Male Layover: Tuna Belly for 12 🐟

Layovers in Male used to stress me out, but this time I shifted my mindset: just wander aimlessly! 😌 First, I trekked to a Thai restaurant and gorged—their light tom yum soup totally blew me away 🍜✨. Then I popped into an art shop and bought a manta necklace 🦭, lingering a bit before ducking into a café to sit for an hour ☕️... Stepping out, I walked two blocks to the fish market. Stood there watching a guy gut a huge fish for half an hour—his skill with the knife was genuinely impressive 🔪🐠! 👏 That sparked an idea: I went up and asked if he’d sell me a piece of the belly. “Sure,” he said, and for 12 RMB, I got a massive chunk of tuna belly. He even chopped it into small pieces for me 💸👍... Next step: figure out how to eat it. I combed through spice shops near the market, but couldn’t find a single tube of wasabi 🥺. There was Hong Kong-made soy sauce, though—25 RMB a bottle. Wow, pricier than the fish! 💸😅 Fine, bought it anyway. The produce market had lemons 🍋, 2 RMB each—I grabbed two and had the vendor slice them up... Then I toted everything to the ray-watching pier. Dodged the crowds, walked a little further, and plopped down on the steps. Sea breeze in my face 🌊, I took a bite 😋, tossed a piece to the fish 🐟, took another bite—soon a bunch of fish swarmed, and I fed them five or six chunks... The sun dipped into the sea 🌅, time to go. Hailed a taxi by the road to the airport 🚕✈️—hours flew by just like that. #Maldives #BudgetTravel #Male #MaldivesTravel #TravelDiary