Sweating it out on Hulhumale

This is Hulhumale (image by Muha), the megalapolis in the making, where I went this afternoon for training. The paved road around it measures 4km, and it probably isn't the ideal place to train for a trek in the Himalaya. But where in the Maldives would you find an ideal training ground for mountaineering?

Nonetheless, carrying a weight of 10kg does result in a modest pounding to the legs and a few more of these circuits will, no doubt, have some benefit. Certainly Hulhumale is a much nicer place to walk than Male, which just doesn't know what to do with its ever increasing traffic and pedestrians who seem to have no idea of how to cross the road. It's always a surprise to realise that the 2 square km island capital has nearly 100,000 people on it, and God knows how many motorcycles, cars, trucks, cranes, and armoured vehicles.

By contrast Hulhumale is a visual treat; most of it is empty space with a few bumps here and there which, curiously, resemble hills. The shrubs and the weeds growing on these hills when backlit, as they were in the dying rays of the setting sun today, can produce a dramatic effect.

Muha accompanied me, and it looks like he's tipping to the side of going to Nepal. But we'll have to wait and see to be sure.

Meanwhile, Elvis is trying to decide which is more important to him: Nepal or a kite!

After a sweating it out for three quarters of an hour, we stopped at a breezy corner to break the fast (it's the fasting month here in the Maldives) on dates, cheese and beef sandwiches, cheesecake, and peach juice.

But I'm a tad worried because I found myself completely knackered after coming back from Hulhumale. If I'm defeated by a short stroll on flat terrain like this, how will I cope on the rugged trails of the Himalaya?

Clearly much more conditioning is needed in the short time that I have before flying out to the subcontinent.