Maldives on a budget: former British military base of Gan

I'm on holiday in the Maldives with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Well, strictly speaking, the British royal couple are staying at a luxury resort in the north of the archipelago while I'm in the south, playing poker with a trio of Bangladeshi truck drivers.

Maldives means "garland of islands" in Sanskrit and it's easy to see why during a flight from the capital, Male, to Gan. Sprinkled 15,000 feet below are dozens of azure coral specks with names that sound like something one might say while tickling a baby: Dhiddhoo, Kudadhoo, Kudafushi and Koochikoo (OK, I made the last one up).

As the plane nears Gan - the southernmost island in Addu Atoll - an announcement informs us that we're crossing the equator. Necks crane in vain for a line in the briny and the man next to me goes to investigate which direction water flushes down the aircraft lavatory.

Soon we're in the arrivals hall, being sorted and separated. Mainland Chinese passengers are whisked off by speedboat to somewhere rather exclusive while a party of Czechs boards a minibus bound for Equator Village, a popular mid-range hotel.

Only one traveller suffers the indignity of having no one to meet and greet him. After assuring sympathetic ground staff that I haven't become detached from my tour group in the world's smallest airport, I head out of the terminal and into a tropical time warp.

It's a leisurely stroll to my guest house, although a quick march would be more appropriate. From 1941 to 1976, Gan served as a strategic outpost for the British Navy and later the Royal Air Force. Much of the military infrastructure remains intact, including the runway.