Right now I'm in
Male, which is the capital city
of the country of Maldives.
And in this video I'm going to cover
my first impressions
of what is looking like a very,
very unique city
-How are you? (Bangla)
Take care (Bangla) - We talked a lot (Bangla)
I just had the craziest possible
start to the day.
I was about to
cross the street
and this guy stopped his truck right
next to me
and he's apparently a fan
and we're just talking for a bit. That was wild.
It doesn't really happen
in most countries.
So I am in Hulhumale right now.
And if you haven't watched
any of my previous videos
from the Maldives,
this is basically an island
that was built
25 years ago to account
for the housing crisis in Male,
which is right next to it,
and to be a safe place
in case the rest of the Maldives sinks.
Because this place is two meters
above sea level
and I was about to take the ferry
from here to Male,
which takes like 15 minutes.
But then I found out
the ferry is leaving..
So I was about to take the ferry.
But then the lady
selling the tickets told me
that it's going to be like an hour till
the next ferry.
One ticket for Male.
12:00
Oh! In one hour?
Oh, crap.
Is there any bus or something?
What's the name?
Thank you.
I'm taking the bus
to Male
to explore the city for the first time.
Because this is a newer island,
newer housing.
You can get hotels or Airbnbs
or whatever
for usually a lot cheaper than Male
but even then, it's not exactly cheap.
I'm staying at the cheapest hotel
I could find on Booking.com
that didn't have a terrible review score.
And even then
it's like
75 bucks a night
and nothing's really cheap
in the Maldives.
And this is a
really nice bus, by the way.
It's like a double decker bus
and I’m just sitting on the ground floor.
Just got off the bus and I'm officially
in Male.
So I'm going to have to walk a kilometer
to go to today's first stop.
So the first thing that you're going to notice
when you get here
is how narrow the streets are
and how there's like
very little space for sidewalks.
And sometimes there's like no sidewalks.
You're just walking on the streets.
Where the population of 142,000, Male
is the historic capital where the Sultans,
the dynasties ruled from.
But it's also one of the most densely
populated islands in the whole world.
And there are all these, like,
colorful little buildings everywhere too.
Man, It is so hot right now.
I'm sweating balls because I'm
wearing this like black shirt,
which is my only synthetic shirt
that's left.
And I'm wearing jeans
because like Bangladesh
and a lot of other,
you know,
Muslim countries,
it's probably not very respectful
to be wearing
short shorts,
especially if you're trying to go
to some religious establishments,
which I'm going to try to do
later in the day.
Maldives goes right through the equator,
which means that it's always kind of hot
and kind of humid,
but there's rarely any fluctuation
in the temperatures.
It's always like between
25 to 28 degrees Celcius
every single day, no matter
what time of the day it is.
The lowest recorded
temperature in history
was like 19 degrees Celcius
and the highest ever
was like 34 degrees Celcius
Well, there you go.
The call to prayer is starting right now.
So like I was saying,
Male was historically
the capital of Maldives
from where
the sultan and his dynasties
ruled over all the islands.
And it kind of used to be a walled city,
a lot like the walls
cities of Montenegro and Albania
that I've showed you
with fortifications
and gates and big stone walls.
But all of that was destroyed,
including most of the Sultan's
palace in 1968
when the city was being remodeled,
because by that time
it was no longer a monarchy
and the person in charge
just didn't want to leave
too many traces left of the monarchy.
The only building
that's left of the old Sultan's palace
is this building
right behind me,
which has been turned
into the Maldivian National Museum,
where you can go in
and see some old photos
and royal regalia
and old flags and stuff.
And it's right next to this park
that I'm sitting in,
which is called Sultan Park,
where you can get some free wi fi.
Know what's crazy?
It’s that on the way
kilometer walk here from the bus
stop to this park,
I ran into like three different
Bangladeshis who recognized me
from my videos
and just wanted to talk,
say hi, take photos.
I recognized you. (Bangla)
A crazy stat about the Maldives
is the entire population of the country,
including everyone that lives on
the islands,
is about half a million are like 500,000.
Out of that 100,000 of
those people are migrants
from Bangladesh.
20% of the population
are basically people from my country.
That's why I keep meeting
so many Bangladeshi.
Most of these people
are just like living here
and they have families back home
and they're making better money
than they would working
the same level of jobs in Bangladesh.
And they're sending that money back home.
If you're living abroad
and facing struggles
and sending money back home,
you should check out
this app called Taptap Send.
Taptap Send is a really simple app
that allows you
to send money back home from the US, UK,
Canada and Europe.
There's a lot of good reasons
for using Taptap Send
Then number one,
they have zero transaction fees.
Number two,
the transaction times are pretty fast
compared to competitors.
Transaction exchange
rates are also pretty good.
You can send your money back home
directly to a bank account
or to a Bkash account
if that's more convenient.
