This is the Maldives.
Or is that just what they want you to think?
Those are just billion dollar resort islands that nobody actually lives on.
And I want to find out what this country is really like.
And to do that I'm traveling all the way out to a tiny island that's almost impossible to see on a map.
And let me tell you, what I found has literally never been seen before.
I have officially arrived at the airport to begin my trek to one of the most remote islands in the Maldives.
I'm starting here in Miami, so just take a wild guess how many hours it's gonna take me to get there, because we're gonna be counting.
Flight number one.
It's hour 12, I slept for 10 hours.
Hour 21, starting to feel very stir-breezy and ready to get off this plane.
Hour 23, touchdown, let's go.
I have got to hand it to them.
This has to be the most beautiful airport in the entire world.
Literally as soon as you step off the plane, go through immigration and walk outside the airport in the Maldives.
This is what you see.
Now I have a pretty long layover because my next flight actually doesn't leave until pretty early tomorrow morning.
So I'm spending the night here in the capital city and I actually ended up splurging for somewhere pretty special.
So we're getting on one of these boats.
24 hours and 40 minutes so far from Miami.
I wanted to start this trip off by spending just one night at one of these resorts, just so I can try to capture and almost explain what the hype is all about when it comes to staying on these elusive islands in the Maldives.
This is literally the dream and I love a good vacation.
That's not it at all.
But it just feels like there's something not quite right about this place.
Something about being shuttled straight off of the plane onto this perfectly manicured island where there's 30 cocktails and these overwater villas and everything just feels absolutely perfect until your bank account runs out.
It's almost like this island isn't a home to anyone.
This island is a product.
There's more to the Maldives.
I can feel it.
So much more history and so much more real life happening just outside of these resort walls.
And I want to see the other side.
I want to see the side that most people don't even know exists.
And That's exactly what I'm doing tomorrow.
I'm leaving all of this behind and heading into the unknown.
I have no idea what I'm gonna find there, but I know for sure that it is not gonna look like this.
It's 6am.
Just watched the sun come up.
Definitely feeling very jet lagged, but I gotta pack up and get back to the airport.
So how was your stay was great.
So for somebody who's never been to an eat like this, like what should i expect you know?
Holy yeah yeah, i feel like most people only ever see the resorts, like the sheraton yeah, and people don't actually see like the local culture.
All right,
What?
Where am I?
As of right now, it has officially been 50 hours and I'm almost there.
This is so sweet.
After all of that travel, I can now officially stop the counter at almost exactly 51 hours to go from Miami all the way to the island of Kimbidu.
I'm here with one of my best friends Svenja, and we've arrived just in time for Eid al-Adha, which is one of the most sacred Muslim holidays and happens to be the biggest celebration of the year here in the Maldives.
Let's just say they do things a little differently here in Kambidu.
The entire village is busy preparing for what will unfold over the next few days, with the festivities beginning as soon as the sun sets and the moon is seen in the sky.
Thank you.
The fire has officially been lit, which marks the beginning of the Eid celebrations here on the island.
I feel like I am a fish out of water.
There is so much to learn.
I don't fully understand anything that's happening right now, but so excited to be here.
The energy in the air is just something else.
Thank you.
One of the most important aspects of this trip for me is to not only document the culture and to see what's happening here, but also to participate in it.
I want to make sure that I have permission to do so.
So I'm going to go meet up with Assad's uncle, one of the elders here on the island, see if I'm even allowed to participate, and if so, I would love to learn how to make my own ilibo, which is one of the woven outfits i guess you would say that's worn during one of the most important celebrations here on the island.
So time to go meet up with him and see what he says.
I would love to participate in the vivo.
It's okay, i don't know how many foreigners have done it before, but I would love to learn how to make the elibo.
Will you teach me how to?
Yeah?
Okay, perfect.
With the permission to join in on the traditions, I'm now learning how to make my own elibo, a towering figure made from woven palm fronds that roams around the island collecting gifts from residents.
This is going to be the most important part of Eid and, since these folklore traditions have never been seen by outsiders, it's an honor to take part in something so meaningful.
