The Unseen Side of THE MALDIVES (Local Culture)

If I told you that today is my 27th birthday and I'm spending it in the Maldives, you'd probably think that I'm spending it at a luxury resort with a private beach and maybe glass bottom bungalows, right? Nope. You see, the Maldives doesn't have to be expensive and there is a thriving culture that I'm eager to learn about. This morning we took a speedboat to one of the 200 locally inhabited islands called Mapushi. It's like the Bali in Maldives. Where we checked into this cheap hotel for $30 a night. Not $3,000, not $300, $30. Today I'm going to introduce you to the unseen side of Maldivian culture and show you how easy it is to travel here on a budget. I got in touch with some locals, Ishan and Soti, who are kind enough to show me local life on the island. It's the start of rainy season and it's been windy and pouring since we arrived, but that's part of the experience. So we're trying to explore, but it's pouring rain outside. This is just your average island life. Something interesting I learned is that before 2012, the Maldivian government prohibited tourists to stay overnight on local islands like Mapushi, so it was almost impossible to travel to this country on a budget. But now the government allows locals to have small businesses like cafes and guest houses and it's booming. Welcome to our guest house. Even they sell them so many houses. That's cool man. I was told I cannot come to the Maldives until I try their coconuts, so I headed to this local shop and got one for two bucks. Rest assured, it's pretty good. 30 rupiah, two dollars for this coconut. Thank you, thank you. The Maldives is a predominantly Muslim country and there are four mosques on this island. I'm here during Ramadan, the holiest month in the Muslim religion, which means they don't eat from sunrise to sunset for a month. We headed to the biggest mosque to see iftar or breaking the fast. It was really a special experience to witness this and they all welcomed me with free food and open arms. It's an Islamic tradition to break the fast with dates and they are really tasty. It's officially 6.13. The sound of prayers illuminate the island and it's time to eat and drink. Good. Afterwards, I was welcomed into a local house to eat a home-cooked iftar dinner. There's a lot of food here. We're gonna break the fast for Ramadan. They were cooking kebabu, bokiba, which is like fish, coconut, and rice balls, spicy pasta, chicken sandwiches, and vegetables. It looks spicy. Yeah, we like spicy food. Maldives love chilies. So much good local food and it all cost five dollars at the local market. This is what a typical plate looks like to break the fast. These fish cakes, man. I'm bringing them back to America. Today was an amazing day and I spent just 40 dollars on everything including a hotel and dinner. The moral of the story is that you don't have to be surrounded by tourists or spend thousands of dollars on a glass bottom bungalow to have a good time in the Maldives because views like this and this will be the same regardless of which bed you sleep in. I'm Drew Binsky and if you like my travel videos, please click subscribe and join me as I plan to visit every country in the world.