Who can? Moroccan!

argh really must finish this!! it's gonna be crazy big too... ok, here goes...

21/6/09

Morocco - a land of the unknown. Of a different culture, different smells, different sights... I decided to check it out for myself. So on Sunday 21st June I headed off, bright and early, for London Standsted airport. Had to get up about 3am - it was an interesting experience waiting for the bus with my backpack on as drunk people stumbled home after a Saturday night out around me. Managed to find the airport & get on my plane ok, and arrived in Casablanca around 11am.

Stepped off the plane and - woah - the heat hit me. Especially after cold, rainy England. It was around 37 on Sunday, and I was wearing long pants (oops - trousers - one thing I've learnt about England, pants means something else over here...) & a cardi, as one must cover up in a Muslim country, which is what Morocco is. Ventured outside after getting through customs and tried to find a taxi. Eventually found a sign that said taxis 230Dh (10 Moroccan Dirhams = 1 Euro approximately) so I walked over in the direction the sign pointed and was surrounded by Moroccan guys, most of who the only English they spoke was quite broken. So I got in the back of a taxi with some apprehension and hoped they were legit and weren't going to kidnap me or anything! My apprehension was not alleviated by my taxi driver asking me numerous times if it was ok he was driving - "you comfortable with me?" - and then stopping at the taxi depot to pick up his friend - it could've been some elaborate scheme to kidnap me; if I resisted, they could just say, "but you said you were comfortable with it"... yes by this time my imagination was in full force.

It's funny how sight of the police didn't do anything to alleviate my nervousness either - maybe I'd heard too many stories about corrupt police forces in the middle east - and this was pretty close to middle east culture-wise (in my limited opinion). So when we stopped halfway to Casa to talk to the police I got a bit more worried - but oh, no, "no worries" the policeman my taxi driver stopped for was "my brother, you understand?". No, not really, but we were on our way again, after giving him some water from the boot and a wad of notes.

Eventually we got to Casa and they dropped me off at my hotel, which they informed me was in the dodgey part of town - great. They charged me 250Dh instead of the 230Dh which was on the sign, and which I tried to argue for a bit, but then figured I'd got there alive, why squabble over what amounted to about $3. My taxi driver then gave me his card and said to call him if I needed showing around the city later. Thanks...

Checked into the hotel and was pleasantly surprised at my room - it was quite large with lovely big windows looking over the square the hotel was near. I dumped my stuff and decided to venture outside, see if I could find some markets or such. Walked out of the hotel and down the street to another little square where I stopped and promptly walked back to the hotel - in that short walk I felt so many pairs of male eyes watching me and got enough sleazy sounding comments to make me feel incredible unsafe, so I decided to wait it out in the hotel until Suzie (my Adelaidian housemate) & Phil (her boyfriend) arrived (they were coming on a train from Marrakesh, where Suzie's conference had been).

Got a pot of mint tea, which was complimentary, and I fell in love. With the mint tea, not the guy who brought it. Haha. It's soooo nice - ironic really when I don't like mint & I'm not the biggest fan of tea! But the combination - divine. It's basically green tea, mint leaves and sugar - simple, yet stunning. Anyway, enough of my love affair with mint tea...

Suzie & Phil eventually turned up - after the worst train ride in the history of the world (so they tell me) - 3.5 hrs, crowded as, +35 degrees, no air-con, bad toilets... you get the idea. Phil was feeling like shit so it was just Suzie and I who ventured out in search of food. We headed to one of the four listed 'Sights' for Casa in the Lonely Planet - the Blvd de la Corniche. Felt a lot safer being with someone else, but despite this, still got at least 5 sleazy "bonjour"s and one "wassup" (I know! How long has it been since you last heard that!) just walking one way down the boulevard. We found a less-crowded cafe overlooking the ocean and decided to get some food there. Unfortunately they'd stopped serving most things already so we ended up getting cheese toasties and milkshakes - which when they came out were more like cream shakes - once we'd eaten the obligatory cream off the top there seemed to be no milkshake left! Oh well. We were regaled with a beautiful sunset in the meantime - the sky and sun seemed much redder than normal, and the sun was an oval shape instead of the usual circle.

Then home and to bed - sleepy after my early start. Heard the call to prayer while I was getting to sleep at 10pm and woke up to the 5am call too - despite wearing earplugs in anticipation. It seemed to go forever too - could still hear it even with my pillow over my head. Very annoying but not altogether unexpected.

MON 22/6: The next morning saw me all packed and ready by about 8am - went downstairs for our free brekkie and filled up. Then Suz & I headed off to the train station to buy tickets for Fes - 1st class so I didn't have to experience the crap they did yesterday - but there was something wrong with their computer system and it wasn't letting them specify classes, so we got 2nd and hoped we could upgrade later.

