Travelogue April 2 to 28, 2024

Taxi to airport and an Alaskan Airlines flight to Seattle, where I changed planes to Qatar Airways for a 13.5-hour flight. I wasn't sure if the plane would fly west over the Pacific or east over the Atlantic so was surprised to learn it flew north over the North Pole and then from there flew south off the western coast of Norway and then Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Turkey and finally into the Persian Gulf. The food was good but seats in economy class were not very spacious. I slept as much as I could, watched a few un-memorable movies, and arrived in Qatar, my 144th country, a Muslim nation, near the end of Ramadan. Arriving into the airport terminal after my flights (most of the people on the plane from Seattle were transferring to yet another flight to Mumbai), I traversed an almost empty airport, signs indicating that the walk to the baggage claim area would take 20 minutes. Luckily, there were staff members dotted here and there to guide me, and about half-way through there was the option of catching an intra-airport train, which reduced my trip by about 10 minutes. After collecting my bag and coming into the arrivals area, I managed to catch an official Karwa taxi, as I had been recommended, and arrived at the Holiday Inn, a very modern, clean, and bright hotel, in the late afternoon. After a shower and a change of clothes, I was walked over to a restaurant at their sister hotel, the Crowne Plaza, located in the same complex, which also included two banks and a hospital (all belonging to the same group), by one of the receptionists, a young woman from Myanmar. It would seem that everyone here, or at least for the most part, is from somewhere else. My waiters were all from Nepal, and the other hotel receptionists seemed to be from various African countries. Qatar is an oil-rich country, where no electric cars exist because gas is inexpensive at about 2 Qatari riyals or USD$0.50 per litre. Ah, I remember the days when it used to be that cheap in Canada too!

Eschewing the buffet at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, and putting up with not very well-behaved, screaming children in the same restaurant, I ordered a pizza quattro stagione and a bottle of mineral water. I then ended up taking just under half the pizza and the rest of the 1.5 litre of water back to my hotel, which was a short walk. I had read that Doha is one of the safest cities in the world. When I got back to my hotel, I checked that the concierge had booked me a car and driver to take me on a three- to four- (but which ended up as a five-)hour tour of the city tomorrow. I chose a city tour over a desert tour as the description of the desert tour didn't seem nearly as interesting: a long ride into the desert, changing to a 4x4, driving over sand, riding a camel, and having a falcon (the national bird) on my arm. I had noticed some unusual architecture on my taxi ride from the airport and thought that the buildings looked interesting and had also read about the possibility of seeing some street art.

Thursday, April 4, 2024: Doha, Qatar

My hotel booking included breakfast, which I took in the hotel breakfast room on the first floor, where there was a copious array of options, and, not sure when or if I would get lunch, I helped myself liberally. This was my first time on my own in a Muslim country during Ramadan. I remember being in Malaysia with a tour group at its very end and celebrating Eid al-Fitr sometime in the 1990s. Ramadan is a 31-day period, which follows the cycle of the moon, so that it usually takes place in a different month each year, meaning that if it is from March 11 to April 10 in 2024, it should be in April/May in 2025. They were in their last days and schedules tend to change during Ramadan to allow for the fasting that followers of Islam adhere to during this time. For those with office hours--businesses, schools, etc.--they tend to work from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., clearly with no stop for lunch! This means that they have to get up at 3:45 a.m. to have their breakfast (I was awake when I saw the sunrise around 5 a.m.) and then aren't allowed to eat or drink--not even water--until the sun has set, which as I was to learn this evening, was about 6 p.m.

  

  

  

  

My driver, Khalid, was from Kerala, India and had been living in Qatar for ten years. There is no tax in Qatar, no income tax for sure, but possibly no sales tax, and no property tax either! He had a very spacious and comfortable car--a Honda Odyssey--and had supplied me with two small bottles of water. He told me I was only to drink them inside the car, and with the heat and humidity, I felt quite dehydrated and headachy from the sun at times. He commented that ordinarily he would accompany me inside the places we were to visit but during Ramadan and fasting, he did not have the same energy, so preferred to stay in the air-conditioning of his vehicle. When I asked him the population of the country he said 2.7 million (2.3 million in Doha itself), but as to how many of these were actually born and raised as Qatari I never learned. The locals (by which I mean Arabians, I suppose) were immediately recognizable from their dress, long white robes, and checked red/white or black/white headdresses with a long black cord to hold it on for men, and various black--for the most part--robes for the women, sometimes with their faces fully covered except for the eyes, and at other times, their faces exposed but their hair covered. I was amused by the signs I saw to show pedestrians crossing the street or walking in the divided pedestrian/bicycle lanes as a sexless image of a person in a long robe, seen here somewhere among my photos. I had given Khalid a list of the things I hoped to see on my tour and he managed to bring me to all of them save the artist village held in a former fire station. But he also took me to places I hadn't expected to see, which were far nicer, I think, and when he stopped me to tell me my three and a half hours were up, and that we hadn't seen everything he had been hoping to show me yet, and did I have time to go a bit longer, I asked him to calculate the extra price in USD and, luckily, it was exactly the amount I had brought with me.

  

  

  

  

I believe Qatar was first brought to my attention during the 2006 Asian Games, and it is also known for having hosted the 2022 FIFA world soccer championships. I was told the country had built eight football/soccer stadiums for the cup games, but he only showed me one of them, which was in fact our very first stop, called 974, which is the country area code and the name of a stadium supported by a structure composed of a number of colourful containers, all against a backdrop of the central business district (CBD) with its unusual but interesting array of differently shaped buildings, the turquoise water in front of it being the Persian Gulf. Our second visit was to the National Museum of Qatar, where he dropped me off in the parking lot, and I walked through it and right around it to admire its architecture. It reminded me somewhat of Sydney's Opera House with a very large Qatari flag in the middle held up by a sculpture of hands, but I did not visit its exhibits as the museum receptionist told me it would take me about 1.5 hours, time I did not have. Khalid had left me his card and had asked me to WhatsApp him when I was ready to be picked up, but of course I did not have wi-fi, so I asked a security guard to call him instead on his phone once I was ready to leave the museum.

  

  

  

  

Next, he dropped me off at Souq Waqif and I arranged to meet him back at the drop-off area in 45 minutes. I then wandered along the various routes visiting the bird market, the (clearly from the powerful smells) perfume market, as well as textiles, souvenirs, and paintings with their artists in the souqwaqifartcenter (reading it wrongly, I thought perhaps it was an aroma market of a different nature). I passed the large statue of a golden thumb as well as various large photographs of the current Emir (H.H. the Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani) and his father (H.H. the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani), who, I was told, was the man with the plan and had basically designed Doha, or perhaps Qatar, which, if you look at on a map, is rather like an appendix, located between Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. I realised on seeing said map that I had now visited all countries of the Arabian Peninsula with the exception of Kuwait, Bahrain, and Yemen, although of the U.A.E. I have only visited Dubai, i.e. only one of the seven emirates. As a matter of fact, I did become disoriented in the souq from all the different alleyways, but finally stumbled upon a police station and asked for directions to the taxi stand by the mosque. The trouble is there were about three mosques in the area of the souq. In any case, with the additional help of a couple of other souq locals, I finally found my driver and his car only a couple of minutes after our arranged meeting time. Khalid asked if I had found the camel market and I said no, so he drove me there and it was quite a distance further, making me realise just how large the souq was. We then visited a display of flags representing all the countries that had taken part in the world cup, and then proceeded on to Old Doha Port and its colourful display of containers that had been turned into shops, offices and even a toilet--which I used, and quite comfortable and clean it was too!

  

  

  

  

Our next stop was to the fish market located inside a ceramic-tiled building with a colourful glass ceiling (think Tiffany or is it Lalique?) and quite an organized display of fish, in a section of the port with colourful buildings and some beautiful murals. This was about the time we had reached our 3.5-hour point and, of course, I wanted to extend it, as there was still so much to see! We next stopped at the Museum of Islamic Art, but, unfortunately, due to Ramadan hours, it was closed, so I was only able to photograph its exterior and the sea around, after which we stopped by the parliament building and displays of FIFA world cup art on the waterfront, with a closer view of the central business district and its iconic buildings. A couple of boys approached me at that point seeing my camera but their English wasn't great and I wasn't sure if they wanted to photograph me or wanted me to photograph them, but I declined either way, knowing that my time was growing short. Next, we drove right into the central business district and I got some close-up shots of some of these unusually shaped buildings. This was also the location of a number of expensive 5-star hotels such as the Sheraton, the Hilton, and the Four Seasons. Continuing along the corniche (which Khalid thought might be a Spanish word!), we entered the embassies-and-diplomatic area, the location of several cordoned-off private beaches I shall have to look up the names of later, and then finally a public beach and some more murals including one of the national animal, the Oryx, along with a large statue of this same animal at another luxury hotel resort, the Regis. All along the ride (including the drive from the airport yesterday), I had been admiring the magenta bougainvillea bushes that seemed almost omnipresent as highway decoration. Apparently, just at this juncture in this particular neighbourhood/district, was a hill of grass and bushes, seed for which had been imported because Qatar, like the U.A.E., was originally just sand and all this greenery had been introduced, including the golf course I had read about but not seen. Our final drive through this area featured a large shopping complex, which included Galeries Lafayette, which Khalid helpfully pointed out was from France, in addition to the children's museum in the shape of a gift package, tied up with a ribbon, and another building in the shape of the hood that a falcon wears. Speaking of wildlife, I did not see any falcons, but I did see a number of smaller birds (apart of course from those that were caged in the souq), the most recognisable of which was the Indian myna bird. I also photographed one cat in the souq. I was using all three cameras today and yes, my large camera was working perfectly, thanks for asking'

  

  

  

  

Arriving back at my hotel on the stroke of 3:00 p.m., I hurried to my room as I had been granted a late check-out at 4:00 p.m. I ate my cold pizza from last night's dinner and drank some water and then checked out at 4:00, and was lucky that a couple of other guests had requested the airport shuttle so I was invited to travel with them. My flight wasn't until 7:50 p.m. but I was able to check in my large bag for my flight and then sat, sleepily, waiting in the outside area as my gate had not yet been posted. I really wanted to drink my water, but did not wish to offend the locals, and yet still wanted to drink it before surrendering it at the security check. At 5:50 p.m., I checked the board again for the gate but it still wasn't up. I then asked a Qatar Airways employee at what time the fasting period was over and he helpfully told me to wait until I heard the call for prayers. Well that came at 6:00 p.m. so I then chugged almost a litre of water and went through the security check and immigration, and then found my gate, which wasn't too much of a walk, and got onto my flight. I enjoyed another nice meal and watched a couple of good movies.

  

  

  

  

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Friday, April 5, 2024: Negombo, Sri Lanka

I arrived in Colombo airport in Sri Lanka (country number 145 with a population of 22 million) around 3:00 a.m. and got through immigration. Even though I had printed out my e-visa, the immigration officer said he didn't need to see it because it was already in his system. Then it was a long wait for my bag and when I came into the arrivals hall, I wasn't sure what to expect when it came to official taxis. I was approached by one taxi company who quoted me a number but didn't seem offended when I told him it was too high because according to information I had found on line it was supposed to cost around 5 euros to my hotel. OK, given inflation and the fact that it was a journey at night time, I was flexible, but I still didn't want to change my USD or Euros into local currency, which would have meant several thousands of rupees. I then moved on to the second of five taxi stands/tour companies and this person offered me a price of USD13.00 cash paid to the driver. Anxious to get to my hotel and get to sleep, I accepted it (now convinced I could have bargained with the other three companies as well), and to my surprise he also printed out a receipt for me! He then picked up my bag and accompanied me to the taxi stand where he waited for a taxi with the same name on its side as the logo on his t-shirt, which was another good sign. Then I asked the taxi driver if he had been to the hotel before, and knew where it was, and he said yes, but proceeded to put the address into his GPS anyway. I was surprised to hear the GPS voice tell him it was 2 kilometres and then another 6 and then a further 5. I had been led to believe when looking up the hotel on Google maps a few weeks ago that it was just around the corner from the airport. Oh well. In any case, we arrived correctly at my destination and two hotel staff rushed up to serve me and take my bags, after I apologized for turning up so late (i.e. in the very early morning). I was assured of my Air Canada Aeroplan points reservation for 3 nights, offered a drink of cooling, fresh, watermelon juice, and told breakfast would be served from 7:00 to 10:00 a.m.--i.e. in a few hours from then. I was surprised that they never asked me for my credit card for extras. Happy to finally be able to lie down, I set my alarm clock for 9:00 a.m. and managed a short sleep under a cooling ceiling fan.

Awakened then by my alarm clock and feeling very groggy, I took a shower and made my way down to the breakfast room, still feeling groggy. Well, the hotel is at least on the beach--a very wide beach of golden sand, palm trees and lots of crows. I managed to find some more watermelon juice, a boiled egg, and a couple of odd-looking pastries, and was served two cups of decent, freshly perked coffee. To my amusement, wandering back and forth across the beach in front of the breakfast area was a man in a hotel-logoed t-shirt with a slingshot. Apparently, as I worked it out, his job is to sling small stones at the crows when they got too close to our tables. In any case, he must have done his job well for no birds came to feast on our breakfasts. The hotel seems to be filled with (but not full of) foreign couples and family groups, perhaps on package tours. I talked to no one apart from two beautifully-saried women at reception to ask if I could have some more tp, the roll in my room on my arrival being very meagre indeed. I was assured that 'the boy' would bring some to my room immediately and just after I'd reached my room, it was actually a middle-aged man who brought it. Perhaps the use of such vocabulary is a feature of the caste system?

