.hulhule, maldives.

assalamualaikum!

hello everyone!

today, i'm going to share with you some photos

and travel tips.

we went to maldives on 29th november until 3rd december 2017.

ejal planned the trip from A to Z.

he gathered information needed from another blogger.

ibu and ayah came along

and we had fun swimming together

in the blue, cool indian ocean!

although we followed the blogger's tips to a tee,

we find that we should have skipped

a few ideas given.

for example,
our flight from malaysia reached
velana international airport on hulhule at night.

.view of the airport.

as advised, we spent the night in a hotel at hulhumale.
the trip from the airport to the hotel had cost us 20 rufiyaa/pax.
a night in express inn cost around 157 rufiyaa.
but i saw some tourists boarded a boat to another island that night.
so, it is possible for us to directly go to maafushi
(our actual vacation destination)
instead of spending the night on hulhumale, right?

we could have saved some rufiyaa
and started our vacation sooner!

eheh

.the transportation : shuttle bus and boat.

we decided to take a bus to the hotel.
if you are walking out of the arrival hall
towards the airport's entrance,
the bus stop is just to the left of the building.
opposite the bus stop is the villingili ferry terminal.

passengers on our bus that night
(not the one in the photo above),
were mainly local people who worked on this island
or the neighboring ones.
hulhulmale is an artificial island and it is a developing area
where you can see building constructions and
workers' quarters everywhere.
even the hotel next to ours is on construction.

.the express inn & street view.

we were informed that
tourism boom in maldives started in 2008.
years back, hotels were available only for the rich
because of its exclusiveness.
fortunately for us (rakyat marhaen),
more budget accommodation businesses are thriving.

the next morning,
we woke up refreshed and excited.
the weather was great, much like malaysia's.
we took another bus back to hulhule,
had breakfast in the airport
and embarked the ferry to maafushi.

.express inn.

.this type of makeshift chair can be found everywhere!.

cost per head:
20 Maldivian Rufiyaa (MVR) - airport to the hotel
5.50 MVR - ferry to male
35 MVR - male to villingili
93 MVR - lunch

next entry: maafushi island
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thank you for reading!