Exploring Male

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