Articles from this Category
9 April 2023
Today is my first day on the Maldivian islands without any activity. No ferry rides, no diving, no snorkelling excursion. I went to swim at Bikini Beach late in the morning and again late in the afternoon. Eight years ago, it was an isolated beach for foreigners. Today, there were high-rise hotels right on the […]
8 April 2023
My options for the day Today, I move to Maafushi, an island I visited 8 years ago. The public ferry leaves at 1615 and I had three options for killing the day: Spend the morning at the beach then the afternoon in the café, Go diving in the morning and then the afternoon in the […]
7 April 2023
Today is my third and last full day in Gulhi. Due to the dive times and opportunities, I had fallen into a routine on all my days here, meaning the last two days and today. The day would begin with an early wake-up around 0630 to 0700, followed by the hotel breakfast which began at […]
4 April 2023
Background on Maldives tourism A bit of background is useful in order to understand tourism in Maldives and why it used to be so expensive (and still is for some people). It is a very low-lying conservative Islamic country consisting of 1190 small coral islands in 27 atolls. Its highest point is only 2.4 metres […]
4 April 2023
First things first With a 3h time difference, I woke early and was out by 0700 for a walk. My intention was to secure my ticket to Gulhi or work out options if there was no 1500 departure as per the schedule. I confirmed that there was a 1500 departure from the Hulhulmale Ferry Terminal, […]
3 April 2023
Above: My ride from the airport to Male on the dhoni. Travel begins in earnest It was a very quick 5 night but 4 full days in Kuching. The time was spent sorting some land title issues, seeing family and going to the gym everyday! Today my travel begins in earnest, flying from Kuching to […]
29 March 2023
At the gate at Changi airport, I was a little apprehensive about having done a gate-to-gate self-connect, only possible because I didn’t have checked-in luggage. Information on Scoot’s website suggested that I should have cleared immigration, meaning that I would re-enter the airside. I was afraid the re-entry into airside might have been captured from […]
13 February 2023
Above: The paler D24 and the more yellowish Musang King. Miserable Auckland summer I left Auckland two days after the first of three storms, the third being only yesterday. The latest one was Cyclone Gabrielle which resulted in all flights in Auckland and the northern part of the North Island being cancelled. This appears to […]
6 February 2023
Above: Itinerant fresh food vendor on motorcycle on our drive near Pemangkat. Our driver Jie To messaged me yesterday asking if we could “prepone” our departure to Kuching from 0700 to 0400, as he expected long queues at the border. We consulted the others and the response ranged from “No problem” to “No”. Other people […]
5 February 2023
The big procession Today is Capgomeh (the fifteenth or last day, but literally night of Chinese New Year), the big day that we have specially come for. I’m two years late for this event, originally due to come here in 2021, but delayed due to the pandemic. We headed to town at 0645 where it […]