Exploring Male @ Maldives

When traveling, one of the things we love to do is explore local areas and eat local food. There is not much said about Male (pronounced Ma-leh and not like the reference to the darker sex although when I first saw the Male Shopping excursion package at the hotel, I stopped and wondered why on earth would they have a shopping trip catered just for men. Took me a few seconds before I realized my bimbo-ness mistake!!) on the internet, well mainly because there really isn’t much to say about this tiny place:p

On our way back from paradise, we had 9 hours to kill before our flight back home. We checked into a hotel at the airport island which offered a day stay (coz I can never go on for long hours without a shower okie?), dumped our bags in the room and decided to explore Male.

Here I am at the jetty waiting for the water taxi which only cost us RM2 each to get to the other side. Safe to say we were the only foreigners on board because most people don’t really explore this part much.

A glimpse of Male. Boat ride took about 20 minutes.

This is primarily the ONLY mode of transportation for those who live in the airport island (which was built by the government to accommodate its growing population).  Of course you have the option of swimming too. If you dare.

Bollywood tour anyone? And yes, Hindi movies are popular here.

Male town is rather small and extremely congested.  You see alot of people, cars, bikes, buildings, more people at every corner. It reminded me of my India trip, except Male was much cleaner.  And the air was a little more fresh. Nevertheless, people here are not exactly courteous. For this reason, we both miss Thailand!

Be extremely careful about exploring Male in the morning as 90% of shops only open at, get this, 2 freaking pm!!! Good thing we arrived in time for lunch.

The hubby was up for something local so we stepped into a local cafe and got a breakfast set for lunch. I believe this is called Roshi, which is their version of chapati, some spiced tuna chunks (fish and tuna are BIG in Male for obvious reasons) with a side of egg. Total cost: RM10. Food is not cheap in Male for sure.  And it didn’t even taste all that great. Prior to that, we had a slice of tandoori pizza, coffee and milkshake and that cost me RM40.

Let’s not forget that Male is EXTREMELY hot too…..was sweating and smelling like a pig.

Ok so I”m tanned at every angle…….meh. But what’s a beach holiday without a tan eh?

After 2 hours of walking around and shopping under the hot scorching sun, we had enough and decided to leave with 2 small bags. So-not-me. Then again, there wasn’t really much to shop in Male to begin with.

On the way back to the hotel for some shut eye and longggg shower so I can smell good again before the flight home.

The best Banana Milk everrr and it’s made in Sri Lanka

I think we would have left Male earlier if it wasn’t for our attempt at getting Sairah something decent. The hubby for once was picky about her clothes. And we walked from one shop to another as most shops here sell clothes with wrong spelling or irrelevant banters!

Only perfect spelling for my baby girl please.

So yes we settled for this orange dress that says SHOPPING on it. Cost me RM40 just for this.  

I got home, turned to see the label and guess where it’s made from?

THAILAND.

I swear it’s a freaking sign or something.

For now it’s back to work and nappy duties