Christchurch

One day of sightseeing in Christchurch.

We went to the center of the city. 

Had a coffee and at Riverside. A streetfood kind of place. Great place. We also went there for dinner. 

We went to the Quake city museum. Very interesting, and though. 😥

At the Terrace we saw some huge eels. A man was feeding them, and the boys was very excited. Of course Anders got bitten by one, but a plaster, and the ongoing interest, made him return to the impressive fish. 

The boys highlight today was probably the huge playground The Margaret Mahy Family Playground. An impressive free playground. We talked to other parents at got good advices on our coming NZ adventure. 

Gardens by the bay

We got tickets for Gardens by the bay. Or actually it's a free area with some of the attractions with an entry fee. 

It's a huge area!

We headed straight to a kids area with a free water playground. Almost no people there. 

We had tickets for the cloud forrest and the flower dome. The cloud forrest was a crazy, but still interesting place. Jurassic Park style. 

Flower dome, with the boys seperated in two groups, was impressive and interesting. But two tiered boys though 😊

In the evening we was light festival, and went home by the metro. 

Chinatown and Night Safari

We went to Chinatown with metro. 

Lots of tempting items to buy for the boys. 

Then we went to Khatib with the metro.

We went to the local restaurant, Mc Donald's.

Almost l like home... 

Happy Meals was close. 

Afterwards we took the M2 bus to the area with Night Safari.

Night Safari was great. Not crowded at all, and interesting displays with cool animals. 

Søren fed a rhino.

The metro was apparently not running at late night, so we went to the hotel by a Grab Ride. 

A deaf driwer this time, but way more relaxed/safe driving, and no texting while driving.

First day in Singapore

The boys woke up at 3:25. Ready for adventures! 🫩😂

Søren and I went out at 5am to find some breakfast. 

Our goal today was visiting Singapore Oceanarium. A huge aquarium. 

We went there by metro and walked the last bit. Very easy to use public transport in Singapore. 

Jellyfish 

Anders joining a local class 

Søren and Anders' interaction with a display became a tourist attraction 😅

Palawan beavh

Busride home with two tired boys and parents 

NZ adventure started

Family adventure just began.

From 5th of January to 29th of March 2026.

Singapore, New Zealand, Fiji and Dubai is ahead. 

Left Denmark in snow. 

Train from Fredericia on time. Phew 😊👌

Granddad and grandma drowe us to the train station. 

Took very little time, and all toys ect was out of the bags. 

Flight in Copenhagen. Airbus A380-800 (A388) is the world's largest passenger aircraft. 

It was two hours delayed because of ice on the wings. 

Machines removing ice from the plane. 

The delay ment a very short transfer time in Dubai, but we managed 💪

First flight was 'go nuts with screen' for the boys.  

Second flight was sleep mode. It took a while 😅

The taxi ride from the airport was interesting. A grab ride. Like Über. 

The driver was texting during the intire trip. 

Price: 50S$

Metro next time. 

Bye bye Sri Lanka

In the airport again. Heading home after a great month in Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

Didn't do much today. Went for a swim in the ocean, and got organised.
The area had a power cut, so it was really hot. 5 minutes after a shower I was soaked in sweat again.

I bought a few extra souvenirs, and managed to fit everything in my backpack. Only 21kg though... Qatar airlines accept 30kg... :)

The owner of the guesthouse, also a tuk tuk driver, decided to show me a Hindu temple on the way to the airport.
I was worried it was another "donating temple visit"... But no. He had to pray, and brought me. He did a quick ritual and lighted a pack of sense smoke sticks. And rushed out again. Interesting visit.

Before entering the departure terminal I visited the arrival terminal. Waited for 5 minutes and spotted a tourist. Gave her my guidebook and received a hug from her son. Cool. Have written good advices in the book, and I hope she will pass it on to a new traveler when she leaves the country.

In Denmark Thursday morning at 6am.

See you guys, and thanks to the few people actually reading this :)

Buying tools in Negombo

Today's mission: buy useful souvenirs.

I wanted to buy useful things to bring home. Have seen a lot of cool knives and tools. The manager of my guesthouse knew a place. I was pretty sure I had seen the place when I was on my tuk tuk trip to Trimcomalee.
Anyways, his brother, a tuk tuk driver was eager to drive us there, of course :)

It's definitely low season now. Everyone seems desperate to milk a few rupees out of the few tourists hanging around.

