Gatecrashing Paradise: Misadventure in the Real Maldives

Away from the five-star hotels and beyond luxury hideaways, Tom Chesshyre travels to see the real, unexplored Maldives, skirting around the archipelago's periphery, staying at simple guesthouses, and using cargo ships and ferries. He discovers that beyond the glossy brochures lies an almost undiscovered country that is brimming with life, yet also a paradise teetering on the brink of trouble. In the Maldives outsiders used to be banned from islands not officially endorsed as tourist resorts, but now a thousand sandy shores can be visited in this remote nation deep in the Indian Ocean the flattest on Earth. This is island-hopping for the twenty-first century, sailing around 600 miles of the most beautiful islands and atolls on Earth, often to communities that have not seen an outsider for decades, ...and gatecrashing the odd posh hotel.

About the Author :
Tom Chesshyre is the author of four travel books that have taken him from Hull to Tripoli via assignments in North Korea, Nepal, India and Iceland. He writes for The Times and has contributed to the Guardian, The Financial Times, The Times Literary Supplement and the Mail on Sunday. His magazine work has been for Geographical and Conde Nast Traveller. On his travels he has been hijacked in Africa, met tornado-chasers in America and followed in the footsteps of Graham Greene in Haiti. His previous books include A Tourist in the Arab Spring, Tales from the Fast Trains, How Low Can You Go and To Hull and Back: On Holiday in Unsung Britain.

Review :
In Gatecrashing Paradise Tom sets out to explore the other Maldives, not the one where all the tourists go. Until quite recently tourists were very restricted when it came to Maldives travel. That's changed and as a result small guest houses and hotels have sprung up and you can make your way like Tom around the island by local ferry services and domestic flights. You don't need an economics degree to know most of the money from the five star resorts would have gone straight back to their overseas owners. Tom [travels] all around the scattered atolls of the low lying nation where he encounters climate change concerns (nothing is naturally much more than two or three metres above sea level), worker exploitation, tsunami fears and some decidedly murky politics, often as opaque as the lagoon waters are transparent. Tom Chesshyre bravely and entertainingly exposes the dimensions of the Maldives that the tourist board is strangely shy of illuminating. I loved Gatecrashing Paradise. It should be mandatory reading for all visitors. Revealing aspects of a surprising little tropical nation wholly unknown to holidaymakers, Gatecrashing Paradise compares honorably with Arthur Grimble's A Pattern of Islands. Chesshyre is an affable and enthusiastic traveller, and his sojourn in the Maldives covers interesting ground in a country full of contrasts. Gatecrashing Paradise is an entertaining travelogue that visits the corners most tourists never see. 'Away from the sumptuous water villas of the Maldives, trouble is brewing in this renowned 'honeymoon heaven'. This is the story of a nation you won't read in your glossy weekend supplement. Gatecrashing Paradise clearly depicts a guesthouse scene largely undiscovered, which offers the chance to experience the warm communities and rich culture of island life. I loved it. Tom Chesshyre discovers that beyond the glossy brochures lies an almost undiscovered country that is brimming with life, yet also a paradise teetering on the brink of trouble.