We've made a lot of progress on this so far.
Gonna have to continue our progress tomorrow, but this is gonna be amazing for the celebrations.
I can already tell it's coming together quite nicely.
You're gonna have to keep watching to see how it turns out.
Latif, nice to meet you.
I'm Latif.
Do you mind explaining where it is that we're going and what's happening today?
We're going to play Eid games.
Okay.
I think it will be really fun.
You should also join some games.
All right, I'm ready to play some games.
I'm pretty competitive though, so.
We have just gathered at the center of town to start the first of the games here.
And the first game is gonna be tug of war.
So may the best team win.
This is so fun, the amount of joy in everybody's face right now.
It's really bringing us together and it's actually so surprising to me how completely welcomed I feel.
They did not have to put me at the front of that tug-of-war at all, but they're so eager to include me in these things that they're doing, which is honestly the exact opposite of what I've been expecting.
Wait, so what happened?
I almost won this.
I didn't know that I had to go back though, so I waited.
And then Rad took over.
Can you believe it?
Oh, you were going so fast.
I definitely won against you though.
Yeah, you actually, you did, but not without consequence.
We got some pain in the toe.
I guess I'm going to the hospital.
Like, because they think your toe is broken?
I guess we shall find out.
They want an x-ray.
Does it really hurt?
Yes.
It's going to be a good memory.
When you think about it later, it's going to be so much fun.
A good story to tell.
Yeah, a good story.
Life is all about a good story.
Oh my gosh, oh my gosh.
There she goes, folks.
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Now let's go for a swim.
I feel like most people don't realize that it is actually illegal to wear a bikini in the Maldives.
This is, of course, because the Maldives is an Islamic country and, alongside alcohol, bikinis are also not allowed unless you're staying on one of the private resorts or if you're on one of the more touristy local islands that have, like bikini, designated beaches where the locals are actually not allowed to go, and I didn't have the ability to pack a wetsuit or anything like that for this trip, so I'm just enjoying this incredibly blue, warm water fully clothed, but that's honestly fine, and i feel like this is a perfect example that, even if you're traveling in a tropical paradise like this one, you still gotta respect the local customs.
Might be my first time ever swimming fully clothed before, but you know It's not that bad.
It feels a little bit unhinged to just walk straight into the water wearing all of your clothes but honestly, so worth it.
My shoe just floated out to sea like so far away.
Oh my god.
Wait.
Oh no, those are the only shoes I have.
Oh no.
Oh no, this is so bad.
Oh my god.
This is so bad.
Are most people your age going to the city now?
They're living in the city, yeah.
Because we don't have a lot of job opportunities, education opportunities, medical opportunities.
For example, today, Svenja injured her foot, right?
So they had to take her to another island because it's not available here.
So that issue is there in a lot of islands.
Even if you have to give birth, you have to go somewhere else.
And for better quality of life, I think everybody sort of just goes to the city.
Because there has been deaths due to a pregnant lady very treatable issues.
Yeah, go to the next island in time they might lose the baby.
So it's for that kind of avoiding that kind of risk.
They just prefer living in a place where it's safe, even here.
Most of the people that you're seeing in this island right now don't actually live here.
They just came for the event.
Because it's like their holiday.
They go home for the holidays.
Right and early in the celebration, preparations are continuing.
Today they're going to be having the beya, which is almost we were just joking about this the Maldivian equivalent to Halloween.
All of the kids are getting dressed up in these very elaborate costumes and they actually also wear masks that are pretty scary, and they have some pretty interesting history of these being different spirits that are coming out of the ocean, and I think they have this celebration in a few different cultures, but I don't know if anybody does it as well as the Maldivians.
The premise is that everyone, all the men and the women and the children, I'll get dressed up to the nines almost to the point where they're unrecognizable so that for example when the men go to town their goal is to not be recognized by the women and if they are recognized then they lose the challenge and there are some consequences or punishments that come with losing, which I think may or may not involve being pushed into the ocean, which honestly sounds pretty good right about now because it is so hot.
