The Night We Were Almost Kidnapped. Not Really.

We left Shanghai on Tuesday morning and headed to the Maldives through Kuala Lumpur.  Don't know where KL is?  It's in Malaysia.  And, it seems a bit smoggy.  From what we could see from the airport.

We arrived in Male, Maldives around 10.30pm...only a bit late after an aborted landing due to an airplane sitting in the middle of the only runway surrounded by emergency-looking vehicles.

Once we cleared immigration, we headed out to the open area where all of the resorts have service desks to help you get to your island.  A gentleman approached us and asked if we needed help....as we were staying in Male for the evening (so we could see the atolls in the daylight from the seaplane we would have to take to our island), we told him where we were staying and he pointed us to a young guy.

Jeff spoke to him, and it seemed as though he represented our hotel that we were staying in that evening, and we gave him all of our information, he called his buddy, and we got in their car.  While we were on the way to the hotel, it occured to both Jeff and I that this could be a huge ruse to kidnap Americans and hold us for ransom.  I stopped talking to the driver and started concentrating on my escape plan and trying to remember all of the Lefts and Rights we were taking.  I got really nervous when we saw a huge 'gang' of moped guys...all looking suspicious and hanging out.

Turns out, I'm a complete freak, and they had no interest in kidnapping us.  They actually worked at the hotel and were the nicest people (I'm certain I would have realized that earlier, had I not been planning my escape route in  my head considering both of them had the name of our hotel on their shirts AND the car also had the name of the hotel.  YES, I read too many fiction books).

The hotel was...quaint - only 10 rooms, and sparce.  We're not terribly high maintenance people, but were a little dismayed that the room charge did not include soap.  Yes, I'm serious.  It did, however, include breakfast of an egg, hotdog, and 3 pieces of toast.  A hotdog in a muslim country...something I found pretty interesting.  Oh, and in case you were wondering, I dislike <<immensely>> wet rooms as bathrooms (where there is no separation between the toilet and the shower)...seriously, you couldn't throw a piece of glass or a short tile wall in there?


Our quaint little hotel.

Right out in front of the hotel.

 

I complain about not being able to read Chinese.  There would be
no way I could read Maldivian.

In town.  Lots of real estate development ideas.

It was a beautiful day - no rain or dense clouds.  Yet the satellite wasn't
giving us any tennis scores.

We would like to have an evening cocktail here.

Quaint.

Our 'view'.

Bathroom/Wetroom.  Small.  No soap.

I was stalking this cute little fella.  Jeff would not let me bring him with us.
Boo.

 

We had to get to the airport to catch our sea plane around 9.30, so we headed to check out the town...not much of a town, but after a quick tour and a coffee (that was strong and DELICIOUS), we headed to the seaplane airport.

Pictures to come...troubles uploading...