Male, Maldives

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  Male, Maldives
Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Greetings from Maldives! I arrived yesterday after a one hour flight from the city of Trivandrum in the southwest of India. It was a long day as you h ave to arrive at airport 3 hours prior for an international flight. Surprisingly, the checkin was quick but thank God I sent the 10kg (22pound) box home day prior as my bag, even "emptied", was about 13kg (26 pounds or so). I tell ya, if you have space, you fill it. Anyways, checkin was quick, then it was some last minute postcard purchases and thanks to another sweet human at an airport, my cards shall be sent. Every airport, I end up having to ask a local shop owner to drop my cards in a post box as I always forget about that until last moment. But, I love how sweet people are. And, this time, I gave him a dollar or two and he ran out to hand me chocolate as a thank you gift for "letting" him send them. Ha!

In line for the Maldives flight I met a nice guy who was so sweet giving me advice on possible, possible cheap accommodation. See, Maldives is known as being one of most expensive locations in the world with $300/night hotels and never on backpacker circuit. So, his advice was so helpful and, when I met his wife and adorable 1 yr. old daughter, realised he was a super, super sweet guy as there was not "hitting on single traveler" involved! Yippy! Sincerity prevails. However, although bad timing, I must admit if I was scouting for a male model, I would visit the Maldives. Some of the Maldivian men are just beautiful with great skin, eyes and hair. Really amazing how different people look in nearby countries.

So a quick flight and the view from the plane of the Maldives was brief but gorgeous. And, before you know it, you are seeing gorgeous aquamarine water on both sides of the plane and you seriously feel you are going to drop into the water. Fortunately, the airstrip is there too :). Upon arrival,  I thought okay, it will be a tiny airport like Ko Pang Nan island in Thailand with a little outdoor thatched roof, etc.. Nope, huge and packed. Who knew there would be about 1000 white folks in line at immigration. ugh. No fans and packed. I was a little nervous in line as it was taking a long time per person and here I was without a round trip ticket (one way to Maldives) and having to explain am sailing to Oman. Well, my turn.... The little lady with very thick glasses seemed sweet and proceeded to question my intentions in Maldives... yes, I will be here two days then go sailing. Where? Oh, to Oman. What ship? Oh, here is the letter (thank you Andy and Nicky) from the ship stating the plan. Then, she called over another guard and they took down my passport number and he left. I am standing there trying to look as sweet as possible. She asks my accommodation plans.... ah, yeah, the name of the place the guy in line told me. She was a bit concerned, but after we chatted about yes, I am a US citizen, I live in New Zealand, was in India a month and am sailing as part of my round world trip... she eventually confirmed with the other guard there wasn't a "letter" from my friends for me and stamped it. Yippy, I am in.

So, I had a list of cheap accommodation but stopped at the tourist desk. A sweet lady, Miriam, explained this was high, high season and the cheapest places are $300 a night. I explain, I want a basic room, clean and safe ideally near a beach. She points to the cut out pictures of the Maldive atolls (over 1000 different little islands make up Maldives) and shows me there is not one beach on Male - the capital island where only cheap places are. Okay, so what about these $40 a night places? Not possible for tourists to stay there, they are dirty. Okay, so (sweating a lot now) what is cheapest? Oh, $65? Ugh. That is 6 nights cost just an hour away in India. Can you say Sticker Shock after India? After double checking with one of the nearby resorts kiosks (and secretly hoping splendid luck would hit and someone would pity my 16 year old looking self with a pro bono $100 night at a resort rate) it was confirmed no place on any beach under $300. Okay, so I am off on the ferry to Male island to Host Inn hotel for $65. I just have to say though how shocked I was to realise that the hundreds of foreigners around me packing into immigration were absolutely rich. I mean, these people are all here spending at the absolute minimum $300 a night and many $3000 a night. I just can't fathom it.

The little ferry over to the main island crosses the gorgeous water of aquamarine glowing hues. I love it! The city of Male, about 150,000 I think is bigger than I thought in the distance. I eventually make it to my hotel, paying about 30 rufia (12.75 rufia to $1 US) for a taxi. The hotel is a basically fine one but they try to give me a dark, windowless room, then one without a bathroom, before my pushy self demands a decent one for that rate and I get a clean one with little balcony. Still, $65??? Ugh. After checking in I call Andy and Nicky hoping the plan is still on .... (i.e. the plan to meet in Maldives!). Yep, they answer and we can meet the next day, today.

I explored Male last night and found it to be a cute, bustling yet somehow island relaxed town of narrow cobblestone streets that are filled with people and mopeds.  People are generally helpful during my many requests for directions as I need them regularly with the windy convoluted layout of this little town. I end up asking a guy who looks like a tourist for some info and ends up he is from Italy, living here for a month now working as a seaplane pilot to the dotted islands. Can you say dream job? See, this is where my book I write someday would fictionally expand this interaction and I would end up seeing all of the islands by seaplane over a 6 month stay, but in reality he showed me the Internet spot I was looking for and bid adieu. Ah, enough entertainment over the last few months anyways, right? ha.

