Day 292: Abu Dhabi - Hulhumalé (ހުޅުމާލެ)

Jan 20 - Board the plane at 00:30 for a very sleepy flight to New Delhi. They do serve a dinner, which comes in a bowl and hydrated with hot water by the flight attendants. Mine is some kind of chicken curry and very good, too bad I really wasn’t that interested in eating. Arrive at Indira Gandhi International Airport before dawn. The other concern for me today was how our transit would work. India requires visas for us, even transit visas, but the latter only if we have a layover or need to change terminals. I thought about getting them, but it was going to be a lot of effort and seemed an excessive and dumb requirement. Upon our arrival, there was an agent at the gate, asking about transit passengers to Bangkok and the like, so we stayed with the small group gathered around him and waited. Turns out they anticipate this situation and have people on hand to facilitate passenger movement through the airport and into the departure lounges for their particular flights. We walked a long way and got our boarding passes stamped, but in the end I don’t know if we were in another terminal or not.

The next flight, about four hours like the last one, went down the center of the sub-continent and out into the Indian Ocean. Eventually some atolls came into view, those of the Maldives.

One of the northern atolls.

Land at the Velana International Airport just north of the capital city, Malé. It is tropical hot and humid, amazing that we’ve only hit this climate after ten months into the trip. The terminal is small and full of tourists doing the same thing we are. We get some cash from an ATM, conversion is about 15 Maldivian rufiyaa to $1 US. It is a de-facto requirement have booked accommodation, and I wouldn’t suggest coming here without it. The whole country is set up to deal with arranged tourism, the primary reason being that almost everywhere the tourists go is far from the island with the capital city, and can only be reached by speedboat or seaplane, which is best arranged beforehand. Outside the terminal are dozens of resort booths, for people to get in contact with whatever hotel or resort they are going to. Ours is not one of those exalted five-star places, but in any case we are met by a person sent to greet us and get us to where we need to go.

Unfortunately, I had been informed by text beforehand that the speedboat to our destination is cancelled for today. But our host had arranged for us a night nearby, with the intended speedboat trip the following day. A taxi gets us north into the densely populated island of Hulhumalé, where we check in and rest for a few hours before venturing out.

Outside our hotel. We are going to see a lot of this type of chair.

This is a few blocks from the hotel. It is on the east side of the island, which are hit by prevailing winds. The reef, however, breaks up the surf.

A side street in Hulhumalé. There are more motorbikes and scooters here than cars.

She is probably holding a hermit crab.

There was a musical fountain show at Central Park.

Also in the park were some ponds and water features. Many people were out here today, milling around under the trees. A lot of color in the women’s dresses, perhaps many are here as tourists like us, but from India.

Looking for fruit at the row of markets on Huvandhumaa Hingun. Prices for goods seem cheap, considering that many things must be imported. But then we have been used to Arabian Peninsula prices.

As mentioned before, the main islands of Hulhumalé and Malé are densely populated. However, it still has that small island feel to it.

Find a restaurant and eat some gulha (hard dumplings of tuna and onion) and pancakes. Standard food here is spicy, so certain members of the family are going to have to get used to it.

United Arab Emirates Maldives