I charged my cell phone and tried sleeping a bit, but, unable to, instead, decided to start this travelogue whilst sitting on my balcony, overlooking the beach, the palm trees, and the prolific crows and their raucous cawing. With a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius forecasted for the entire 10 days here, it is muggy, certainly, but there is a slight breeze. The wi-fi is patchy so I am anxious to compare this hotel with the hotel that the tour company I will be touring Sri Lanka and the Maldives with uses in Negombo, which I plan to taxi to on Sunday, although it is only 1.5 kilometres away. I could walk it but it's probably not wise, given the heat. At about 3:00 p.m., I was feeling peckish so went down to the same restaurant where I had had breakfast and ordered a Sri Lankan version of a chicken burger plus a bottle of water. It's a pity slingshot man had gone, for he was needed at lunch as one or two daring crows approached our tables. Then, after finding out what time the sunset was, as the beach faces due West, I set my alarm for 6:00 p.m. and took a nap until it rang. Then I walked out onto the beach with my cell phone and captured the following images as the sun set. I subsequently worked in my room on all the photos I have taken thus far, processing those I had decided to keep and post here.

  

  

  

  

  

Saturday, April 6, 2024: Negombo, Sri Lanka

Up at 7:00 a.m. and feeling hungry again, I washed my hair and realised that it is very lucky I am not sharing my room with anyone, for the wall between the bathroom and the bedroom proper is just glass, so very see-through with no sense of privacy whatsoever. I shall attempt to post a photo below. Going out on my balcony to test the temperature, I noticed some small animals with long bushy tails scurrying through the branches of the tall coconut trees. Wondering what exotic creatures they might be (mongooses perhaps), I asked my very friendly waiter when he came to take my coffee order, what they might be and his answer was “Oh, we call them squirrels ma'am.” I also noticed that slingshot man was back at his post but this morning he was also carrying a big stick (and walking softly). He only needed to shake it at the crows and they got the message. I saw no stones being slung using the slingshot. I noticed the restaurant was full of local Sir Lankan families today and surmised that since it was Saturday perhaps it was considered a treat to have a buffet breakfast at the hotel. I returned to my room and waited for it to be cleaned as I read on the balcony and then, once it was cleaned, worked on my travelogue and photos.

  

I went down to lunch 2:00ish where there were a lot of local families feasting off the buffet and then playing games, such as musical chairs. Afterwards, I mostly lazed around, reading and napping, getting up once again at 6:00 p.m. to photograph the beach at sunset. Two locals talked to me: a woman who said she was a tailor just down the road and wanted to sell me skirts and pants. I told her I had enough clothes and was even here with the intention of getting rid of some of them. The other was one of the fishermen who were hauling up their nets, repairing their nets, and generally getting ready for their holiday tomorrow since it will be Sunday and they will be going to church. I then verified with him that the majority of Sri Lankans are Buddhists but he pointed South and said there was a Catholic church there and then North where he said there was a mosque. He agreed it was very hot but told me they would have the monsoon in about a month and solid rain for a while.

  

  

  

  

  

  

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Sunday, April 7, 2024: Negombo, Sri Lanka

I got to bed around 9:00 last night but woke frequently, hearing the boom, boom, boom of music being played for people to dance to until ... 4:00 a.m. or was it 5:00 a.m.? (I was, in retrospect, very happy to have been allocated a room about the farthest distance possible from the party/dancing location.) I consequently asked at breakfast if the music had been for a wedding or if it was just their regular Saturday night event. The head waiter confirmed it was a regular Saturday night event and that they, too, hadn't slept much! I checked with reception what the check-out formalities were and if I could order a taxi through the hotel and pay the hotel for it. On learning where I was going, the receptionist commented that the hotel car and driver would be too expensive for such a short journey and that I would do better to take a tuk tuk. The tuk tuk driver would only take local currency, however, so she advised me to change a bit at the cashier's office at the time I checked out. I then read on my balcony until my phone alarm rang telling me it was time to leave my room.

So check out I did and changed USD100 into local rupees and asking how much I should expect to pay the tuk tuk driver, was told 500 rupees. One of the receptionists signalled to someone on the street across from the hotel and they sent me a tuk tuk with driver. Well the tuk tuk driver didn't have a clue where he was going. I knew from looking at the map it was only 1.5 kilometres and that it was back down the road and then a left turn, but he ended up taking the wrong turn and had to ask about three other tuk tuk drivers. It should be noted though that he did ask for directions despite being a man! Arriving at the Sea Horse Hotel, I checked in and found out I was sharing my room with a German woman, who is quiet like me and works in a financial capacity with a telecom company. We found our room and settled in and then had lunch at the hotel restaurant. I tried to learn some Singhalese but will probably only retain the phrases for good morning (Ayuboyan), and thank you very much (Boa istouti). She went out to explore the beach while I read outside on our porch and eventually chatted with one of the two males in the room next door on our tour--an Aussie elementary school teacher, who is sharing a room with a British dentist. There was also a wedding photo shoot going on in the gardens of the hotel, so I chatted to the photographer's helper for a bit. He explained that the couple was from India and that they were wearing typical Indian wedding costumes. He then showed me photos on his phone of other couples in traditional Sri Lankan wedding dress. At 6:00 p.m. we met the tour leader, who had a very long Sri Lankan name but asked us to call him Theeka, a good-looking bloke in his thirties. We also met the other five people on our tour, a mother and daughter from Auckland, New Zealand, a couple about my age from Sweden and, to complete our group, a British/Italian woman in her 50s (who got the single room). After introductions and a summary of what we would be doing over the next week, we walked over to a restaurant in the dark called Tuk Tuk Wine & Dine, where I had a local draft beer and a mushroom omelette. The musical group accompanying us was good but the chatter was so loud I had a hard time hearing the conversations and concentrated instead on the music. With an early start tomorrow, we retired for the night after walking back to the hotel.

   

Monday, April 8, 2024: Negombo to Kandy, Sri Lanka

We all met for breakfast to birdsong and I stuck to pastries, not being daring enough to try the curries in the buffet. Finally, having put our bags outside our rooms, we watched as they were loaded on a private bus, which will be with us our entire journey, and were introduced to the driver and assistant (Indika and Nishantha, respectively). Our first stop was at a fruit stand where several types of bananas were on display. Theeka told us Sri Lanka produces 29 types of bananas, including red bananas. We also passed some gaily garlanded carts with children on them and were told that it would be Sri Lankan New Year on April 14, the day I will be leaving for the Maldives, with three others from our current tour: the New Zealand mother and daughter and the German woman. We were also told that Sri Lanka has five religions: Buddhists make up 70%, Hindus 14%, Muslims 9-10% and Christians 6%. The fifth religion is cricket! The Hindus are Tamil-speakers for the most part and the majority of Buddhists are Singhalese speakers. When asked about COVID in Sri Lanka, Theeka said that despite being able to access international vaccines all around the country, certain Ayuverdic cures had become popular among the locals. Our second stop then was at a spice plantation, where a doctor of Ayuverdic medicine took us around to introduce us to various plants and explain what ailments they cured. When I asked said doctor, I was told life expectancy in Sri Lanka was 80 for men and 82 for women but that Sri Lankans had a high percentage of heart disease due to the high temperatures. He then wanted to demonstrate a natural exfoliant and tried it out on the hairiest leg among us nine. We were then offered free head and temple...and arm and leg massages (for a tip) by students of the doctor and we all decided to accept. Finally, they brought us to their shop containing various Ayuverdic medicines, creams, and potions, but the prices were rather steep for me. We then drove on to Kandy where the tour company we are traveling with supports a women's cooperative where we were served a lunch of various spicy things and curd with treacle syrup for dessert. We then visited their shop and I bought a set of four magenta table mats for a reasonable price, the cost of which, I was told, would go directly to the women who made them.

  

  

  

After lunch, we drove to a renowned Buddhist monument called the Temple of the Tooth, reputed to hold a portion of a tooth that once belonged to Buddha. There were a large number of tourists in the complex and we walked around various areas and photographed the flowers that served as offerings, most of which were lotus flowers, ordinary water lilies, and blue water lilies, the country's national flower. There were some squirrels in the grounds, but the tooth itself was kept inside a silver box and only opened for display about twice a year. Selfies taken with one's back to the Buddha statue were strictly forbidden. We then walked around the adjoining lake for a bit and all decided to watch the local dancing show held in a very hot auditorium and which catered solely to tourists. The dances were impressive and included spinning plates, lots of cartwheels and backflips, drumming and elaborate costumes. It was difficult to photograph due to the fact that our seats were reserved at the last minute so we were not very close to the stage. The show ended spectacularly with some of the performers walking on coals and eating fire. As it was still a long drive to our hotel near Kandy, we stopped at a roadside stand for dinner and as I wasn't that hungry, nor could I face the thought of any more local fare, I bought a packet of biscuits and a soft drink. We arrived after dinner at our hotel and as we have a free day tomorrow, I arranged to venture out on my own to Sigiriya aka Lion's Rock, a world heritage site, via tuk tuk, arranged for me by Theeka, while the others plan to explore Kandy, with visits to a botanical garden (of mostly plants and not flowers), a parlour for a full body massage (where they were asked to strip completely!), and to climb a tall statue of Buddha.

  

  

   

Tuesday, April 9, 2024: Kandy - Sigiriya - Kandy, Sri Lanka

I woke to my cellphone alarm at 4:15 a.m., took a shower, and heard the engine of the tuk tuk driving up to the front door just before 5:00, but there was no sign of the packet breakfast (sic) so the tuk tuk driver phoned the hotel receptionist, who was no doubt still asleep, and he appeared with a box containing two cheese and tomato sandwiches on white bread, two boiled eggs, a small banana, a plastic bottle of juice, and a plastic bottle of water. I ate half the sandwich at the gas station the tuk tuk driver stopped at to get gas, had one egg and the banana on the way back to the hotel in the afternoon, the other egg later on that day, and the juice the next day. The ride to Lion's Rock, aka Sigiriya, was in the dark for the first hour or so, and it was cold with the natural air conditioning, so I pulled on my windbreaker, which helped, and gradually, as the day became brighter, more people emerged from their homes, and there were smells of cooking fires and spices. And of course, throughout the trip, during which the tuk tuk driver was dodging other traffic, weaving his way through vehicles arriving from all directions, was the smell of exhaust which blackened my lungs--I imagined. Finally, he proudly announced “Dambulla,” a noticeably large market town with lovely art work on its walls. Unfortunately, the tuk tuk driver had no clue how to get to Sigiriya after that and asked a total of 7 other tuk tuk drivers for directions, one after the other. Finally, we saw the 'rock' in front of us and I also tried to guide him based on the English signs I was seeing because the foreigners' entrance was different from the locals' entrance and he eventually confessed, “I, first time here” which I had guessed a while back!

  

  

  

After arriving at the parking lot and the entrance, I used the toilets then paid my entrance fee in cash because they didn't take American Express and I hadn't thought to bring my other credit cards. A phone call was made and I was met by Theeka's friend, who was engaged to guide another group, but the guide he recommended for me, called Sunil, a wiry 58-year-old, had good English. Knowing my age, Theeka had advised Sunil to go slowly, slowly, but the climb wasn't really a challenge for me despite its 1,200 steps, with the exception of the fact that the stairs themselves were not deep enough for my entire foot so it felt safer to place my feet sideways. Otherwise, there were quite a few tourists, including young children, and overweight Singaporeans and Russians. The first part, after entering the complex, contained ancient gardens that had been laid out with several swimming pools, and Sunil explained that this was an ancient fortress built in the 5th century by a pleasure-loving king called King Kaspaya (477 to 496 A.D.), who reportedly had 500 wives and concubines. Some of these swimming pools were just for the females. There were also gardens in which Sunil pointed out a large monitor lizard and a black-faced monkey officially called a purple-faced langur (Semnopithecus vetulus), endemic to Sri Lanka. Our next stage was the beginning of the climb where there were caves, which the soldiers of the day had used as barracks to keep any enemies in view. The climb started therefore with these stone or brick steps with just large stone walls to put a steadying hand on. Later the climb consisted of metal steps with banisters and then we were at the end of the first part of the climb, where we were on a platform of sorts and sat for a bit under a shady tree to admire the view and drink some water. Here was the base of the lion of Lion's Rock, where two paws had been carved into the granite. I was told that at some stage the rock had also had a lion's face but that it had perhaps eroded away over time. Sunil produced an artist's impression on a postcard of said face. So now the second stage was up metal staircases, a somewhat easier climb, given that the steps were large enough for a full foot and at one stage a Toque macaque monkey (Macaca sinica) joined us and sat on the wall posing, making a great shot with the scenery of the valley behind him. Having made it to the top, of course, a photo was in order, and after walking round the top on which remnants of ancient stone buildings remained (brick walls), the only wildlife I saw were an interesting butterfly and a dragonfly--but not having taken my large camera, I could not photograph them--and what Sunil called a chameleon but to me (having now seen real chameleons in Madagascar!) it was just a small lizard. The way down followed a slightly different route for part of it, past some caves in which there were ancient paintings of half-dressed women (where photography was forbidden), accessible from two spiral staircases (one for up and one for down) preceded by a level walk past what was called the mirror wall, made of some sort of natural rock material and coated in something that included eggshells, or egg white perhaps, but which, after 1600 years, was no longer reflective in the same way as our mirrors today are.

