Morocco: Marakesh, Azrou, Fez, Casablanca

I love North Africa. I know its not too fair on the 200 million people who live there to lump them all in to one, but the vibe I get when I go there is amazing, and I absolutely love it. Being in bustling markets, quiet mountain villages or arid landscapes in the generally dry and hot conditions of these places is probably the places I most want to be right now (ignoring the fact I am at work at the list of places I would rather be is very very long). Morocco was no exception. From the moment I hit the airport... no, from the moment I boarded the plane in Madrid to go to Casablanca with the Muslim folk and Arabic being spoken, I got excited. Enough talk:

Marrakech

Marrakech: After meeting my travelling companion (Fi from Cairo) we took a train straight to Marrakech, with a quick train transfer and cheese toasty on the way. Marrakesh is a pretty cool city, and I was pleased to find it was stilll very real and raw even though it is so touristy. We stayed in a nice (£8 a nice for a double room) hotel which a friendly tout introduced me too. I was lucky in that Fi had no time for touts, which nicely balances my naivety in following them all. They are still people, and local people at that, so it was good following this guy to the hotel. We spent a few days in here, did some exploring, eventually found some shisha and generally just relaxed. This was not going to be a stressful trip.

Our nut and date guy.

A few days later we took a bus to Khenifra then a Grand Taxi (That's French for Big Taxi.. I am so cultured) to Azrou. The bus ride took us past some really diverse scenery: deserts (almost), olive groves, wheat fields, sun sets on rolling hills with villages and scattered trees and sheep.. pretty much everything. In Khenifra we discovered a really good feed and a Taxi. The Taxi ride itself was an adventure... long story short: we stopped in the dark and the middle of nowhere and the driver demanded more cash, but it all ended nicely when we swapped hats and he asked to stay at our hotel. I love to travel.

View from the Middle Atlas mountains near 'Ain Leuh, near Azrou.

The Taxi took us to Azrou. Azrou is a small berber mountain town famous for its carpets (I actually almost bought one...). We had an amazing day here: starting at a massive local market, then a walk up some mountains for some stunning views (above), sifting through an village and seeing a real snake charmer entertaining a big crowd of locals, finished with a tasty Tangine (Lamb of course.. dads is still the best though). Best day ever.

Fez city wall with some people selling there wares.

From Azrou to Féz. Spent three nights in Fez drinking mint tea, exploring the crazy medina, enjoying sweet views over the city, sampling as much street meat as I could and generally enjoying the heat. Less words and more pictures this time as I actually have some photos (my camera broke in Marrakech, so I stole Fi's for a bit, Fez was my turn).

Some dude posing in front of the court yard leading to the Royal Palaces massive brass doors.

One of the best parts of any Moroccan city is the Medina. The narrow winding streets with local kids running around, food sold in every second shop, street meat vendors and elaborately carved doors at every turn. I love North African towns and Islamic Art, the mosaics and geometric patterns (even on the footpaths) and hard not to appreciate.

Fez Median by night.

From Fez to Casablanca (Casa to us locals). Just one night and one day here before flying home. We spent most of our time checking out the Grand Mosque, which is the 3rd largest in the world and holds 25,000 people (80,000 incl. outside standing). It was pretty big.

Me with my new favourite door.

Casablanca had a very colonial French vibe, but was still a very real city. With people sifting about and the usual tasty city smells (and street meat... kind of... not the kind where a dude just puts a BBQ on the side of the road and put meats in bread for you... but still, a kind of street meat).

Casa street market with the Grand Mosque.

So that was a quick run down on my little trip to Morocco. It was a little unsettling to learn we could get a visa for Mauritania and the border... had I not committed to working (and needed the money) I would have been very very very tempted to sneak on down there... and perhaps on to Senegal.. then... Oh how I love to dream. Mark my words: I will return to North Africa, and for far more than a week.

Next stop: Budapest for a long weekend... in 4 sleeps! Life is indeed sweet.

Europe: All over the place

This is one of those posts that are pretty much only here for completeness sake. To keep this blogs time line relatively accurate. So, here is a collection of short stories and photos from my last 4 months of adventuring:

Dumfries, Scotland (via Hitch Hiking): Andy and Val vs Lauren and Myself... two teams, one winner. Red card was on the line.. it was intense. Lauren and I started by over sleeping (alarm was set for 5am.. eventually got out the door at 8am..). We then met the opposition at the first Service Station on the M1... we then proceeded to get the first ride and zing ahead... in the end Andy and Val won by 30 minutes... not too bad a margin for a 14 hour race where Lauren and I started 1 hour after. We got to Dumfries and had a fantastic Christmas with a mate and his family, they even gave us stockings. Best Christmas outside NZ ever. No photos as forgot my camera.

Stockholm from a boat

Stockholm, Sweden: Ok, I am a pretty arrogant traveller ("I don't pay for transport.."), but being in London there are many cheap flights all around Europe which lead to us flying to Stockholm for the weekend. Stockholm was pretty cool and I had a good time exploring but I came away with no real appreciation for what it is to be Swedish, or with any real knowledge of Stockholm. It wasn't even that cold either!

