"Maldives"? More like, "the only thing we have going for us is our cool hotels"!

   At first I didn't even think any locals lived in Maldives, as all of it's Google images were hotels. Cool hotels, sure, but I can't stress this enough, they were all hotels. Trying searching for the culture of a country whose google images are all hotels. I'm giving myself a pat on the back, because I took up the challenge of dissenting travel sites to learn about the non-tourist part of the economy (the economy part is a lie, their entire economy is tourism).

 

  Welcome to the island of mixed influence, where even the foods seems like a stereotypical South Asia palette. Cuisine in Maldives includes a variety of different styles, methods, and levels of heat, but it all revolves around three main ingredients: coconuts (yes, this is a tropical island, there are gonna be coconuts), fish, and starches.
   Maldives is the smallest country in South Asia at 115 miles squared. It's the world's lowest lying country. The country was established in 1968 (that's actually fairly recently), with it's capital being Malé.