What are the pros and cons of living in Male, Maldives?

Perhaps the successive governments have realised that Malé is beyond fixing. In 1997, the then President Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom began an ambitious project to reclaim land from shallow areas to the west of Malé. The reclaimed island became known as Hulhumalé (literally, 'West Malé'). The aspiration for Hulhumalé was to seek recourse to most problems of Malé. Hulhumalé would be well planned and would support the entire population of Malé comfortably. Twenty-six years later, we still are yet to realise the fruits of this project. Hulhumalé should have been designed from the ground up to be a walkable city, but that is not what I see. I see a city that is planned for motor-vehicles first. Another crowded, unliveable city in about 20 years time (or maybe even earlier by the looks of it).

Living in Malé is not for everyone, and certainly not for me. Sure, it is nice to be here for a couple days. There are quite a few good coffee shops here that you can enjoy. But alas that is all the joy for me in this city, except for the company of my friends and family. Perhaps Malé would be nicer to live if the pavements were a bit wider, and with no motor-vehicles on the road (except vehicles for essential services, of course), with leafy green trees on either sides of the roads. The government needs to prioritise city development with pedestrians in mind and not mindlessly repeat what the Americans have done to their cities and streets. It might be too late to save Hulhumalé from this fate, but I am hoping otherwise.

And, here’s a nice picture of two people enjoying on the seawall trying to catch a fish.. A few good things do exist here and there.

Hi everybody! I have been looking at posts on narcs and narc abuse on here and if has really helped me out a lot. I am currently struggling with my situation and need some advice/support. I met a narc last year, everything seemed to good to be true. Love bombing, always texting calling and taking me on dates. Everything changed when someone warned me about him out in public in front of him and who he is. This caused a conflict with us and the love bombing seized. he would tell me that everything is okay and i can come and talk. He would set a time limit on me and kick me out after that. he would then text me like everything was fine and we hung out again and after that he completely ghosted me for one week. He came back and texted me a week later laughing about the ghosting and acting like nothing had happened. he continued to text me ( not like in the beginning) make plans with me, then on the day of the plans he would just ghost me. One day he would act interested the next silence. i contacted him a month later and he acted like nothing happened. He was on a vacation and sent me a picture of another woman ( someone he allegedly met on the trip) to strike a reaction but i never gave him one. After the trip he came to my place and was extremely rude, accusing me of going on dates with a bunch of men. The next day he accused me of being an alcoholic and that he wanted nothing to do with me but said well maybe we can be "friends" then ghosted me i assumed at this point it was over and i would never hear from him again. He contacted me on the holiday a month later acting like everything was great. We ended up hanging out a month or so later and when we hung out it went well, i thought things were going in the right direction. after we hung out.. silence. I would try to text him and if he replied it would be very short then he just stopped replying. He ghosted me for almost three months. I thought he was done this time and of course he popped up again like nothing happened. At this point i was getting sick of if so i questioned him as to why he dissapeared and always does this. Of course he had some sob story about a injury and family member dying of cancer. I felt pity for him and he gave me an apology.. so i took him back stupidly. things seemed to be going smooth for a couple months, of course until his family member died and his injury got better he never contacted me and was distant. Menawhile, i was there for him during the difficult time for him. He lied to me about the funeral and never wanted to chat. I was chasing him and he would always claim nothing was wrong but when i said i thought he used me when he was down he could not handle it and would always tell me he didnt care and to go away. I would get so upset i would try texting him to work it out he would barelt respond and if he did he would not be nice about it. we did hang out a couple times after that, he would ignore me after. One day i was like hey i think you are seeing someone else, and i was like well ixam seeing someone so no problem if you are he said " buy bye good luck with your new guy stop contacting me" i was devastated and tried to get into contact with him for weeks then i just gave up and accepted it was over. He ended up contacting me a month later acting like everything was fine. He wanted to go out and have drinks i told him i would. He and i both seemed to have a great time. He ends up ignoring me again. I kept texting him trying to figure out what was wrong. He kept saying everything was fine and i said ok can we hang out again? He said maybe i was like why? He just kept saying maybe … our last conversation we had… i said what is wrong ? He said nothing is wrong everything is fine. I asked him why he keeps saying maybe. He said " maybe but i dont want to see you right now" i said why? He saix " im just not feeling it, if i wanted to date i would" i said why did you contact me less then a week ago wanting to go out? He said i didnt.. even though he did. So i said should i just move on or what? He said whatever you want to do. So i said that he was really confusing me and asked him if he had anything more to say before i move on? My messages were turning green so i panicked he blocked me and reacted irrationally. I said " omg did you block me? My messages are not going through. Even texted him on my work phone asking what was up. And called him twice ( please dont judge me i know it is pathetic i never was this type of girl before him) so he replied and said " Ok I'll block you now" then immedietly blocked me. He has never blocked me before since I have met him he will just ghost. Is this ths final discard aka " grand finale? Did i just push him too far? this has upset me so much its hard to even function.