We went there. My 'friend' knew a place where I would get local prices. Aha.....

We went there, lots of places selling tools and knifes. I took a tour, and quickly realized I could get cheaper tools elsewhere than my friends place. Great....
Not a huge difference though. I ended up buying 4 different tool/knifes. Interesting if the airport police will accept me traveling with them.
They probably just need a little $help$.... :)

My lunch was a stack of rotty. You'll get a huge stack, but you'll only pay for the ones you eat. The rest goes back to the display. Wonder how many times one rotty can travel back and forth in one day...
There's plenty of different ones. Some spicy, some average. But all really nice, and usually only 35 rupees each. (2dkr)

Last night in Sri Lanka tonight. Leaving the country tomorrow at 10pm.

Photo: Rotty

Back in Negombo

The flight from Male was one hour delayed. So plenty of time to spend my last Rufiyaas in Male airport. An airport with only one, busy, runway.

Almost no one on the plane, so I went to the best window seat to a nice view of the Maldives from above.

After three weeks in Sri Lanka it feels like coming home. I know my way around know.
Know a tuk tuk to the train station is maximum 150 rupees.

The policeman checking my passport was asking me for a second visit visa. I'm 95% sure my visa allowed two visits.
Anyway, he offered me a new visa if I could "help him a little"...
100 rupees was clearly not enough. 200, same look on his face. I said I would just go to the immigration counter and have it fixed. If he was right I was looking at a 25us$ fee. But now, the 200 rupees was enough, and I got my visa and another stamp in my passport.

At Katunayake train station, the station manager invited me inside. Overprice again, was my first thought. I was wrong. He was really friendly and told me a lot about the job as a station manager, and the system in Sri Lanka.
He showed me the stations safe, extra money and tickets. The one room also had a bed for him to sleep.

Back in Negombo a tuk tuk driver wanted to show me a nearby 1000 rupees guesthouse. When I got there they wanted 2000 rupees pr night, but they quickly accepted 1000 rupees.
They seem very friendly. Tomorrow they will try to help me finding some Sri Lankan tools.

Photos: view from the window at Enzaa guesthouse.  from the plane and the train station.

Hulhumale

Left Maafushi this morning. A beautiful day with calm sea. You can sit on the roof of the ferry, which gave a perfect view in the pleasant morning temperature.

Now located on a new island, Hulhumale. It has a connecting road to the airport, perfect.

My guesthouse has a nice view to the beach.
The receptionist adviced me to go snorkeling at the north east corner of the island.
A great advice.
It was a shallow area with lots of live coral, and lots of life. The area had lots of current which made it a very interesting spot for snorkeling. I could drift along the north coast while watching the life less than a meter under me.
Some places I had to steer to avoid collisions with the sharp coral.
I saw two eaglerays cruising away from me.

The beach on the north coast of Hulmumale is the total opposite.

Terrible proof when I was back on the shore. I met a local man who seemed interested in me, and which fishes I had seen. He was telling about the nice area while drinking a can of redbull. When we left each other, he threw the can on the beach. Next to hundreds of bottles and cans... Hmmmmmm..... 

Only the popular beaches are clean. The rest is covered with rubbish. Awful, and crazy culture! 

Flying back to Colombo tomorrow. 

Photos: from the Maafushi - Male ferry.

Maafushi, picnic Island and Guraidhoo

Last full day on Maafushi. Went on a tour with a nice couple from Bangladesh. Including their 5 months old baby girl.

First we went to a neighbor island, Guraidhoo. Tourism isn't big there, so we got a taste of the real Maldivian live. The island is less developed than Maafushi. This means a lot of waste everywhere on the island. A lot of the people on Guraidhoo were celebrating the results of the election. 

After a look around Guraidhoo, our guesthouse crew from Narnia took us to a nearby picnic Island. 

An inhabited island with nice beaches, bbq's and facilities.

A nice place to relax, and our guide served us a nice lunch. 

Back home on Maafushi at around 4pm. 

Time to rest before dinner. 

Tomorrow, I'm catching the early ferry back to Male. 