I got a good sleep despite a bit of anxiety (good way)a bout the sailing. Seriously can't believe I am shifting onto a boat tonight for a few weeks (I think). Today I was up at 7am on my own and headed out on the town to run some basic errands a traveler must such as burning pics to CD, new journal, etc... Everything in a new country with a foreign tongue (here the 300,000 Maldivians speak Dhivehi) and some speak English. But, like in India, everyone agrees to everything, so open ended questions are essential or  you end up down any road you suggest. So, I finally end up at a Fuji camera shop and they say they can burn my pics to DVD for me (DVD can hold thousands of pics vs. a few hundred on one CD). An adorable 16 year old girl, Shivana, helps me. She is so sweet, professional, thorough checking everything and just overall a superstar helpful gal. The process to burn the pics takes a long time and in meantime I ask what a good Maldivian CD would be to buy. She ends up playing music in the store for me and burns me a CD! How cool. Then, we chat more and eventually I learn that she is done with school and hoping for a scholarship to study at University somewhere abroad. There are no universities in the Maldives and everyone who wants to get a 4 year degree must go to UK, US, India, etc.... I compliment her English and thank her for her helpfulness (and the CD!) and give her my little travel card Shell made for me. I told her to email me anytime and especially if she ends up studying in US or NZ. She wrote her email and a sweet note in my journal. Oh, and she thought I was 20 and laughed so much when I said almost 30. So funny. Aw, my first Maldivian friend. I love it!!!

So, a new friend And my pictures saved. Brilliant. Now what? Well, as I do some quick searching for a journal I am standing on a corner and someone says "Haloh". I smile and keep walking then turn back and it is the sweet guy from the airport. He works in the building I walked out of! We chat and he gives me more info and offers me his phone to call my hotel. Sooo nice! After chatting, we decide, since he is on his lunch break, to hop in his moped and grab lunch on the ocean. Excellent. I actually am terrified of motorcycles but the mopeds are so slow and drivers cautious it is enjoyable noting I hang on to the back of bike and not my arms around a married man!. The ocean overlooked aquamarine waters so clear I could see a huge fish swimming along about 5 feet under or more.

We chatted about the countries we have visited, about his family being from Maldives with his mother from South atolls and his farther from north atolls. We chat about how different India is from Maldives, the cost of items here, how most of those in Male have enough money and other little items. He really is a sweet guy. By the end of it, we swap info (thanks Shell for making my travel cards! :) ) and he drops me at my next spot. So, so wonderful to meet friendly, sincere people without any ulterior motives. It is easy to forget how foreign or unlikely this experience would be for me in the states. I think it would be fine in the states, but I , and most, are usually so guarded or insulated (ipods, etc..) that we never engage like this. Hard to explain, but it is these interactions that truly recharge my spirit and my hope and fascination in humanity. Really, people ARE good, they ARE loving and they want to connect. I just checked my email and he already wrote a hello Lanah email, let me know how your sailing goes and said he is excited to have had made a new friend from a new country. So cool.

Initially, I was bummed to be stuck in Male, but honestly, it has been a great quick glimpse into the friendliness of the Maldivian people. And, I made some new friends. I reckon the vast majority of tourists never engage with the locals as they are away at resorts. And, my new friend from lunch explained that if the tourists come into town (I have seen about 10) they are with an "agent"/guide so they never engage with local people. That is unfortunate as I really think there is something very sweet in the people here and this little town has some funky charm. The call to prayer (Muslim country) rings through the streets and just adds to the intrigue I have for this little place. I feel so lucky to have had a chance to stop in. Now, I look forward to seeing the beautiful islands! :)

Well, the friendly young girl at the hotel has been super sweet letting me sit at her reception desk and type this... instead of sweating to a pulp looking for another Internet spot. I leave to get a ferry back to the other island to meet Andy and Nicky at 5:30pm. I really have no idea if we are going to tool around Maldives (which I so hope we are as I haven't seen a thing here yet of the beautiful stuff outside of the capital Male) or whether we set off to the big ocean tomorrow. For them, it is the daily life living on a boat, crossing oceans, sailing, etc.. and to me it is ALL new. But, just like India, I was nervous prior but it turned out to truly be a life changing experience (I will catch up my prior India journals with that soon as so many highlights to share). Don't they say "If you aren't expanding, you are shrinking?"

Oh, and on a reality check note (which I did not have until literally 4 days ago in Varkala having a fresh juice overlooking the ocean with my new friend Hala from Egypt/England), I had sent an email to a recruiter back in Wellington and just got a very interesting job description to review. All fate, but really will need to work ASAP upon return to NZ and maybe, maybe, actually work 10 or 11 months to gear up for trying to start my own consulting gig. Ah, in shallah (I spell it in challah but regardless, it means "If God so wills it" in Arabic and I use it a lot. )

Peace and love,
Lanah

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