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ENTRIES FROM THIS CATEGORY
- Into The Arabian West
- Now in Color! - Next Train to Marrakesh - Splish, Splash, He Gave Me A Bath - Rock The Kasbah - Carpets and Camels - Profit Mohammed - Animated Ascent - Heels On The Hill - High, Dry and Hassle-Free - Laid Back In My Galabiyya - Jamming in Morocco - Funky Old Medina - Out of Africa |
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June 18, 2004
Into The Arabian WestDAY 241: "Where are you from?" the nameless taxi driver asked me from the driver's seat. I was in the back row, behind my carpool companion Rosa. "New York," I replied. "Ah, New York?" the jovial portly man said. "My...Read this entry Now in Color!DAY 242: Casablanca, the Moroccan oceanside city made popular by movie quotes from the 1942 Humphrey Bogart movie, has come a long way since then. For one, it's no longer in black and white....Read this entry June 19, 2004
Next Train to MarrakeshDAY 243: If there's anything that the French influenced on the Moroccans during its occupation in the mid-20th century other than language, it's the idea of a fast and efficient modern railway system. Morocco has one of the most modern...Read this entry June 23, 2004
Splish, Splash, He Gave Me A BathDAY 244: Most of Marrakesh's main points of interest are within a 40-minute walk of the Place Djemaa el-Fna and without the comforts of a package tour's air conditioned tour bus coach (complete with a guide holding up an umbrella...Read this entry Rock The KasbahDAY 245: "It's amazing there are no French people," Australian Lucy said. She was referring to the fourteen people that had amassed into a small minibus tour group with the Imagine Le Voyage budget tour company based in Marrakesh. Despite...Read this entry June 25, 2004
Carpets and CamelsDAY 246: I once read a story about how persuasive Moroccan carpet salesmen can be, using not a tactic of aggressiveness, but the strategy of feigned friendliness and hospitality to guilt one into buying a genuine Moroccan rug. That day...Read this entry Profit MohammedDAY 247: The Sahara, the world's largest desert sprawling all over northern Africa, gets extremely hot in the daytime. (Perhaps that's why they call it the desert, huh?) To combat the heat, our tour was set up to avoid the...Read this entry June 28, 2004
Animated AscentDAY 248: "If there was any one song you could have in your head while riding the camels, what would it be?" Sebastian the 20-year-old Vancouverite asked me. I drew a blank. "I don't know." Sebastian revealed the one he...Read this entry June 29, 2004
Heels On The HillDAY 249: One of the dangers of mountain trekking is mountain sickness, caused by the lack of sufficient oxygen to the brain in high altitudes. Mountain sickness (or "altitude sickness") affects different people in different ways at different levels of...Read this entry July 01, 2004
High, Dry and Hassle-FreeDAY 250: In the 1960s, Essaouira, the relaxed ocean city on the north west coast of Morocco, was a hippie haven that attracted the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Cat Stevens, Bob Marley and their faithful long-haired disciples. Nowadays, the hippies...Read this entry Laid Back In My GalabiyyaDAY 251: The Let's Go guidebook calls Essaouira "one of Morocco's most laid-back cities." Compared to what we had seen in other tourist-frequented places, this was nothing further from the truth. Essaouira's chilled out vibe -- even with shopkeepers --...Read this entry Jamming in MoroccoDAY 252: Legendary international superstar Bob Marley has had a long lasting effect on the people in Essaouira. Long after his departure not only were people big fans of his reggae music, they also tried to look like Rastafarians with...Read this entry July 03, 2004
Funky Old MedinaDAY 253: Founded in the eighth century and declared a World Heritage Site in 1981, Fez is one of Morocco's premiere imperial cities with a "bustling, colorful medina [that] epitomizes Morocco. No visit to the country is complete without seeing...Read this entry Out of AfricaDAY 254: "It's the end of an era," I told Sebastian as we rode on the last ferry from Africa into Europe across the Strait of Gibraltar. The nighttime ferry ride was the unforeseen final leg of a mad dash...Read this entry |