The Maldives

Last night I ordered a return ticket to the Maldives. It's so close, and a return ticket from Colombo was only 1000dkr (133€)

I had to catch the train in Mattara at 6am. Ment a 5 a clock start. I thought finding a Tuk Tuk would be easy, but all passing Tuk Tuks were already full. I ended up walking 4 kilometers to the station.
At the station a huge line up at the ticketcounter met me. I just managed to jump on the train before departure, and at my connecting train in Ragama, I again had to run to catch the train.

In the end I managed to beat Colombo chaos, at reached the airport with heaps of time to spare.

Backpacking The Maldives is not the easiest. With $$$ you can do anything, but I'm trying to travel on a budget.

I got here with no prebooked guesthouse or hotel. Wrote a random address is my arrival papers.

From the airport you need to catch a ferry to the main island. Here I took a walk and looked for accommodation. A very friendly man adviced me to a guesthouse, and waited 10 minutes trying to get a taxi for me.

I got to the guesthouse, but it was fully booked.
I ran out of time searching for a guesthouse, so ended up booking a hotel room for 99us$ per night.
Another very friendly local man, Shaan,  gave me a ride to the hotel.
After a cheap dinner (taxis, food and local restaurants are cheap) I ran into Shaan again. He offered me a ride around the island. I jumped on his scooter, and he showed me everything on the little island. He even took me to an expensive restaurant and bought me coffee. He wouldn't accept me paying. He rang friends about budget tours exploring other islands.
So tomorrow I'm jumping on a boat at Jetty1.

Amazed by Shaans eager to help a visitor. In Sri Lanka I would have expected financial motives for helping. With Shaan and the other man helping me today, I feel very welcomed, safe, and with no financial interest from them.

Photos: from third class train in Sri Lanka, to first class (my standards) hotel in The Maldives.