Male, The Maldives

 We returned to Male, on our way back to India. Last time we were here we went snorkeling, and enjoyed the lovely tropical fish. This time we wandered the island, and almost walked completely around it. It is only about one mile wide and two miles long. It's pretty crowded since about 80,000 people are crammed into this small space. Motorcycles are everywhere, and you take your life in your hands when trying to cross the road. My best strategy has been to wait and follow a local across the street !


The harbor where the ferries and tenders dock
is very pretty.


There  are lots of fishing boats in Male. we visited the fish market, and it was full of beautiful big fresh fish!


A friendly bird perched on a fishing boat in the harbor.


Male has a sea wall, so the beach is quite contained. Since it is Muslim, even the kids are fully dressed when they go in the water to swim. even the young girl wears ahead covering to swim. tourists are not allowed to wear swimsuits and swim on Male beaches. They go snorkeling from the snorkel boats, or go directly to the resort islands in  the Maldives.


We went for lunch to a very spicy Tandoori Indian restaurant.  We were served this after meal plate of ingredients , kind of  like an after dinner mint.  After a meal in Male, both men and women chew the dried fruit of the areca palm  wrapped in a betel leaf and sprinkled with a ground spice mixture of cinnamon, cloves and cardamon  When eaten like this, the mixture is called a "Dhufun". The mixture has a numbing effect and turns a bright red in the mouth if chewed for very long. we tried it, but I'm not a fan! Ray is the guinea pig here!


The areca nut slices are the brown rings on the plate. The green leaf  on the plate is the betal leaf that grows like a vine. The white paste in the blue cap is a mixture of water and slaked lime made into a paste. After we tried this weird concoction I looked up the effects of these ingredients.

Apparently when combined these ingredients produce a high like nicotine. It is highly addictive. The active ingredient is a chemical called arecoline. Immediate effects include increase in blood pressure, heart rate and increased body temperature. Long term use can increase risk of oral cancers.

It is strange that we saw large quantities of the ingredients being sold in the markets, and plates of the ingredients offered in all the restaurants at the end of meals! Not for me!

This huge tropical fruit was very prevalent in the market. It can be eaten as is, or cooked with sugar. We didn't try it, but apparently it tastes a bit like apricot.



We passed many small shops with lots of packaged junk food. This one made me laugh! Definitely cultural differences in labelling and marketing!






Comments

  1. LindsayFebruary 6, 2023 at 6:14 PM

    Adalea says "chiki balls is a funny name for a food" 🤣

    ReplyDelete

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