  

  

  

As we came down off the rock, we passed some vendors, one of whom insisted on showing me a wooden box he had made in the shape of a book, which had separate compartments one could open to hide things in. It was quite clever but I truthfully told him that I did not have enough money with me to buy any souvenirs because I had only brought enough to pay my guide, the entrance fee, and the tuk tuk driver. Theeka had in fact asked his guide friend specifically not to have vendors bother me, and the remaining vendors did leave me alone. I used the toilets one more time and despite all toilet signs saying they were free, the lady minding this particular toilet, and who handed me some toilet paper she had torn off a roll, then asked me for payment, but once again I had no spare change to give her. We were now ready to leave the complex and it was about 11:00 a.m. I should probably point out here that we had left so early in the morning to avoid the heat. The drive via tuk tuk had been about 2.5 hours and the complex opened about 7:30 a.m. We had arrived at 8:00 and after a brief walk through the gardens and the area of the baths, it had taken only 15 minutes to walk up to the first stage and another half hour to reach the top of the second stage after about a ten-minute wait under the tree. Plus, of course, there were all these other tourists climbing as well. Suffice it to say that, after having been told by Theeka how difficult the climb was, I was surprised, in fact, how short a time it took me to walk up. The entire natural structure is a UNESCO Heritage Site, as I mentioned before, and the most famous site in Sri Lanka, I should add, so of course I wanted to go and see it, and climb it. In retrospect, therefore, the climb was actually quite easy and I felt the others in our little tour group of nine had really missed out. Ah well. We do what makes us happy, and I was certainly happy. Anyway, the point I had started to make with all the timings was that the aim was to climb during the part of the day when it wasn't so hot, i.e. early in the morning. The tuk tuk ride back took a little longer due to heavier traffic, but the driver did not get lost this time and the only thing that suffered was perhaps my backside from all that sitting in a tuk tuk and constantly trying to find a more comfortable position. One of the photos below is of the back of the tuk tuk driver on our return journey to Kandy. As mentioned earlier, having done all that exercise on the strength of only half a cheese and tomato sandwich (the other half had melted so badly with the heat, Sunil ended up giving it to one of the half-starved dogs in the complex), I ate one of the boiled eggs and the small banana from my breakfast (packet) on my ride back. Arriving back at the hotel at about 1:00, I took a shower and had some of the biscuits I had bought yesterday evening as well as the remaining boiled egg. Then I tried to do some laptop work but felt too tired so took a nap. The others arrived back at the hotel 3:00ish and hung around the hotel swimming pool. We then met upstairs in the open air terrace for our dinner, which was another buffet of local dishes, although I still didn't feel all that hungry and went straight to bed afterwards.

  

 

Wednesday, April 10, 2024: Kandy to Ella, Sri Lanka

After a not-so-early wake-up call, we met in the same terrace restaurant for breakfast after sunrise, filled with birdsong, took a few photos of the environs, and fed on rather more western-type fare. Then, bags on bus, we drove toward Ella, known for being the tea-growing area. We stopped at a place called Oak Ray Tea Bush, not only for the fantastic views from their terrace, but also to experience a tour of a tea production factory. I shall write down here some information I found on panels at this tea factory should tea production be of interest to you.

“Tea is widely consumed around the world today and is especially sought not just for its taste but also for its health benefits. It is the second most popular drink after water and is known to replace fluids and rehydrate the body as well as water. Tea is also rich in flavinoids, which act as antioxidants in the body. The three most popular types of tea marketed are green tea, black tea, and oolong tea, each having its own distinct flavour and attributes. Research has indicated that green tea helps lower cholesterol and regulate blood pressure. There are also indications that it can help fight cancer although studies on this are still ongoing. Oolong tea helps promote good bone structure as it is rich in calcium and minerals. It is also good for diabetics and those with skin disorders. According to research, black tea helps digestion, improve the functions of the brain and nervous system, and helps prevent coronary heart disease ... A development in the industry took place in 1908 when Thomas Sullivan shipped tea samples in individual bags to New York restaurants. These restaurants prepared tea without extracting it from the bags and the concept of 'tea bags' was born ... Most of Sri Lanka's teas are grown on plantations at elevations ranging from 2,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level. Depending on elevation, the teas are divided into three distinct types: high grown teas, which account for 24% of tea production, mid-country teas, which comprise 16% of tea production, and low grown teas, which take up 60% of the total tea production. Each type has its own distinct flavour and characteristics. Tea is cultivated on terraced slopes where the soil is well-drained. Young plants are grown from cuttings taken from a 'parent plant.' These young plants are tended in special nursery beds until they are 12 to 15 months old when they are then planted on the estate. Once the plants grow successfully, they are pruned to help them develop into flat-topped tea bushes and subsequently they are lightly pruned on a regular basis to encourage them to produce the young, fresh leaves and buds, known as 'flush' from which tea is made. The tea leaves are handpicked by tea pluckers, specially skilled in plucking 'two leaves and a bud'. Although in recent years mechanical plucking using specially designed machines has been tried out, it is hard to replace the skill and experience of the tea pluckers, and to date the finest teas are carefully nurtured and handpicked. In 1872, James Taylor built the first fully equipped tea factory. Since then, many factories have been built in tea growing areas and tea cultivation is now a highly skilled, scientific business with Sri Lanka producing some of the best teas in the world.”

After an explanation of the processing process, including withering, rolling, fermentation, drying, sorting, and packing, we were invited to a tea tasting where we tasted at least six different types of tea, my favourite being a citronella-based green tea and a spicy masala-type tea. I consequently bought three packages of tea, the latter two types and an ordinary green tea, for what seemed like reasonable prices. We then walked through a curio/souvenir shop, in which I thought we were going to be encouraged to buy souvenirs but then realised everybody had walked right through the shop in order to get to its terrace for more views, this time containing three or four waterfalls. Back in the bus, we passed quite a few different tea estates and at times saw pluckers plucking in the fields with large bags on their backs into which they were throwing the two leaves and a bud, but, to my disappointment, our bus never stopped in an area where we could photograph these pluckers close up. I was promised we would see them at the estate at which we would be staying the next two nights but ... that never happened. I had even thought that a great experience to rival the climb of Lion's Rock would be to work in the tea fields for the day, plucking alongside other ladies, since we had been told we would have a free day tomorrow, but that did not pan out either.

  

  

  

Instead, after passing the highest point in the area, at Nuwar Eliya (elevation 1,893 above sea level), we then came down into that town itself--whose post office was located in a heritage building dating from the time of British Colonialism--the idea being to travel by rail to the town where we were to stay the night. Being on a crowded train, where we were not promised a seat and therefore could be standing for 2.5 hours in a not-very-well-ventilated train carriage, certainly did not appeal to me and, what's more, I wanted some peace and quiet (my fellow travelers tending to chatter constantly on the bus), so I opted to stay on the bus with the driver and his assistant, and photograph. As it happened, the train was delayed for 45 minutes, which meant waiting in the bus for that same amount of time until the train left with my fellow passengers. I photographed a bit but frankly there wasn't that much to see. From an elevated spot, I, the driver, and his assistant watched the train to Colombo arrive at the station to drop off and pick up passengers in the mean time, and observed a constant flow of people walking into and out of the train station entrance, including Muslims in full purdah. Finally, the train to Ella arrived, and we saw it off before the bus was started up again and then drove through similar scenery from this morning. My own lunch consisted of some more of the biscuits I had bought two days ago and the bottle of juice from yesterday's breakfast, which I consumed on the bus. We stopped at one gas station, where I got off to photograph the scenery of agricultural fields, and where the bus was replenished with gas as well as water for the engine (said water being the drinking water that had been bought for us out of our tip kitty). And perhaps due to that stop at the gas station, we arrived at the destination train station after the others, picked them up, and drove through more tea plantation fields to our hotel, stopping at a colourful Hindu temple for photographs en route.

  

  

We finally reached the Amba Estate, a joint venture by four foreigners, a hotel cum tea plantation with what Theeka called home-made production as opposed to the factory production we had seen earlier in the day. Our bus took us as far as it could and there were tuk tuks waiting to take our bags and us (in the rain at that point) up to the hotel itself. It had been an exhausting day all told, so we were glad to get to our rooms, complete with four-poster beds and mosquito netting. The bathroom was only separated by a sliding wooden panel, which provided no sound-proofing whatsoever. Dinner was late once again (at 8:00 p.m.), and beforehand (at 7:00 p.m.) we were given a cooking class for a couple of the dishes we would consume at dinner containing chillies in addition to other spices, and grated coconut, which some of us helped grate with a type of hand-grinded machine. The resulting meal was good and consisted of a number of dishes and certainly made up for the paltry meal of biscuits around noontime. Dessert was perhaps the best part. Called a local cheesecake, it was made of local curd with treacle and some crumbly mixture on the bottom. Yum! Walking back to our rooms, we could hear the croaking of frogs in the pond and the squawk of invisible peacocks, apparently hundreds of which live in the plantation fields. Pole cats were running across our roof and squirrels were chirping from somewhere above us.

  

 

Thursday, April 11, 2024: Ella, Sri Lanka

Today's breakfast included home-made bread and home-made jams and marmalades, all made from fresh produce grown on the estate (just like last night's meal). Given the rain last night, we had decided not to do the 5-hour hike to Ella rock and instead opted for two shorter walks. We meandered to our bus in the dry sunshine and drove first to a powerful waterfall just off the side of the road, at which there were many vendors and Toque macaque monkeys. There was a group of school children there as well as numbers of tourists, some of them feeding bananas to the monkeys. And because said monkeys were well fed, they looked quite healthy and big. We were amused to see a female money shrieking at a male. The look on his face was like “What have I done now?” We then drove on to some sort of a club where our hike began up to Adam's Rock in a beautiful valley, but the path was somewhat challenging due to the fact that it had rained. We had also been warned upon our arrival at Amba of the strong possibility of being bothered by leeches, which, in the rainy season hide in the grass. We were warned to walk on the paths and not step into or sit on the grass. We all wore solid footwear too, and I wore long trousers, though some of my fellow tourists were in shorts. We all made it to the top and after our descent, a couple of our group wanted to try out the zipline, while I decided to experience the giant swing. I bought the basic package for one person, while other tourists were adding the cost of wearing a fake headband of flowers and a long colourful dress with a train for the full effect. Theeka offered to video me and later the swing organisers took some closer shots from the platform. The drop wasn't too scary really but they still had me sign a 2-page waiver. During my ordeal, my fellow travelers sat at the bar and consumed drinks. During the last few minutes of my swing experience, the rain started pouring again, so we waited for it to lessen before leaving, and walked down a different way to the bus along a row of vendors, some of whom gave me permission to photograph them--one of them, an Indian man, even asking if he could photograph me and did so with two cameras while I sat in his chair. I asked why he wanted to photograph me, hoping it was not for any malicious intent, but he did not explain.

  

  

  

  

  

The Amba Estate had provided us with packed lunches today, so after getting on the bus again, which drove to the top of the next trail, we consumed our lunch in the bus and then donned our rain jackets, and ever mindful of leeches (one of our lot had had one land on her thumb whilst sitting in the grass during the hike this morning), we hiked down a rather muddy trek to a railway bridge (again full of tourists and locals, including a youngish monk), and two more leeches attached themselves to two of our group. (Theeka provided hand sanitizer to get them to detach themselves.) Having become rather damp by then, we returned to Amba Estate and walked up the path to the hotel (after the bus had parked) beneath umbrellas. After drying off and changing, four of us attended the tea lecture, which included visiting the processing, rolling, and drying rooms, and tea tasting, which went from their mildest (which looked like water and had hardly any taste to a blue sweet pea flower, which turned the tea blue, but when something else was added, turned purple. It was extremely interesting but the man providing the lecture had a difficult accent to follow. The tea tasting, however, was conducted by his nephew, who was a much younger man and his speech pattern was much easier to understand. After a break and showers, we had another delicious dinner with a locally made chocolate pudding for dessert.

