When I was in high school, my teacher of geography used to point out a small island on the map and say: These are The Maldives, the pearl of the Indian Ocean. It was the first time I had heard of this island. In recent years, it is easy to find a travel guide for The Maldives in travel magazines and newspapers. Beaches, the sea, diving and fishing are frequently mentioned in the introduction of the island. However, for me, The Maldives are still very far away from me and have not even been scheduled in my travel plan before until my colleague Arthrun Yuan, an course consultant for GLV told me that, if I did not go to this island, maybe after ten years later, I could not go to this island. This is because The Maldives would disappear into the Indian Ocean as a result of the global warming.
Arthrun and his wife @ Beach of Maldives
Just like the feeling of seeing one-day sales, I think it would be a shame that I cannot have a chance to see the beauty of The Maldives before they are swallowed up by the sea. But I have just graduated from university and started my career this year and I don’t have enough money and time for travel. I like one sentence from a book named we always travel together hand in hand by a free-lance writer Left Hand, she states that:
1000 Yuan means an ordinary coat or a city?
3000 Yuan means a famous brand wallet or Hong Kong and Macao Freedom trip?
5,000 Yuan means a new brand Mobile phone or thorough tours to the Asia?
20,000 Yuan means one centre of a house or a tour of European countries?
100,000 Yuan means a car or go abroad to travel with families or explore the South Pole?
I don’t know other guys anwser, but I would choose the latter one. I am not an absolutely spiritual person; I think that food and living conditions are important to me. However, apart from these, I am passionate about life, I am curious about the world, I want to see animals and landscapes with my own eyes, to feel the water and soil by my hands and feet, to talk with ,Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, sellers, farmers or artists on my own. Instead of learning knowledge from books and media, I enjoy ‘’touching’’ these sources of information on my travels. Although I gain a very poor salary at the very beginning of my work, I would transfer 500 Yuan from my salary into my travel account every month and after one year, I suppose I could save 6,000 Yuan for travelling which means 6 cities in China or one country in Asia, I would be very excited.
As soon as I heard that the destination of Arthurun’s honey moon is The Maldives and the cost of the trip is just $500 (30,000 Yuan) (including flight ticket, hotel and food), I was shocked. It seems to me that The Maldives is not far away, but how did he make it, how did he plan his travel and how did he deal with the problems on the way?
According to Wikipedia, The Maldives stands in the Laccadive Sea, about 700 kilometers (430 mi) south-west of Sri Lanka and 400 kilometers (250 mi) south-west of India. The
climate of The Maldives is tropical monsoons and it has a dry season (December to March) and rainy season (May to November) and April is the hottest month in the year in The Maldives. Fortunately, my colleague Arthurun went there in April and maybe that is why he repeatedly reminded me to not forget to take sun cream with me if I want to travel in The Maldives^^！
According to the travel guide, most travelers would go to the National Museum & Sultan Park, Old Friday and Grand Friday Mosque etc. However, the thing that impressed Arthurun most is the sea around The Maldives, which can be in different colors, dark blue, light blue and green, very clean without pollution. Arthurn said that he also enjoyed swimming, diving and seeing the sea creatures of various colours such as tropical fishes and sharks. I thought that Arthurun and the sharks might not “swim” at the same time and the same place ^^
Any traveler could not avoid the issue of money, Arthurun said that $500 is a travel agency budget, but if you do it yourself (DIY), maybe it could be cheaper. As long as you can use English, booking flight tickets and a hotel are a piece of cake.
Arthurun went to The Maldives last year just after getting married and he will be a father next month, blessing him.
Arthurun’s Tips
l A visa for The Maldives is not very difficult to obtain, you could get a visa on arrival
l Change some money into U.S. dollars before you go
l A Swimming suit, sun cream and sun glasses are necessary
l A DIY plan would help you save a lot of money
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