Pretty Canterbury

Canterbury, UK: the real one, not the fake one I spent the first 24 years of my life in. My first real English experience (London is not England). We had tea and scones and saw some big cathedrals. My appreciation for England and all things English begins.

Yep, thats in Brussels!

Gent - Brussles, Belgium (via EUROSTAR!!!): Lucas, Andy and I did what I had been excited about for quite some time.. taking the EUROSTAR under the sea to the continent! After work on Friday we jumped on the train and less than two hours later were in Brussels (then another train to Gent). Gent was a very cool little town, and Brussels a pretty cool (and surprisingly diverse city. Then Monday morning for a 1hr48min commute back to work, enjoying a croissant as France rolled by.

Andy on the EUROSTAR!!!!

Sorry to Belgium for talking more about the train than the country, needless to say it had culture, very tasty food, European capitalness and really tasty beer.

Lucas on an ESCALATOR!!!!

Bath - Bristol, UK: Andy, Val and I went on a Easter Escape to Bath and Bristol which was very cool and did well to continue improving my attitude towards England. Bath was cool to look at (Heaps of massive Georgian houses and they use the same rock for all the buildings) but the town itself didn't really have much of a vibe.

Bath in the Snow.

Bristol on the other hand was very cool. Admittedly we were there only one night and almost two days, but it had a really cool feel about (very real..) and the history of the place is very cool (Slavery, exploring, pirates). The Commonwealth and Empire Museum that we went to there made it to my top four best museums of all time.

A pub in Bristol where BLACKBEARD the PIRATE drank at. So did we.

Milton Keynes, UK (via Hitch Hiking): Not too much to report here, went to meet up with an old mate from Uni and had some great times at pubs and university student associations and walking back 12 miles through the country side. Very good times. Most adventurous part was hitching up there (hitching in the UK is awesome) and almost getting a ride on a boat! Did you know you can take a boat in canals all the way from London to almost Scotland? And Birmingham has more canals than Venice? I do now, thanks to a friends canal boat captain.

Part of Englans extensive canal network. IWA Forever!

Football, UK: Caught a very cool game at Emirates Stadium a few weeks back, Sweden vs Brazil, 60,000 people! Heaps of crazy Brazilians. I am now beginning to understand why everyone else in the world loves the sport. Also went up to Bolton to watch the Wanderers take on our boys, West Ham. It was very cool to see the English fans in action.

Brazil vs Sweden with 60,000 people.

That's all for now.... time for me to get away from this computer screen for a week. I am of to Morocco! Just need to go home and pack my bag (and perhaps a quick shisha before I go), a sleep at Heathrow tonight to to Casablanca via Madrid. Life is sweet!

UK: Cardiff, Belfast

From London we have been lucky enough to go on some sneaky weekend jaunts around the UK and continental Europe. The first two of which were to Cardiff and Belfast. We went to Cardiff perhaps sometime in November last year... and Belfast in December... I think. I am well behind. But here are my thoughts on both. I'll quickly sneak in a photo of the White Cliffs of Dover, my first impression of all that is English.

First escape was to Cardiff, the capital of all that is Welsh. It was a town.. quite nice and windy around the harbour. The highlight (aside from a little shape cutting and a candle that changed colours while it burned.. pretty amazing really) was heading out to the country for a sunday roast with a friend of mine. The countryside was, for lack of a better word, quintessential. It was so... Wales. And aside from the abundance of wild life we don't have at home (I love squirrels) it was also very familiar looking.

The most defining moment for me though was when my mum for the day bought out lunch... it was such a fantastic lunch. Roast Lamb, vegetables, and dessert! .. so good. But the scary part was that it was virtually identical to a roast mum would make for me 20,ooo in White Rock (obviously you can't compare anything to your own mums cooking, my mums is the best in the world by far). If I think about it I shouldn't be surprised, we are after all part of the same empire, but I was a little surprised. Anyway, here's the evidence:


Second jaunt: Belfast. With a sneaky, wicked cheap flight from RyanAir we made one giant carbon footprint and flew over there. Its a cool little town and the most Irish I have ever been. We stayed with a super friendly English lass and managed to really explore the whole town. The most remarkable thing for me was the reality that is Northern Ireland. I have a habit of forgetting about things if they are not on the news every days... so I figured everyone in Northern Ireland was happy and the all the trouble had merrily resolved itself... how ignorant I am. Sure its super safe and it is just a normal town, but the history (a very recent history), is still so real. There is a frickin' massive wall separating two parts of the town, I was well surprised.


And there are also very cool murals all over the place, either side of the divide.
But Belfast is a cool town, its not just all walls and murals. There was a cool market going on in town and we met some very cool people and saw some pretty sites.

So we got Wales and Northern Ireland done over two weekends. Next blog post: Dumfries and Canterbury. And tonight Andy, Lucas and I jump on the EUROSTAR(!!!!) and go under the sea to Belgium. I'll post about that in 2009 sometime. High five!