I tried this Peruvian restaurant aside a gas station of 436 before the other edifices that are before the airport last night. It was then Aji something and I never went in because it was aside a gas station. I had the aji de gallina to go for $17. It (like the place) was much better than I was expecting. The shredded chicken was stringy in parts. But, I don't think it was bought in a bag. The garlic cream of chicken like sauce was peppery with a little heat. I didn't see black specks, so, maybe white pepper? Not salty. They tossed in four cubes of some spongy white cheese, two olives and two delicious roasted baby potatoes cut in half. I just took a peak while driving and couldn't stop picking at it. I had to force myself to stop half way through. The only issue was the dry basmati rice that came with it. The menu has most of the things you've come to expect. Around a dozen apps. Four soups ($7+). Cold fish. Around eight chaufas (high teens). Four sandos (ie $17 HB and $14 CH). A dozen+ mains (ie $30 whole chicken). I forget the price on the others like lomo saltado, fish chicharron and the most interesting dish a cacio e pepe like dish with steak and spaghetti. Booze and wine and beer. Desserts. My only issue is with the roasted chicken. Even a quarter portion was like $12. FF and salad doesn't excuse the price. The place looks plush. Black, gray, white, brown tones. White, wood framed tourism paintings/posters. Some appropriate bric a brac. Mini lights and vases on the tables. White lamp shades. Nine boots. Seven 4s. Five 2s. A bar with four seats. Inoffensive music. L shaped room. Not the same owners. Pleasant waiter. Food came out quickly. Nice packaging. Open for a month. Open for lunch and dinner. I'm pretty sure 7D. Named after some popular singer not a Star Wars character. Possibly this year's first Fav? Wish the rice was better.
* Travel Notes - Maldives: I flew AA (Miami) and Qatar Air (Doha) to Male for $1132. Nights. About 10,000 miles! Coming back took longer. Doha airport was sick. Cool art. Artificial jungle. Checking in with both airlines (both ways) was a pain in the ass. They made me fill out all this bs and then said sorry can't check you in online. How long has the internet been in existence? They still can't adjust their sites (both slow loading too) for different types of tickets? And why is there even a 24 hr check in rule in the US? I know. So, they can try and double sell seats. I thought that was why I didn't get my third leg from AA. But, Qatar seemed to be able to print it out in Miami so who knows. And no issues getting the whole trip (even AA segment) from Qatar on the way back. Had to do that in person too though. They let you choose seats near the travel date for free. Charged if you did it too early though. I'm giving (and will give) all this advice because I didn't do much. Both stops don't require visas. But, Maldives wants you to fill out a form BEFORE you get there. And it is online. I didn't see any info on that on the internet. And of course the airlines don't help. I wasn't willing to subject my phone to their wifi (and I don't get sim cards), so, some poor kid had to fill the form out for me on his phone.
I stayed in a little connected island north of Male called Hulhu Male because it looked like it had more beach. It did. Stay here. Male is one of the world's most densely packed cities and ony has a couple hours of "sights". I stayed at the Contento Retreat (Booking 5.6) for $56 a night and then about $21 more in various taxes. $6 you paid directly in dollars. They take dollars and speak English in the Maldives. FYI - Expedia was listing this at $85 before taxes. The hotel was infuriating. No tv reception or hot water. On a busy road (man was this place more noisy/inhabited than I expected). And other issues. When I first checked hotel rates (a week before), there were all these options under $100. Then when I checked the day before I left, this was almost the only thing left. And I didn't want to lose a day changing hotels if I hedged. They did get me in at 9am though. One block from the beach. It was supposed to be their dry time of year. Almost every day had rain and/or was cloudy. 80-89 degrees. Very humid.
The first day I learned that they make MEN wear shirts at the beach! Fat kids dream spot. I ignored this every time I went swimming. So did most Westerners. No one yelled at me, but, I saw the cops scold some women. Most of the local ewoks complied. So, Victorian. The swimable areas were very coral infested and shallow. Clean enough though. Some sand on the shore. East side of island. Oh, I used an ATM (many) at the airport and then took a 70 Rufyaa (exchange rate was 15.46 and the prices are listed at the airport on a sign and are flat rates by zones) taxi (many) because to get to my island by ferry you had to take one to Male (frequent) and then another (infrequent) after that. Ferry booth is to the left near taxi line. As I said, day one was a recon day. I found many bodegas and a few small modern grocery stores. Central Park. Ferry terminal. Got some groceries and started reading Hemingway's short stories. Oh, this was a Friday. That's their Sunday. Things closed from 12p to 2p. The town crier also strangles a cat five times a day starting at 4:30am. I went to bed every night at eight pm. Awoke before dawn.
