Maldives


I have always dreamed of traveling the world's most exotic beaches, so I couldn't have been more excited when we finally arrived in Maldives.  Located in the Indian Ocean, with a population of 400,000 people, Maldives is the smallest country in Asia. It’s made up of 1190 islands and basically all water: 26 atolls, rings of formed islands, and reefs of varying shapes, depths, and sizes with hues of blue, turquoise to indigo. It is also the world’s lowest country, there are no hiking trails and mountainous national parks to explore. 

Maldives is not one of those island countries where you can backpack through. It's one of those places that would take effort and expensive to visit. It's famous for luxury resorts on their own private island.

We dropped anchor in Male, Maldives capital city, and took the dhoni to a private island luxury resort, Vadoo. It was encircled with powdery white sand beach, and clear blue waters, few connecting cottages floating on the water. It had a very relaxed atmosphere, but with its own exotic reef teeming with vibrant marine life. First, I chose to do nothing and just relax at the beach and listen to the waves, but when I saw what my friend captured on camera while swimming, I decided to go snorkeling. I did not have to go far to see amazing aquatic life. 

Before leaving the island country, we had a few hours to explore Male, the capital city. We visited the local fish market, produce market, Presidential Palace and mosques, including the striking 17th century Hukuru Miskiy, constructed out of white corrals. Maldives is predominantly a Muslim country. We wandered the back streets to go shopping after lunch, but most of the shops were closed, except for souvenir shops. We went back to the harbor to see the brightly painted buildings along the shoreline and had to be careful crossing the boulevard that runs along the sea for there were lots of motorcyclists zipping down the street, ignoring the traffic rules. Male itself is very small that we were able to see there was to see without a tour guide.




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