Mishap in Tangier

Day SIX (Sept’07). A day full of DRAMA for us, and I was freaking scared. Really!

It started on a beautiful morning; you hear the roar of the train, the sound of the people waking up in nearby compartment, them rushing to the washroom, ahh…. the normal hustle and bustle of dawn. It’s like a queue to us that we are approaching Tangier; we took a night train to Tangier to get to Andalusia, Spain.

It WAS PERFECT! We took a cab to the ferry terminal, reached the terminal, lug our luggage to the tix counter, purchased the tix, go up the immigration, then…. That’s when everything STARTS!

Immigration can’t communicate well (at all) in English, basically he return us our passport and “shoo” us away, we were wondering why… hemm… then obviously we refuse to budge and ask “Why?”. He then did a sign language, pointing to us then using his hands showing airplane. Ah-ha…. We nodded, yes, we took plane to Morocco, and….? He then wave his hand and do a ship gesture… we looked at each other “What”. He did the same thing again, we decipher it as if you come by plane, you leave the country by plane. WHAT????? But but but… we purchased the tix (we weren’t even informed by the embassy when we did our VISA, nor anyone mentioning it on websites). We rushed to the tix counter hoping and PRAYING for a refund, they weren’t happy but obliged. They spoke good English and confirmed our doubt. Sigh….. There goes our cruise to Spain via Algeciras on MEDITERRANEAN SEA! I was sooo looking forward.

Travel Tips : Please check before hand on whether Morocco allows to use different mode of transportation going in and out of their country before your visit (as the rules might change from time to time, who knows).

We walked to the cab station, as we had been told that we need to fly out. Nearing the cab area, we were swarm by the cab driver trying to get our attention. This is the funny part, there are 2 cabs (1) Petite – small cab and cheaper and (2) Grande – bigger cab and obviously slightly expensive. The Grande kept pulling us to his car, at this point we said NO NO NO (since I heard he said Grande of course), when we approached the cab bay, we saw Petite, we walked to the area; thus we were swarm by few drivers, one caught our attention and we followed him. PROBLEM START!

The Grande scolded the Petite, mirror effect takes place, before you know it; they hit each other. The other cab drivers stand and watch (I guess they want them to settle it themselves). Us? We backed a few steps; panicked and asked the drivers what are they arguing and why. Ah…. It’s all because the Grande claimed the Petite stole his customers (NO! HE DID NOT!). They fought to a point that they went to the car and took out a jack. Scary stuff! I was pale and almost cried, Andrea? Cool as usual. Then the other drivers start to intervene and said that these are tourist and they shouldn't be fighting. Thus, stop. That’s what we thought too….

As we board the Petite cab and drove out of the terminal, I; still with uncomfortable feeling turn my head back and guess who I saw – the Grande driver tailing us. Case not settled obviously. The journey to airport is approximately 45mins, what if he stop us and hurt us? Hemm… I informed the cab driver, he peek at the rearview mirror, he said not to worry, darn right I am worried! After about 1-2mins, I informed him again, I said me tourist – scared - not happy. He make a turn and head to police station. The police asked the Grande to go off and we continued our journey, but still scared lar. Told Andrea I want to change another cab, we ask him to drop us at the train station and we took another cab to airport.

You think this is the end right, NOOOO!!!! Reached the airport safely and found NO FLIGHT to Granada (Andalusia). WHAT???? Only Madrid and Barcelona, and next flight out is Madrid and it’s USD285. EXPENSIVE!!! Not part of our budget! We negotiated and he brought it down to USD143 (can be negotiated? Hem…) but cash! (hemmmmm……) FINE! It’s a DEAL! As if we have much choice lar.

Took the flight, reached Madrid safely, found ways to go to the bus station, took the next bus out to Granada, stuck for 5 hours journey and FINALLY we reached Granada at 12:30am MIDNIGHT. Plenty of cab, took one to our Alcazaba Pansion, I ate Maggi Mee and fall flat on the bed. (We did a Bourne Ultimatum and I think Matt Damon had it easier!).
Day END!

New country. New beginning. New adventure.

Credits : Wikipedia , Sinmia, Goafrica, Travelpod, iaphworldports, Hostelbooker, Moroccoguide, Gospain

Marrakech - I’m Loving It

day FIVE (Sep’07). Last day in Marrakech.

Somehow I felt happier, not because it’s the last day but perhaps I have warmed up to the country (am abit shy you see….hahaha). I realized I took plenty of pics today…. I even amazed myself. Maybe, just maybe because of the HOHO hunk that we saw while waiting for the HOHO bus…. Yea… I think so too. Hahahhaha…. Focus! Lily! Focus!

Marrakech is weird somehow; you tend to miss it dearly once you blended in. We excited to start our journey of hop-on and hop-offing in Marrakech, there are lotsa of places that we haven’t covered. First stop - Jardin de la Menara. What we saw was a bit pond of water and a “menara”, yeah! That’s it…. We were thinking… “Ni aje?!”. We saw some cables to the water and suspected that occasionally there might just be orchestrated light and show presented here….not that bad lar. We circled the whole pond/lake, turn back and waited for the next HOHO bus.

