Together with Kamil, we were thinking where to go for vacation 2016. Usually, we are deciding 2 months before (if we are going somewhere for the weekend we are thinking about it two days before 😉 ). But this time it was different.
I was scrolling Facebook wall and I saw on fly4free.pl post about cheap tickets to the Maldives from Paris. I sent a link to Kamil and he sad „prepare a quick budget in Exel and we’ll see”. I was like „OMG I want to go there!”. So I did the table (the first one from a post named „tracking money”). We had some basic idea how much money we need to get from Kraków to the Maldives. And we decided to GO FOR IT! I was sooooooooo happy 🙂 We bought the tickets in April (really soon for us to plan a vacation!) and we were counting days to this trip.
It was dreams come true for us and we were veeeery excited!
We start preparations for the trip. We were reading all the time, all blogs, articles, and guide (the one and only from Lonely Planet) like crazy people. We’ve got some informations about the political situation, religion, prices, hotels, trips etc. Bellow, you can read some short review from what we found out.
Maldives
1600 Islands, blue water, blue lagoons, paradise. Only half of them is inhabited and the rest is just pure nature without people.
Area: 90 000 km2
Population: 345 000
% of population living in Male: 30%
Religion: 100% population is Muslim
Politics
In 1965, the Maldives became independent, formerly the Sultanate, first under the Dutch protectorate, later the British. After three years the republic was proclaimed. The Maldives consists of 26 natural atolls, which are on 21 administrative units: 20 administrative units and the city of Male. They are administered by the governor nominated by the president of Maldives.
After 30 years of Gayoom dictatorship and the bloody suppression of social protest, called Black Friday in 2004, the first free elections were held in 2008. They were won by Mohamed Nasheed, responsible for environmental and democratic reforms.
Nasheed is very important for Maldivian history. In February 2000 he was elected to the parliament of the district of Male. However, in 2001, allegations of „theft of state property” from the residence of former president Ibrahim Nasir were filed against him and a 2.5-year ban on public office was imposed.
In November 2003 he left the Maldives and went to Sri Lanka. On November 10, 2003, he took part in the establishment of the Maldives Democratic Party (MDP).
He returned on 30 April 2005. On June 2, 2005, the Maldives Democratic Party received parliamentary approval for its activities and was officially registered on June 26, 2005. In December 2005 Nasheed was elected Chairman of the MDP, which remained until February 2008.
On August 12, 2005, to celebrate the anniversary of the „Black Friday” from 2004, along with other MDP activists, was the organizer of the protest at Republican Square in Male. After a few hours, the protesters were forcefully removed from the square and imprisoned at the security services headquarters. In response, three days of riots broke out in the capital, eventually pacified by military forces. On August 23, 2006, for his part in the demonstration, he was accused of „terrorism, hostile activity and incitement to violence against the president.” He was detained under house arrest until September 21, 2006.
Due to the increasing social protests and calls for the democratization of the country, President Gayoom has decided to hold a referendum on the Maldivian government on 18 August 2007. The electors had to choose between the current presidential system, preferred by Gayoom and the parliamentary system supported by the Maldives Democratic Party. According to official results, 62% of voters were in favor of the presidential form of government On August 7, 2008, President Gayoom signed a new constitution, previously enacted by the Parliament. The new constitution introduced the first multi-party presidential election. Gayoom didn’t think that anyone else can win with him.
On April 14, 2007, the Maldives Democratic Party chose Mohamed Nasheed as its presidential candidate for 2008. The first democratic presidential election in the Maldives took place on October 8, 2008. In the first round of voting, Nasheed faced five other candidates. He finished second with 24.9% of the vote, behind the incumbent president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who won 40.3% of the vote.
After the first round of elections, he received support from all the other opposition candidates. In the second round of elections held on October 28, 2008, he defeated President Gayoom, earning 53.65% of the vote. The office of the third and the first democratically elected President of the Maldives took over November 1, 2008.
