Visa woes

I hate applying for visas! It's the one drawback to this goal I've set myself - to visit a new country every year of my life.

The passport I hold carries no weight in the global arena. I looked at the (short) list of countries that offered visa on arrival to those from Sri Lanka and almost wept with relief when I realised that the Maldives offered visa on arrival and wouldn't bankrupt me for a weekend's visit.

Walking through the airport, getting a visa stamped and going on my way was such a novel experience. A far cry from the usual visa circus months ahead of a journey. I loved it! And love the Maldives for it!

The number of times I've suppressed the desire to reach across a counter and shake an infuriating visa officer for giving me the runaround!

To go to the Republic of Ireland last year, for example, the daft website was not updated; therefore, I had to make two journeys to the visa office because when I went there the first time I was told they needed a copy of my entire passport, not just the page the website mentioned. And for me that's two passports, copied front and back. Sigh.

And the office was on the sixth floor.

And the lift was broken.

Making friends

This amiable fool spent 10 minutes today taking photographs of three ladies who wanted the right look for their holiday snaps.

Now I wish I'd taken one of them for myself. They were really quite sweet posing in a triangle fanning out their baggy, colourful trousers.

Later in the day as I stood in front of my hotel people-watching, a gentleman stopped in his tracks, retraced his steps and asked whether he may speak to me.

He proceeded to go from wanting to speak to a stranger "too pretty to ignore" (😂) to something else entirely but hey it was another new experience. Can't have enough of those! 😉

Centara Ras Fushi

The belligerent skies aren't a happy sight after forking out USD135 to spend the day on Ras Fushi.

This includes passage to and from your hotel to Centara Ras Fushi, a very good buffet lunch and all the beverages your heart desires. Yes, this means alcohol too.

It didn't rain too much at first fortunately so I got the chance to sit by the beach and read more of Desert Flower by Waris Dirie. Now I'm watching reruns of Friends under a tarp by the dining tent - the only reasonably dry spot I could find outdoors.

Thanks to this general air of dampness, I'm not enjoying this day out as much as I did Embudu but that isn't really to do with the resort I'd say.

There are loads of activities to try your hand at, many spots to sit and stare at the sea and a little souvenir shop to browse. Some of the products in the latter come from Sri Lanka. Working on the basis that something from any South Asian island will do the trick :D Tourists are notoriously gullible aren't they?

The streets. The food. The people.

I love exploring a new country. A new city.

A constant drizzle adds a certain twist to it I must admit.

The people of Male' are not exactly friendly as you bump into them on their narrow streets or perhaps they're not used to seeing a single, South Asia female wandering around but they aren't unfriendly either. I received friendly smiles and service in every shop I walked into and didn't feel particularly unsafe on my little forays into the warren of crazy little streets.

I love trying new things so, I had to try some local food. Various types of fish-based creations and sweets. I liked them all.

I couldn't tell you what any of them are called though =|

Embudu Village

Embudu is about 9km from Male' and is well worth a visit.

Apart from the glorious beach, the resort is quiet, the staff friendly and the food is pretty good.

Living on an island myself I expected rather more seafood than was available but I don't know how the seas and seasons impact these things.

Is Wow a colour?

I don't know how to describe the colour of the Indian Ocean that laps the shores of the Maldivian islands!

So blue. So clear. And the sand? Wow ...

Imprinting

Ducklings do it apparently ... And I think tourists need to too! 😆

Unless you've travelled or lived abroad, people of different races tend to look the same. I'm fairly certain one of my psych professor covered this. If not, I just made a terribly racist comment.

My er point was that if you have a tour leader, guide, driver, agent to return to or follow, you have to be able to pick them out from a crowd of locals.

Destination #20

I've been asked many times why I don't write about my travels. So here goes nothing 😊

Because spending quality time in an airport doesn't really count, this will be the 20th nation I set foot on.

The Maldives.