Bye-bye paradise

Leaving Maafushi for the airport

Today I say bye-bye to paradise.  I’m very brown already so I decided to spend the morning indoors attending to things like tax, admin and video-calling a friend whom I may travel around Saudi with in December.

Check-out was at 1200, which was perfect for the public ferry to Male at 1230.  The hotel offered to take our luggage to the jetty by buggy but I hardly had anything so walked with the staff who were there to meet any possible guests.

The ferry arrived about 20 mins late.  It was an open-sided one, which meant a more pleasant journey than the outbound journey.  Like the outbound journey, it was quite empty and also had little cargo.

It got a little choppy as we approached Male around where we snorkelled with the whalesharks.  The crew asked if anyone wanted to go to the airport.  I’m not sure if they would have done an airport drop-off before or after Male.  Anyway, we pulled into the harbour at 1435, about 30 mins late.

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One of the German sisters had recommended a Nepali restaurant nearby that’s open during the day, despite being Ramadhan.  My chicken thali took a while to come out, helping me kill time.  Strangely, I hadn’t been too hungry last couple of days.

I asked for my bill to be split so that I could finish my Rufiyah and put the remainder on card.  For some reason, I received some change and finished everything off at a shop on biscuits (apart from the ferry fare to the airport).

Departing for Singapore

Time had gone quickly and I hopped on the 1700 dhoni to the airport.  I kinda knew it may be better to wait in the restaurant than the airport, but I needed a change of scenery.

My move proved to be a mistake.  The next hour at the airport was hot and sweaty with little seating available.  There was a food court in the arrival area and another near the domestic terminal and private boat jetties.  But both were either cramped or hot.  And the price of food (not that I was hungry yet) was horrendous, costing more than at the hotel or island restaurants.

I managed to get into the Moonima Lounge courtesy of my bank card around  1820.  With 2h permitted, it should be just about check-in time by then.

Before entering the lounge, I felt very ready for a shower but the air-con dried me out nicely, so I might save it for Singapore in the morning.

Strangely, the food and drink area seemed closed.  I ignored the barrier and went to the fridge to get a cold drink. It seemed that the only purpose of the lounge was the air-con.  Fortunately, some good food appeared after 1900, perhaps after the staff broke their Ramadhan fast.

I did take a shower in the end and changed into my long pants for flying.  I left for the check-in area within the 2h stay of the lounge to join the security queue into the check-in area.

Joining the short internet check-in queue at exactly 3h prior to the 2325 Singapore Airlines departure, I noticed that there was only one normal Economy Class queue that had been set-up but not yet open.

I got through to airside pretty quickly with no major queues to sit for over 1h30 in the large hall which had all international passengers.  Like many airports, we had to walk through the duty-free area where alcohol was being sold.  I guess this is the departure area and the alcohol is leaving the country, as alcohol cannot be sold (except in resorts) or brought into the country.  I would doubt the arrival duty-free has alcohol.

Boarding commenced 15 mins before the scheduled departure of 2325 and was completed swiftly.  We closed up only 10 mins late.

Maldives conclusion

I really enjoyed my week in the Maldives.  It was good to see the country developing but also sad to see quiet beautiful paradise islands being commercialised so rapidly.

Apart from accommodation at around USD55, meals (including drink) at around USD13, one excursion and three dives, I hardly spent any money.

I guess they need to make money to fund land reclamation and resettlement of the population with rising sea levels threatening the islands.

If there’s a next time, I’d try go further away from Male.  There are some fast public ferries available but I’m not sure if what their routes are.  I’ll leave the research for when I’m next ready as routes may change by then.