The Maldives

[quote] How do people live there?

In The Maldives all seems to breathe freedom and peace, and to make one forget the world and its sad turmoils.

The closest large land mass to The Maldives is Sri Lanka, which is about 650 miles away.

If your numbers are correct for Male, it has 75k residents per square mile, only slightly more than Manhattan, which has, or at least did at the 2020 census, 73k residents per square mile. Though, I'd assume Manhattan has much more vertical space in its square miles generally.

The 2004 tsunami did a number on its ecology.

Same reason why people live in other crammed places – the money's good. In this case, tourism money.

What ecology, R4?

From the looks of it, there are about 100 trees total on the island.

Otherwise, it's all sand and buildings.

And R5, I can't imagine what tourists would be able to do here, except.... nothing.

According to this R3, Male has 252,000 people.

R7, a city Andrea Dworkin would never visit.

That’s a dream vacation destination.

It looks absolutely stunning in all the pictures I’ve seen. 🥰

The residents are 100 percent Male.

[quote] The residents are 100 percent Male.

But they identify as islanders.

[quote] Boycott Maldives: Modi holiday snaps ignite row between India and island nation

The Maldives is facing a boycott by Indian tourists after three of the island nation's junior ministers made derogatory remarks about Narendra Modi's holiday photos.

The ministers, who have since been suspended, called India's prime minister a "clown", a "terrorist" and a "puppet of Israel", after Modi posted pictures on X of his holiday in Lakshadweep, an archipelago in the southern Indian Ocean. The comments caused widespread upset in India, with reports that "thousands of Indian travelers have canceled trips" and a major booking site has suspended flights to the Maldives, said CNBC.

Indian tourists are "one of the largest contributors" to the income of the Maldives, with the sector as a whole contributing to a third of its economy, said the BBC. And the Maldives also relies on its neighbour for "food, infrastructure building, and technological advancement".

Although Modi did not mention the Maldives in his holiday post from the "lesser-known" Lakshadweep, it may have been seen as a "charm offensive to draw people" there rather than the Maldives itself that caused upset with ministers, said CNN. The Maldives government was quick to distance itself from the comments.

But the row comes at a "sensitive time" for Indian-Maldivian relations. The Maldives had already fallen out of favour since the election of President Mohamed Muizzu in October 2023, after he campaigned on an "'India out' policy" and looked to enhance relations with China, where he is making a state visit this week, said CNBC. The hope is to convince Beijing to resume flights to Maldives, which have not operated since the Covid-19 pandemic, and bring back the Chinese tourists that used to "dominate" Maldives tourism, said the BBC.

The Maldives cannot "afford to alienate its closest neighbour" given its economic reliance on India, said CNN. But any "coercive diplomatic action by Delhi could backfire" too, added the BBC, as it would push the Maldives closer to China and enhance Beijing's influence in the region.

There is a current thread "name a country you would never visit" and I included the Maldives in my short list because I know of not one thing there that is remotely a lure, even if it were a 45 minute flight away.

I hate places developed exclusively for tourism, with generic hotel towers and "luxury villas" exactly like you would find in any other resort where they they have luxury villas. It's a place geared for busy busy people who want an escape and being neither very busy nor in desperate need of a retreat from my own life, it doesn't call me. There's no architecture, no culture, nothing old, nothing interesting, just beaches which for me are only rarely appealing if adjacent an interesting place with things to do beside tan and scuba dive and fuck around in boats ordering signature cocktails all day.

I'd be bored to buts and I have a high tolerance for the quiet and boring things. Just not a fucking beach and resort person.

The Maldives for me is a place to go to if I were being punished.

Of the Top !0 Reasons to Visit the Maldives, not one interests me.

Russians just love the Maldives…especially now that it’s more difficult for them to vacation in Europe.

I agree with R13. Not my kind of place at all.

R13, it's the Las Vegas of the Indian Ocean.

Maldives is made up of 26 atolls, spanning 35,000 sq miles. Boduthiladhunmathi is the largest atoll. I imagine the government spends a lot of money maintaining and controlling such geographically dispersed lands.

I imagine the scuba diving, snorkeling and fishing are excellent .

We went there pre-Covid. We stayed at a nice Anantara resort with villas over the water. We did feel it was a very private place on the atolls. On the way back out of the country, we spent half a day with a guide on a walking tour of Malé. It is a very densely populated place. The lifestyles in the resort atolls is entirely different from the way the general Maldivian population lives. The Islamic religion is very strong and the government is definitely following strict Islamic law. No alcohol, no immodest swim suits on either sex at beaches allowed. While there are some heritage buildings there from the 1600s and 1700s, the majority of the city is unremarkable concrete bunker type construction. It’s an interesting place to visit to see how the city functions on a small island, but not a city where I would want stay overnight.

I once shared a black cab from Paddington in London with Miriam Margolyes, her cane, and another stout woman. Margoyles rattled on and on about the glories of Dubai (asked me if I had been and gave a look that combined pity and disapproval when I said I had not) and the Maldives and its gorgeous villas. For all the gushing, she didn't inspire me toward either destination.

OP, I sometimes look at isolated places on Google Maps.

It boggles the mind that there are people living on this little island (see link below)

Its lowness and flatness freaks me out considering rising sea levels. Many of those atolls have no higher ground. Something like 80% of Maldives could be uninhabitable by 2050.

Is this the country in which Amanda Carrington married Prince Michael in May, 1985 and terrorists stormed the church and massacred the guests ?

R22, that was "Moldavia."

You can visit Kandolhudhoo Atoll -- one of the formerly inhabited Islands made uninhabited by the tsunami. The jungle is reclaiming all of the deserted infrastructure.

The Maldives look absolutely beautiful, but I have a bad feeling about that country. (I haven't been there.) They have strict Islamic law for citizens, yet they make exceptions for tourists (e.g., they turn a blind eye to alcohol in some tourist areas.) It seems hypocritical and materialistic. In addition, they are oppressive to political dissidents like former president Mohamed Nasheed, a pro-democracy and climate-change activist, a real hero, who was arrested and tortured, then later won the presidency but was run out of office and charged with "terrorism." He had to flee the country more than once but is back now and, I believe, in Parliament. And it seems they still can't leave him alone. Some crazy firebombed his home a few years ago, and he was critically injured.

On the other hand, one of their newspapers was formerly called Minivan News (later the Maldives Independent, pro-democracy slant), which was a fun name to the casual observer. However, it suspended publication in 2021. One can imagine why.

I wouldn't give them my tourist dollars even if it were more accessible.

Also, he is a tiny man, and I read somewhere that his height is about a foot less than as the highest elevation in the Maldives, which is around 6 feet. No wonder he was so concerned about rising ocean levels!

Expectations vs. reality