Next we stopped at Saadian tombs in Marrakech date back as far as 1578. We’re fascinated by the architecture and craftsmanship, so intricate! The tombs constructed by Sultan Ahmed el Mansour in Marrakesh were sealed up for centuries until their rediscovery in 1917. The tombs are magnificently decorated with colorful tiles, Arabic script and elaborate carvings. Fine carvings and stunning zellij tiles recall the Alhambra in Granada (built 200 years earlier) of which I will show you soon (in a couple of days) when I visit the Alhambra.

Across the street are the Bab Agnaou or Agnaou Gate, and as usual, fruit time for Andrea! Yummy! Bab Agnaou is one of the nineteen gates of Marrakech. Built in the 12th century in the time of the Almohad dynasty. And coincidentally the HOHO bus stop is also here.

The subsequent HOHO ride was a long want taking us around the corners of Marrakech city. And Andrea is happy as her pics with hunks turned out better as they were smiling gleefully, maybe because they were looking at the photographer - MOI (PERASAN!).

Cant remember where we stop but we saw a bakery nearby and decide to walk in, our eyes were feast with all sorts of local desert. Bought a box to bring back to Malaysia. Hemm…. Will it be abe to last for another week? Yes, it did and my family members loves it.

As it approached the evening (we were lepaking near this fountain area while waiting to break fast, we thought we should break our fast outside, our selection McDonald (not very creative huh). The funny thing is after placing our order, the lady asked whether are we Muslim, we said yes. And she said the food will only be deliver after the azan - she don‘t trust us not to eat before the azan (!!?!?! - and she forgotten to send the food over till I remindered her). We were served with kurma to break our fast… hemm… Malaysia should do this as well.

After the meal, we went back to the Riad to collect our bags and head to the train station to further our journey to Spain on ferry via Tangier. We took the ONCF night train (wanted to try their bunker). It wasn’t bad, clean with aircon; I can leave with it. I was pretty exicted as this is the 1st time in my life taking a long distance train out of Malaysia, I felt and LOOK like a kid that just gotten a candy!

Waking up in a new city - Tangier!

Credits : Wikipedia, Sacred-destinations, Marrakech-cityguide, Morocco & ONCF

Walkabout Marrakech

day FOUR (Sept’07). We took a map, and go… “Let’s walk that direction towards the Marrakech Royal Theatre”. Kid you not. So, what else, we walk lar… it’s kinda far come to think about it. But I guess when you are traveling, the excitements supersede everything else. Our fantastic plan, walk and take pics and see the locals day-to-day life, and stop wherever/whatever that looks interesting…. easy peasy.

We walked into Djemaa el Fna Square, it looked totally different during the morning, no dwellers, no snake charmer, no hanna artist, no spice seller… Pretty quiet, which I felt weird. Hemm…… All I can see is Calèches; a green, canopied, horse-drawn carriages that hold four to five people. Wanted to ride this but at the end, didn’t manage to as we ran out of time.

We start our loooong walk Avenue Mohammed V, and our first stop is Bab NKOB, “Bab” meaning “Gate”. I kept telling Andrea it’s NKOTB gate! Must take pic! Heeheheh….. Kids! And still no sight of the Marrakech Royal Theatre as yet, sigh. Jalan again lar, ah-hah! We saw McDonald (not that we can eat - fasting month ma…), but since we didn’t expect to see an American fast food joint here, we took a pic (Hey! They are not THAT backward after all - more like I’m the one that are silly and ignorant!).

Then we have a problem, Junction! Which one? Hemm... Map time again (our best friend during trips). Can’t remember which road we took, but one thing I remembered was that the street pavement was planted with orange trees… And the oranges are SUPER SWEET (like me! Muahaha… yah! Perasan!), not those by the road side. We purchased a bottle of freshly squashed orange juice from the square the day before.

Alas, the Marrakech Royal Theatre, to our surprise, there was nothing much here…sigh…. Slightly disappointed. Took some pics and plan to head back but this time on the opposite side of the road (cause we saw Cyber Park which we thought interesting).

As we approached the Arsat Moulay Abdeslam Cyber Park, I saw it is being sponsored by my company base in Morocco. Hahahha…… YEAY! We noticed French influence is still strong despite that the claimed independent since 1956, reason being the signages are still spelled as “Sortie” instead of “Exit” or even “Salida”. Oh! There were also some infomercial on PC monitors scattered the park - KEWL! Changgihnye!

We saw a signage that says Esemble Artisanal, we were wondering what is it, on the way back we decided to check it out. I mean… why not right?! We went in and….. It’s a cultural village for the local handy-crafts. What else - SHOPPING GURLS! So wanted the Moroccon lamp but against it at the end, I do have another country plus many more stops to go. Sigh…. But I have to buy something right, I purchased my name in Arab and Moroccan plate, I still have magnets to be purchased at the souk. Till then, back to Riad for buka puasa and plan to our last day in Marrakech.

Another day of Hop-On and Hop-Offing in Marrakech.

Credits : Wikipedia