Maldives was good. But 'good' doesn't tell you much about the trip, I know. So here's an-almost-full account of the highlights of my discovery in my 1-week stay in that country. Enjoy.
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But reality quickly took over me. The hot and dry climate of the Maldives, plus the presence of international airplanes at the airport, and the majority of people who surrounded me (and for whom I was to refer to as 'locals') all verified that I was indeed NOT in Hobart.

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It wasn't such a long walk to the arrival hall, but the thought about how Third World Maldives would be since my very first step out of the plane made the walk appear quite long. Then I noticed I had personally found the Male' International Airport really interesting. Not only did the runway begin and ended in the sea, but also the airport was the only ���thing��� that the Hulhule Island was used for. Yet they were still nothing Third World in any way to me.

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

Scary and very, very fast were all I could say about speedboat rides! But that one that I had just taken was only my second out of the many boat rides I knew I was going to take. Boat rides are a very common way of transportation in the Maldives. Not only is it because Maldives is made up of so many islands (that getting around by boat is the best and perhaps the only way) but also because boats make a convenient and cheaper way to get around than by any other means. So feeling a bit regretful there and then, I prayed that God be with me on each boat ride I took in my stay in the country :)
In Male', we were put to the care of a local city tourguide called Ahmed. Ahmed was a knowledgeable person to me. Other than his knowledge on worldly matters, Ahmed could also speak multiple languages. Amongst the languages he spoke were Japanese and Malay. So Kenji and I had a bit of fun speaking in all 3 languages with him on that day whilst touring the capital of Maldives. I personally remember Ahmed as a person who was passionate in showing us around Male' and certainly with regards to the things he made us try. But what was really significant about Ahmed to me was that he appeared just like any other Maldivian man did: a mix of Indonesian facial features with an Indian skin tone. Very, very exotic indeed!
As we continued with our travel in the Maldives, I gradually lost interest in my search for some Third World features of the society. Instead I enjoyed myself to the relaxed, country-like atmosphere and opted to ask around about the 2004 tsunami that hit the country pretty badly as an alternative.
Uma fetched us at Giraavaru by a boat taxi on Thursday where he then brought us to his grandparents��� place in Male' where we hanged out a bit and Kenji had some surf before hopping on to a dhoni that brought us to Uma���s island only much later in the evening.
Uma's island was not very big though, so it doesn't appear on maps. Yet the island could offer us so much fun that we decided to make it a 3-day 2-night stay there instead of returning to Giraavaru the very next day. So we continued with our stay for the next 2 days, and went NIGHT fishing on the 2nd night that we were there.

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