What did Nasheed do for the Maldives?
- regard to the threat posed to the very low-lying islands by changes in sea level caused by global warming he decided to move to wind and solar power.
- introduced a grid of regular, low-cost connections between the islands by public ferries
- he introduced social policies for pensioners, single mothers and the poorest
- he drew his attention from Male only to other islands
- allowed tourists to come to the local island (before that tourist were allowed only in resorts) in 2012. This move helped locals to find jobs and earn more money. They started to build guesthouses and small hotels on the island.
His administration was hampered. The controversy started in January 2012 after Nasheed’s arrest of a senior criminal court judge. After weeks of protests by citizens opposed to the arrest, Nasheed resigned in early February and was replaced by his vice president, Mohamed Waheed Hassan. Nasheed claimed his resignation had been forced by the police and military. In July charges were filed against him because of his illegal (what opposition said) arrest of the criminal court judge in January.
Next election was won by Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s half-brother, who beat Nasheed by a narrow margin. Nasheed ends up in jail but in 2016 he was released regarding health issues and he went to the UK where Amal Clooney was his attorney and where he received asylum.
We spoke with locals about the political situation and we found out that they really liked Nasheed, that he did a lot for normal people outside of Male. He went to every island and to every house on each island and spoke with normal people. That more than 90% people are behind him. Not only the young once. He helped people on a pension who were left alone after they were to old to work. Locals really want him back on the Maldives.
Religion
In the Maldives according to the constitution, the state religion is Islam, on the basis of this provision the government requires all citizens to be Muslims, leading to the accusation of institutional persecution of non-Muslims and former Muslims who live in the country. The president and members of the government must be Sunnis. Christian missionary activity in this country is forbidden. Foreigners may profess a different religion, only if they practice it exclusively in their homes or hotel rooms. When you are crossing the border and filling visa application you are signing that you are not coming to speak about religion. They can even stop you on the border if you have more then on Bible.
You won’t find alcohol on a local island, only in resorts. Women have to be modestly dressed, covered shoulders, preferably knees. You can swim in bikini only on special beaches for tourists. They won’t kill you for short shorts or bikini on the beach, probably they won’t even call the police, but we should respect their culture. They are not very radical and strict. They already used to eastern tourists. And they have Buddhist background so they are very peaceful. In my opinion that is why we should respect them and cover arms and knees. This is not a big problem but it shows that we are respectful of Muslim culture in the Maldives.
When I was researching about the Maldives I read that Muslim men are looking very much on eastern women and that this is very uncomfortable. But I didn’t feel this way. They were looking from time to time but it wasn’t so wrong. Maybe because I was with Kamil or maybe because they are used to it. But I was feeling ok.
Money
One of the poorest countries in the world, Maldives has a developing economy based on fishing, tourism, boatbuilding, and boat repairing. You can see on the streets that this is not a rich country. Of course, you will find some rich businessmen but not much. On local island owner of the guesthouse is wealthy but not rich. But they all look happy even if they don’t have too much money.
You can pay with rupia but also with dollars. It better as locals are converting their prices into dollars by rounding off the ends. Obviously to the disadvantage of the tourist 😉 The only ATMs you can find are in Male. On the local island, there are no ATMs at all! So take cash with your from Male. In hotels, you can pay with the card, but still, it’s better to tract your money with cash.
Weather
The islands closest to the equator are characterized by the largest amount of precipitation, but their average number is almost evenly distributed over all months. Slightly more rain falls between November and March. The sun shines in the Maldives on average 8-9 hours a day. After sunset, it’s getting dark in few minutes.
We were in the Maldives in October and weather was perfect. All day sun. Only on the short storm. Locals told us, that because of global warming seasons and weather are not certain. That dry and wet season are mixing and moving with each other and you never know when the rain will come.
This is all you need to know to be aware of tourist.
When you will go to the Maldives you will be in paradise, in a fairy tale… And then JUST BREATHE…