Maafushi, diving and fishing

The last two days I've been diving with Maafushi divers. A total of 4 dives.
Have seen lots of turtles, sharks and colorful fish. An eagel ray, octopus and today we dived a shipwreck.
Very nice divesites with clear warm water (28 degrees).
Three of the dives were drift diving. Quite funny way to dive, and a little challenging.

Tonight I went night fishing with a local boat, and two tourist from Israel.
We were fishing for two hours, and caught a lot of little fish. Perfect barbecue size...

The tour included a free bbq with our own fish.
Eating the fish was a big disappointment though. The fish was half cooked, and had a strange taste of petrol. Bigger. Looked so nice.

Tomorrow is probably my last full day on Maafushi, so I'm going island hopping to the nearby island.

Maafushi, snorkeling

Two days at Maafushi so far.

Holiday Lodge, my guesthouse, served a nice breakfast. I managed to get a nice room, including breakfast, free city bikes for only 52us$. That's a fair price, and half of what I was paying the first night in Male.

After breakfast I visited one of the dive centers in town. I booked two dives for tomorrow morning.
They also told me some good snorkeling spots around Maafushi. Right of the beach. I visited two spots and saw heaps of colorful fish. Very nice snorkeling. For free.

The receptionist also took me to visit the school and and institution, orphanages for young people. Both places closed cause of schoolholiday, but very interesting.

Tomorrow I'm scubadiving.

Another unexpected day

Was leaving Male today, and headed for the ferry harbour. Wasn't sure which Attol to visit, so I was just walking past the different Jettys.
Not many people around, but I finally spotted a ferry with quite a few people in it.
No signs, so I just walked onboard. Think I heard one guy saying "what are you doing".

A friendly man in uniform stood up.
"where's this ferry going" I asked.

"sorry, it's a custody ship", the policeman replied, and a handful of prisoners raised their arms to show me their handcuffs. Laughing!
Well, not the ferry I was looking for. :)

I ran into a group of tourists standing at a jetty.
Like me, they didn't succeed in boarding a ferry, and didn't know what to do.
Again, a local tried to help us, and took us to his shop.
He tried to organize a boat for us, and book a guesthouse.
He went with us to find a good place for lunch, and met us later on while we were waiting for the boat. BUT, it turned out the boat was almost fully booked, so only few of us could go.
We all decided to stay in Male.

I went back to my cheap'ish guesthouse.
They had one room getting available in the evening, but also a room for locals. Locals?
The receptionist, Shifna, showed me the alright room, but she kept saying it was not good.
I thought it was fine, but after a while she asked me to follow her. ??

She walked for quite a while. It turned out she walked me to her private house where I was introduced to her sister and brother.

She didn't like tourist being cheated with overpriced hotels and guesthouses, so she offered me a room in their house. Free of charge. She just asked me to do something nice for someone else another time.
What! ? :)
So generous of Shifna, and her brother and sister seemed to be fine with her idea.

Was served a wonderful dinner. I was trying to eat with my fingers which was creating some amusement around the little kitchen table.

Her brother, a retired fisherman, showed me lots of photos and videos of his ship, and I tried to chew in a few betel nuts.

Outside, three kids were playing. I  had a good chat with them. The kids here speak very good English.
Neighbors, people passing were very curious. Stopped, and looked at me. Not a place you would encounter tourist.

Incredible friendly people. Lovely, very interesting experience.

Tomorrow, I'm off to Maafushi

Photos: a few pictures from my hosting family.

The sandbank

Wasn't entirely sure what I was joining today. Went to Jetty#1  and waited.
Apparently, my new friend Shaan had managed to get me on a 25us$ sail tour. The tour is meant for people working in the Maldives. Usually no tourist join this tour. We were only 6 people onboard. Everyone, except me, was working with tourism.
All young people from 5 different countries.

We sailed for about 1 hour to reach a big sandbank, with a tiny sand island in the middle.

We went for a swim, and we relaxed at the bank. I was snorkeling in the edge of the bank. There was heaps of coral and colorful fish. A very nice place for snorkeling.

We had a nice lunch onboard with fresh MahiMahi fish.

Back in Male late afternoon. Two from the crew took me to a nice guesthouse where I'm staying for the night. Half price from yesterday. 55us$.

Again I managed to find a nice local meal for very few $$.

Tomorrow I'm probably off to another island. Male is basically one 'big' city covering the entire island of Male. Busy, but still laid back compared with Sri Lanka's bigger cities.