Snorkelling the Maldives

Eating at the only restaurant on the island, we got to have one waiter for the whole time. Or so we thought. The first few days, we had a very quiet, shy guy as a waiter who didn't talk more than necessary. But suddenly, we had another waiter. We immediately became friends, as his open and communicative character made it pretty easy. Mohammed is Bangladeshi and wants to earn enough money working on the Maldives, that he will be able to build himself and his mother a house plus opening his own restaurant back in Bangladesh. We loved talking to him during our meals and were nonplussed when he suddenly wasn't around any more. Someone has replaced him. And then, the first waiter came back and (as they all look very similar, especially when wearing masks) we mistook him for Mohammed and greeted him back dearly. How much we've missed his presence and how good it was he was alright again. But after his surprised response and quietness afterwards, Seb and I realized our mistake. We were laughing as much as blushing and asked the restaurant manager what has happened to Mohammed. We were told that he was just on his weekly trip to Malé, and he'd return tomorrow. Would we like to have him as a waiter again? YES! was our immediate answer, and so Mohammed was back the next day. From then on, we kept him on our table and only saw once in a while the disbelief of our first waiter across the room. Pretty awkward but funny. We are still writing Mohammed and wishing him all the best for his dream of his own restaurant.

Song of the trip: Nothin' quite like it by Danger TwinsRead more