Have you been to a place where you keep wondering if it was real? I did. I’ve been to some unreal places around the world, and the Maldives was definitely one of them. The Maldives is like a dream that everyone wants to live in, forever. The Maldives sounds unreal, looks unreal but luckily it was once real for me. Malé the capital of the Maldives, however, is more down to earth and comparatively real than other hidden archipelagos.

I was in the Maldives in April last year (Time flies I know!). I went to the Maldives directly after my journey in Sri Lanka, and my friend – my BFF flew from Hong Kong directly to meet me there. We stayed in Malé for two nights before heading to our final destination, a hidden island – COCO BODU HITHI, which will be up on blog later soon. As the capital of the Maldives, Malé is more “humanized”, has basic facilities for daily life and beaches alongside. It’s a pretty good place for a relaxing vacation, and it doesn’t hurt your wallet that much compared with the island resorts in the Maldives. Most of people like me treating Malé as a transition to their luxurious island resorts. However, Malé is worth to spend two or three days there, just to experience the local culture that you won’t get if you go to your island resort straight away. We all know those luxurious resorts were built for tourists. For places to check out there, I would recommend Fish Market and Local Market for food culture exploration, and go to the Artificial Beach if you really need a beach time before your exquisite vacation.

Yes, the Maldives is real; it’s totally real.