Maldives: Arrival and Asdu Resort

The Maldives were the first country I ever visited in Asia.
I was there once on my first trip to Asia, in summer 2005, when I visited the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Dubai.

The country is a very luxury tourist destination, but I went “on the cheap”.
For most people, a visit to the Maldives is just the sea and a white sand beach; a place to get away from everyday’s life in modern cities.

The idea of this trip came when German airline Condor made a huge promotion with long haul tickets to several destinations from 99€ one way.
Nowadays, their minimum price is 199€ one way, which is still cheap, but it’s the double I paid at that time!

As I’m not fond of spending my holidays lying on the beach, I only stayed in the Maldives for 3 days and then flew to Sri Lanka.
On the way back home, I flew Emirates Airlines and got a stop-over to visit Dubai.

The flight I booked was direct from Munich to The Maldives.
I was late at Munich Airport and almost missed the flight!
The called my name in the loudspeakers for immediate boarding!

After a long day flight I arrived to Hulumale Airport. The approach to the airport is really beautiful, with all the small islands and the clear blue sea.

I got a 30 day visa stamp at the airport. I don’t know who would want to stay 30 days in the Maldives, but that’s what authorities give to most visitors.

All passenger bags are scanned before getting out of the Airport terminal building: authorities search for unholy goods like ham, alcohol, porn magazines (fashion magazines with light dressed ladies can also be considered porn!) and any other stuff that can considered offensive to muslims.

The country is composed of small beautiful islands.
Once you get to the island airport, you are transferred to your hotel.
To save money, and if your hotel is on an island nearby, you will be transferred by boat.
To save time, or if your island-hotel is far away, you’ll get expensive hydroplane transfer.

I had a two hour boat transfer to my hotel, the Asdu Sun Island, which was at that time the cheapest island-hotel of the Maldives.

The Asdu Sun Island Hotel is not on many tour operator brochures.
Don’t confuse it with the Sun Island, which is a luxury resort.
Asdu is a 2 star decent hotel, providing full board and some activities around.
There is no swimming pool and who cares about a swimming pool when there is such a beautiful beach right beside!

The first thing I thought when I got out of the boat was “Here I really need my sunglasses!”.
The sand is absolutely white; I’ve never seen sand like this before, and when the sun is reflected it’s hard to see anything.

The room was OK, there was no TV but I didn’t need it.
But probably if I had stayed longer I would have missed the TV! In other words, if you spend a week in the Maldives, you better have a very interesting inner life.
Food was very good, especially fish, but it was western-style food: you won’t eat as the locals do in the Maldives.

When you go the Maldives, you go to a golden prison. Probably the most beautiful prison in the world, and a prison where it’s expensive to get in and to get out.

Once you’re in your island, you’re trapped. There’s nowhere to go: no towns, no roads, the only thing you can do is to take a walk around your island. But don’t worry, your hotel will provide everything you might need: restaurant, bars, games… food and drinks would probably be more expensive than in your home country, but you have no choice, as they have been imported especially for you!

By the way, you don’t even need to exchange currency, they love Euros and US dollars at all hotels. I had changed money at the airport and the guy from the hotel was really surprised when I told him I wanted to pay in rupiahs!

Once you have circled the island a dozen times and read a couple of books, you might want to get out. Well if you dive, the Maldives boast some of the best diving sports on earth!
And even for snorkelling it’s a great place to be. I spent my 3 days swimming, reading, snorkelling and playing ping-pong.

If you want a taste of local culture, that’s more difficult. There are tours to fishing villages – which are actually fishing islands – but your best bet is to go to the overcrowded island capital, Male.
That’s the place where most Maldivians live and where you can have a taste of their everyday’s life.

Unfortunately, I didn’t visit the city because I had no time, and I really regret it because I don’t know if I’ll ever have the opportunity to go back there.

After 3 idyllic days in the Maldives I flew to its nearest country, Sri Lanka, which is just a 1 hour flight away.

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