Miss Maldives

First published on the Nani WeChat Official Account on March 16, 2022.

In 2018, I went on a two-week business trip to the Maldives, carrying the weight of my startup on my shoulders. On this tiny island paradise, perfect for shorts and sandals, I wandered around in Western clothes and suits. Maybe it was my scruffy beard or my Australian accent, but somehow I felt surprisingly at ease in this South Asian Muslim country.

I’d grab a masala dish at an Indian restaurant, buy salted fish with soda at a grocery, chat with the perfume shop clerk, have fried chicken by the beach at night, and sneak to the airport bar in the capital with the hotel manager after her shift.

I couldn’t stop noticing the women’s headscarves. The narrow winding streets reminded me of their curves.

Every face, every expression is vivid in my memory — tropical girls love to smile, and the men are friendly too. I carried my phone everywhere, snapping shots — the capital Male and all three main islands. I probably covered more corners of Maldivian territory than any other Chinese visitor.

Since the iPhone 6, I’d always done street photography on my phone. By the end of 2018, I switched to a second hand Sony A7 for blind shooting. Looking back at the phone photos after four years, they somehow feel even sharper. Capturing almost zero-delay moments — the pixel count isn’t high, but the reality is raw and unguarded.

Being there made me feel like I belonged to the world. When travel was impossible, and money was tight during the pandemic, I went back through my old shots, savoring those moments.

All photographs and original Chinese text by Cai Zhenxing. English adaptation prepared for portfolio and website presentation.