Visited a near by island with my student, Shameem's wife, Shiza. Its about a 5 minute boat ride and you can see Male' in the background in one of the pictures. There is a medical hospital located on this island where Shizna works. That evening we were taken to wonderful restaurant in Male' where a special menu and meal was planned for us with wonderful drinks (passion fruit and watermelon) and a great salad (something we had not had for ages).
Images from different islands in the Maldives, the vegetable market, the fish market (yellow tuna seen in the bucket). Birds co-existing very peacefully with each other (great interaction between a young crow and the parrot below)
Huhlumale', the airport island is a totally reclaimed island from the sea. Its man-made paradise. See images of the plane landing - was quite exciting landing in the Maldives - the plane was over water until only about a 100 feet above ground - could not really see land and felt we were landing in water - very cool. Local flights between islands are done with pontoon planes.
Flew into the Maldives by IA. Male' is the capital of the Maldives. The Maldives are a cluster of 29 atolls comprised of about 1200 islands. All the islands are very small. The airport is on one island (Huhlumale')and you have to take a short ferry ride to the capital island, Male' which is only 20 acres. Exclusively an Islamic country, you are not allowed to bring in any idols of worship, alcohol, or dogs. The first photo taken from the plane as we were about to land. Rest, of sites on Male'.
Palitana, one of Jainism's holiest pilgrimage sites. This hilltop is a sea of 863 temples built over 900 years. You have to walk up 3250 steps to reach the hilltop or you can be carried up in a doli (portable chair/hammock carried by two men - seen in one of the pictures). The climb takes about 1.5 hours to cover the 2.5 km up and another 1.5 hours down the hill - a real killer on the calf muscles. But the climb was worth it.
