Day 2: Getting to know Male'

August 27th, Sunday...a working day for Maldivians...Aindhy and I woke up by half past 8am and had a typical Maldivian breakfast of 'Roshi' (much like chapatti but a little more oil in it) and 'Mahsoni' (a preparation of dried-flaked tune with cocunut shavings, onions, a little bit of chilli and a dash of salt for taste)...very nice one@@
It was up and away for Aindhy...off to work...Aindhy works for UNICEF (United Nations Childrens' Fund) and is in the Communications Division which is located at the UN Residence in Male'...working hours are from 9.00am to about 3.30 to 4.00pm...talk about long hours...NOT!!....he's so fortunate...sigh...back home, 7.30pm would be only half the day for me....did I also mention that Aindhy has a 1 1/2 hour- lunch break? :)

After I left Aindhy to go about his work, I took a stroll on the streets of Male'...the first place I went was south side of the island, where the pier and the 'swimming hole' is (that's where I had a swim with Aindhy and Markukh later that day) (seen below)...you can also notice the seawall which was constructed by the government of Japan as a token of friendship and cooperation between the people of Maldives and Japan...it stands over 3.5 meters from the waterline and was responsible for preventing the capital from being obliterated by the 2004 Tsunami (Click on this link to read about the repercussions from the wave). Construction of the seawall started in 1998 and was completed 2 years later in 2000...

Seen below, is Male's only national football stadium... Galolhu Dhan'du....


The National Library and Art Gallery...a landmark that Aindhy told me to look out for everytime i wanted to navigate back to his house...it's directly opposite his street....i missed it a couple of times or more....evertime i passed it, i asked someone and they would point me to it...and I'd pass it again, and the next person points me in the opposite direction...until i realised I had passed it repeatedly and never realising I was passing it@#! was beginning to think that Maldivians were practical jokers who preyed on Peter Cheongs... ;P

I got back about 11nish...then, found out that Mr.Hussain Shihab, Aindhy's dad (seen in the pic above with me), incidentally the State Minister for Ars of the Maldives was coming to visit and have lunch with us! Was honoured that he wanted to see me before he left for Sri Lanka for an assignment....
Aindhy's mum, Mdm Husna and Pema...whose been staying with them for many years now, whooped up a tantalizing grilled mackerel, curry tuna, served with rice and salad... Aindhy walked back from work..well...I went to fetch him...er...on foot.....:)

Aindhy had to return to work...but was back by about 4...and we (Aindly, Markukh and me) decided to go for a swim in the 'swimming hole'...yours trully could not help it but took his trustee digital compact cam (encased in a waterproof housing), fins and mask and snorkel ... I admit, I REALLY looked out of place (that's why ya ain't seeing any pictures of that over here)...practically, everyone sneaked a glance at me at some point in time....we bummed into Yaseer as well...I had met him when he was in Malaysia for studies...we call him the "God of Adventure"...

After we got back to Aindhy's place, we got dressed and met up with Liu, Aindhy's friend ("just like one of the guys", as he terms it) to have dinner at the Food Garden, which overlooks the sea and across to Hulhule, the airport island...

Later that nite, we all dropped by Zanzibar, restaurant and coffee place, where Aindhy's sister, Shani worked (if you ever get a chance to be in Male' try the 'Zanzi-burger' ... he he) Mazlan swung by later for coffee... it was really like how the 3 of us used to hang out when we reading law together at HELP Institute those years....

Well, after a sumptous dinner and a cuppa, we retired back to Anbuge...where my bed awaited me...more to go the next day!