The next day I walked as far north as possible to see if I could learn the mystery of where all the flying monkeys on scooters (24/7) were coming from. It turns out that there were many high rises there for locals. My end had many buildings, but, they were mostly four or five stories. I also went back to the park to see the Food Festival (pathetic) they were having that week. Back to the ferry for a chicken sandwich at Marry Brown. Saw a few mosques (this place was very Islamic) too. The entirety of this island is like a mile. They had around six mosques and two being built. Locals, Indians, Indonesians. Malays and some of those bearded but moustache-less heeby jeebies that are probably retired Al Qaeda. They loved me and my Rays hat! The women/batmans most of all. You could feel the hate even if you couldn't really see it through their slit. The rest just sported that Captain Jack Sparrow look. Did some reading.
The next day I walked to the north of my section's beach to "skinny dip" away from prying eyes. There was a canal there that I espied the day before. Met a nice local there. He said he had been to all the atolls there (hundreds) because he was a doctors aid. He said that canal was a good snorkeling point (rays, sharks). But it was too rough that day. I then did some reading and lunch at ChicKing (some Middle Eastern chain). A beef pepperoni pizza and tandoori chicken bites. Some time on a swing on the beach and more reading. Found a scuba diving business on the beach. Dinner of these delicious Chinese dumplings the Indians call momos at Momos (behind the hotel). Fried basil chicken and steamed coriander chicken. No pork allowed you know. Or booze. But they looked the other way at smoking. They came with a thai chile dip and an interesting (and delicious) one that was either pureed carrot or sweet potato.
The next day I walked back to the canal. Still rough. Read. Walked the south part of town. Went scuba diving at 2p. $90 for one dive with Dive Club Maldives. Two dives was $145. They decided that they would only offer one and not to the place they assigned because of weather. They took credit. In US$. It was an ok dive. They had a morning shark dive. One of those in my lifetime was enough. Dinner of fish masala and basmati rice at Cafe 73 (behind the hotel). Chunks of tuna. I hope they weren't from a can. I was hoping for some kind of local fish. More reading.
The next day was a wash out. Re-walked the town. A chicken burger at Marry Brown. Reading.
The final day I left at 10am. Walked the south and over to the 11:30am ferry to Male. It cost 10R. You can buy bus tickets there too. Same price. Bus driver told me they don't sell tickets on board. You need a card or ticket bought where they sell them. I think they sell them at the airport too. Walked the circumference of Male. Of course, this day, it was bright sun and 90+. Because of that, I just cut it short by 2pm. I saw some big blue building that I think was a mosque and a fairly nice artificial beach on the east side. The south was a marina. Some schools inland. The west was another artificial beach with oil platforms in the sea behind it. The north was one big commercial harbor. A mosque and square there too. Way fewer food choices than I expected. I decided to wait for BK at the airport. Took the 15R ferry to the airport. There will be a new, modern terminal soon it looks like. The food court there was all listed in USD (they took Rufyaa though) and double the price anywhere else on the island. I finally used my remaining funds for two 30R ice cream sandwiches at DQ and three 45R chicken strips at BK. The check in window didn't open until about three hours before the flight. Customs was a cinch.
I spent 1150R while there. Ate mostly tuna. They had interesting flavored ones (black pepper, hot chili) for 20R. A few yogurt shakes (lychee, mango) from Bulgaria. Butterscotch ice cream. Black pepper cashews. Prices were about the same. No cold sliced meats. I brought my own doritos and wafers and melba toast because I wasn't sure of the market situation. I didn't need to. I saw them eating some discs that I saw labeled in the market as Havaad Huli Nuts and/or Heera Pan Foah. Online search comes back negative. ChicKing had chicken porridge and tandoori fries. The sun orientation seemed off for the time of day. Way too many cars and scooters. The infrastructure is a bit mixed. New and old/crumbly. Most tourists seemed Chinese or Eastern Slav. All the Westerners seemed to take the sea planes to the resort atolls. I was not going to pay those prices and book/research another flight/ferry. Maybe if someone else would book and pay for it and I had somebody to bang all day. But not if I didn't. You must take a bus to another (seaplane) airport too. I think those flights aren't cheap. Some atolls are within ferry or private boat distances. They used cloth for their carry out bags. Non-fast food sit down restaurants may add a 10% service charge and 16% GST. I only sat down once and they did. Every one was on their mobile all the time. No need for bug spray. No dogs. Just cats. I also spent time on the internet when not reading. Many times I wished I was leaving early. This is the farthest east I have been. South of India. I have been west as far as Phuket. Part of the reason to come here was to see Doha without "seeing" Doha. It looked good though. Very Dubai-esque. I doubt the other atolls are that great. There doesn't seem to be any thing here you can't get closer elsewhere. Plus all those cool circular dock like hotels are now being mimicked all over the world. Ramadan may make your time here even less appealing. It starts soon. Why I went now. Ok things I watched on the plane: Reacher S2, Conan O'Brien's Travel Show, some travel You Tubers named like Yes something, Ramesh Raga...something's travel show, SNL movie, Twisters. The Bond with Lazenby wasn't that bad as I remembered. Goldeneye was worse. Joker 2, Selena's cooking show sucks. I'm forgetting a sucky movie that came out recently.
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