Hong Kong of the Indian Ocean

We got our boarding passes an hour prior to departure; we were seated in the same noisy area as our two previous Emirates Boeing 777-300ER flights.

We were fortunate again to have a spare seat to be shared between us. Due to a different configuration, there was a wall immediately behind us which blocked off a considerable amount of the noise. But we could tell through the aisle that the galley chiller was noisy. The wall also blocked off the noise from leaking in from the door behind too. There was nothing we could do about the noise coming in from the engines for Kim in the window seat. I’ve said before that an Airbus A330 inflight is quieter than a Boeing 777 taxiing (a large part of which is due to the ventilation though) but it does depend on where you’re seated.

On the positive side, this newer aircraft had slightly better ventilation. The ventilation slats in the ceiling had been repositioned to a more outboard position compared to the previous aircraft. There was definitely better airflow seated in the “H” seat.

During the flight cabin crew came around with a large polaroid camera to take snaps of families with children.  The photos were presented to them in a folder as a momento of their flight.  I used to think it was a nice touch when I first flew with Emirates years ago but in the days of smartphones and selfies, I’m not sure if it is still necessary.

The arrival form (which I had to request for, as they weren’t given out) required Yellow Fever vaccination (with date and batch number) for anyone arriving from Africa or South America. IATA’s TIMATIC service had indicated only selected countries excluding Tanzania. Kim copied my vaccination details and was going to say that he had lost his yellow vaccination book.

Also on the arrival form was the prohibition on alcohol, pork, religious material and idols (placard at the airport also prohibit dogs). Maldives is a very conservative and religious country. It is a constitutional requirement for citizens to be Sunni Muslim. Western style swimwear is only allowed on private beaches.

We landed into a nice warm cloudy day in Male at 0730. We descended by steps and walked into the terminal which is now several times bigger than 16 years ago. No one noticed our prior travel to Africa so Kim was all good.

The immigration queues were long. As usual, the people through immigration first don’t correspond to the first luggage out. The belt was packed with large pieces of baggage and I’m surprise it wasn’t overloaded and just kept moving without a struggle.

We caught a dhoni from the airport to Male for USD1 (or if MVR10 if paying in local currency which works out to USD0.75). As it was only a short walk to the hotel, no taxi was necessary. Drivers were helpful enough to help us with directions though.

We got to the hotel around 0845 and were lucky enough to be given a room straight away. That allowed me to sleep from 0930 till 1200 to make up for the completely sleepless flight. Kim on the other hand slept for a bit longer even though he had some serious sleep in rather uncomfortable positions lying across two seats with his head propped up against the arm rest.

Having rested, I was ready to explore Male and see how it had changed since our last visit. There are now zillions of motorcycles which take up all the spaces between the footpath and the road, making it hard to cross the road. There are now tall buildings everywhere and they now have bigger footprints than the few tall skinny ones.

We saw some graffiti against Israeli tourism. Surprisingly when I checked later, Israelis are admitted into the country. I had expected them not to be allowed at all (as with many other countries).

Most of the areas we traversed were very clean and the shop-fronts very tidy. There were exceptions in the area near the big port where water was backing up from the stormwater system. Even mechanical workshops were clean. It’s quite a contrast from other places on the subcontinent. I wonder what makes them different. Perhaps it is the result of needing to be civic-minded when confined to such a small dense area.

We weighed up the pros and cons of getting MVR or USD for our stay; both were available at the HSBC ATM. As we had enough USD (subject to acceptable conditions of the notes), we settled for MVR to cover meals and incidentals in case the conversion was rounded off for convenience (as we saw with the airport dhoni).

Late lunch was taken at Nepali cafe. I had been feeling good all along but as soon as I sat down, I felt sleepy and tired. We returned to the room where I caught up with finances and admin until a light dinner nearby.

Back in the room the TV remote didn’t work. Kim requested for it to be swapped only to find that there was only one channel! The hotel told us that there are other channels including English ones normally.