Stuck in the Maldives

We were meant to return on Tuesday but there was a terrible storm and planes weren’t able to land in the Maldives. Our flight was canceled and we were put up in a hotel in Male, the capital city on an atoll near to the airport atoll. I guess it is everyone’s dream to be detained on a tropical island, unable to return to work, but unfortunately we did not find out about the cancellation until after we left our lovely resort. Our hotel was in the middle of the city and smelt of stale smoke. It was raining so hard we couldn’t even explore the city. Too bad!

Maldives is an Islamic country but on the resort atolls (where we were initially) things are pretty much as they are in the west. In Male however there is no alcohol and call to prayer is broadcast throughout the city and advertised on tv. Because of Ramadan the streets were very active at night. Pornography is illegal in the Maldives and we observed the censorship of Western magazines in an internet cafe - photos of some (nakedish) women were cut out. Ironically there very high walls around each computer and a bunch of pornography sites were bookmarked on the internet browser!