Malé, Maldives
When I think of the Maldives, I think of picture-postcard beaches, palm trees, and colourful drinks served in a coconut.
This is possibly as far from the truth as people who imagine Canada as a frozen tundra where everyone lives in an igloo and rides a moose to work.
The Maldives is a collection of small islands and some of those islands are resorts. Those resort islands might actually live up to the stereotypical images I had in my head. We initially had chosen one of the included excursions that takes you to one of those islands… but when we woke up, it was raining. It was supposed to clear up briefly, then become stormy.
We discussed it over breakfast. The excursion would take everyone to the beach island, and then come back to the island five hours later to pick everyone up. We knew that it would be a miserable time if it rained - and with no way back to the ship until the end of the time, we’d be stuck out there.
I checked the radar:
Conversely, even if the weather held off, we’d still be stuck out there on that island for five hours with no way back to the ship. We opted to ditch that whole idea and just have a walkabout in the capital city of Malé, where we were anchored. So we did. We got to shore via tender boats.
The Maldives are a Muslim country and it’s Ramadan right now, so most of the shops and restaurants are closed during the day. The only places open are those who cater to tourists. In other words, schlocky souvenir stands. We went in one and noticed that here, as in Sri Lanka, Oman, and other places on this side of the world, when you’re browsing a shop, one of the shopkeepers will shadow you the whole time, just from a slight distance, but close enough that you know they’re watching you. I find it creepy AF. So after one little dip into a shop, we decided just to walk around town a bit.
Most people here speak English just fine, but the national language is Dhivehi, which is read right-to-left and has a very interesting-looking text.
އަހަރެން މިހުރީ މާލޭގެ އައްސޭރީގައި ނަކަތް ޖަހާފައިވާ ދޯންޏެއްގައެވެ - if spelled out with the Latin alphabet, it would be
aharen mihuree maaleyge asseyreegai nakaiy jahaafaivaa dhoangneggaeve.
In English: I’m on a boat anchored off the coast of Malé.
So we wandered around the city for a bit - about 4km worth. I’ll reserve much more commentary and let the pictures do the talking, as there isn’t much to explain.
Back to the ship, where it was nice and quiet and you could have the swimming pool to yourself. So I did! Enjoyed a nice few laps for five minutes or so, then felt something against my leg… I had left my cell phone in my pocket when I got into the pool. Le sigh.
There are two things I know about what to do when that happens: [1] Do not turn on the phone. [2] put it in a bag of rice for several hours.
So I called room service and asked for a ziplock bag of uncooked rice, then buried my phone in it.
I’m going to leave it in there overnight. I took a couple of photos with it, but I think I’ve re-taken those shots with the Nikon now, so they’re available for this post. When I dig out my phone tomorrow, assuming it works, I’ll see if there are any must-see shots on there and post them in tomorrow’s write-up, since it’s a sea day anyway.
Lunch at the World Café back on the ship- a very nice shepherd’s pie and some spiced roasted carrots. Delicious. Went back for seconds on the shepherd’s pie. Then naps happened.
Up to the Explorer’s Lounge for a quick martini then off to Chef’s Table for a new menu: Xiang (which the server pronounced “Zhy-ong” and I’ll take his word for it. It opened with a hot and sour soup with calamari and shrimp (delish) and then went to a grilled, panko’d prawn dish that was slightly spicy in all the right ways. It was paired with a Pinot Grigio, which complimented it perfectly.
The granité palate cleanser was ginger and lemongrass with a coconut foam. Rob loved it. I liked it. Next came the main course, which was a beef tenderloin stir fry with a side of fried rice wrapped in a lotus leaf.
I gotta say, this was one of my favourite dishes on the cruise so far. The steak was cooked perfectly and the gravy was delicious. And to solidify my status as 100% Canadian, one of the first things that crossed my mind after tasting this dish was “this gravy would make an amazing poutine!”
After dinner, we headed up to the Explorer’s Lounge at the front of the ship for an espresso martini, then down to the Star Theatre to see the evening’s entertainment, an opera singer named Gordana Kostić.
Full disclosure: I’m not an opera fan. Oh, I can appreciate opera. The compositions, the vocal prowess, all of that. I get that. But it’s not something I’d ever sit and listen to. So I approached this concert as “OK, the music will be nice, I guess. Next.”
She came out on the stage and launched into some aria that I didn’t know from an opera I didn’t know and it wasn’t in English so I had zero idea what she was singing about…
…and thirty seconds in, I’m sobbing uncontrollably. I have no idea why.
But that’s the amazing thing about music. You don’t always need to know what it’s about, you don’t need to appreciate the genre, you don’t need to “get it”. Just be open to it and sometimes things just happen in the right way and pow!!!! Right in the feels.
The above pic came when she sang “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess. I can’t remember the specific plantation that is in the background photo, but I’ve been there. I remember a few days ago, the pianist did two shows and “Summertime” was the highlight. She did a beautiful rendition as well. Then she launched into “Danny Boy.” Rob and I had talked about it before the show and we both hoped that she wouldn’t do “Danny Boy” because it’s so over done and we’re tired of it.
But in this show. when she started singing it, I closed my eyes and ‘conducted’ it.
For the benefit of people reading this that don’t know me that well, I play a few instruments: trumpet, flügelhorn, handbells, drums. I also used to sing in various choirs and as a solo performer. There is a definite emotional impact that happens when you make music.
But I also conduct a handbell team and have conducted handbells and vocal choirs in the past. There is a completely different emotional connection to the music when you’re conducting as opposed to when you’re performing. Both are extraordinary, but very different.
When you’re conducting, you have a performance in your head and you attempt to make that performance happen in real life by conveying your intentions to the players with your movements and cues and whatever other means you might come up with to get across to the players, “this is what I want to hear”. When the players deliver that performance that you have in your head, it is a transcendental experience that absolutely cannot be described. You must experience it for yourself. It’s, if you’ll pardon the expression, fucking magical.
Well, this singer and I apparently interpret “Danny Boy” in a similar way, because as I sat in the audience with my eyes closed, moving my hands and conducting the piece, she sang exactly what I wanted to hear and it was emotionally gratifying in a massive way. Sure, I’ve done the same thing to recordings on CDs or records, and that’s fun, but when it’s live, it’s a completely different thing.
The whole concert went that way. Either I listened in awe, mesmerized by the music and her incredible voice, or I ‘conductued’ the performance and got that satisfaction of “OMG YES, exactly like that, thank you.”
After the concert, I was a bit of a mess. So many emotions, so much intensity, so much…. music.
Rob suggested that the martinis probably had a role to play in this, and perhaps they did, but the bottom line is music is a universal language. It doesn’t matter if you know what the song is about. It doesn’t matter if the music is of a type you don’t normally like. It doesn’t matter if you yourself can carry a tune or not. Music is one of the most powerful forces in the universe and when it’s done well, it can touch you in ways that you might never understand. And that’s OK.
It’s going to take me awhile to process all that I heard and felt tonight. Nothing wrong with that.