This weekend, for reasons unknown, we were sent to the Maldives for 24 hours. I think it may be some old visa requirement and I certainly wasn’t going to complain! Bangalore has an air show running at the moment, right next to the airport, which caused some delays and meant a bit of sitting around, but it wasn’t too unpleasant
Upon arriving, the first thing I noticed was the quiet, after being in India for 4 weeks or so now, the horns, shouting and noise have sort of become background noise and it’s only when it’s taken away that you appreciate it! It was very hot, but not stifling and a nice breeze was blowing in from the sea, which made the whole thing very pleasant.
Upon leaving the airport, I was treated to this view
Which I think is one of the nicest airport views I’ve seen. The building in the background on the right was our hotel, but we didn’t know that so piled onto a shuttle bus and headed there. Upon arrival, we were told that our rooms weren’t ready, and were offered upgraded rooms with balconies.
We left the hotel after dropping the bags and headed to Male, the capital of the islands. It was a very built up place, quite bustling and not as much noise, but a bit more than our island. It’s completely alcohol free with it being an Islamic country so it was odd not seeing the beach bars etc but quite charming. In an hour, I think you could walk the perimeter of the whole place. We settled on the western edge and watched the sun set with about 200 locals, all just sitting in silence then going about our business once it had gone down .
We walked back to the jetty to get the boat back, which was getting busier with the boats on the docks loading up for their voyages. Saw the government building with a flag flying outside
Then back on the boat for the return journey. Male had an almost miniature New York feeling to it from the boat. Least I thought so.
Once back at the hotel, we went and had dinner, couple of drinks in a open air bar (could see a lot more stars than I’ve seen for a long time) then I sat out on my balcony and read my book for a while, just enjoying the atmosphere
The next morning, I woke up early, had a bit more of a read, then headed down to our private beach, and a bit of a swim (coral and my legs don’t seem to go well together) but just enjoyed the view, before heading back to the airport for more delays (thank you air show) all in all, a very relaxing weekend and lovely place (although personally I’d be bored within 2 days as there’s not a great deal to do other than sunbathe and swim!)
