as we were tired.We ended up playing rain noises through my laptop last night to try and drown out noises outside our room (people talking, the lift) and the mosque call at 5am. It worked for Rob but I still woke up. We were spoilt at the resort! The breakfast here somewhat makes up for it though. The food was good and the views from the roof nice as well.Today, we went and met our walking tour guide at 9am at one of the jetties on the northern side of the island. En route we saw a Maldivian standoff on motorbikes, as two drivers got stuck in a narrow street and both refused to reverse and let each other pass for ages.The walking tour went for just over four hours, and was fantastic. Our guide was Zaff, who was the same age as me and is Maldivian. He was very passionate. The only other person on the tour was Kelly, an American from Minnesota who has lived in Argentina and now China, and is soon moving to Spain. She was lovely and all four of us got on well, it felt more like a group of friends walking around the city than a tour. We were lucky, as Zaff said they had 17 people on the tour yesterday, whereas the three of us had a really personalised experience. Kelly had so many stories to tell about life in China since 2017 - their lockdowns sounded like actual torture. At the end of last year she couldn’t leave her one bedroom apartment for 54 days apart from occasionally having to go downstairs to have a Covid test. How traumatic.I’ll start off with some general information about the Maldives and Male before I talk about where we walked. The population of the Maldives is 650,000, with 200,000 of those people being expats. There are 200,000 people living on the island of Male, which is just 8.3 km squared in area. No wonder it is crazy busy here. Over on the adjacent island, Hulhumale (where the airport is), around 60,000 people live. It was created in 1997 and is reclaimed land, but no one was allowed to live there until 2003 as the government wanted to make sure it didn’t wash away. Rob asked how the Maldives gets their power, and Zaff said everything is diesel. I assumed they would have started looking at solar here as they get so much sun, but Zaff said the country is “in bed with” the Saudis, and the Saudis aren’t keen on having them switch over from oil. Apparently the taxes here on renewables are really high.As we walked around, it was funny how many people Zaff ran into that he knew. On the tour we ran into his uncle right at the start, and his stepdad later on. We started off walking to the King Salman Mosque first of all. It’s the biggest in the country and can hold around 50,000 worshippers at once. Apparently it looks exactly like one in Abu Dhabi which the Emiratis weren’t too happy about.Next we went to the Artificial Beach right near our hotel that we visited yesterday. Zaff told us he learned to swim here. We explored the community gardens and different birds and animals kept here. We all said to Zaff we liked how many spaces for chilling out there are in the city, despite it being so busy. He reminded us that until tourism really kicked in 10-20 years ago, the place was a fishing village and much calmer than it is today.We sat for a while here and learned that the friendship Bridge China built for the Maldives, actually came at a cost of $80 million USD to the Maldives which they’re still paying back. Some friend!! We also learned that the highest natural point in the Maldives is just 2.3m. This why there are fears for what will happen to the Maldives with climate change getting worse and worse. Rising sea levels would be devastating as most of the nation is less than 1m above sea level.We also learned that of the 1194 islands making up the Maldives, 175 are resorts and 175 are inhabited. The rest are uninhabited. Some are used for different purposes. There is a landfill Island not too far from Male, and some have also been used as prisons.Moving on, we walked down the Main Street and learned that in this area a one bedroom apartment costs at least $900 USD to rent per month. Considering the typical salary here is $800 USD a month, that’s pretty crazy. Zaff said many families end up renting a one bedroom together, and take it in turns to sleep as there isn’t enough space.We stopped at a craft shop next and then passed a hospital. Zaff told us Maldivians get 100,000 Rufiyaa ($10,000 AUD) per year to spend on their health if needed. He once needed a 40,000 Rufiyaa surgery and it was all covered. He said their health system is very good, but you have to come to Male to receive the best treatment. Before