Giraavaru and Male in the Maldives *editing in progress*

17Jul2006-24Jul 2006

Maldives was good. But 'good' doesn't tell you much about the trip, I know. So here's an-almost-full account of the highlights of my discovery in my 1-week stay in that country. Enjoy.
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Maldives was like Hobart - the airport, I mean. Right after stepping out of the plane, I was surprised to find Male' International Airport somewhat similar to Hobart International Airport *I was all smiles* I have really missed Hobart at that time, and had wished that I was back there (instead of being somewhere else in this world!) as I climbed down the stairs of the huge airplane together with all the other passengers as we headed for the arrival building, unsheltered.

But reality quickly took over me. The hot and dry climate of the Maldives, plus the presence of international airplanes at the airport, and the majority of people who surrounded me (and for whom I was to refer to as 'locals') all verified that I was indeed NOT in Hobart.

So to speak, I was in Maldives, at 11-ish on a Monday night (Tuesday, 1:00am Singapore time) enjoying every bit of my walk to the arrival building with my husband of 2 days :)
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It wasn't such a long walk to the arrival hall, but the thought about how Third World Maldives would be since my very first step out of the plane made the walk appear quite long. Then I noticed I had personally found the Male' International Airport really interesting. Not only did the runway begin and ended in the sea, but also the airport was the only ���thing��� that the Hulhule Island was used for. Yet they were still nothing Third World in any way to me.

Still at the airport, Kenji and I got our 30-day visa soon after without much problem. I was even greeted in Arabic by a female staff at the Immigration counter who was serving me and who also donned a headscarf. It was cool, I know, and different. Something I knew I would never get from a fellow Muslim working at the Singapore airport, ever.

We passed the Immigration check shortly and I went on to collect our baggage (1 suitcase + 2 boards only for us). Then, with the same crowd of passengers from SIA, we headed out of the airport to make a transit out of the Hulhule Island to 'our' accommodation but by boat!

On the same night that we arrived, Kenji and I could only (finally!) get some rest after about 2hrs later. And that was after having had completed some paperwork at Giraavaru as part of the check-in procedure. By then, it was 1hr past midnight, local time. The next day however, we spent the entire day doing nothing much but swimming, snorkeling and dining great food before we took the speedboat again but this time to Male' for some shopping and city tour.

Scary and very, very fast were all I could say about speedboat rides! But that one that I had just taken was only my second out of the many boat rides I knew I was going to take. Boat rides are a very common way of transportation in the Maldives. Not only is it because Maldives is made up of so many islands (that getting around by boat is the best and perhaps the only way) but also because boats make a convenient and cheaper way to get around than by any other means. So feeling a bit regretful there and then, I prayed that God be with me on each boat ride I took in my stay in the country :)

In Male', we were put to the care of a local city tourguide called Ahmed. Ahmed was a knowledgeable person to me. Other than his knowledge on worldly matters, Ahmed could also speak multiple languages. Amongst the languages he spoke were Japanese and Malay. So Kenji and I had a bit of fun speaking in all 3 languages with him on that day whilst touring the capital of Maldives. I personally remember Ahmed as a person who was passionate in showing us around Male' and certainly with regards to the things he made us try. But what was really significant about Ahmed to me was that he appeared just like any other Maldivian man did: a mix of Indonesian facial features with an Indian skin tone. Very, very exotic indeed!

Male' seemed a bit Indian-ish to me. Comparing to 'our' resort island, Male' appeared like another city in India whilst Giraavaru, the island resort we stayed in, seemed pretty much ethnic-less but very much like paradise. The Indonesian looks of the men and their sarong-and-t-shirt fashion, plus the plenty of mosques scattered everywhere however, tells me that Male' was indeed different from my pictorial knowledge of India.

*OK the reason why there was plenty of "men" mentioned in my observation was because it was really raining (local) men there and not anything else*

As we continued with our travel in the Maldives, I gradually lost interest in my search for some Third World features of the society. Instead I enjoyed myself to the relaxed, country-like atmosphere and opted to ask around about the 2004 tsunami that hit the country pretty badly as an alternative.

By our fourth day in the Maldives, I got pretty much accustomed to 'island life' and seeing deep blue ocean all around me. In addition to that, I got quite used to having to move around by boats, too, by then. In fact just the previous evening, Kenji and I met up with our friend, Uma, a local guy whom we first met in Tassie, now a friend-tourguide who didn't only show us around but also successfully made us try new things, but things very local.

Uma fetched us at Giraavaru by a boat taxi on Thursday where he then brought us to his grandparents��� place in Male' where we hanged out a bit and Kenji had some surf before hopping on to a dhoni that brought us to Uma���s island only much later in the evening.

Traveling on a dhoni (see pic) was far more challenging for me than on a speedboat as a dhoni is similar to a fishing boat. So sea current, waves and wind easily affected the dhoni we were on, but luckily the sea was not so rough that night, we arrived at Uma���s island safe and sound though the journey did make me a bit sick.

Uma's island was not very big though, so it doesn't appear on maps. Yet the island could offer us so much fun that we decided to make it a 3-day 2-night stay there instead of returning to Giraavaru the very next day. So we continued with our stay for the next 2 days, and went NIGHT fishing on the 2nd night that we were there.

In total we stayed for about a week in the Maldives, swimming and snorkeling at Giraavaru most of the time. And at times when we got a bit tired of being in the water, we played tennis and table tennis instead. In all, I got terribly sunburned from all the outdoor activities that I did, and had to keep applying ���After Sun' gel to those areas that are ���already burnt���. Pain and itch were all that I felt, and when I returned to work after the trip, my colleagues and students commented that I looked very, very dark! Overall I enjoyed my trip to the Maldives, and thanks to Kenji for organizing the trip for the both of us.

map reference:
Asia in The World Factbook, Reference Maps, Available [Online]: https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/reference_maps/asia.html