Our hotel transfer back to the airport was at 2pm and our flight wasn’t until 11pm, so we used the extra time to explore the capital city of the Maldives, Male. The city is easily accessible via a $1 ferry ride across the channel that separates the airport island from the city. We walked through the island for a while, checking out its limited tourist sights including the presidential residence and jetty and the tallest flagpole in the Maldives (which isn’t particularly tall). Unfortunately, the national museum closed before we arrived, which was disappointing since it is supposedly air conditioned. After about a half an hour avoiding the cars, taxis, and motorbikes that crowd the small streets, we ate dinner at a nice Thai restaurant near the center of the island (about a 10 minute walk from any other point on the island) before heading back to the airport.