A Drew Moment

Drew was enjoying the cultural show at the Paradise resort when the lovely dancer decided to pick him out of the front row for a spin on the dance floor. He handled it pretty well. (Pictures courtesy of Gary.)

Taste of Maldives

Here is one reason why Drew likes it here. This is the custom-made eggplant, tomato and garlic pizza from the Palm Deck. We were laughing so hard when we realized he has come halfway around the world to order the same pizza that he gets from the Old World deli. He has also been eating mushrooms and veggie omelets. Apart from missing ham and avoiding any type of rice, he really likes the food. I think he has even gained a pound or two!
However, we are now boycotting this restaurant if we don't have a Maldivian to go with us. The service is slow, they get the order wrong, and then screw up the bill.

Family Time

One of the fun things about this trip is that Cathy and I are here with our kids and the Maldivians are introducing us to their families as well. Zayan, the 11 year old son of news director Abdullah Rameez, wants to be a businessman like Andrew and loves to play video games like Laura. As you can see, they hit it off right away!

Alcohol Permit

We are pretty used to getting along without alcohol in Male, but our hosts wanted us to feel at home and went to a lot of trouble to get us an alcohol permit for our personal use. However, since none of them drink alcohol, no one knew what we were supposed to do with the permit. It took some serious investigative reporting to figure it out. I went to the duty free at the airport (the only liquor store we have seeen in the whole country) and was told that we needed to visit an office in Male, place an order, return the next day to pay, then go back to the airport and pick up the order.


The office was over a pool hall, then we took the dhoni over to the airport and walked down a dusty trail to an obscure trailer where there were Maldivians apparently buying alcohol to be taken to resorts. After about 30 minutes of waiting, while they obtained the bottles from the duty free shop in the terminal, we had to do the whole trip in reverse.

You get a taste of what it must have been like during Prohibition! Each person over 1s permitted three liters per month, or four bottles of wine.

No Smorking!

You should not even think about smorking when you are on a dhoni!