Then we trundled off to the Hassan II Mosque, one of the other 'sights' listed in the Lonely Planet (3rd largest Mosque in the world). We got there a bit after 9am, when the tour was scheduled (you couldn't go inside without being a part of a tour) but the guy who sold us our tickets (2 students please - can I see you cards? - pretend not to understand - gives us students :) ) said we could catch up. Followed a long line of people in and got told 'the English guide is over there' with a vague wave of the arm. So after taking our shoes off, we headed in the general direction he pointed and proceeded to wander around by ourselves, listening in on the various guides we passes, but not finding the English one. Once we'd seen everything we wanted to we joined up with some random group going downstairs into another section - and lo and behold, there was our English guide! We joined up for all of 5 minutes, when she went back outside and down to the gift shop - so we peeled off again. Good tour. :P

The Mosque itself though - wow. So beautiful, so intricate, so much gold!! Photos just don't do it justice. And it was HUGE too!

Caught a taxi back to the hotel, checked out and caught another taxi to the train station. Have I written about how crazy they all drive in Morocco? Oh well, if I have, you can hear it again. They're CRAZY! Lanes don't exist; the taxis just zip up the middle of the two lanes of cars - our taxi driver on the way to train station got me to fold his side mirror in so he could squeeze through. Lots of beeping and weaving in and out and there doesn't even seem to be a traffic light system at half the intersections, they just know when to go or something. I would never EVER want to drive there!

Anyway got to the train station in one piece and went to board the train. Got on 2nd class and it was quite nice - a LOT different to the train the others had caught yesterday. So we decided to stick with 2nd class. Had proper seats and even air con! More than adequate.

After 3 1/2 hrs on the train we got to Fes. Yay! Caught a taxi to some bus stop / pick up point Suz & Phil's accom had told them about and then tried to call them to come pick us up - and it proceeded to ring out. Numerous times. Meanwhile we had about 10 guys around us saying, you want to go somewhere? I can show you! Put luggage in cart, follow me! After ignoring them studiously they soon left us alone, and eventually the guy from the accom rang back - phew! He came to collect us and took us into the heart of the Medina, through many various winding alleys, eventually leading us to where Suz & Phil were staying (I was staying somewhere else). They unloaded and the guy gave us mint tea (bless him) and we sat around trying to get some energy back and working out how I was going to get to my accom. I thought from when I booked it it was just down the road, but I didn't factor in the Medina and it's confusing tiny little alleys. So I was stressing out a bit, thinking it was going to be so hard to meet up with each other every day, how the hell was it going to work out... Eventually we worked out worst case scenario I could just catch a taxi everyday to the bus stop and meet them there. Stess time over. So they walked me back out there & I found a taxi and went to my hotel, which I was very happy with. It was still slightly Moroccan feeling but with all the comforts of the west. Excellent. Once I was inside and settled, I realised once again I'd forgotton to have lunch so I should probably go get some food. Found a tiny little deli place where I bought a slab of bread stuff and a water for like 9DH - 90cents. Bargain! Then went back to my room and collapsed, watched Eurosports for a bit - arm wresting championships - hilarious viewing! Then to bed.

TUES 23/6: Ate as much as possible at the included breakfast :) and waited for Suzie & Phil to show up. They came eventually with our guide for the day, Samira, who we'd booked the day before, and we taxied off to the first of our stops for the day - the King's Palace. General public aren't allowed inside, but the outside gates alone were worth it. Amazing detail, so big and lavishly decorated! An interesting fact - these gates are made from brass, which is unusual for Morocco - a sign of the wealth and importance of the king. All the intricate detail was hand carved too, which is just amazing when you consider the size of the gates, and how much of it contains symmetry!

Pushed on after we'd finished marvelling to a lookout place overlooking all of Fes. Samira pointed out the different medinas (parts of the city) - ranging from 8th Century to 14th Century - soooo old!! - and various structures to us that she was going to take us to later. Was beautiful up there. Nice and hot though - was mid 30s I think and we were in our modest long pants (trousers for you English people) and t-shirts. Sweat ahoy!

We came down from the lookout and delved into the craziness of the medina. Went to so many different mosques and medersas (schools) I lost count and they all kind of blurred into one - but I do remember the architecture in all of them was just amazing. Everything has significance. Samira explained all the symbolism in one medersa in particular which was specifically for people studying the Qur'an - there were 5 main types of architecture (5 is apparently an important number in Islam), and then those 5 types all have significance, for example, the patterns on the tiles that decorate the columns in the medersa only have 5 colours on them, and the patterns mean things - like one represents the balance needed in life between religion and general life, and another is a calligraphy mashed together version of verses in the Qur'an... it was all quite interesting.

