Maldives and UAE

This part of our trip feels almost disappointingly orthodox, but, given that Sri Lanka is only 90 minutes away from the Maldives, it would have been a shame not to visit. We head to the southern atoll, in the hope of seeing whale sharks.

It’s further than we’d imagined with a 60-minute seaplane from Male. The flight however, is pretty spectacular flying over the incredible Indian Ocean and its myriad of islands. Reminiscent of Fiji, but without the dramatic island-scapes. Regardless though, absolutely stunning and very hot! Any notions we may have harboured of arriving looking glamorous disappear in the intense heat of the cabin!

A short hop on a boat sees us arrive at our home for the next few days. Part of me wanted to dislike the Maldives, but it’s impossible. It really is a gorgeous place. The beaches and the water are exactly as one would imagine. Little piece of paradise and far more accessible and mainstream than the other corners of the world we’ve visited to date.

Sign up to the whale shark alert programme, but I’m told by the resident marine biologist that we have two hopes! They haven’t seen a whale shark since December, although it is the right time of year. The weather has disrupted the plankton, in addition to increasing the temperature of the waters. Shame…

We content ourselves with snorkelling and generally relaxing in the incredible water. The coral is not the most spectacular that we’ve seen, but there are a lot of fish. We are also treated to nursing sharks and black reef tips near one of the restaurants. Easily visible in the shallow water from above, but very cool to swim alongside once I’ve donned snorkel and flippers.

Very relaxing few days and about the right length of time.  PS: enjoy watching this heron whose eyes were clearly too big for its stomach…   

Dubai is next on the agenda and it’s a four-hour hop to the UAE. Bizarrely this is another place that I’ve never visited before.

We spend our first morning wandering around the marina. All feels very familiar somehow, with brands we recognise and lots of western faces. The skyline is as impressive as one would imagine. Everything is big! We head over to the Palm and take the monorail to Atlantis, just for the sheer spectacle. It’s Ramadan, Easter weekend, and the Racing World Cup – so Dubai is pretty busy! Good place for people watching.

That evening, we meet up with a good friend of mine from my DBA, Hamad. We kept each other sane during the 4.5 years we studied together, finishing at roughly the same time. Hamad is based in Dubai, having recently retired from the Dubai Chamber of Commerce. I say he’s based in Dubai – at one point he was travelling for 200 days of the year. Have a lovely dinner together and set the world to rights. Great to be able to meet up and introduce Hamad to Jenn.

Following day, we head over to the old village before contrasting starkly with a visit to the Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa. The latter is a seriously piece of engineering at 828 metres, making it easily the world’s tallest building. Not to be outdone the mall, is impressive in its own right, and boasts a huge aquarium, containing a raft of enormous sharks and rays. Only in Dubai!

We return in the evening to watch the light show and the fountains dance. It’s quite a spectacle.

Following day we take a taxi to Abu Dabhi, the capital of UAE. Not entirely sure what to expect from the city but we have two nights ahead of our next flight.

We visit the Grand Mosque in the evening. Incredible piece of modern architecture. Well worth a visit – absolutely stunning.

Following day we visit the equally stunning Louvre. The collection is sparse but impressive. See several pieces that were worth travelling for, including Da Vinci’s, John the Baptist. The antiquities are equally praise worthy. As a bonus inclusion we watch an 80 year old sea turtle being fed. It’s blind, so is being cared for alongside a number of other creatures that are being treated having suffered afflictions in the wild.

Lunch on the coast overlooking a ridiculously blue sea is a nice way to finish our time in UAE. There is a lot of building underway, and I would imagine the area is going to be quite a sight within the next decade. An easy place to spend some time and I’m grateful to have seen it.

With that it’s an early start the next day. For reasons unknown, we have elected to visit Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. All supposed to be beautiful, but perhaps not the most accessible, or well trodden, of locations. Wish us luck!