the decent hospitals were built here, Maldivians used to go to India for serious medical treatment.Next up we passed the parliament building, where we learned that the Maldives were actually run by a dictatorship from the 70s to 2008. President Nasheed overthrew this dictatorship as he was tortured by them during their reign. Zaff said when he was elected though it was very disappointing, as he spruiked that he was an environmentalist and then didn’t really act on this once actually president. It sounds as if there have been a couple of corrupt presidents here in recent years. From what I could tell, the most recent one was imprisoned.We then passed the current president’s house and returned to the Old Friday Mosque that we visited yesterday. We appreciated some particular intricate carvings Zaff showed us today. Considering these were created in the 1600s without any machines, it was pretty amazing. We got to go inside today as Zaff got Kelly and I headscarves and Rob a shawl for his legs. It was orange and had fish on it - fashion!!Next we passed a monument for a terrorist attack/coup that occurred on November 3, 1988. Nineteen people died. A member of parliament dissatisfied with the government at the time enlisted help from the Tamil Tigers to try and overthrow the government. It went for approximately 48 hours, and only ended because India intervened and helped stop further violence.We then went into Sultan Park, a park on the ground of the former sultan’s palace. It was a beautiful oasis in the city. Very green, beautiful flowers, a really fun looking treehouse and playground and even some fish. We sat for a while on some swings.Next, we walked past a school. Zaff explained that schools here have two sessions, students either attend 7-12 or 1-6. I meant to ask how this works for teachers but I forgot. That’s a very long day if you teach both! The Maldives has a 98% literacy rate. Islam is taught as a subject, and some subjects are taught in English while others are taught in the local language, Dhivehi.Zaff then took us to an ice cream shop opposite the school, which he said his Mum used to take him to for a treat if he got good grades. Here he bought us a faloodha each, which is a traditional Maldivian drink consisting of condensed milk, water, rose syrup, vanilla essence, chia seeds, strawberry jelly and vanilla ice cream. It was delicious!We went past the ex dictator’s palace, which is now the Supreme Court. Then we walked to the market area and we could see lots of people out and about buying things to take home for the weekend (which is Friday and Saturday here so starts tomorrow). We went into the fish market. Unbelievably, a freshly caught huge tuna here costs just $1 Australian.Next we went into the produce market and we got to try some different local snacks, our favourite of which was tuna jerky. We walked outside to where fisherman dump their fish waste and saw a stingray. Apparently a lot hang around here hoping for scraps.Our final main stop of the tour was up a restaurant to check out a view, and then we headed back to where we started. The four hours went really quick and we enjoyed the tour.Once we left Zaff, we asked Kelly if she wanted to join us on what we had decided to do next. We caught a cab to the ferry terminal and then caught a local ferry for just under ten minutes to Villingili, the town on the neighbouring island of Vilimalé. Apparently this was previously the second resort island in the Maldives, but these days is residential. The ferry was dirt cheap and choc full of people heading home to the island for the weekend including lots of cute primary school kids with their parents, however, once we disembarked they all disappeared (I suppose into their homes) and we wandered around without seeing a single other tourist and barely any other people. Lots was closed up and we even saw some abandoned buildings, wondering if they shut as a result of the pandemic. It was very peaceful here and chilled out, and we were glad we came to see the contrast between there and Male. I can imagine that life in Male in previous decades would have been more relaxed and simple as it was here.Once back on the ferry again, we got a taxi which dropped Rob and I off and then continued on to Kelly’s hotel. We rested in our hotel for a few hours before going out for dinner over the road, at a restaurant backing onto the water. We enjoyed watching the airport light up and seeing planes land and take off. Rob had spaghetti carbonara, and I had chicken kotthu, a Sri Lankan dish I enjoyed last year.
