From Sri Lanka to Maldives

Last Hours in Sri Lanka

It’s February 4 and it’s a holiday in Sri Lanka to celebrate Independence Day which occurred in 1948.

We spend the morning at a cafe overlooking a marsh with Lion Rock in the background. I watch frogs hop across the lily pads. We see a lot of grey Langur monkeys and Toque Macaques monkeys. 

Our host is kind enough to let us stay in our room until 2:00pm when our driver Mellawa picks us up to go to the Negombo airport, about a 3 hour drive.

Most of the drive is along a 2 lane road busy with pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcycles, tractors, tuk-tuks, cars, trucks, speeding buses and wandering dogs. Then we enter a modern four lane divided highway which seems positively empty compared to the road. Only cars and trucks are allowed, so no tuk-tuks, buses or cycles of any kind.

We pass a sign on the highway saying “Danger, peacocks ahead”.

Traffic gets bad as soon as we get near the airport and we arrive one hour behind schedule. We say goodbye to Mellawa, who was an amazing driver. Click here for his contact info if you ever need someone to drive you around Sri Lanka.

Flight to Maldives

We are a bit panicked because we have just under two hours to check-in, get through two  security screening checks, pass through emigration and get to our gate. But we get there about 15 minutes before boarding starts. 

We are now on our Emirates Airlines flight to Male, Maldives.

Our flight is only 1.5 hours to Male. Unlike most North American airlines, they even serve a full meal despite it being a short flight.

Half the passengers disembark in Male while the rest stay on as the plane continues to Dubai. It is about 9:15pm. The airport is brand spanking new. A driver from our hotel meets us and we take a 10 minute ride to our oddly named hotel,  “h78 Iru”

Male, Maldives

At first, I am taken aback when we leave the airport. It looks like the ground is covered with snow. I quickly realize that it is bright, white sand.

We are efficiently checked in to our hotel and taken up to our room. I sleep in the comfiest bed ever.

A buffet breakfast is included in the morning. There are lots of tourists around. There is not much around to indicate we are in another country except for the beach (which is behind the hotel) and the very hot temperature. It is 10:00am and already 28°C. 

Male is the capital and main hub for the Maldives which is comprised of about 1,200 islands of which 200 are inhabited.

Mostly famous for its overwater bungalow island  resorts, the Maldives also have local islands where people live full time but have small hotels for tourists. 

Speedboat to Ukulhas

Access to the islands is by public ferry, speedboat and seaplanes. From the beach near our hotel we watch a constant stream of seaplanes coming in to land. The seaplanes are primarily moving guests to and from the expensive resorts.

We are going to a local island called Ukulhas and thus will be taking a speedboat instead.  The speedboat terminal is across the road from the airport.

A hotel driver seamlessly takes us to the boat terminal. There are no tuk-tuks on the road, just cars, vans and lots of motorcycles.

At the boat terminal there are hundreds of people, all going to different islands. John and I take a non-drowsy antinauseant for the 1.5 boat ride to Ukulhas Island.

The 10:30am boat leaves at 11:20am. About 20 people are packed into the speedboat with luggage filling up the aisle. There isn’t a lot of leg space. 

It’s an 80 km ride across open ocean. The boat has three large outboard engines roaring away so it’s hard to talk. Thank goodness we took anti nausia medication because it is bouncy for the last 30 minutes. 

Arrival in Ukulhas

In Ukulhas we are greeted at the dock by staff from our hotel. Then we get bad news. A sewer pipe in the lane beside our hotel is under repair. Big trench in the road, loud pump rerouting you know what and unpleasant odour permeating the area. 

It’s not the hotel’s fault but it’s not what you are expecting on arrival in an island paradise. The repair is expected to be done in 2 days. Our hotel room is cute but unfortunately it’s right beside the construction area. 

Afternoon in Ukulhas

We head to a nearby waterfront restaurant for a seafood lunch. I even get vegetables. Yeah!  Prices are much higher than Sri Lanka but not as expensive as I’ve been expecting. More like North American prices.  Also, they prefer the U.S. dollar here.

The island isn’t huge. We can easily walk around it. We see lots of people snorkeling just off the beach. I check out a few of the variety stores. They have a random selection of merchandise.

Maldives is a Muslim country. It is illegal to bring alcohol into the country and it’s not served/sold on the local islands. 

There are two types of beaches on local islands: public and bikini. On public beaches you must comply with the local customs which means women must be covered up even when swimming. On bikini beaches regular Western clothing rules apply so bikinis etc are allowed.

Because tourism is so important, the more beautiful beaches are usually designated as bikini beaches.

We return to our hotel from exploring the island. Men are still working on the sewage system and the beach in front of our hotel smells like sewage. We feel badly for the manager of our hotel but we tell him that we are moving to a different hotel in the morning. He understands.

We book our new hotel and sit on the beach to watch the sunset.