Maldives

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Much snorkelling and book reading we did

Staying in a tourist resort is not something we usually do when we are on holiday. In March, when we went to the Maldives, we made an exception though. When we started planning this trip we came up with the idea of going to both Sri Lanka and the Maldives. In the 10 days we had to our disposal we would be able to see enough of the Maldives that we don't have to return there in the foreseeable future and also get a glimpse of what Sri Lanka has to offer. When we read about the Maldives we soon realised that there is very little to see in the country and staying in a tourist resort would probably be the best option for us.

The resort we stayed at, Biyadhoo, is one of the cheapest and consequently one of the simpler resorts in the Maldives. In our world even a simple holiday resort comes out as over the top luxurious. Biyadhoo Resort covers an entire atoll. The atoll is so small that we could walk around it in 10 to 12 minutes.

The days we were in the resort we mostly spent relaxing on the beach, reading books, snorkelling and eating. The restaurant opening hours became the routine we planned the days after. Maybe we should call it “feeding times” instead of “restaurant opening hours” because that was what it felt like. The “feeding” feeling we got because the food was so good that we kept eating until we almost burst at each meal. But had we stayed there three four days longer than we did we would probably grown tired of it. You can get tired of great food too if you have it day after day.

Other activities available on the island were various excursions, diving and hanging in the bar. We were very interested in going on an excursion to see whale sharks and manta rays. But to our disappointment there were no tour going there in the days we were in the Maldives. Seeing manta rays is the only reason we can come up with for going back to the Maldives again. Whale sharks we have already seen in Mexico and if we want to see them again we would rather return to Isla Holbox and see them there. But if we can’t find a good place to spot manta rays in the next couple of years we guess another trip to the Maldives might come in question.

In the Maldives most people are rather strict Muslims. It is illegal to bring in alcohol into the country, men and women are expected to wear clothes that don’t reveal too much skin and in addition women should cover their hair with for instance a cap. Because of the sun we recommend men to keep a cap on too, at least if you have as little hair as Ake has. And of course you can not find pork in any restaurant or shop anywhere in the Maldives. But these things don’t apply at all in the resorts. There you could walk around in bikinis and bathing shorts, drinking wine or even hard liquor was no problem and one day they even served bacon at breakfast.

After we left the resort we had a few hours to spend before our flight to Sri Lanka left. Those hours we spent in the capital of the Maldives, Malé. But before we write about Malé we would like to put down a few sentences about Malé Airport. It is located on a separate island from Malé. The airport island is only a 10 minute long boat trip away from Malé so it is very close. The airport is larger than the island so the runway starts and ends on landfill. It is weird to see planes land because it looks like they are going to land in the ocean.

There are very few things to see in Malé so we are happy we only stayed there very short. The city was nice and friendly but after having walked only a few blocks it felt like we had seen it all.

We visited two places in Malé we would like to mention here. The food market, especially the fish section, we liked. The fish market was small and the fish was displayed artistically according to size and colour. It was a good place to take nice photos. Trust us, it is much easier to take good photos of dead fish on a floor than of live fish in the ocean.

The second place in Malé worth mentioning is the artificial beach. Mostly because it is so ironic that in a nation consisting of more than 1,000 islands and has one of the largest beach to land area ratio of all countries in the world they have such a thing as an artificial beach.

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Photos

Fish in blue water
There was plenty of fish in the water and that made the snorkelling good

Sunset
Sunset as seen from Biyadhoo Resort

The beach
We stayed in the shade a few hours in the middle of the day to avoid getting burnt in the sun

Paradise
"Cause I can feel that my time is now.
It must be like paradise."/E-Type
"I brush your cheek with my fingertips
I taste the void upon your lips
And I wait for paradise
And I wait for paradise"/Bruce Springsteen

White sand, blue water, palm trees and Emma
Emma: "Do I look fat in this bikini?"
Ake: "No, not at all! Can we go to the Bikini Atoll next year?"

Trying to make a joke
Ake is trying to make a joke. He doesn't succeed, does he?

The view from the hammock
Looking up from the hammock, this is what we saw

The resort island
The resort covered the entire island

Cute fish
That fish is a bit cute, isn't it?

Fish hiding
The smaller fish avoid to get eaten by larger fish by hiding in the corals

Funny looking fish
A fish with a horn?

More of them
Many fish with horn

Red lionfish
Wikipedia says "The red lionfish (Pterois volitans) is a venomous coral reef fish in the family Scorpaenidae, order Scorpaeniformes." Ake sensed a disturbance in the Force when he saw that fish and made sure to take the photos from a safe distance. Apparently a good choice

Coral eating fish
Many fish bite off chunks of the hard corals, crush it between their teeth to get to the tasty polyps hiding inside. Their teeth must be like cast iron to do that. We are happy they have never found out that humans are tasty too and that they if they bite off chunks of us don't have to work half as hard to get to the tasty bits.

Sting ray
Stepping on one of these is a bad idea.

Gray Heron
This is apparently a gray heron and not a "lesser east-asian beachmuppet" as we called it

Hermit crab
Hermit crabs are so funny.

Fish market
We visited, and liked, the food market, especially the fish section

Fish market
In the fish market they displayed the fish artistically according to size and colour

Parking lot
Guess what the main means of transport in Malé is?

Muslim
In the Maldives most people are rather strict Muslims.

Artificial beach
It is so ironic that in a nation consisting of more than 1,000 islands and has one of the largest beach to land area ratio of all countries in the world they actually have an artificial beach.

Comments

[Peter Håkansson]

According to me...
...he did succeed with the joke :-) Lovely pictures!

[Malte Malaria]

Bikini visit???
Sure you don\'t wanna go to the Bikini atoll? It should be safe for a visit (i.e. not living there permanently & not eating locally produced food). It would be great for diving. No one dares to fish there. And I wouldn\'t probably be there either, but that you will have to check first:)