Rabat, Morocco

We're now in the capital city of Morocco, having just arrived last night. It is starting to rival Fes as my favorite city just for sheer hassle-freedom and because no one has tried to cheat us!!! It's such a relief to be able to relax and do the tourist thing rather than being constantly on guard and paranoid. (Same Français type keyboard still, je peux faire des accents! èàé... anyhow)

After the day of running around after the guide in Marrakesh; we took the next day to explore the remaining sites on our own. THe first place was the world-renowned Marjorelle Gardens (30 Dh taxi to get there - we got so pissed that day for getting ripped off every single ride we took; realistically each ride should have cost 10Dh). They were pretty but not mind-blozing as we had expected for the entry fee; The buildings were painted a gorgeous shade of blue (by the painter:artist who put the gardens together - apparently it is knozn as bleu Marjorelle;

The next set of gardens were the Jardin Menara (sp?). Both the hustler outside the last set of gardens and the taxi driver tried to convince us that it was not zorth going to, but we were curious cuz the book said a lot of native Marrakeshi went there to relax. Turned out to be a lovely relaxing place full of picknicking city-folk: It's places like these where you're not constantly heckled with 'sayonara'; We walked around a somewhat murky pool which was filled with large unseen fish eating bread throzn at them; Then, we just sat under an olive tree (yes! I've seen olive trees for the first time in my life! lots of exotic fruit trees everyzhere - olives; lemons, pomegranates, oranges, coconuts, grapefruit, figs, dates - I've only got 30 pics left on the camera - I'm trying to hold out for Spain) and watched the locals go by. Happy families with absolutely no vested interest in tourists - my favourite type of Moroccans. Their dress is a complete mixture of traditional and western style - the greatest contrast I saw zas a young wo,an zearing a zhite head scarf zith a white Nike cap on top: After, we went for a stroll through the olive groves and took a taxi out:

A refused to let K take a camel ride in the gardens. Being in this country has opened up so many moral issues just being tourists. Do you give to the beggars? Do you buy the gorgeous wood if the guidebook says it may be endangered? It is thuja (pronounced two-yah) that apparently in danger, I refused to in the end, but it is soooo pretty. The guy said the little boxes I got were cedar, hopefully that is not another word for thuja); Are animals treated well - is paying for a mule, donkey or camel ride encouraging animal abuse?

Our final destinations in Marrakesh were a museum and a ruined palace. When you go to the museums, often the buildings themselves are the highlight rather than the exhibits: Often; they are housed inside grand old houses belonging to rich ministers etc: It was the case with this one - the renovated central courtyard was huge - lit with a golden yellow by the sun through a canopy hanging over top: Hanging from the center was the biggest brass chandelier we had ever seen. The ruined palace was also very impressive. Loquax - storks nesting everywhere on the walls. I can't believe I was searching for storks in Holland when they're everywhere here; They are called cigognes and we even passed what our tourguide said was a hospital for the birds. The storks build these gigantic nests on the battlements. They,re very impressive in flight and they make this clacking sound by opening and closing their beaks as they throw their heads back.

Insert so,ething on Cascades D'ouzoudes

Our stop yesterday was Casablanca which everyone refers to as Casa; I have not done my dissertation on transportation through Morocco yet; but at the non-CTM (ie non govern,ent run) bus stations, rather than official announce,ents over a loudspeaker; you get these guys wearing blue who come into the waiting area and announce the destination of the leaving bus three times, so you hear 'Casa, Casa, Casa' or 'Fes, Fes, Fes!'

If the remainder of Morocco reminds me of China (moreso the countryside) then Casa reminded me of HK though the buildings are shorter. I have not been to enough Mediterranean European cities to compare to them. We were only there on a stopover for the day to see the famous mosque, but we also took a short tour to see the architecture using a recommended walk from Lonely Planet; This is the first time I've noticed how well designed the modern parts of cities here as well as medinas are designed for the heat. Newer buildings are built sort of indented about 2m all along the ground floor facing the street and there are pillars running at the edge supporting it all; This provides shade all along the sidewalk as you walk. Casa was actually amawingly cool after the heat of the inland cities with a constant breeze from the ocean: We had gotten used to sweating in the heat of the previous week. We have not bought papers so I do not know how hot it actually is: It is a nice dry heat though, so you are never sticky, just damp; The 40C zith hu,idity in Toronto is much more unpleasant. I went through approx. 1.5L of water everyday (inc; teeth brushing) along with usually an OJ, mint tea and maybe a soft drink. We made our way through the main square of the city zith it's many impressive buildings.

The taxi driver who finally brought us to the mosque was the single person who made me the angriest on the whole trip. Complaining aside, I'd kept my cool up to that point, but he made me lose my faith in human beings for a good few hours. We had agreed on 20Dh before the trip, and brushed off his atte,pts to give us a tour of the city. When he arrived at the mosque, I gave him the 20 and he gave it back; saying that it was 20Dh par personne; I told him he had never said the words par personne. He said if you want to pay, pay, if you want to leave, leave. We were in shock. We knew what we heard; we would have never gone for 20 a person, and we knew taht was an absolutely unbelievable price. Besides; petit taxis (ie intra-city taxis vs. the grand taxis which go between cities) don't charge by person!! I shoved the 20Dh at him and left. Obviously since he did not press the issue, he was the one cheating us. BTW, on the ride back, we insisted on going on the meter and it came to under 8Dh, we tipped that guy. 20Dh par personne my à$$. He left a bad taste in my mouth for the rest of the day.

The mosque was as grand as the tour book said - 3rd largest in the world after two in Saudi Arabia.

Out of ti,e for the hour, will finish sometime.