And number five,
I've been in talks with Taptap Send
and they've offered a special promo code
for my viewers, which is ‘OTG’.
So if you use that promo code,
you get a ten credit bonus
on your first transaction.
That's 10 USD.
If you're sending money
from the US.
10 CAD.
If you're sending money from Canada.
£10 if you're sending money
from the UK and
€10 if you're sending money from Europe.
So if you need to send money
from abroad to Bangladesh,
definitely check out
this app called Taptap Send.
Now I'm going to get some ice cream
because it's so frickin hot.
So I'm going to recap the history
of the Maldives real quick.
People have lived here
for at least 2500 years. Around 500 B.C.
people from
Sri Lanka and South India
came here for the first time,
and along with them
they brought Hinduism and Buddhism
Around 200 A.D.
Arab traders first started
visiting the islands
as they were navigating their way
across the Indian Ocean.
So in 1153,
this very famous Moroccan trader
named Yusuf al-Barbari,
Hi
Some military people dressed in
just very heavy uniform,
came and asked me where I'm from
and what I'm doing.
And then just walked on. It's 1153.
This very famous
Moroccan trader
named Yusuf al-Barbari
arrived in the Maldives
and he recited the whole Quran
by heart like he had it all memorized.
And this impressed the Maldivian Sultan
so much that he converted to Islam
and converted the entire country
to Islam.
You can come to the historic center
of the town of Male
and you can see his tomb
that's still right there.
And this shrine that's right next to me.
But it seems like
you need special permission
to go inside and take a better look.
So I couldn't go in and see it.
And ever since then, Maldives
has been a muslim country.
And I think right now
it is the only country on earth
except for Mauritania,
maybe to a lesser extent
that is 100% Muslim.
So not all the travelers
here are Muslim definitely,
but everyone that lives here
and even the migrants
I think, are supposed to be 100% Muslim,
which is a pretty wild stat huh?
So you can't really go in
and take a close
look at the tomb of al-Barbari.
But right on the other side of the street
is probably the most famous
mosque from Male,
which is the
Friday prayer mosque, which was built in 1653,
on top of
what used to be
the oldest mosque in Male,
which was built back in 1153
when the sultan converted to Islam.
But this was a mosque that was built
like 500 years after that.
And what makes this mosque
so special is
that it's made entirely
out of coral reef,
the architecture of this place
and the material used to make it
and the way it's been
built is so unique
that it's been designated
a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Right next to the mosque
is also this very famous, unique minaret
that's also like 500 years old.
Right next to the famous mosque
is also this very interesting
looking cemetery
where it also looks like
all the tombstones are made from
Coral reef as well.
- One Chicken Shwarma. - Please come inside.
So I was planning on getting ice cream,
but I was outside this cafe
and ran into some Bangladeshi staff
and they're like making me eat
here and have some juice,
which is fine to me.
- What is your name? (Bangla) - Mohammad Eliyas.
I also found some chicken shwarma,
which is one of my favorite things
in the world,
So I’m going to have some shwarma.
This chicken shwarma is huge.
Wa-Alaikum-Salaam. I am good. How about you? (Bangla)
More Bangladeshis.
Bill please. (Bangla)
No. No. (Bangla)
Please. Please. Please.
No. No. No. No. (Bangla)
Don’t do that. (Bangla) Please.
Please. Please.
My new friend, Mr. Mohammad Eliyas.
He is giving me a ride on a scooter,
to the fish market,
because he's making a delivery there.
I think I can’t take pictures out right? (Bangla) - No, you can’t. No filming. (Bangla)
Ok. (Bangla)
- Oh my God! (Bangla) - What happened, brother? (Bangla)
My hat just flew away from the wind.
So, had to run back and get it.
Thank you for everything.
That guy was so nice.
He didn't let me pay for my food.
And then he gave me a ride
basically to almost
the next spot for our video,
which is the local fish market of Male.
- I am good. How about you? (Bangla) - I am good too. I follow your videos. (Bangla)
Thank you. Thank you.
Ok, take care. (Bangla)
Basically, I went to this local market
and then to this fish market,
and there was so much going on in there,
I decided to just make a different video
out of it.
So check out the next video
if you want to see what happened
in the local markets of Male.
This must be some kind of big port area
because I see a lot of speedboats
and ferries that are parked.
And I keep meeting a lot of people here
from Bangladesh
and I talk to them all their lives
and they say
their lives here are better
than it would be in Bangladesh.
Just the culture is better to people
that are in these
working class positions,
because apparently people here
are a lot more down to earth.
Like, doesn't matter
if you're like a MP or a policeman,
you wouldn't know
when you like,
talk to people
how much they make or what status
they have in their job
because everyone's so down to earth,
which is quite contrary to what you see
in a lot of other places in
South Asia, including
where I'm from, Bangladesh,
where like if someone makes more money
or has more authority,
people often
make a point to try their best to, like show off.
