Village life...

My trip to the village island was well worth it, even though it turned out to be a bit of a trial. It was quite different to anywhere else I had been, and a good insight into the way many locals live. The boat trip took about 1 hour 45 minutes and the island was tiny, you could walk from one side to the other in about 3 minutes, and the length of it in about 10 minutes. There were little sandy laneways lined by buildings and courtyards, and some of the scenery was very beautiful - although unfortunately much of it was marred by rubbish, which is a problem on all of the islands. The snorkelling was also marred by rubbish, which was very disappointing!

I had been planning to spend 2 nights there which would have meant returning on Friday, but just before we got on the boat my host (Nassim) told me the boat doesn't run on Friday. So I had to stay 3 nights, because 1 night wouldn't have been enough time.

My accommodation was in a building that seemed somewhat cobbled together, with half of it (in which I was housed) looking a lot newer than the rest. There was a little courtyard that had a floor of sand, with a small kitchen and dining room leading off it, where I was given my meals (which mostly consisted of fish in various forms and lots of roshi - the local flat bread). I usually ate either alone, or with my host's father-in-law who spoke barely any English but would point helpfully at bowls and say, "Fish!", and then give me the thumbs-up and say "Good?", with a big smile.

I found the women and children to be a bit more open than in other places I'd been. The men, just like everywhere else, were constantly saying hello to me when they saw me in the street or on the beach, but I was still reluctant to acknowledge them too often as this tends to elicit a stream of questions and I didn't want to give any of them the wrong idea. What was alarming on the village island though is that they all knew my host and he told me on day 3 that the village boys had told him I don't talk to them when they say hello! He then assured me with a knowing smile that it was OK to bring boys back to my room, which left me feeling decidedly uncomfortable, especially after he had enquired as we were leaving the capital whether I wanted a local boyfriend. So I didn't go out for a walk that night!! In fact, I found myself feeling quite lonely at many points, particularly at times like when I was sitting on the beach watching a beautiful sunset, and had nobody to turn to and say, "Isn't that beautiful!". Many of the adults on the island didn't speak much English so it was hard to chat to people.

On Friday there were some day-trippers who had come from the capital, and I got chatting to a group of kids when I went for a swim. They were quite excitable and were competing with each other for my attention, asking me all sorts of questions and trying to out-do each other by telling me how many times they'd been on a plane, what grade they're in at school, etc, etc. What I found really cute with the kids was that their way of asking where I come from is to say, "What's your island?" I giggled the first time I was asked this and realised that I could quite legitimately say, "Australia".

I only have a couple of days left before moving on to Thailand, and I'm planning to spend them close to the capital.