  

  

  

  

 

Friday, April 12, 2024: Ella to Udawalawe National Park, Sri Lanka

Our bags packed and breakfast consumed, we walked down to the bus (our bags had been taken down separately by tuk tuk) and were looking forward to seeing elephants--baby ones among others. As Theeka had stated yesterday, we did not pass any more tea plantations on our way out of Ella as we headed south, stopping in one town where the others searched for ATMs and perhaps alcohol (but couldn't buy any as it was the Sri Lankan new year time). I got out of the bus and took a walk to photograph curiosities (such as carts selling fire crackers and gold fish in plastic bags) and interesting-looking people ... until it came on to rain, forcing me to walk quickly back to the bus as I had no umbrella and no rain jacket with me. Our next stop was at a Buddhist complex (on the way to which we saw some working buffalo being led by their owners in the rain), where some giant images of Buddha had been carved into a rock face. Only about half of us went and the rest of us stayed around the entrance and photographed a few things, including a peacock on the top of an arch. Then, finally, we arrived in the Udawalawe area and photographed ourselves standing next to three or four adult elephants standing just inside an electronic fence. Apparently, elephants are considered to be the most dangerous animals in Sri Lanka. We then checked into our hotel and ate our packed lunches from our previous hotel, after which we headed out by bus to the elephant orphanage by 2:00 p.m. for the 2:30 p.m. feeding time “show.” We were amused by one small elephant, who managed to escape from the main group and come up to the feeding trough, trying to climb up onto it, but the feeders just let him wait and grunt in frustration. One man was holding off a large group of elephants of various sizes, including one injured elephant, whose back legs were shorter than its front legs. Once the official feeding time had started, he let them through the gate in groups of 3 and 4. The pachyderms then trotted up to the feeding trough where the feeders had a hose with a funnel at the top and poured milk into the funnel so that the elephants could drink it. Once they had received their portion of milk, they moved over to an area closer to where we were sitting among other tourists and locals in a covered, tiered seating area, to eat some sort of grain from a shallow tray, and strip leaves off branches that had been placed on the ground for them. Lapwings were also present but rather far away to photograph properly. It was all over by 3:00 so we headed to the safari 4x4s that had been rented for us, and drove back the way we had come past our hotel, and entered the Udawalawe National Park proper. There were a number of other safari vehicles there filled with tourists, and sightings were few and far between. While the elephants we had seen previously by the electronic fence were well fed (by tourists offering them bananas from the well placed fruit vendors), the ones in the park we saw were rather emaciated. In addition to elephants, however, we also saw small monkeys (also fending for themselves and not fed by tourists so were noticeably smaller in size), water buffalo, crocodiles, hawk eagles, a serpent eagle, and a number of very colourful bee eaters, which were of course my favourite, after the peacocks and peahens, which, too, were wild. Near the end of our drive, we also saw a Sri Lanka junglefowl, the national bird of Sri Lanka, which looks rather like a common rooster, but much more colourful, as well as a Sri Lankan Painted Stork, a large water bird that was feeding in the pond with the crocodiles and the water buffalo, and a small field of four-leaf clovers for good luck.

  

  

  

  

  

  

We returned to the hotel once dusk was approaching and just missed another rainfall, meeting up for a dinner at the hotel dining area. Our itinerary had mentioned a barbecue around a bonfire tonight, but due to the rain, this was not possible. The cooks still barbecued the meat, and we had some expensive cans of beer. I tried the Somersby (made in Denmark) blackberry beer, which was quite nice. It was the last can they had and fresh from the fridge. As it happened, Theeka had requested it moments before I had, and when he learned I had wanted it, he offered to exchange it for a local Lion lager I had settled for, but then explained that he had already run the blackberry beer under the hot water tap because it was too cold for him! It was another late dinner, but delicious all the same, and we were offered a choice of chocolate or vanilla ice cream for dessert.

  

  

  

  

   

Saturday, April 13, 2024: Udawale - Unawatuna - Galle - Unawatuna, Sri Lanka

It was our last day all together, and after another hearty breakfast, we drove westward following the south coast along a tolled highway where we passed fields being prepared for rice cultivation and several large yellow signs warning us of dangerous peacocks(!), finally arriving in Unawatuna, a very touristy district, for a beach experience. We entered a restaurant and found a large table for our group. The others then changed so as to go swimming among some turtles on a very crowded beach, while Theeka and I stayed with the bags and I read a book. There were a number of amusing signs around this particular restaurant. When the others returned from the beach and had changed out of their swimming costumes, we ordered beers and lunch and I had a nice feta cheese and olive wrap accompanied by a local Lion lager.

  

  

  

  

Next, we drove to, and checked into, a nearby hotel, the most basic of those we had stayed at, and I repacked my stuff and took a nap, since we would have a very early start the next morning to get to the airport and fly to the Maldives to start the next leg of the trip. In the early evening, once the heat had cooled somewhat, we drove to the old Portuguese fort in Galle and visited it together, walking around most of the fortification walls, people-watching along with everybody else, tourists and locals alike, as it was Sri Lankan New Year's Eve. There was a high percentage of noticeably Muslim locals in their long white caftans (men) and black or coloured robes (women). After some of our group bought ice creams(!) we took a path into the town and walked along Pedlar Street. The entire fort area is an ancient city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and, unusually, one in which people are still living and working today. As the sun set and the lights came on, we wandered past luxury stores, photographing wares as well as vendors. Everyone was very friendly. Finally we came to the complex in which Theeka had made a reservation for our final group dinner, together with our driver and his assistant, all accompanied once again by a very skilled singer who played an electronic keyboard and sang very enjoyable songs by Van Morrison, Ed Sheeran and the like. I ordered a quesadilla--which was very nice, but again far too copious, so I ended up leaving half of it--accompanied by another beer. Sad to be leaving, yet excited about our next trip, we shared hugs on our arrival back at the hotel and got an earlyish night.

  

  

  

  

Sunday, April 14, 2024: Unawatuna to Colombo, Sri Lanka and then to Humalé airport and Rihiveli Sand Bank, Maldives

Our alarms went off at 1:30 a.m. and we jumped into the shower and got dressed before taking our bags down two flights of stairs and (the four of us going to the Maldives) joined Theeka, the driver, and his assistant on a 2-hour sleepy bus ride to the Colombo International airport, dropping off Theeka and the assistant about halfway along. Arriving at the airport then, Sri Lankan Airways employees helped us register for our Maldivian e-visas online using our cellphones. After checking in our bags, we entered the main shopping area of the airport and ate our packed breakfasts and tried to look for coffee to use up our last Sri Lankan currency. I did not have enough for a coffee, but I did have enough for a fridge magnet with an elephant on it, so I bought that instead. The check-in at the boarding gate was a long process, which included a hand-baggage scan, and finally we were on our 7:20 a.m. flight to the Maldives. I had been allocated an inside seat but as the flight was not full and it was a large plane, I was able to grab a window seat after the doors were closed. Unfortunately, however, it was on the wrong side of the plane because I saw no evidence of atolls or clear, turquoise water from where I was sitting.

Deplaning into my 146th country in muggy, hot weather, we had a tough time finding our tour representative. Finally one of us, after asking around, found the stand (there were dozens and dozens of stands for various resort hotels, in addition to agents holding signs at the area where we emerged from the terminal), and eventually a representative, who was originally from Ivory Coast, helped us buy SIM cards for the internet, since we were told there would be none on the boat we would be living on for the next week. This cost USD50 for 100 Gigs, (expensive perhaps when I wouldn't need that much, but I am so glad I decided to buy it, as you will discover on reading further.) We were then led to a coffee shop where others joining our tour were already waiting. We learned then that we were a total of 14 pax, 13 females and 1 male, four from England (two girls from the South (Sussex) and an older couple from the North near the Scottish border), the two New Zealanders, my German roommate and me from our Sri Lankan leg, and the rest being a party of six Americans from the Northwestern states, who all knew each other already. Our tour guide, Sunil Hassan, (who reminded me somewhat of Johnny Depp ... as Captain Jack Sparrow, not Willy Wonka) then joined us and took us over to a larger waiting hall so we and our luggage could all board a dinghy that would take us over to our larger boat, called Sea Farer, our home for the next six days. Once on board, we were invited to sit at a large table forward and enjoy a welcome drink of a king coconut with a paper-based straw. Once consumed, these were put into a box and carried on the boat with us. Then, after motoring for a while across gorgeous, clear water, we were served a copious lunch (our first of many copious meals), after which we had our first snorkel at Rihiveli Sand Bank. I must say here that I was deeply disappointed: the water was murky, my brand new mask steamed up (I had used the dishwashing detergent recommended to clean my mask, but clearly it wasn't working, so henceforth I shall use my own saliva to clean my mask since it has worked well in the past.) Added to this was the fact that one of our group was feeling ill and actually vomited into the ocean! ... and then I was convinced I saw faeces in the water so I basically hoofed it (flippered it?) back to the dinghy on the double and embarked by the small metal ladder. I was not enjoying myself at all and wondered what I had gotten myself into: a dream vacation I had been wanting to experience for the last four years and which had been postponed twice due to Covid). There was a second snorkelling opportunity later in the afternoon, during which they saw a hawksbill turtle, but I merely joined them in the dinghy for a different photo op and chatted to Imran, the dinghy driver from Bangladesh. After the snorkel, Sunil uploaded videos of the turtle on our tour group's WhatsApp. The island we anchored offshore from was filled with a party of people celebrating with a bonfire and drums. We were told we would not be landing on it.

  

  

Monday, April 15, 2024: Turtle Reef, Loabi Reef, and Bongo Sand Bank, Maldives

Climbing upstairs from my cabin, which once again I was sharing with the German woman, I saw that the map of the Maldives had been posted on an inner wall of the boat and that the portion of the Maldives we would be visiting was the southeastern section made up of the South Male Atoll, the Felidho Atoll, and the Mulakhu Atoll. Each atoll consists of a ring of islands, separated by channels where one can get rougher sea, while the water in the middle of these rings of islands is relatively calm. Perhaps I should point out here that the Republic of Maldives, the smallest country (and an archipelagic state) in Asia, which, including its sea, spans 90,000 square km (35,000 sq. mi.), has a population of just over a half a million people. Located in South Asia in the Indian Ocean, its chain of 26 atolls stretches across the equator, and its capital and largest city is Malé with a population of about 150,000. It is the second least populous country in Asia and the ninth smallest country in the world by area. Its highest point is 2.4 metres (7 ft. 10 in.), making it the world's lowest lying country. It has been inhabited for over 2,500 years and its dominant economic activities are fishing and tourism. It currently has a capacity of 1,220 tourist facilities, which include 152 safari vessels (Sea Farer being one), 883 guesthouses, 13 hotels, and 172 resorts. I was expecting to see turquoise blue continuously, but that colour only appears next to the land masses indicating in fact that the water is shallower there, or indeed, in fact, showing where the white sand is closest to the surface of the water. Then there are reefs around these islands, and it is these reefs that we will be snorkelling along to see the colourful corals and perhaps even more colourful fish. Then, if we are lucky, we might see larger creatures such as turtles, dolphins, sharks, or rays. That being said, there is really no reason to go scuba diving here because there is so much colour and sea life to see on the shallower reefs and the sea life is not all that different further down. Today I snorkelled in the afternoon, the morning snorkel being rather compromised where visibility was concerned, although they did see dolphins under the water as well as anemones and clown fish. The afternoon's snorkel was magnificent and what I had been expecting to see. Huge clams, massive sea cucumbers, several different varieties of trigger fish, angel fish, parrot fish, surgeon fish, butterfly fish, and much, much more from the tiniest todgers to the larger parrot fish. Quite spectacular! Others had their GoPros and underwater cameras out, but I have never had much success with these because the colours the camera shows are never the same as what my eyes see. I shall leave it to Sunil to photograph--he is also a professional scuba diver--as he is more used to it. He has promised to post more photos on the WhatsApp group. I have been posting photos of the group on the boat as well as the crew, a total of 5: the captain, Hussein, along with Sunil our tour leader are true Maldivians (born in the Maldives), while the others are from Bangladesh; Kerala, India; and two from Sri Lanka. They all look rather similar with their dark skin, black hair, full beards, and moustaches, except for the captain, who is bald. Sunil looks like a typical diver with long, partly (naturally?) bleached hair. I chatted with the captain, today. They all have quite good English although they also speak Dhivehi, in which thank you is shoukouria. I mentioned that I was surprised there had been no safety briefing immediately after we had arrived on board (where we were divested of our shoes and told we would remain barefoot for the week), as I have experienced on other boat trips. He explained that there were safety signs posted all around the boat and that the lifejackets were in the cupboards in our rooms. There is only one dinghy, and I suppose, if we had to evacuate, it would fit all fourteen of us passengers plus the six locals. In any case, the boat displays a sign saying its total capacity is 30 including crew.

  

  

  

  

I also spent time typing up this travelogue today but still only got up to Thursday of last week. I then sat on deck, read, and enjoyed the boat ride, taking photos of the water and the various small islands we passed. As sunset approached, we spied an oddly contoured island off our starboard side and it ended up being the first land we would set our feet on, a sand bank called Bongo. The shapes we could see when we got closer were actually bushes, and the figure at one end that vaguely looked like a man fishing was actually a tree trunk and a stick. We got into the dinghy and tootled off to the sand bank and had a half hour to walk round it and explore. I managed to photograph a heron that was standing at one end but when I got too close, he flew off and landed ... at the other end. There were plenty of little holes dug by crabs and I found a large crab in one of them. There was also a large garbage bag, which somewhat spoiled the image, but we were told there was a garbage boat that collected garbage bins from the various islands. This was considered a sand bank because proper islands contain fresh water tables. We were then picked up in the dinghy after sunset (or just about) and then had another generous dinner. As it was served a bit later then usual, there was time to order a small Singaporean beer for USD5 (Maldives does not produce beer, in fact it doesn't produce much of anything, except fish) and join the others on the top deck, where there are 14 loungers, and watch the sky. Although there was a cloud cover, the moon peeked through at times, and someone with an app was able to tell us that the bright star we could see was actually Jupiter.

