Maldives, Mahibadhoo - Local Performance

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Whether we have visited the Maldives before or not, I am quite sure most of us would have read about the Maldives or at least heard of these beautiful islands in the sun before.

Many travel magazines have featured beautiful white sand beaches bathe in the warm rays of the sun, complete with turquoise-colored waters and swaying coconut tress. Nestled within all these natural wonders are high-end tourists resorts; the pictures alone being enough to make most of us ordinary folks go "wow", accompanied by the automatic reflex action of jaw-drops. This gives an impression that traveling to the Maldives is an activity reserved for the rich and well-off.

While I admit that traveling to the Maldives can be an expensive event, but the advent of Budget Airlines (a.k.a. Low Cost Carriers or LCC) have played a major part in driving down the costs to such an extent that it is now affordable for most working-class folks like myself to visit the Maldives. Can't afford to or don't want to part with your hard-earned cash to stay in the exquisite resorts? Well, you now have a choice to stay at local guesthouses at a fraction of the price for a night in the resorts!

That was exactly what my friends and I did. We flew from Singapore to Malé (the Maldivian Capital) via a Budget Airline and stayed at a local guesthouse in Mahibadhoo. We enjoyed the trip, get to mingle with the local Maldivian villagers, savor delicious local home-cooked food and debunked the myth that you have to be rich to enjoy the Maldives.

I will write more about my experiences on my first trip to the Maldives in August 2014 in another upcoming article on this travelogue blog. 

Meanwhile, I would like to share a short 30-seconds video clip which I recorded of an informal local Maldivian performance put up by the villagers of Mahibadhoo for me and my friends during our stay. 

Enjoy this short video clip...   :-)

Maldivian performance, Mahibadhoo, Maldives (2014)


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