So that brings me to the end of this post, and of all my posts for this trip. We have had a wonderful honeymoon. Typically I am not a resort person, but the island we stayed on was truly paradise with as much or as little as you wanted to do available. It's been nice spending some proper time together, this was our first trip away together since July 2021. Thankfully, our next one is much closer than that - we have two months in the USA and Canada on long service leave in April and May. Can't wait!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
Hi everyone,We had an early start this morning, up at 4.20am to catch a boat to Khudahuvadhoo and then a plane from there to Male, the capital city (pronounced Mar-lay). The airport here was the second smallest we’ve been to, only behind New Plymouth in New Zealand. It was tiny! A few rows of chairs, one security scanner and one gate. For some reason lots of luggage trolleys though!We boarded the plane, which was the same aircraft type as the one that crashed in Nepal the other day. Thankfully our flight was smooth, and despite it only going for just 35 minutes, they offered more in flight service than Qantas do on a flight of a few hours. We were given snacks, drinks and a refreshing towelette.When we landed in Male we had to wait for a transfer to our hotel in the city. We noticed while waiting that there were flights going to Russia. Rob told me they can fly here as the Maldives is not a NATO country, but we imagine the flight might be lengthy as they would have to avoid a lot of airspace at present. There were heaps of Russians at our resort, I suppose they are limited in their options at the moment.Despite calling our hotel when we landed, there was some confusion and they didn’t come to get us. We had to call again and then just happened to find the driver rushing past in the arrivals hall. Once we found him though, the transfer was seamless. We took a nice cool and clean car over the bridge from the airport to Male island. This bridge was only built in recent years, and was paid for by China ($250 million USD at the time). Rob and I reflected that it’s a bit scary that China have funded a number of things here. We’re pretty sure they’re not just doing it out of the goodness of their heart.Our room wasn’t ready so we set off to explore. We walked past the huge blue King Salman Mosque, then around to the nearby park and artificial beach. We headed down a main road and found a cafe, where we had a chocolate milkshake each and a burger (Rob) and a club sandwich (me). It was the first time we’ve had to pay for food in nearly two weeks!!Next we headed to the Maldives National Museum. It was an ugly building funded by guess who! In 2012 it was broken into and some Buddhist items viewed a religious relics were destroyed. Today, there is a lot of security and this is probably why. Overall, it was a pretty unimpressive museum. It didn't have any history of the Maldives at all, and was more a collection of random objects. Some of them were interesting, but it could have been set out a lot better. We saw cowrie shells that used to be used as currency here, engraved coral stone, engraved pieces of wood commemorating the conversion of the Maldives to Islam in 1153, old film and computer equipment, items belonging to sultans and stamps. The highlight for me was a 6m long skeleton of a Longman's Beaked whale, the most complete specimen in the world. These haven't been seen alive in the area.
As a result of a lack of historical information, we ended up sitting in a chair in the lobby for a while and googling. I had a laugh calling it the "Adam chair", as if we had come here on a family holiday, it's where Adam would have sat while Mum, Dad and I looked around.
We are doing a walking tour tomorrow so will likely have more information then, but from what I could tell, the Maldives were converted to Islam in 1153 (which is why I had to wear a t shirt and pants today in the heat). Eventually, the Portuguese, Dutch and French all had a crack here as they like to, with the British eventually becoming a protectorate in the 19th century but letting them self govern. The Maldives gained independence in 1965, and the Queen visited in 1972.
Next we walked past the Old Friday Mosque. This is the oldest mosque in the country, dated 1656. It's made of coral stone and has lots of intricate carvings. Unfortunately these days an ugly corrugated iron sheet covers the roof to protect it, but you can still see how beautiful it is underneath. I couldn't go in as I didn't have a cloth to cover my head with. We enjoyed looking around at the elaborately carved headstones, rounded ones for women, pointed ones for men, golden details for former sultans.
Then we followed a path along the water for a while and stopped at the fish market. The fish must have been fresh as it didn't smell too bad. We watched people who had bought a fish wait for it to be cleaned and gutted by the fishermen.
We ended up at the Tsunami Monument, dedicated to the approximately 100 people that died in the Maldives in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. There was no plaque or information, we only knew this as we could see it on Google Maps - very strange. The Maldives is made up of 26 atolls and 1194 islands. The tsunami caused $400 million USD worth of damage, or 62% of the Maldives' GDP. When we were here, a strange rain storm blew through really quickly. It poured with rain for about ten minutes and then stopped as quick as it started. Whilst waiting undercover out front of a hospital, we saw a little boy with a Richmond football!
Now we are back at the hotel relaxing in our room. We were spoilt at Riu Atoll - our room was immaculately clean and comfortable. The bathroom here is pretty gross and unfortunately the call to prayer is VERY loud which will wake us up at 5am and 6am the next two days. Why is it that in any Islamic place I always book a hotel with a bloody mosque next door?! Every time!!!
We are planning on chilling out around here and then going out for dinner later.
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