  

  

  

 

Tuesday, April 16, 2024: Bongo, Acho and Fehbo Reefs, Fenbo Finolhu, Maldives

After breakfast this morning, we were offered the chance to return to Bongo sand bar and experience it at low tide. Although it was hot and the sun was burning, I was happy to go back and get my feet into white sand and turquoise sea and photograph some more birds. The heron was back but flew off quickly again and I eventually chased a flock of Noddies, whose habit it was to take off, fly around and land somewhat further down the island. My fellow passengers took the opportunity to try and walk the length of the shallow water to its end, which was quite far out. Luckily for me, they all got off the main part of the sand bank and I was able to photograph it devoid of anyone but myself for the full desert island experience. I videoed the waves breaking across the sand bar and more but was ready to leave after the promised half hour.

  

  

  

  

We then continued southward into our southernmost atoll for this trip where I was told the first of today's reefs, i.e. the morning one, would be the best of the two snorkelling expeditions of the day. And although it was not as spectacular as yesterday, it was quite impressive with its overhangs, and a total of three hawksbill turtles. Then, as we were taking the dinghy back to the boat, we were joined by a humongous pod of spinner dolphins, which played and jumped and generally had fun with us. Sunil whistled at them so I joined in and this dolphin experience lasted for quite some time. The rain started in the mid afternoon before the second snorkel, the explanation of which I listened to but then did not join them and when they got back, I learned that the original plan to have a barbecue on the beach had been cancelled due to the continuing rain. This meant then that dinner was late and for the remainder of the time today I read my book and then uploaded photos in the evening, while the others socialized over drinks. There were burgers--both beef and chicken--but, as usual, far too much food in addition.

  

  

  

  

Wednesday, April 17, 2024: Kacho and Hulhidhoo Reefs, Felidhoo Island, Maldives

Luckily, the day started out bright and sunny, so we were able to disembark onto the uninhabited island we had missed last night and collect up six bags of garbage, but even so, the remaining garbage could have filled quite a few more bags. It was quite awful to see cans, plastic, and glass bottles, string, and lots and lots of tin foil, which had no doubt contained food for roasting on the various remnants of bonfires we cold see on the beach and among the bushes. Mind you, there were no signs on the beach saying one could not litter or light fires. Nor were there any trash cans into which visitors' trash could be thrown for a later collection. It was unclear whether the garbage had been produced by tourists or locals or both. When we had filled the four large garbage bags we had brought over to the island plus two more canvas bags found on the island, and after taking a group photo without the bags of garbage, we were released from our task so that we could walk round the island, which was possible, although it was not possible to walk across/through the island as there were no contiguous paths through the spiky bushes. If one ignored the patches of garbage, one could see that it was actually a very nice beach with white sand, green plants, and a turquoise sea.

  

  

  

I did not go on either snorkelling expedition today as the morning one was purported to be very similar to the one I had done yesterday and the afternoon had some lack of clarity in the water, although apparently they saw four eels, and had the accompaniment and underwater camera assistance of the captain. Instead, I worked on this travelogue, sitting in the main area beside the captain's chair so that the cabins could be cleaned, and our towels and sheets changed. After the first snorkel, as we were waiting for lunch, Sunil caught two Wahoo fish using just a trawling line and they were sliced up and served up at lunch in two separate dishes: one of sashimi (raw) and the other grilled. Its white flesh was very tasty but I think there must be masses left as both fish were very large. The fish itself took a while to die and left very bloody trails on the back deck. The deckhands and even the captain joined in the clean up to get rid of blood spatters with a hose.

  

  

  

Our treat (or at least it was for me) in the evening was to visit Felidhoo atoll by dinghy and to mingle with and meet the locals, the females all in Muslim dress. We strolled down the main street called Bodumagu and visited a souvenir shop, where I quickly bought a Maldives bracelet and a fridge magnet for a very small price, while others stayed a bit longer, delaying our village visit. Sunil pointed out a few fruits hanging on the trees and various buildings, such as the hospital, the school, and the mosque, and explained the writing system of Dhivehi. I was told their standard greeting was the same as Arabic: Salaam Aleikum. I tried it out twice and the locals responded accordingly and smiled. One young woman wanted to take a selfie with me, but instead I got one of our lot to photograph us together with my cell phone. I don't think that was what she was expecting, but never mind. We were told only that we could not photograph any children on their own; their parents had to be present.

  

  

  

After we had managed to drag the few remaining members of our group out of the souvenir shop, we continued our tour of the small island, and after getting to the end of the main street, down which locals were driving motorcycles or riding bicycles, we walked along the beach and photographed various things and people we saw. There were large crabs scurrying along the sand, and a heron standing on a vertical stick, as well as a couple of palm trees leaning over or even lying in the water. We took a group photo on one of these oddly lying palm trees with the heron in the background. We also saw fishermen in the water fishing with rods and reels whilst hanging onto a type of individual floating device. Arriving back at the pier where the dinghy had dropped us off, the first group of seven headed back to the ship on the dinghy, while the rest of us stayed behind. I wandered off to the park with Sunil's permission to take a few more photos as the sun was going down and saw a rabbit hopping in front of me when I exited the park. Apparently, the only land animals that the Maldives contains are bats, cats, rats and rabbits! We will have another land visit tomorrow on another island for a slightly longer time and will be allowed to wander round on our own, which should be good. I should mention here that on viewing another of the live-aboard boats hired by the same tour company as the one we are traveling with, I commented on the fact that I would be on it next week but found out that, in fact, I would be on the Sea Farer once again next week, with the same crew, but a different tour leader. So once again my travel agent has failed me, first by booking my return flight a day earlier than was possible as the tour would not have been over yet (and consequently causing me to pay an additional change fee to change it) and now, not checking with the tour company that next week would be the exact same trip as this week. I was fooled by the fact that their website showed a different itinerary picture-wise. Sunil explained that the other boat we had seen was smaller, had only one deck of cabins, fit only eight passengers, also had no wi-fi, and offered a similar itinerary to this one, but left on a Friday to Thursday and not Sunday to Saturday. Ah well, I had thought it had sounded too good to be true but this travel company really should have been on the ball and told me (or at least my travel agent should have double checked) that the two weeks were the same so that I could have done something else during my second week, like staying in a hotel in Malé or even at a not-so-expensive resort, if that is even a possibility and not an oxymoron.

  

   

Thursday, April 18, 2024: Keyodhoo Shipwreck, Alimatha Reef, Fulidhoo Island, Maldives

Once again I chose not to snorkel today. I think it is the constant bother of getting wet and dry and wet again and dry again. My hair is also becoming saltier and saltier, and stickier and stickier, despite the showers in our cabins. The others don't seem to mind, however, and take every opportunity to snorkel. After the captain had caught a grouper and descaled it on the back deck, we saw a medium sized fishing boat pass by and hang around the area where we had anchored. This morning's snorkel was to a shipwreck and apparently they saw lots of surgeon fish to which they fed bananas, while during the afternoon's snorkel they saw sharks and another hawksbill turtle. Toward the end of the day, we dinghied over to Fulidhoo Island, a larger island than yesterday, long and skinny, where we were able to photograph flowers, people, cats, swings, funny little webbed seats, murals, plenty more election signs, and entered another souvenir shop, where I bought a colourful little bag made from coconut shells to carry around my neck. At sunset, photographing silhouettes of people was possible and I also photographed a group of four secondary school girls with their permission. They posed in the way all young people of their age do. Again, I waited to be in the second and final group to be transported back to our dhoni so as to stay the longest time possible on land. At dinner, we ate the grouper, which was quite bony. We had been assigned seats by Sunil for this dinner, and I was asked to sit at the far end, with two other women, one of the Americans and the Northern English woman, and after a bit of a lull from our fresh fruit course, a freshly baked and iced chocolate birthday cake was produced, not to celebrate my birthday specifically, which is tomorrow, but to celebrate two other birthdays as well (hence the three of us at one end of the table), one celebrating on Saturday the 20th, the day we leave, and another on April 23, next week. The unique thing about the cake is that we each had a candle to blow out and the words “Happy Birthday” were written on the top in red icing in Dhiveli language. Now, how many North Americans can boast that, I wonder! After dinner, from 9:00 to 10:00 p.m., there was an opportunity to return to Fulidhoo Island to watch a cultural event, an all-male drumming/dancing show called Boduberu, but for some reason I chose not to go. Perhaps it was just the fact that I wasn't comfortable traveling in a small boat at night or having my ears assailed with drums, but four of us passengers stayed behind and chatted quietly on deck. I heard later that it was quite crowded because it was also a chance for the local candidates for next Sunday's election to give last minute campaign speeches, which I probably would have found boring. But also of course it is difficult to photograph in low light, so I didn't think I would be able to take any worthwhile photos, though, as I said, there were reportedly masses of locals there including children.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

   

Friday, April 19, 2024: Shark Point, Manta Point, Coral Garden, Lagoon Sand Bank, Maldives

I awoke on my birthday to the sound and shaking of the boat motoring into position, and, on going upstairs after my shower, found we were anchored at Shark Point where there were obviously masses of sharks, in fact a shiver of nurse sharks and therefore not dangerous. They were quite visible from above the water and I got some good photos. However, the objective from Sunil's point of view was to photograph us in the water with the sharks. Like I said, I had just had my morning shower so wasn't about to get into the water again, but I photographed the others and was sufficiently awed by the experience. There were masses of smaller fish called ramores too--though I also found the spelling “remoras” when Googling them. They have a symbiotic relationship with sharks, in addition to other sea creatures. And all this before breakfast!

  

  

After breakfast then, around 10:00 a.m. or so, we went out in the dinghy and this time I was geared up as I felt this would be my ultimate snorkelling trip in the Maldives at least. We were at a shallow reef area and another boat and group were nearby but had wandered off away from the reef, so our captain guessed they were seeing Manta rays. Therefore, instead of beginning with the reef, we headed over to so-called Manta Point, where, unfortunately, underwater visibility was compromised, perhaps due to the other boat having stirred up the water. The captain of our boat was in the water with us and the dinghy driver, Imran, from Bangladesh, tried his best to head the manta rays our way. I believe there were a total of three, though I saw two in the rather murky water, one near the top of the water. Another was pointed out to me by the captain but I still couldn't see anything. Finally, I felt Sunil grab my hand to pull me forward and he then pointed to the bottom of the sea floor and finally I spied the second creature. My memory is that the manta rays I had seen in the South Pacific, near Bora Bora, (or was it Moorea?) had been much more amazing in much clearer water. Whenever I have been asked this week what my impressions of underwater Maldives are, I often found myself citing my experience in the South Pacific, which to me had been far more impressive and, dare I say, “awesome” compared to the Maldives. Strange that ... when I had been often told that the Maldives was the best in the entire world, and one reason why I had been hankering to come here for so long.

  

  

We then got back onto the dinghy by its small, short ladder, and motored back to the coral reef and fell backwards over the side of the dinghy into the water. Although the number of fish was impressive, and there were masses of schools of small, colourful fish as well as many unicorn fish, there was also a large amount of dead coral, and the majority of the larger coral were table coral and therefore less colourful than the other coral garden I had been so impressed with on Monday. The most impressive sighting over which we lingered for a long time was an octopus, which was far down and looked like a black blob to me, but it came out and rushed back into its coral hideaway several times and some of us saw its colours change. This ended up being a fairly long snorkel, so we had clearly all built up resistance and strength and swam back to the main boat this time climbing up by the much easier ladder, although personally I bumped my head hard on the rope leading to the anchor twice and finally Sunil had to stop me from swimming under the boat by mistake on my progress toward the ladder. After lunch, we motored quite a way, and spent the time reading out loud, a chapter or two each among 6 or 7 of us, of a mystery novel that one of us had found on board called Murder in the Maldives by Sanchita Sarin, finally anchoring just outside a resort, and our last sandbank called Lagoon Sand Bank, with the high-rises of Malé visible in the distance. Unfortunately, we were not alone on said sand bank as a party of locals was enjoying an outing, having erected a large umbrella, and all were in swimming costumes for a family party. We did not disturb them, however, and just did our thing, photographing Noddies, enjoying the feel of the cool turquoise water, the white coral sand, the sound of the waves, and the horizon of blue skies and white clouds touching the darker cerulean blue of the deeper ocean. I videoed our final return to the dhoni (which I learned just means 'boat' in the local language). After another shower, I paid my bar bill and bought a small can of Singaporean Tiger lager to celebrate my birthday in my own way and enjoyed (or actually not so much enjoyed to be honest) our final dinner, which was Maldivian style and far too spicy for my taste. I merely sampled small bites of each dish but suffered from burning lips nonetheless. Afterwards, music was played over the sound system and some of the women danced. I slipped away 10ish to my bed, although I believe the rest stayed on for another hour or so. As for Murder in the Maldives, it is set in an actual Maldivian resort called Emerald, and some of us have decided to buy a copy at the airport book store, should we find it, of course. Otherwise we'll likely never find out who killed who and why.