Samira took us to various shops to show us the local crafts and traditional ways they still make them. Obviously they have some kind of deal where she would get some of the profits of whatever they sell to us, but that's ok. You expect these things :) It was worth it too, we probably wouldn't have seen the behind-the-scenes stuff we did otherwise. We went to a pottery/ceramic factory where we saw each stage of how they make tiles and pots and other things - really interesting. I swear one of the guys chipping the mosaic tiles had a crows guernsey on!! They of course showed us to a shop at the end of the tour and I of course bought some stuff - it was all so nice!! Next up was the tannery, which is where they use the traditional methods to dye the hides of animals and make it into leather goods. We went to a place overlooking it - very cool to look down on but MAN did it stink! Can only imagine what the men who work in the actual pots of dye smell like after a day's work... Bought a few more things there, including a beautiful bag and some shoes :) Then a traditional pharmacy type place where they sold a lot of natural products. Had a slightly overly friendly guy who went through everything with us and who convinced me to buy more than I wanted to (of course - damn persuasive nature). Also went to a place where they make scarves/turbans (didn't buy anything!) and a carpet maker (original Berber family - apparently they're the best at making carpets...), where I made up for not buying anything at the last place by buying four - yes, four - carpets. Hm. Still not quite sure how that happened! But they are all very beautiful and I think I did quite a good job of the haggling, got him down a fair bit!

After that we headed back to Suz & Phil's, feeling extremely tired and like we'd spent way too much! They dumped their purchases and Samira showed us the way to a restaurant place really close to my hotel, and in the process how we could all get from Suz & Phil's accommodation to mine quite easily which was such a relief - had been stressing about how we were going to work that. Ate a local version of a sandwich which was quite nice, good flavours, said seeya to Suz & Phil and stumbled back to my hotel and to bed. It was only about 8pm or something ridiculously early like that but I was so darn tired!

WED 24/6: I decided I could find my own way to Suzie & Phil's accommodation after been shown last night so I headed off - and found it no troubles! Yay! Felt so much safer walking around by myself than in Casa too - still got the occasional comment but it didn't feel so sleazy. Anyway, we decided to have a bit more of a look around the medina and maybe do a spot of shopping :) so headed to the main kind of alleyway. Discovered quite quickly that unless you're actually interested in buying something, don't look too closely at anything. I randomly picked up a silver dish and was hounded for the next few minutes until we managed to escape - and every time we went past the same shop he would remember us and say something. "My friend, come into my shop! Good price for me, good price for you..."

We walked right up the alleyway, passing through the more touristy parts with the handicrafts, into the local produce with stalls of fresh fruit and vegetables, into the meat part where they had live chickens all trussed up lying in front of the stalls and great big bones of meat being hacked up and out the city walls. Wandered around a bit then turned around and went back the way we came! It was funny walking back, the people we'd spoken to on the way through all remembered us and would say "hello Australians!" as we passed.

Headed back to Suz & Phil's accom where they got their stuff together that they wanted to post home to Australia and we caught a taxi out to the French sector where there was apparently a DHL. We didn't find one, but found a FedEx so stopped there to see what their prices were like. Turns out they were astronomical (AU$2000 to send 25kgs! That's just crazy, you could buy a plane ticket for that!) so we headed to the post office instead and they got their packages organised. Eventually got back to Suz & Phil's and Phil made us all some mint tea to relax - it was really good for a first try! Almost perfect ratios of mint - green tea - sugar :) Went up on their roof balcony thing to drink it and were joined by Ben & Julia, two Americans who were also staying there, so had a lovely chat to them. It was nice to just chill for a bit - even though in hindsight we really hadn't done all that much, we all felt totally exhausted! I guess being in a different culture and in the heat etc - takes it out of you.

Stayed up there til dusk when we decided to walk to the other lookout that is opposite the one we went to yesterday - turns out it was really close to where we were so we could walk, very handy! Sat up there while the sun set - was lovely watching the sky darken and the lights slowly come on in Fes. They'd put lights all around the city walls so they were all lit up too - beautiful. It was really windy up there too, we actually felt cold! Headed back towards my hotel, stopping for food on the way - went to this one place at the recommendation of a random lady who in hindsight we shouldn't have listened to. Oh well. I had a meat tangine which was really nice but Suzie & Phil had chicken tangines which were rubbish - no flavour and only half hot, like they'd just microwaved it and it didn't heat up properly. Ergh.

We parted ways again and I headed to my hotel. Asked the guy on reception what time check out was the next morning and he replied 7am. I actually believed him for a good minute until I realised he was just stirring me. Can't escape it even in Morocco! Damn gulibility... Quickly packed everything up and hit the sack ready for my last day in Fes. :(

THURS 25/6: Checked out of my hotel and met up with Suzie & Phil for some last minute Fes-ing. They left around midday so said goodbye (:_( last I'd see of them for a while, they were headed for more travel in Europe before going back to Australia) and went to do some last minute shopping before I had to leave. Didn't haggle very much - it's quite an exhausting exercise! But still got some bargains in my humble opinion. Once I'd spent most of the rest of my leftover dirhams I went back to the hotel to drop my purchases off and went to check out Musee Batha, a museum next door to my hotel. Unfortunately it was all in Arabic and French so I couldn't understand a lot of what the plaques next to items said, but it was still vaguely interesting. Wandered around for an hour or so and sat in the gardens that surrounded the museum for another half hour - it was nice to be around greenery again, Fes was quite a dusty place on the whole. Then headed back to the hotel to wait for my taxi to the airport and, ultimately, home. Ah, Fes - lovely, beautiful, charming, exotic, majestic Fes. Farewell.