We took the speed boat to Ukhulas. It is about 100minutes and stops at Rasdhoo where there is 4g internet on the way. It cost 1500mvr for us. The children are free and the adults are $50 each. Maldivians pay about half that.
Winston and Henry loved the boat ride.. They both had huge smiles for about the first 20 minutes. For the last 15 minutes of the journey Saeed who was arranging out accommodation took us yo the front of the boat. That was even better. They hand out water, juice and a cake on the boat, so we needn't have bought anything beforehand.
On arrival in Ukhulas, we found out that the accommodation we had arranged was no longer available. Saieed took us to another guest house, but it was a tiny room with no window and there were no cooking facilities. We had agreed to stay somewhere with AC, internet, a double bed and a spare mattress on the floor, and cooking facilities. They tried to offer us a bigger room but for more money.
We then went to a place that was a half finished building, it had a staircase that was more like a ladder and it had a balcony with no sides... I.e. a deathtrap for the kids.... Then we went to his daughters house Sajda. A very nice place with a good garden and terrace for the kids. No air conditioning and someone had lost the key to the kitchen. Sajda packed up her things and moved to her sisters house, and we moved in. The water smelt like poo, and had done for about 3 years. But they had a clean water tap, so the next day bought some pipes and connected that up instead. I thought it was weird to live with that for a few years when it was just a small job to change it over.
We met Saeeds daughters Sadjia and Sadja, and Sadjia has a daughter aged 3 called Yara and a son aged 5 called Yanarl.
The 3g internet with Dhiragu turned out not to work, but the Island has a WiFi network called coaxnet. The admin of that is also the school head teacher, and he was also the guy I paid for the speed boat.. On an island of 1000 people i guess people have to multitask.
Everyone seems to know everyone one here.
I'm finding out that it is quite common for foreigners to get a different price. In restaurants they have a tourist price which is about double, so you can save quite a lot by getting a local to order for you and to hand over the money.... This is partly for market reasons and partly because there are taxes on all tourist activities.. Eating, travel, accommodation...
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