  

Saturday, April 20, 2024: Humalé to Hulhumalé, Maldives

I am expecting this will be my last morning on this boat as I really hope I can find an alternative for next week. The humidity and mustiness of the bathroom is starting to get to me but I still don't have a clue where I will be or what I will be doing from tomorrow at 10:00 a.m., at which time I should ordinarily be back at the pier at the airport waiting to get back on the dinghy to return to Sea Farer and experience a repeat of this week, albeit with a different tour guide and a different set of passengers. However, let me backtrack. I hinted to you in my write up for Thursday that I had learned that I would not be transferring to a different dhoni next week or experiencing a new part of the Maldives as I had believed when I had booked my second week in the Maldives. No one had bothered to point out to me--and here I refer to my travel agent and the tour company, both of whom had had ample time as I had made the booking back in August 2023--that I had in fact booked the exact same trip for two weeks in a row. Disappointed, as of Thursday my mind had started working furiously, working out all my options internally. I had decided that: A. I could come back on board and repeat this week's itinerary with a new set of fellow travelers as previously planned and not lose any money; B. I could fly home on Sunday morning (provided of course there was space on the planes I would be taking) for the cost of a flight change, and forego the cost of next week; C. I could stay in a hotel all week in Malé and forego the cost of next week on the boat, probably a low cost hotel could be found and I could experience the capital city island in depth and get in lots of walking and people photography; or D. (the most expensive option, but then I only plan to be in the Maldives once in my life, so why not?) get the experience of staying at a Maldivian resort, i.e. what most people talk about and think about when they think of the Maldives, and of course still forego the cost of next week on the boat, though perhaps also get some work done, which was nearly impossible on the boat. Given that option D appealed to me the most, I first talked to my fellow passengers from England, two of whom were travel agents and were including the experience of two resorts during their Maldives visit, one of them, an adults-only one last week before getting on the boat, and the other next week after getting off the boat. They told me about their experience from last week. The other older couple from Northern England spoke about the resort they had booked for next week, which looked good too, though I said I would make sure not to go to their resort so as to leave them in peace (they had booked the full over-the-water-bungalow experience to celebrate her birthday.) Next, I talked to Sunil, asking if he had any friends who could recommend a resort for me for next week. He quickly took up the challenge and contacted three people, but their replies were slow in coming given that it was already Thursday evening by then and Friday would be a holiday in the Maldives (like Sunday in the Western world). I must say I practiced extreme patience over the rest of Thursday and all of Friday as I waited for news. I also spent a few hours online looking at possibilities, comparing prices and locations. I found I could book the Holiday Inn resort easily enough, being a member of their hotel program and having points, but it was quite far away and the transportation alone would be expensive. I was favouring the Sheraton/Marriot resort, which was fairly close to Malé, although their prices too were not all that affordable. I was moreover told that this was the low season and I should be able to bargain for a last minute deal.

Of the three people Sunil had contacted, only one replied, asking what my budget was and suggesting the Adaaran Select Hudhuran Fushi, which according to their website is “an island paradise with one of the best left-hand surf break points in the world ... nestled on one of the oldest natural islands in the Maldives,” her only suggestion, which was not an adults-only so would have children, but it was an all-inclusive and within my budget. The snag?--there is always a snag, right?--she did not have a credit card machine and could only take a cash payment. Another reason was that since this was a last minute booking, had I paid by credit card she claimed it would take a week to get from my bank to hers. In any case, alarm bells started ringing in my head. Cash payment? These days? When most places use cards only? However, she had been found by Sunil, who had certainly built up trust with me over the last week. I later learned that he had contacted his cousin who had recommended this travel agent, or perhaps it was a friend of Sunil's whose cousin was the travel agent. In any case, there was a relationship of some kind among these three persons. I then returned to my own research and couldn't find anything cheaper for an all-inclusive (confusingly also abbreviated 'AI') resort so I accepted the offer. He put me in touch with her via WhatsApp and I explained about my current finances and that I would have to use my emergency cash plus withdraw some money from my bank account via my ATM card to make up the cost of what she had quoted. The unknown here was just how much money I would be allowed to withdraw. I told her I would check once I was at my hotel and had access to my account, thus postponing my decision until today. She said that once I was in Hulhumalé, she could meet me at my hotel.

So, now to continue with our last moments on the boat, our final bag packing, final breakfast, despite the fact that I still wasn't sure if I would be back on the boat, in fact, tomorrow if this resort plan doesn't work out. I said good-bye to everyone anyway and we were transferred by the dinghy to the pier on the airport island, Humalé. The Brits were whisked off to their respective resorts, the New Zealanders and the German woman to the airport lounge, and the Americans and me to the taxi stand. I was unaware that I had already paid for an airport-to-hotel transfer through my hotel but the fare was only USD10. Finally at my hotel, I had of course arrived too early for check-in, so was asked to wait in the hotel restaurant for a little over an hour with a complementary cup of coffee and wi-fi access. Once the previous occupants of my room had checked out and left and the room cleaned, I was invited to occupy it. It was fairly basic with two single beds and no desk to work from, so I was forced to sit on my bed to open my laptop after I had connected to my room wi-fi, which was different from that of the restaurant. I should add here that I also asked the Hulhumalé hotel manager if he had any contacts who could book me a resort. He put me in touch with one young fellow who works with two resort hotels. I managed to call one of them (the other resort never answered) and they said they could take credit card payment, but the price they quoted was a lot higher, so I turned them down. Fate seemed to be telling me to accept this one with the travel agent Sunil had found for me, despite the dodgy cash deal, so I told the latter agent my daily ATM limit, and consequently decided I would not be able to book six nights as originally quoted but could probably manage five nights and stay one more night in Hulhumalé. I informed her which hotel I was at and that the hotel had told me ATMs were quite far away. She said she would come to me and take me to an ATM on her scooter. So that was where we stood. By then it was lunch time so I told her I was going down to the restaurant to lunch and we could meet afterwards. It's lucky I had brought a book with me because it took one hour exactly between making my order and receiving it. Mind you, it was a small restaurant, there was already a group of about eight Asians--they were speaking neither Chinese nor Japanese so I never figured out where they were from--who had ordered before me, and what seemed like only one cook and one server.

After working on my computer for a bit after lunch, I finally received a message that the travel agent was on her way, so I went downstairs to meet her outside. She recognised me--I had had to send her a photo of my passport to book the resort--and introduced me to her husband who was driving the scooter and asked me if I wouldn't mind if he drove me to the ATM. I said that was fine and did they have a helmet I could wear? They said yes. They had one helmet between them. So I slipped that on, climbed on the scooter behind her husband, who asked me to put my hands on his shoulders, and off we went, along the streets full of traffic, the majority of which were other scooters, and arrived at a branch of the Maldivian main bank. I tried the ATM several times but was told it exceeded my limit. Although we had worked out what the equivalency in Maldivian currency was, we hadn't factored in the local bank fee. Having tried three times, the husband offered to drive me to a different bank, the Islamic Bank, and I tried there five times for gradually lower amounts but there too I had no luck. Finally, we went back to the first bank and I managed on first try to take out an amount that was lower than we had figured and although it wasn't the amount the travel agent had asked for, she accepted it, no doubt to counter the great hassle and inconvenience she had put me through. We then returned to my hotel and sat in the restaurant again while she wrote out an invoice and its receipt on her laptop and they bought me a smoothie. She promised to send me the resort voucher (for me to present to the resort on arrival) and the resort confirmation number that evening. Feeling a little better, but not entirely, since they now had all my money, and I had only a receipt to show for it, I decided to go for a walk and discover the island of Hulhumalé, now that it was a little cooler. I walked along the beach and took a few photos and realised that the island was constructed of reclaimed sand, that among the buildings that were fairly new, though not of any great construction either, reminiscent of quickly constructed buildings in Hong Kong and China, were other buildings in the midst of construction. There were not many tourists, and those I saw were mostly Asian. There was garbage on the beach, but many locals hanging out, sitting around, picnicking, and, I suppose, doing what they were used to doing on a Saturday night. There were also masses of election posters, being the eve of the parliamentary elections, and a number of cafés and coffee shops, but I wasn't hungry and forewent dinner, choosing instead to return to my hotel room. At that point, I received a message from the hotel manager from this morning saying that he had sold my room at the hotel for tomorrow night since I hadn't confirmed it but he could help me find a room at another hotel if I wanted. He had one in mind around the corner and suggested I look up their price on line. I did so and then called them to check they had a room. I was told yes but that I would have to go round there and pay for it right away. So, accompanied by the first hotel's receptionist, I went round to the second hotel and they offered to show me the room in question. I had a look, liked it, and paid for it. On returning to my current hotel room, I watched a Netflix movie I had downloaded a week ago, though I grew tired and only watched about half of it. Before turning off my light around 9:30, I noted that there was no confirmation yet from the travel agent, yet (surprisingly) I was able to sleep soundly.

  

  

  

Sunday, April 21, 2024: Hulhumalé, Maldives

Today started out being rather stressful but it got better. I woke at 3:00 a.m. to find a message from the local travel agent saying that the resort was confirmed but she still needed my departure flight details, which I WhatsApped to her right away. I was up at 7:50 a.m. but there was still no news from her. I messaged her for news and went to have my shower and wash my hair. When I came out of the bathroom there was still nothing from her, but there was a message from Sunil asking if I had received confirmation about the resort or was I coming back to the boat because, if so, I would need to be at the pier at 10:00 a.m. I told him I was still waiting for the printed confirmation from the resort via the travel agent and asked him if he might like to give her a nudge. He did so and she texted and then called me to confirm once again that all was well but that being a holiday she had slept in. Suffice it to say, I then spent an agonizing time, wondering what my fate would be. Had I in fact been scammed or were things going to go my way? There were more WhatsApp phone conversations in the breakfast room with the travel agent, and then with Sunil, and finally with Sunil's boss, who was surprised to hear I wasn't going to be joining the boat because everybody else was already at the airport pier. At Sunil's request, I then wrote a message to the tour company in Canada to tell them I was cancelling the trip and the reason why, pointing out that they had not informed me that the two back-to-back trips were identical and hinting that perhaps they could do something financially to remedy their mistake. Sunil's boss then said she would call the India office and see if they could do something and also offered her help if needed. I suspect though that being a Sunday won't help the speediness of any replies whether from Canada or India, and given too that it is election day here in the Maldives, and a holiday as a result, most offices will be closed here as well. Finally, at long last, I received an email with the resort's confirmation number, and the travel agent advising me that I might seek my hotel's assistance in phoning the resort and getting oral confirmation from them that I was booked according to their lists, which I did and finally felt some relief on hearing that all was confirmed from someone other than the travel agent. In any case, I could finally breathe normally again. Meanwhile, the hotel said it would keep me abreast of my move to the second Hulhumalé hotel today, and would help me with my bags. In the meantime, I received an email from the tour company asking me to fill out their survey regarding the two trips I had taken (Sri Lanka and the Maldives Explorer) so that took some time, and I mentioned once again the two identical dhoni trips that I had booked based on their web information, and which their Canadian office had never commented on. I packed and then waited for the phone call telling me I could check out of my current hotel and move over to the neighbouring Avoca Inn.

When I arrived at said Inn at 12:30ish, in extremely humid, mid-day heat, accompanied by two staff members from Hotel78 carrying my bags, I was told I could have the exact same room I had been shown yesterday evening, which has a double bed (instead of two singles) and, in fact, is slightly higher quality than Hotel78. The room's TV even offers Netflix and several other streaming channels of the same ilk. Soon after settling in, I realised it was lunch time and had asked whether they served meals in their small restaurant right next to the reception. I was told yes, but for a long time, I was the only customer, though two of the Asian women from yesterday's lunch at the other hotel came in to order something near the end of my meal. There was a TV screen at one end of the restaurant showing videos of various snorkelling trips and a couple of the resorts, and I realised I had in fact seen everything they showed as far as sea life was concerned with the exception of a whale shark, though from what I understood from Sunil, this type of sighting is a fairly rare occurrence. I realised too that I had rather missed out on not going on all the snorkelling opportunities on offer last week, although, to be fair, I was imagining during the week that I might well be repeating every single snorkelling spot and if I didn't leave some for next week, I would be completely bored from seeing the exact same things. Hindsight is 20/20 they say. So I was in a somewhat more relaxed mood after lunch, which again was slow--I had to wait 45 minutes for the first course despite my being the only customer and they didn't have a lot of the things that were listed on the menu so I didn't get my first choice. Moreover, the rather young and (I was told new) waitress brought me my dessert before my first course so I had to send it back. It was good thing she had had the foresight to stick it in the freezer so that it wouldn't melt in the interim.

I should add, too, that I was hoping to take a Malé city tour but was told they were not operating today, election day. Instead, at one point this morning, I was offered a taxi to take me into town (Malé) for a private tour for an hour at a reasonable price, but later I was informed that that wouldn't be possible either because due to it being election day, there were curfews and areas that were cordoned off. So, since I had time to kill and nowhere to go, and according to the receptionist here, there is nothing much to do in Hulhumalé anyway, added to the fact that the hotel spa is under renovation and many other things are closed for the (election) holiday, I sat down at my desk (yet another advantage this hotel has over the one I was in yesterday) and got caught up in my travelogue. I still have all my photos from Sri Lanka and the Maldives live-aboard trip to process, so I'll have my work cut out for me over the next few days at the resort. Also, at lunch, as I was browsing through my phone, waiting for my meal to arrive, I found a very colourful island under Lonely Planet's website called Maafushi so my goal is to find out if the resort offers a trip to that place--given that it is apparently the “Leading Local (inhabited) Tourism Island of the Maldives” and located in this same atoll. Fingers crossed!

