I\nsearched a lot on the map to see where in God’s name are the Maldives and I\ncould hardly find them in the Indian Ocean. (Now it’s easy to find them, as you\nzoom in on the net very easily.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nRepublic of Maldives, as they call it, is an island state. The archipelago has\n26 atolls (when I was there, I had read there were 19!) Atoll = group of\nislands in the shape of a ring, formed by the deposition of coral skeletons and\noften with a lagoon in the middle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 26\natolls form a territory that contains over 1,100 islands, out of which only\nabout 200 are inhabited! This is heaven, my man! (Do you think they sell whole\nislands? I would be interested\u2026)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On this\ntrip to the Maldives I wrote \u201cThe Terminal\u201d \u2013 part two. No, not with Tom Hanks,\nbut with me in the lead role. I’ll give it to you to read one day to see what I\nwent through during the transfers for this holiday. It could get an Oscar,\nreally! J<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But my\ndramas happened especially on the island where my friends and I were\naccommodated. An island 600 meters long and only 100 meters wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After\n30 hours of traveling, we finally arrive in Male, the capital of the Maldives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\nlanded well. If I had known on what tongue of land surrounded by the sea I was\nlanding with a big plane, I would have thought 100 times whether or not to come\nhere\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s 30\ndegrees Celsius. We get wet from the first minutes, due to the very high\nhumidity. And the water bottles we have with us are wet too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\ntakes us a while to get used to the air. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Those\nwho are loaded or who have accommodation on more distant islands, get on the\nplane again, this time in a seaplane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We have\na boat transfer. About 12 people get with all their luggage on he boat, all going\nin the same direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The experience with the boat, which lasted about 45 minutes, was like in the amusement park \u2013 strong sensations, which I can’t say I really needed… I had survived the three flights, and now I was going at a crazy speed, breaking the big waves, a sign that it had been a storm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Arriving\non the island, we are amazed by the lush vegetation, by the alleys full of\nsand, by all the paradisiacal scenery in the middle of which we landed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\nseems bizarre to me is that, in a world full of people in briefs, with a strong\nsun, Christmas songs can be heard\u2026 On the beach they mounted some metal fir\ntrees, with light bulbs, installed next to the real palm trees. It is a\nhilarious contrast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We admire the beautifully lined water bungalows and remember that we do not live in them\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n First\nbecause they were much more expensive than the villas on the beach, but also\nbecause we convinced ourselves that it is much cooler to stay on the sand, to\nhave the beach that close, than to be on the water\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n So we\nheaded, led by employees from the island, each to his own little house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Okay,\nit’s not really a little house, it’s a huge house! And, when you live alone in\nit, it seems like the ultimate luxury!<\/p>\n\n\n\n With an\nexit to the beach, a few meters from the sea, what can I say, you would never\nleave there in your life!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, I’m exploring the interior, which is shining clean!<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\nhave everything you need here. There is nothing missing from what you could\nuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nmost shocking thing for me is to discover the bathroom. Where’s the bathroom?\nWell… it is outside! Under the clear sky!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\ntoilet, the bidet, the sink are with a ceiling on top, but with a missing wall \u2013\nthe one facing the outside, and the bathtub and the shower are both outside,\nsurrounded by a wall and the palm trees on the alleys!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Believe\nme, it’s a great feeling to take a shower outside in the middle of the nature!<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the\nMaldives you come to linger \u2013 I had heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s\nright. If you don’t go to I don’t know what areas with sports activities, if\nyou don’t buy I don’t know what trips, if you’re not a star who comes here for\na luxury photo shoot, lying in the sun is the sport you can practice all the\ntime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can\nlay on the beach and read (lots of people have books in their hands this New\nYear’s Eve!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n We came\nhere for snorkeling. Just like that, on our own. But, until you get in the\nwater, you stay here and look like a fool at how beautiful everything around\nyou is!!! No matter if it’s sunny or cloudy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s full of such crabs on the beach, you have to be very careful not to step on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026 and can\nanyone say that you can’t walk on water here J.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At\nfirst glance, it’s shocking to see some people in the middle of the sea. Then,\nif you look closely, you see the very low level of water on small portions,\nwhere a kind of sandy path is created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I didn’t have a smartphone at the time, but I was proud of a water mask with a built-in camera and a camera tucked into a plastic mask. I had come here to photograph everything that moved in the water. Which I did, by the way\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once\nyou enter the sea and start to look through the water, you feel like in a\nluxurious aquarium! And this close to the shore, just a few meters away!<\/p>\n\n\n\n My God,\nhow many types of fish, more and more colorful fish, like in a competition MissFish\nUniverse…<\/p>\n\n\n\n I could\nnot imagine that I could spend hours with my head in the water, to see the\nwonders that swim next to me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n A fish\ncame to stare at me\u2026 I don’t know what he wanted to tell me, but I decided to bring\nsome food with me the next day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Okay,\nokay, but what food???<\/p>\n\n\n\n I took\nwhat I found on the island: some chips and some cookies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I had a great success with the fish. Some didn’t even worry about pinching my finger too much, they wanted the food and that was all!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Impressed by the multitude of beautifully colored fish I saw, I bought a poster with the fish from the Maldives. And I swear I’ve seen most of them, it’s not a false promotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This\nthing with the fish is a fun you never get tired of here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it\nis important that, from a certain moment, you put a T-shirt on in the water,\notherwise you’ll get your back burned!<\/p>\n\n\n\n And\nopen your eyes wide underwater\u2026 Because, apart from the colorful fish, you come\nacross some “tenants” who really scare you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n A moray\neel came out of a bush. Do you see her? An eye can be seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\nlooks horrible and you expect it to attack you any moment, as if it is lurking.\nBrrrr…<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was\nso excited to see the stingrays that I kept swimming after them to catch them\nin a picture!<\/p>\n\n\n\n After I\nwas told they could attack you, do you know how quickly I got over this hunt?…<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the\ntop of my snorkeling was\u2026 the shark!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, man,\nI had no idea. I saw some sharks on the penultimate day and since then, God,\nhow good I was!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n I later found out that they are harmless, they are a small species and… friendly, it seems. Whatever, I cannot put my hand into the fire, so I no longer put my foot into the water either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It will seem strange what I’m going to say, but I couldn’t wait to go home!!! I came home so tired after 8 days in the Maldives that I thought I would sleep 3 days and 3 nights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And\nhere I come to the troubles I had during this holiday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First\nof all, a bird got on my nerves. Man, it was like the Chinese drop! With an\nunheard by me song, so I could not understand who, in God’s name, was doing\nthat. And I started looking for her through the tall, rich trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/maldives-airport.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWELCOME TO THE MALDIVES<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nACCOMMODATION IN MALDIVES<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\nTHE VIEW FROM THE BEACH<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nSNORKELING IN MALDIVES<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/a><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nMY MALDIVES NIGHTMARE\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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