I am like a waterfall right now, just dripping in sweat, and I'm not even dressed up in a costume yet.
Hi.
What do you think?
This blue outfit?
Oh wow.
This is about to get so hot.
Oh boy oh, i don't know if i like it.
It kind of freaks me out too much.
Those masks are so claustrophobic.
I have no idea how anybody was doing that at all.
Oh my goodness, My disguise is loading.
Oh, we're layering.
All right.
I think it's time to roll out.
I am gonna die.
This is so hot.
I can't believe how hot it is right now.
We have now made it to stage two of blending into the crowd.
We're dancing.
I gotta stay discreet.
I also gotta stay low.
Because one of the biggest challenges I'm facing here is that I'm at least six inches taller than everybody else, so I need to blend in.
I need to not speak because obviously my accent gives me away, but we're staying low, we're staying nimble and we're getting groovy.
So far I don't think I've been discovered.
I've played with children, I've met other locals, I've been on a mission to stay low.
But I'm not gonna lie, I'm starting to feel like if this doesn't end soon, I might actually drop dead.
I have reached this level of heat in a long time.
It's time to get this off of me.
Oh my gosh, that is the hottest i think i've ever been.
Yes, thank you.
Could you tell it was me?
What'd he say?
He said he knew it was you because you were dancing on it.
No!
He knew it was me!
I failed the challenge.
He wasn't supposed to know it was me.
But at least he knew it was me for my smooth moves.
Could you tell it was me?
No, I can't.
No?
I was looking for you, I proved it.
Woohoo!
I have not craved a bottle of water more in my entire life.
But honestly, it was definitely worth it.
I feel very satisfied.
Have never heard of like the eid celebrations here in the maldives.
What?
What does this mean?
Family and also celebrating a huge religious activity in maldives.
We have a separate line.
In addition to that, this isn't like a normal of Eid in other countries, right?
This is very specific to... This is very specific to culture.
This has come across from Buddhism, actually.
So some of these activities have come across.
Even though we converted to Islam in 1153 AD.
Some of this activity has come across, and so we continue some of these activities.
Is there also some African influence here?
Yes, absolutely.
It almost looks like there is some African influence with this particular celebration.
People traveling across from Africa to China or East.
They go through Maldives and a lot of them shipwreck.
And it appears that, according to our history, that an African stopover is responsible for us converting to Islam as well.
Absolutely right.
There is a lot of African influence.
It really seems like this entire country and all these islands are such a melting pot.
Yeah, it is.
So many different cultures and flavors.
Do you think it's really important for kids to participate in events like this?
Absolutely.
It's good that we celebrate this and this is a time where they are able to participate in outdoor activities and also this actually transcends through different cultures, so that the knowledge fund of knowledge is, you know inherited, so otherwise we would have lost everything.
That is the sad part of small nations.
There is so much globalization and there's a huge shift in culture.
What do you think is the best way to try to combat that?
I think we need to teach it through our school.
We need to design our lesson and teaching in terms of where they participate in a lot of culture-related motives and make it contextualize their learning activities, not necessarily spending too much time on screen.
We can use our beaches, you know, the sea as part of our activities.
I bet there's so many kids that would actually enjoy that so much more as well, and they would learn more if they were getting to be more hands-on and being outside.
Well, thank you for telling me about all this.
There's so much to learn when you come to a new place like this for someone like me.
The entire community has now showed up to make a massive feast later tonight.
The women are preparing the eggs, the boiled potatoes, the vegetables, the sauces.
The men are over cooking the chicken and it really feels like this is about to be a meal to remember.
The community feast has begun and I actually don't know if I've ever seen such a large scale family style meal before.
Everyone is taking their plates.
There's no silverware because everyone's eating with their hands, which actually makes it way more simple to feed this many people.
It's actually so festive and it feels like it is just one gigantic family meal, which is really sweet.
I have to skip this one because i actually had one of the local breakfasts on one of my first mornings here and had a little bit of food poisoning since then, so i'm gonna try to keep it together.