Monday, April 22, 2024: Hulhumalé to Adaaran Select Hudhuran Fushi, Maldives

After showering and putting on my antepenultimate clean dress (bought in Reunion, incidentally), I went down to a meagre breakfast, where I found consumable items in warming dishes but not warm. After checking once again on the timing of my transfer to the airport, I returned to my room to send some more emails and to provide a sample translation for a new children's book translation from Spanish about an Emperor penguin in the Antarctic with an underlying theme about climate change. A suggestion/request for its translation had arrived from its author last night. I then worked on my travelogue. Just before 12:00, I checked out and a driver and car were ready to take me and my luggage to the airport. There I found the resort counter and confirmed once more that my name was on their list. They put luggage tags on my bags and asked me to sit in a waiting area by a number of restaurants. I let my travel agent know where I was located via WhatsApp, and she arrived a few minutes later. I took the opportunity to ask her about Maldivian politics and economics. She said foreign workers were paid about USD200 a month, which made me wonder about the disparity when tourists were asked to pay USD400 and up per day. Somebody must be reaping all the rewards. She then explained that these wages were what workers from mostly Asian countries would receive as this amount compared favourably with what they would earn in their own countries, while employees from Western countries who worked at the resorts would likely receive around USD1000 per month plus room and board, though she was not completely sure about these figures. She said that my resort was one of a chain and owned by Sri Lankans. She confirmed that she had checked out three other resorts, including the Sheraton, at Sunil's request, but that the one I had booked was the one with the most economical price. She also mentioned that had this not been within my budget, she would have suggested I stay at an ordinary hotel on the island of Maafushi, the one I had looked up yesterday. I told her I would have liked to have had that option because it looked interesting and colourful. She explained that it was a local island inhabited by locals and I would not have been able to wear a bikini (not that I would have anyway) but instead would have had to conform to local rules, so no drinking of alcoholic beverages either, although for those people who wished to do so there were various floating bars one could go out to sea on, and drink to their hearts' content.

  

  

  

The speedboat was finally ready to take us on board. There were other people taking the same boat, including two couples with one small child each, otherwise the rest were adult couples--I heard German, Russian, and Spanish being spoken. A couple of very large surfboards also came on board and these appeared to belong to a group of very tall Australians. Those who had booked the over-water bungalows were greeted first and clearly had special treatment with a butler each. I was introduced to my butler--or perhaps butleress--a young woman with braces on her teeth who seemed to be butlering for a few of us. I heard her speaking French to another couple, who were clearly from France, and asked her how many languages she spoke and she said three. We were encouraged to go and eat our lunch first at the buffet in a thatched roof building with a floor of sand, which was OK, but did not provide that many choices for the size of the resort, I thought. I then returned to reception--also with a floor of sand--and got my key and then I and another party were driven in a golf cart to our respective beach huts. When I arrived and opened my door, I was impressed with the size--bigger than a cabin on a cruise ship--and the view of the beach, but surprised when I opened the door to the bathroom to see that it was actually partly inside and partly outside. That is to say, half of it was under a ceiling while the rest was open to the elements, albeit surrounded by a high wall, and contained a toilet, a sink, and two showers, one with a ceiling and the other open to the sky. There was also a washing line which I was glad to see because I had been looking forward to washing some clothes, it not being possible to do so these last two weeks apart from small things. Consequently, after unpacking, the first thing I did was a hand wash of about a third of my laundry. We shall see how long it takes to dry and possibly I will wash more things tomorrow and the next day. Although the room itself is nicely air conditioned and there is also a ceiling fan, whenever I am in the so-called bathroom, it is muggy, and the sweat constantly pours down my face. I honestly don't know how anybody foreign (i.e. not born into this climate) stands it. Sri Lankans may, I suppose, but those from Nepal are surely used to colder weather, like me, and must suffer the same as me.

  

  

After I had finished my laundry, I decided to walk around the island and get a sense of where things were located. I found that the majority of huts were like mine with a few called garden huts and then an entire gated section with a wooden walkway for the over-water bungalows. I asked the man at the gate if I could enter just to photograph but he denied me access. Consequently, I walked a few more yards and photographed said bungalows from the beach. There are hammocks, swings, and sunbeds everywhere on the beach and guests in various forms of undress but the water looks inviting. I photographed a couple of animals on the way--mainly lizards, and bats. Next, I came to a beach grill restaurant and bar, and after that the watersports centre where they are selling all sorts of activities for very exorbitant prices so I won't be indulging in any of them. Continuing on, I came to the main reception area with ping pong and pool tables, and shops for souvenirs and beach wear, as well as advertising for the spa. Once again, the prices are outrageous, so I won't be going to the spa either. They also have some kind of Chinese wellness centre, which I didn't bother to check out and a medical centre. I finally arrived at the far end of the island, which is the surfing area. I watched the surfers for a while, ordered a drink from the bar as it was after 5:30, and watched a rather spectacular sunset. In the midst of my reveries, a parakeet flew toward me out of the blue and settled on my shoulder. Asking some of the staff, who were perambulating around the island on bicycles, if this were someone's pet, because surely it was not native to Maldives, he confirmed it was and said it would not bite me. I stayed until the sun went down and read my book for a while. Then I returned to the reception area at dusk by the light of what I think they call tiki lamps, but found out that dinner at the buffet would not be until 7:30, so I read my book in the reception area and asked my butler who was behind the reception desk if I could visit Malé tomorrow. She said yes and that a boat would be leaving for Malé at 8:00 a.m. Since breakfast starts at 7:30, I told her that would be fine and returned to my room after dinner. I watched something on Netflix on my laptop until my eyes got too heavy and then turned it off and went to sleep.

  

 

Tuesday, April 23, 2024: Adaaran Select Hudhuran Fushi - Malé - Adaaran Select Hudhuran Fushi, Maldives

I was up early and showered and then walked to the reception the long way round the island, which took me 23 minutes. Along the way, I met about five young men in blue uniforms, who were raking up the leaves that had fallen from the trees during the last 24 hours from the sand around the huts. I said good morning to each of them but received no reply from any. I thought it a little rude because I had been greeting other staff in beige uniforms last night and they had all wished me a good evening in reply. Having had my breakfast at the buffet, I then got to the pier by 8:00. I took the resort's speedboat back to the airport pier, imagining my travel agent's surprise to see me back there less than 24 hours after seeing me off (not that she was there of course), and noticing that the last five people to get in were the five lads in blue who had been raking up the leaves. I realised then that they were probably living in Malé and had been hired solely to go out every morning to rake up leaves and probably did not in fact speak any English. If I see them again, I shall greet them in Arabic/Dhiveli instead, and see if I get a better reaction! Disembarking from the speedboat, I headed toward the resort stand my butler had told me to go to, but was called back to the speedboat by the boat crew because after dropping off some passengers at the airport it was then taking me to Malé proper. (My butler had not given me the correct information, clearly!). When I then disembarked in Malé, along with a family of three, it appeared we were both taking tours. My private guide was English-speaking, called Ibrahim, and for the first two hours, he did a good job of taking me to the President's office and home (apparently the current president is a man of the people and goes about town very unassumingly by foot), the oldest mosque (from the 1600s perhaps) and cemetery of ancient kings, as well as other mosques and gardens, and then leading me through the fruit and vegetable market, the fish market, and finally to two souvenir shops. Then, since he understood finally that I wasn't interested in buying souvenirs, given my replies to the vendors, and clearly didn't know what else to do with me, told me I had free time to wander around on my own, which I would be able to do safely and that if I needed directions, people in general were very friendly and helpful. I understood I was to be back at the pier by 1:00 because my boat back to the resort would be at 1:30. He then directed me down the main shopping street, told me to turn left at the 7th street and head toward the beach from where I would be able to see the joint Maldivian-Chinese bridge construction joining Malé to Humalé, and then turn left again back to the speedboat pier. The time was now 10:30 a.m. which gave me three hours in very hot and muggy weather. Thinking the tour was all-inclusive and not having brought either cash or credit card with me, I did thankfully have plenty of water with me, a towel to wipe the sweat off my face, and a book to read once I found a shady spot to sit after photographing all I could until I had exhausted both camera batteries!

  

  

  

  

  

After stopping at the beach with the view of the aforementioned bridge to sit down in the shade for a while, and later on, having passed the ferry building on my way back, in addition to a large, modern, blue mosque, visible from the airport, I met a vendor collecting tickets for the ferry to Maafushi, of all places. I asked him about the schedule and how much it cost and he said tickets and the schedule were found in the ferry terminal but that it was USD25 per trip and he could also take cash. I thanked him and stored the information for a later day this week, happy to have found the solution to visiting Maafushi. At 12:00 noon, just as the call to prayer was taking place, I arrived back at the pier, where I understood I would eventually meet up with Ibrahim. This gave me an hour to wait, I thought. Finding a seat among Maldivians under a tree across the street from the pier, as noisy scooters whizzed by, I people watched and took a couple of photos on a low phone battery, read my book, drank my water, and wiped my face frequently. At 1:00, I got up and sauntered over to the pier looking everywhere for Ibrahim, and at all young men with white shirts as he had been wearing. Realising at 1:30 he wasn't turning up, and not seeing any boat from my resort, finally texted my butler on a very low battery to tell her I was waiting for the boat at the pier, my tour guide having abandoned me at 10:30, that I had been waiting since 12:00 and had very little battery left. Could she help? Luckily, she saw my message and told me she would send a boat to pick me up. The boat arrived very quickly and took me back to the airport where we waited for a new group of tourists to arrive at the pier fresh from their flight. It then drove us all back to the resort. It was now 2:30 and the lunch buffet was closed. I was directed over to the beach grill and dropped by my hut on the way to wash and grab my phone charger. When I got to the beach grill and asked about lunch, I was told that it, too, was over and they were now setting up for a special dinner. Frustrated that I was spending so much money for an all-inclusive resort and they couldn't find lunch for me, I walked away grumbling. Luckily a fellow guest, an English woman, hearing our exchange, caught up with me and explained that the beach grill did have an à la carte menu of sandwiches, which was really all I was looking for, so I came back to the restaurant and ordered a perfectly sized sandwich and fruit juice. I also asked the waiter if he could charge up my phone and he consequently asked the bartender to plug it in. Later, when I felt refreshed, I asked for my phone back, and found out that the bartender, too, was Nepalese. Unfortunately, on retrieving my phone, he left the main adaptor in the plug so I will have to go back tomorrow to see if it's still there. I couldn't be bothered to venture back there right away as it is at the opposite end of this island.

  

  

  

  

I next headed to the reception because my butler had told me there would be a Maldivian cultural event from 3:30 to 6:00 p.m. She had texted me last night about it, especially since I had asked her yesterday if we would be having a Bodu Beru performance, so I was looking forward to it. Imagine my disappointment then, when I found out that the so-called cultural event was not music, drumming, and dancing, but instead merely a display of handicrafts. (Strike two against my butler for misdirecting me and misunderstanding my request.) I headed back to my hut, and worked on my travelogue until dinner time, which I had at the regular buffet restaurant. On the way back to my hut, I was given a ride by a fair-skinned, fair-haired young woman in a golf cart so, curious, I asked what nationality she was and she said half Russian and half Ukrainian. I queried her as to the percentage of Russians who visited the resort, and she told me that this week there were only about ten but before the conflict there had been many more. I told her spasiba for the lift and wished her dosvadanya, surprising her considerably. I finished out my evening watching my continued Netflix series on my phone as I had packed my laptop away and couldn't be bothered to get it out again.

  

  

  

  

Wednesday, April 24, 2024: Adaaran Select Hudhuran Fushi, Maldives

Although I had booked an island visit, my butler texted me last night to say that it had been cancelled because there weren't enough people signed up for it. Disappointed because I had, in fact, checked that it was going ahead with the receptionist after dinner last night especially, I texted her this morning to let her know what my goals were for this week, telling her that I wasn't a typical resort tourist who enjoyed lying around all day on a sunbed in a bikini, that I had already spent a week on a live-aboard and had seen all the exotic fish and other creatures Maldives had to offer, so wasn't planning to do any snorkelling at the resort either, or in fact go on their dolphin trip, both of which were offered free within my booking. I told her I was a travel photographer and gave her a link to my website to indicate that what I was telling her was true, and she said she would see what she could do about island visits with her manager. I indicated that I was particularly interested in Maafushi and had learned yesterday in Malé that it was only a matter of getting a speedboat back to Malé and then getting a ferry to that island, which to me seemed pretty straight-forward. Basically, all she had to do was book me a seat on their speedboats between the resort and Malé and back again the same day. If she wanted to earn a little more she could arrange booking on the ferries for me too. Well, I shouldn't have to tell her how to do her job, I figure. Up and showered, I went to breakfast and came back still puzzled by the bird calls I constantly hear here. I asked one staff member which bird was making these sounds and he just said they were from the black birds I saw flying around, which I thought were merely crows. I am wondering now whether they are the cuckoos (Asian koels) I had seen in India back in December: black birds with red eyes. I have not yet seen any close enough to examine their eyes, however. I searched for Asian koel bird sounds on my phone and bingo! That was exactly it!

