“Rainy Summertime” – Noel Gallagher.
Even before my trip to The Maldives in 2025, I had self monikered it the “Rainy Summertime Tour“, inspired by a lost Oasis track. One that Noel Gallagher wrote but never released. I had heard The Maldives were some kind of a “paradise”, this turned out to be excrement as the country planted itself as the worst one I have visited so far! Bear in mind, when I typed up the first 10 points on here, I LOVED it. It was the theft of £1,000 from immigration and airlines that excremented your country.
As a non-weather freak, I wasn’t exactly here expecting it to be sunshine all the time, nor rain all the time. This was after all, the rainy season in a tropical “paradise”. But in Male, the capital city of The Maldives there were a few shocks for me, which was great initally as I love spontaneous travel. For sure Male was much much nicer than concrete cat rat jungle Maafushi…and here were my shocks.
1.It gets dark early.
Every day, I had 12 hours of daylight. The sun rose at 6 a.m. and the hot ball left the Maldivian sky at 6 p.m. I had flown in from Poland via United Arab Emirates. In Poland, at the time, the sun was rising around 5 a.m. each day and sinking around 9 p.m. European Summertime of course.
Here on my first night in Male, of course I expected it to get dark earlier than that, but without research, I had reckoned it would be dark around 7.30 to 8 p.m. Nope. By half 5 (17.30), the hot ball had started to lower itself from the Male skyline, before disappearing for good by 6 p.m. Great for a writer of course, but less so for backpacking key sights while it was still bright!
2.Textbook Asia amalgamshook.
I wasn’t ready to be amalgamshook by all of Asia here, but what a treat in Male. Aside from Singapore and The Kong (where once I lived), this has so far been the most reflective representative city of all Asia for me. In Male, Asia is textbookily amalgamshook.
For a start the people. The first 5 people I met here were from 5 different countries!
1.The Maldives.
2.Bangladesh.
3.India.
4.Vietnam.
5.China.
The city of Male has managed to amalgamshake Asia. As cosmopolitan as they come. You never know until you meet the next person which Asian country they will from.
You can get food from Korea, China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Japan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Iran and so on. Truly amalgamshook here at Male away, including the Indian feast at Moti Mahal. In terms of other tourists here, I met people from China, Spain, Slovakia, Egypt and Indonesia.
3.They drive on the left.
This was a wild shock. I grew up in Northern Ireland where driving on the left hand side is the norm there. I knew countries like Japan, Cyprus, The Kong, Australia and New Zealand drove on the left from my time whackpacking them, but so does The Maldives!
Nuts loyal and it took me a while to get used to this! I have lived in right hand side countries since 2015, so I got a bit confused on day one!
4.When it rains, it pours: FLOOD Loyal
On day 1 there was some mild rain overnight. On day 2, only sunshine and clear skies. On day 3, in the morning, I confessed to my travel mate Amer that I had called my tour “Rainy Summertime ” but we had such clear skies. That morning we were backpacking to a sunny beach on Maafushi Island, called Sunrise Beach.
I swam and was burnt and hot in the sun! Then in the afternoon came the downpours!
It was torrential rain the next two days in both Maafushi and in Male, The capital city. In fact, on my boat trip between the two islands a massive storm came and you couldn’t see out the windows at one point!
But at least I was glad that my tour had lived up to the name! A sign from the heavens and writing inspiration! Probably the saving grace was the rain…
5.Coffee And Tea Prices start at 70 Cents!
I definitely gained a bar with my 70 cent coffees. I hadn’t expected them to be so cheap, from 10 Rufiya (66 US cents) and up. Gained a bar, bar was gained, bargain.
6.A ferry to and from Male and Velana Airport is $1 USD /15 Rufiyah!
On arrival in Velana International Airport, which is on Hulhule Island, I had to get to Male Island. The ferry is just $1 US Dollar. Again a bargain and much cheaper than I expected.
7.Local taxis, one ride is never more than $3 USD!
I only took one taxi in my time backpacking The Maldives, and I didn’t actually need to take that one – I just did it for curiosity. You can walk everywhere in Male, which I did – I backpacked it hardcore. But the taxis are so cheap! $1 to $3 US Dollars for a ride in the city.
8.There is a local bus network
It also came as a surprise to see such a well organised bus network in Male, the capital.
9.There are loads of football pitches!!
Despite having such limited island space to build on, I played on one pitch, watched a veterans tournament on another, watched a local friendly on another and also backpacked the National Stadium. I found at least 6 football pitches on Male alone!!
10.There are 24 hour bars but no alcohol
On Male island itself, and the capital city Male alcohol is strictly forbidden. I knew about this before the trip, but I hadn’t expected they would still have 24 hour bars! There was a 24 hour nightclub doing karaoke near my hostel – I didn’t bother going in for some reason. There was also a 24 hour bar at the ferry terminal. With this in mind, it’s backpacker friendly as if you had an early flight, you could mill around in a 24/7 and skippack a bed.
11.You need to bribe them to leave the country💩
It was all going so well for the first ten on the list. I actually enjoyed my time in The Maldives, until I came to leave. They stole money off me and made me book the seat next to myself in front of immigration and assholes from IndigoAir to let me out of the country. My laptop had 4% battery, they cracked my phone. In the end, I had 2 tickets for the same flight, I was sat beside myself. Then they forced me to go to Dubai instead of Ethiopia. The whole ordeal cost me £1,000 plus a new phone, and as a travel blogger who went to The Maldives to help promote them, there is no way I’m paying my own money to work and promote such assholery.
This is the biggest shame and shock The Maldives dealt to me and why I hated it. I won’t be back.
Thanks for the memories and shame on you. I had 3 flights booked out, all with boarding passes in my hand. Yet I was blocked from leaving despite being at the airport 5 hours early. Corruption and shame of the highest order.