I might skip this one, but it smells so good it's very tempting.
As it turns out, this is one of the wildest nights on the island, since it's time for a celebration called Kodi, a massive game played by men versus women.
Everyone's dancing together all night with the goal of stealing the Kodi, this big beautiful decoration in the middle of the dance circle.
This game turns into a chaotic back and forth until one man and one woman steal the cody and basically wins the night.
But the twist is, they're going to get punished tomorrow.
It's quite early in the morning.
The entire island of women just gathered together to capture the man who cut down the Kodi last night.
He just doused his entire body in oil and Now they are bringing him to the town center to punish him for stealing the Kodi last night.
I have a feeling this punishment is going to be rather gross.
Have you seen something like this before?
No, I'm from here and I haven't seen anything like this.
It was actually so much more brutal than I thought it was gonna be.
They were just pouring layer after layer after layer of absolutely disgusting liquids and powders.
You can actually He's all the way over there and I can smell him from here.
I feel like what I've been learning on this island is that you never know what to expect, and absolutely nowhere else does Eid like convenience.
The Eid celebrations have been unlike anything I've seen before.
Wild, wacky, and totally one of a kind.
But what has meant the most to me has been spending real time with the people here, walking together through the streets, learning about their daily lives and understanding what this island means to them.
Do you think that, like generally, Maldivians like the fact that there's like resorts and tourism, or do people not like it?
Yeah, some people.
People love because they get jobs.
That's one thing.
But there is an advantage and disadvantage, because the way we do build resorts and the way we are doing at the moment, I think there is a negative impact on our culture and heritage and sustainable development sort of related areas we need to think about.
And income, equality, equity, there are certain issues.
Equidistribution of wealth and all that.
There are certain issues related to, and depending only on, tourism.
We were in trouble during the COVID time when there were travel bans.
You are completely dependent on tourism.
So we need to diversify.
There are some advantages and disadvantages.
So we shouldn't rely on tourism at all.
We need to diversify.
For all of the people who are watching this video that don't know very much about the Maldives, what would you want them to know about your country?
It's chaotic but it's also fun and really pretty if you really get to know the place.
So you should come visit.
And you?
For me, this is really different than all the resorts that everyone goes to and not, like here, islands.
And it's really different so you should come try it out.
Especially the local islands, not just the resorts.
The lifestyle is really different.
The resorts are really luxurious, but here it's just local.
Local foods, not luxury foods.
The local life.
I've learned that, even as the world changes and globalization inevitably reaches every corner, it's the people who carry these traditions in their hearts that will keep places like this alive.
They welcomed me in from the very beginning, and now they've encouraged me to join all the way until the very end.
And that means taking on the most important and final challenge of them all, the Alibo.
Wow, after such an amazing trip to the Maldives, I couldn't think of a better way to finish it off than inside this beautiful traditional ilabo, which It was such an adventure to make.
And learning about these people and this incredible culture has been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and it's not over yet.
The fun is still coming.
What an experience!
This entire trip has led up to this moment.
I can say it's officially been successful.
We're inside.
This is what we're collecting.
We've gotten quite a few so far, but the night is young and there's plenty more to catch.
So fun.
The amount of dancing and laughter and screaming and excitement is just 10 out of 10 life experience.
I couldn't think of a better way to end my time here in Kinbiru covered in sweats, running through every single street to every single house on the entire island, with everyone who lives here playing the biggest game of trick-or-treat I have ever experienced.
Hi!
Oh, thank you.
I have met so many amazing people on this trip.
Out of all of the places i've been, i think that this is at least in the top five, if not the top three, most kind and welcoming people i have ever met.
As you've seen throughout this entire video, i was welcomed to not only observe and to document all of the amazing cultural experiences here, but I was actually also invited to participate it and learn with my own hands and being hands-on with everything, which is my favorite way to travel to be in it rather than just an observer, And I feel like I've just gotten so much out of this experience.
So thank you so much for watching.
I'll catch you in the next one.
Until then, let's push our limits.