I tried reading my book outside on my beach hut patio for a while, but the heat was too great even at that early hour in the morning and so came inside to work on my travelogue. To my great surprise at 10:00 a.m., I received a call in my room from reception asking me why I hadn't turned up at the pier for my visit to the island. I told them my butler had texted me last night to tell me it was cancelled because there weren't enough people. They said I could have gone by myself. I commented that there was clearly a miscommunication between reception and my butler and asked them to book it for me for tomorrow instead. They said they would. I then texted my butler to tell her and she then talked to reception and told me it was cancelled but they had arranged a boat for me nevertheless. She confirmed that I can go tomorrow even if I am still the only one to go. I thanked her and said the only thing left to do then was to arrange for a trip to Maafushi for Friday. She still said she would have to talk to her manager about that. Soon after that conversation, the cleaning staff came to clean my room. I had forgotten that when I got up this morning I had seen a large centipede crawling across the floor in my room and had put a coffee cup upside down over it so that it could be disposed of later. I realised after a while that the person cleaning my room must surely have seen it and asked him. He said he had seen it and removed it. I just hope it doesn't find its way inside again. Geckos I don't mind so much as they tend to keep to themselves and eat insects, but creepy crawlies ... who knows where they might go. As a result, I am now checking my footwear for unwanted inhabitants every time I put them on.

For lunch, I decided to walk to the far end of the island to the surfers' area again and have one of their pizzas. Finding myself among a group of French families there, I ordered a vegetarian thin crust and very nice it was too. On my return to my hut, feeling so hot and tired, I indulged in a nap under my air conditioning and fan. I set my alarm to remind myself of my next appointment. Luckily the weather had cooled down significantly and there was even a nice breeze. As my stay included either a snorkelling trip or a sunset cruise, I had decided to sign up for the sunset cruise this evening and met at reception for 5:30 along with another dozen or so resort guests including children. We were then led to a traditional wooden boat painted in orange, not a speedboat, operated by a wizened man with poor teeth and his assistant, a youngish bearded man in glasses. Led inside, although there were stairs up to the top deck, which did not look safe to me, we sat on benches along the sides of the boat, which was operated by an outboard motor spewing black exhaust--not so good for the environment, I thought. Well when I think of other sunset cruises I have experienced in the past, I think of complimentary snacks and alcoholic drinks, but these were non existent. I also think of lovely burnished gold skies ... also non existent, unfortunately. Although there was a patch of sky visible on the horizon and a pale pink could just about be distinguished, the rest of the sky was covered in clouds. The boat itself did not cruise exactly either, it merely drove out into the Indian Ocean a bit of a way toward the horizon and then sat there rolling in the waves. There was no ambiance at all and at one stage I got off my patch of bench to flick a cockroach off it onto the floor of the boat. I felt lucky I had brought my book with me and therefore had something to do to while away the time. When I later pointed out the fact that there had not really been a sunset, the Ukrainian/Russian butler told me I could do it again tomorrow night. Hmm, not much point really.

After the so-called cruise, I went to the reception area to read and wait for dinner, then checked on my boat trip for tomorrow and this time the receptionist told me it had been cancelled. Feeling extremely frustrated, I sat back down in the reception area and texted my travel agent in Malé to ask if she could perhaps intervene because I really wanted to go to an island, get off this one, and see something different and they kept promising I could go but then told me I couldn't. I also told her my theory about what I perceived to be the simplicity for me to visit Maafushi. After I had sent that text and was waiting for an answer, the Russian/Ukrainian butleress came to talk to me and asked me if everything was alright. I told her well, no, not really, and I explained my frustration about the confirmed-and-then-cancelled island visits. She said she would look into it for me and let me know after dinner. On the dot of 7:30, I went off to the buffet but didn't really have much of an appetite. I checked with reception again and was told they were trying to convince another family to go to the island so that there would be at least the minimum of two persons required. They said my butler would text me before 10 p.m. Meanwhile, I had received a flurry of messages from the Malé travel agent saying that she had called the front desk manager of the resort and explained things to them. Soon after 8:00, I received a text from my butler saying that my trip to the island was still going ahead--it was as if none of the above had ever happened--and to be at reception at 9:40 tomorrow morning. I decided to take her word for it and informed my travel agent. She said she would look up ferry times for Maafushi for a possible trip on Saturday, since tomorrow, being Friday and a holy day, no trips off island would be possible. I decided then to consider Friday as a resort day to catch up on my travelogue, my photos, and perhaps some translations, and perhaps even take a dip in the Indian Ocean.

   

Thursday, April 25, 2024: Adaaran Select Hudhuran Fushi - Thulusdhoo - Adaaran Select Hudhuran Fushi, Maldives

Feeling optimistic that all would go ahead as planned today, I turned up, after having breakfasted, at reception and found a few other people waiting. The Russian/Ukrainian butler then announced we were ready to leave and I followed her to the speedboat jetty. She told me to have a seat because I would be taking a different boat, while the remaining guests were being transferred by speedboat to the airport. Once they were off, she walked me further down the jetty to the same large orange wooden traditional boat we had taken last night for our sunset cruise. Today I was their sole passenger, so I felt very privileged indeed. We set off with the engine spewing more black exhaust across turquoise water and the two men took the opportunity to fish by trawling a seemingly unbaited fishing line out the back. And they caught something too, I realised when the engine noise abated somewhat to slow down and pull in (I almost wrote reel in, but there was no reel) a fat medium-size fish which after stunning they put into a bucket of water. Passing a few other resort islands, we arrived after a half hour or so at Thulusdhoo Island, the capital of Kaafu Atoll, some 27 km (17 miles) northeast of Malé, an 82-acre (33 ha) local-inhabited island that contains a few hotels for tourists on a budget.

  

  

  

Maasil, a young, 20-year old man, whose family owns the sole souvenir shop on this island known for its surfing reef, was there to meet me as he was to be my guide for the day. As we approached the landing area, seeing he was also sporting a white shirt, I was momentarily struck by how similar he looked to Ibrahim my guide from Malé who had abandoned me. You can no doubt understand my relief to discover he wasn't. Instead, he was very attentive and agreed with all my suggestions of where to go on the island so that I could photograph to my heart's content. He started by showing me their rebuilt mosque and then talked about how the tsunami caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake on December 26, 2004 had affected Thulusdhoo. Luckily this island had had no casualties where lives were concerned though buildings had been flooded. All this has happened before he'd been born but his parents had been affected by the subsequent floods. He showed me areas of the island that had been created from reclaimed land and there were signs of new building construction--more hotels, apparently, aimed at surfer tourists. He brought me to the far end of the island, the location of the surfing waves. I asked him what the large metal structure standing in the ocean was and he replied that it had been the judging stand for the recent Asian Surfing Championships 2023 in Maldives on July 13, 2023.

  

  

  

I then asked him what flag had been flying prominently at the pier, as it clearly wasn't the Maldivian flag. He said it was the flag of Palestine. I then started noting (and photographing) graffiti on walls supporting Palestine and wanting Israelis out because they were allegedly terrorists. Preferring to remain neutral when it comes to religion and wars, I did not comment. After visiting the surfing end of the island, we proceeded to the centre where I photographed mural art, flowers, and street scenes. I was struck by the fact that no greetings were made between him and a number of locals we met, yet surely, since the island has such a small population, everyone must know each other. Although, come to think of it, we did not meet many people and only one other group of tourists with a guide by the school soccer field. His tour having ended, we visited his souvenir shop, but not seeing anything I wanted to buy--though to be honest, in an effort to help him and his family out, I did look long and hard to find something of interest--I suggested, since we still had about an hour and a half left before we had to meet back at the boat that would return me to the resort, that we take a walk to the opposite end of the island, which from the ocean had looked to have a nice white-sand beach. He warned me that was a long walk, it was hot, and there was no cover from trees like we had had on our previous walk. I pulled out my umbrella and said I wasn't worried and liked walking. I then told him my age and he was quite surprised that someone my age would want/would be able to walk all that way! Needless to say, it was worth it. There was a lovely beach at the end after passing some fuel storage tanks and abandoned boats as well as a sand-cement plant and housing for foreign construction workers who were mainly from Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. And had we not taken that walk to the far end and then come round the island, we surely would have missed the iconic name of the island constructed of sand-cement.

  

  

  

My return to the resort was through more turquoise sea and I was back in time to grab another chicken sandwich at the beach grill accompanied by a close-up sighting and photographing of a grey heron, which appeared to be drying its wings. I should add that my travel agent in Malé, Maastha, had texted me the ferry schedule for Maafushi for Saturday, but given the complication of having luggage with me, I decided not to attempt it and to continue with my original plans for Saturday.

  

  

  

Friday, April 26, 2024: Adaaran Select Hudhuran Fushi, Maldives

As planned, I took today, Friday and a Muslim holy day, to relax, work, and read, having breakfast and dinner at the buffet and lunch back at the surfers' pizza place. At one moment, as I was relaxing and reading on my hut patio, I saw the below two creatures, a lizard--slightly less colourful this time--and Maldives' national bird, the White-breasted Waterhen (Amaurornis phoenicurus), locally known as a kanbili, which I had sighted once before on the resort grounds but it had disappeared too quickly into the undergrowth for me to photograph. In the later afternoon, I went to pay my bill for my two excursions and bought vouchers for tomorrow's lunch and dinner, since they are not covered in my resort cost. The other photo here is of the back of my hut and the solar panel that I assume provides the energy for the hut's electricity and hot water.

  

Saturday, April 27, 2024: Adaaran Select Hudhuran Fushi to Humalé, Maldives

Today, I worked until noon, at which time I was obliged to vacate my hut, and carried two of my bags myself over to reception to be stored, leaving my larger bag to be collected by golf cart. I was asked to fill out a feedback form on check out and by doing so found out all the things I could have done at the resort I had been unaware of. Ultimately, I was there for some peace and quiet and had taken all the tours to outer islands currently on offer, yet I discovered I had missed the opportunity for a complementary meal at their special buffet restaurant usually reserved for the over-the-water-bungalow guests. Oh well. I then walked over to the beach grill to have my final lunch (the yellow hibiscus here had fallen onto my table from the tree above during lunch, and as it dies turns red) and then returned to reception to retrieve my laptop and settle at a desk in the reception area to work on my translation until the mosquitoes started bothering me around 4;00 p.m. I noted that my large bag still hadn't been delivered to the reception area, and was clearly still sitting in front of my hut, vulnerable and alone! I pointed that out to reception and it appeared off a cart a few minutes later. I retrieved my insect repellent and then moved myself and my laptop to the bar by the swimming pool, which was in shade, so I could order a drink as I was feeling parched by then. I continued working on my translation, among noisy swimming pool enthusiasts until they moved on and a British group wanting their pre-dinner drinks arrived and started smoking. I consequently moved back to reception, storing my laptop there once again so I could go to the buffet for my dinner. When I returned from dinner, I noticed my large bag had disappeared. Where had it gone? Had it been taken back to my hut and put outside it, or inside it, since it still had the label stating my hut number? They said they would find out for me. Luckily, I had packed my travel clothes to change into in my backpack and asked for a towel so I could take the shower I had been offered before leaving the island. A towel was eventually found and I took my shower though felt just as hot and sweaty after it due to the muggy weather even at 8:30 p.m. On return from my shower, I was told my large bag had been put on the 7:00 p.m. speedboat and was now at the resort stand at the airport waiting for me!

Finally, I was collected at 9:00 p.m. to be accompanied to the speedboat pier. I had a final chat with my butler and discovered she was actually Moroccan, so we chatted in French and she said she wished she had known I spoke French for she didn't often get the chance to speak French at the resort. I asked her how long she had been working there and she said three months (which explains her inexperience when it came to the excursions, I thought). When asked what other languages I spoke and having listed them, she and another butler who was Sri Lankan, suggested I apply for a job there as they were in need of multilingual staff. Ha, I thought (but of course did not say), not at USD1000 a month, even if it meant living in so-called paradise! The speedboat ride to the airport in the dark seemed longer than it had been either of the other three times I had done it, but perhaps it was due to the fact that I could not see, and therefore was not mesmerized by the turquoise-water-and-white-sand-enveloped atoll islands and sandbanks. I was met at the speedboat pier at the airport by the resort's representative together with my big bag in a cart, so I heaved a sigh of relief. I then pushed said cart into the airport building and went through the luggage x-ray line. However, when I tried to find my check-in desk, I was told it would not be open for another hour and was invited to take a seat and wait. I did so until I noticed that the Qatar Airways sign had been placed in front of a check-in desk and a line of people with luggage carts was queuing. So with my bag tagged to YVR via SEA and DOH, I proceeded to the waiting area, where I worked some more on my translation and waited for my first flight to be called.

Sunday, April 28, 2024: Humalé, Maldives to Vancouver, B.C., Canada via Doha, Qatar and Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.

My first flight, to Doha, Qatar, left early this morning at 1:45 and took about four hours, during which time we were served a rather spicy vegetarian meal I was not very impressed by, although the dessert was nice. I watched two movies and dozed. What were the movies, you ask? Well, unusually for me, they were Happy Feet and Happy Feet 2 as background research for my translation, which is a children's book about penguins in the Antarctic because, well, both of the aforementioned films are targeted to children and are about penguins in the Antarctic!

After arriving at Doha, it was a short walk to my next gate and, not bothering to get out my laptop, I read instead. This one was a 14.5 hour flight to Seattle, during which I watched a few more movies, slept a bit, and consumed another couple of unappetizing meals. After arriving in Seattle, there was a very long line after customs to and through security and some passengers missed their 1:30 p.m. connecting flight to Vancouver so were pushed onto the 4:00 p.m. flight I had booked. It was about a half hour flight to Vancouver during which I slept, by now feeling thoroughly jetlagged and groggy, and I arrived the same day I had left having crossed 12 time zones.