I was at Maafushi
at a different island a few days ago
and the president of the Maldives
was there.
He was at my hotel
for some special event that was going on
and he just had like one
or two security guards with him.
He was wearing like a half sleeved shirt
and just walked past us and smiled at us
and responded to this guy
that like greeted him.
That wouldn't happen
I feel like any other South
Asian country for sure.
Part of that
is because it's so small
and it's relatively safe over here,
but also because people seem
to be a lot more down to earth.
So like
100 yards away from that fish market,
which is right there
is this place called Republic Square,
which is like the historic center
of the whole city
with a huge flag of the Maldives, flying
always like the one right behind me.
This is historic
because this is where
like a lot of the protests
in the last century has often started
or culminated
So, right at the center of Male*
is also this huge
complex called the Islamic Center,
which has the biggest mosque
of the Maldives
that was built in 1984 with its signature
golden massive dome
and which can accommodate up
to 5000 people.
So this is not an ancient mosque,
but it's a very impressive
one nonetheless.
And without a doubt,
the most recognizable
architectural landmark
in the whole city of Male.
And beyond the mosque,
there's also an Islamic
convention center
and a Islamic library
in the premises of this place.
By the way,
this place is also literally
right next to Sultan Park,
where we're at earlier.
So if one person from Morocco
came and brought Islam
with them to the Maldives,
another very famous Moroccan traveler
who came here 200 years later,
Ibne Batuta
was here in 1344,
and he stayed here for around
eight months during his world travels.
And in this time he married
into the royal family
and he seemed like
he had a pretty good time.
It's believed
that he had a total of six
wives in these eight months.
At any point,
he didn't have more than four wives
because that's the maximum
allowed under Islamic law.
So he divorced people as necessary
along the way.
This guy had a really interesting life.
No matter where he went,
if he stayed for a couple of months,
he just married one or two people or more
and then when he left,
he just divorced
those wives and moved on.
And in this time
he was also made
a judge in the royal court
after he married into the royal family.
One little interesting
fact I heard
is that when he came here,
like 700 years ago,
even though this was an Islamic country,
no one was wearing tops at that point.
So one of the things he tried to do
during his rule
as a judge was he tried to criminalize
being topless in the Maldives.
So in the 16th century,
the Maldives was
conquered and colonized
by Portuguese colonizers.
And for a period of 15 years
it was under Portuguese control,
which was the only time in this nation's
history was actually being controlled
by some foreign invaders.
Against all odds.
In 15 years,
some rebels
fought back against the Portuguese
successfully and took back their country.
After that,
they had, like lous agreements
with the Dutch,
the British and the French
to protect themselves from attacks
from their neighboring countries
and from the Portuguese.
But they always controlled
their internal affairs.
Then finally, in 1965,
the country became completely independent
from the Brits and it became a republic.
In 1968,
by the way,
right on the opposite
side of that famous Friday mosque
is the residence
of the current president of the Maldives.
He lives in this,
like very normal looking
one storey house.
Not a lot of crazy security.
It's literally
like 100 meters away from the ocean,
which is that way.
So I guess they don't really need a fort
to protect their president
because he doesn't have a lot of
powerful enemies
So I was craving that
ice cream from earlier
and I also need to spend my rufiyaa.
So I just got myself a $4
Nutella milkshake
Really good.
So I just walked over all the way
to the other end of Male.
and I see this spot
that I had no idea
existed with
surfable waves
where all these surfers
and bodyboarders are going at it.
Wish I had known about this place
before today,
because I don't think I'm
going to get a chance to surf
because it's
going to be like dark in an hour.
And then tomorrow morning I'm leaving.
Ok, it’s not the longest waves or whatever,
but it's still very surfable waves
and it's supposed to be the off season
for Maldives.
Like I knew
there were islands away from here,
but I had no idea.
You can just do that in Male itself
Ticket to Hulhumale.
Thank you.
Actually managed to catch the ferry,
this time.
I was going to this restaurant
to like,
use the bathroom
and ran into some other person
from my country
who also recognized me from the videos
and he got me a free Coke.
That is it for this video.
And I think this is the last video
from the Maldives,
because I'm leaving early
tomorrow morning
and it's going to get dark soon today.
So if you like this video,
don't forget to like it.
If you want to watch more videos
like this, feel free
to follow my Facebook page
or subscribe to my YouTube channel.
And if you want real time travel updates,
feel free to follow me
on Instagram
@nadironthego
I'll catch you guys in the next video
from I don't know where.
Maybe somewhere in Bangladesh.
So if you watched this video
and want to know more
about visiting the Maldives,
you're in luck
because I just recently started
writing for my blog again
and wrote all these different articles
like Top 17 Activities in the Maldives,
or How to Travel
the Maldives on a budget.
So if you want to check it out,
I'll leave a link for
that in the comments.