The grounds of the Friday Mosque. The delicate inscriptions on the coral stones give me joy every time.

Moving on, the roads are designed poorly and unmaintained with almost no pavement for pedestrians. Even if there were, pedestrians would have to navigate around dripping buildings (mostly from air conditioning condensates), blocked pavement access (by inconsiderate drivers parked at the kerb or sometimes on the pavement, construction materials, garbage and large groups of conversing people ignoring you and refusing to budge, and slow pedestrians failing to give way). Every second on the roads of Malé is infuriating. The streets reek of cat piss and poop, garbage, cigarettes, and diesel fumes. Garbage disposal and management is a challenge in the city. The city is littered and people don't bother keeping it clean. The city is simply too small to accommodate over 150,000 people living here.

Here’s a picture showing unsanitary conditions on the streets. What you are seeing is ‘red spit’, the resulting product of chewing betel leaf and Areca nuts.

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A close-up of the inscriptions/carving.

A flooded street after a short burst of rain

Skyline of Malé seen from Villingili Island — a 10 minute ferry ride from Malé. The tall building that’s sticking out from the rest is the new hospital building.

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To the tourists who're contemplating to see Malé: don't bother. We don't want you to see this side of the Maldives. We are a facade: clear azure waters, pristine white sandy beaches, perfectly maintained water villas and beach cabins and virtually no crime to those that can afford. We are beautiful on the outside, and ugly on the inside -- and that's what you will see in the capital city of Maldives.

A street in Hulhumalé. A cat’s chilling next to some litter. You can see mopeds parked illegally on the sides of the street with one moped carelessly parked on the pedestrian crossing. The pavements are a bit wider in Hulhumalé. However, not all streets are this walkable.

Not everything’s that bad in Malé. Sunrises here are still beautiful. Of course, that has nothing to do with the functional ability for executive thinking of the local city council, isn’t it?

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Moreover, the city floods even at the slightest bit of rain. The city is extremely overcrowded and has been since the early 1900s as evidenced in HCP Bell's monograph, '_The Maldive Islands. Monograph on the history, archaeology and epigraphy_' written in the 1940s. He describes the island then as 'greatly over-populated' and 'marred by crowded and insanitary habitations'. After all these years, the point still stands true. An avid traveller would also have noticed that there are almost no historic buildings on the island save for a few; The Friday Mosque (Hukuru Miskiy), Medhuziyaarai (a tiny memorial near the incumbent president's residence, Mulee-aage), and Kalhuvakaru Miskiy to name just a handful. These are beautiful structures made of impeccably inscribed coral stones and wood. I am frustrated that the Maldives emplaces no importance on architecture, especially our historical and unique architecture.

Pros? I don't see that much here. Perhaps that living is bearable at best and that's only if you have friends and family here. People are forced to migrate because this is where all the action is -- education, work, and businesses. This place is disorganised, disorderly, dirty, dingy, and a din. People on the street are inconsiderate, move slowly (especially pedestrians) and would not acknowledge you as another road user. Expect them to not appreciate good manners, and acknowledge your good will. Malé is a culmination of decades of bad decisions boiling down to an insurmountable point of no return. The island city isn't at all that large; just under 10 square kilometres. I am yet to comprehend the reason for the abundance of vehicles on the road, especially mopeds (about 2 for every person living here). Now, 10 square kilometres is a very walkable size, in my opinion. The Central Business District in Melbourne, Australia is just about 6.5 square kilometres and extremely walkable. Malé is just a hair larger than that. I will never comprehend nor will see to why people need to dart around in mopeds when everything is within walking distance.