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Kat and Ben


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Trips:

Kat & Ben's World Adventure

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Needing the Loo

Ad Dakhla, Western Sahara


There were quite a few police check points through the Western Sahara, at one of them Aziz was given a piece of paper with a warning on. We couldn't read entirely what it said but we think it was to do with his tachometer in that he's driven over the legal amount of miles because he had to hand it over to them. When asked however he said it was because of us and that it's a problem for him to be carrying tourists. Despite us saying that we can get off and it's not a problem if he can't take us, he insisted that we continued to travel with him. So we headed for Dakhla, 495km away. Leaving Laayoune at 6.30am we forget what time we arrived but once in Dakhla we had food with Aziz and Habib and managed to pay for us all as a thank you for no price was asked or offered for taking us to Nouakchott. Aziz saying they were off to shower etc and we had 2hours to look around Dakhla we made our way along the coast as Kat started to feel the effects of not going to the loo properly for a few days. This became a number one priority as we found an expensive hotel and ordered drinks in the bar whilst she swiftly pegged it for the loo. Ben shouting after her be quick as he also needed to go. After a much needed sit down clean loo break and drink by the sea, we got the bill which made Ben want to go for another shit again in their loo to make it worthwhile.
It cost 50d 3times more than what it should have cost for 2 soft drinks which wasn't breaking the bank but still made Ben tighten his purse strings and not leave a tip.

We hadn't much more time before we had to meet the others back at the lorries so we returned a little early not wanting to keep them waiting just in case they were already there. As it turned out, we were waiting a lot more than anticipated because when Aziz returned, he slept for over an hour on the bottom bunk whilst we sat in the driver and passenger seats twiddling our thumbs and trying to be quiet. We were pretty confused and a little pissed off that we could have been out all this time but he had wanted us back. A bit odd and even more so when he finally woke up and started the engine and drove 50yards then parked outside a cafe. Talk about lazy.

We sat and had drinks by the sea, which was a lot cheaper than our round in the last place. However the view was spoilt was the copious amount of rubbish that was littering the nearby bushes and all along the shore. It was then where we both saw a dead cat for the first time. Half expecting to have seen one in the many medinas in Morocco, we weren't prepared to see one on washed up on what could have been a beautiful shoreline. Saddening the moment it made up Kat's mind to write a letter to the King, Mohammed V, addressing him of the amount of rubbish throughout the country and how it not only spreads disease, it contributes to global warming. This reminds us... We need to rope Kat's dad and anyone else into helping write the letter so it sounds formal and factual...

We left Dakhla a while later once Aziz and Habib had picked up their papers and then drove outside the town to bed down for another night in the lorry.



permalink written by  Kat and Ben on July 1, 2009 from Ad Dakhla, Western Sahara
from the travel blog: Kat & Ben's World Adventure
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Just a stop over

Laayoune, Western Sahara


When we dropped him off at the garage in Laayoune we had decided to give him a pack of our playing cards with 50d and note saying shukran (thank you in Arabic) tucked away in it. He refused at first but we had insisted because although he hadn't taken us very far, he hadn't asked for anything and was really kind to us. Once he went we drove off to a quiet street and parked up for the night.
Aziz was luckily in convoy with another lorry, which was driven by a lovely little man called Habib. This meant that we could sleep in the trucks but unfortunately not the same one. Aziz told Ben to go to Habib's truck and that was it. We were both pretty weary about leaving the other alone especially when Kat had to be lifted up into the top bunk by the big guy and be kissed on the cheek by him as a goodnight gesture. Ben didn't sleep that well for fearing the worst whilst Kat slept like a log with the long day having taken its toll on her. Both looking a bit disheveled by morning as we were reunited and set off for our journey to Daklha.



permalink written by  Kat and Ben on June 30, 2009 from Laayoune, Western Sahara
from the travel blog: Kat & Ben's World Adventure
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Our First HitchHiking Experience

Tan-Tan Plage, Morocco


We left around 10 the next morning and walked to the end of the high street to the grand taxi stand. It was a new experience for us and a young guy called Hussin helped us as he was heading the same way. 3 more men joined us and the 7 of us, including the driver, crammed into the 5 seater taxi - 3 in the front and 4 in the back. It cost 10dirhams each to go the 25km so it wasn't bad and it was quicker than a bus. Hussin, a student in Tan-Tan and from Ouarzazate, asked if we were looking for a hotel and we said that it depended on the prices, so he took us to a place he knew on the sea front.
The place was great and 150d a night was reasonable for room and location. After saying bye to Hussin and thanking him loads for his kindness as he didn't ask for anything in return which is rare, we went to our room to change into our cozies. After finally eating for the first time in ages, we went for a walk along the beach in search for some American tourists we heard were staying at the hotel and driving to Mauritania. Ok an ulterior motive, but our luck was down as we couldn't see any white people and some little shit decided to throw wet sand at us when we walked past. Deciding to settle, the friendly and fairly attractive male hotel receptionist got a parasol for us and we sat enjoying the sea air and view. Bothered only slightly by some kid who looked strangely like Joe Allen wanting to take Kat into the sea and he could not get the message that we didn't actually understand French that well. We did manage to go for a dip though and with Kat wearing Ben's t-shirt over her swimsuit, it left him with just his lycra Speedo shorts to run to the shore in. This was hysterical, not only for how naked he looked compared to everyone else on the beach but his run that went with it. He half dragged Kat down the hill with him but she had to stop for laughing too hard.

Once calling it a day we cleaned ourselves up and went to look for a place to eat. After walking around the town in a large circle for a while, it was 9pm when we found somewhere, only a few doors away from our hotel which we had previously passed, still open and serving food. The cook came out and asked what we wanted to eat we explained that we didn't eat meat or fish and he offered to cook a vegetable tagine, which turned out to be the best veggie tajine we had yet tried. The following day we walked a fair way with our bags out of the little settlement and to the main road junction where the road turned off to the south. Ben thought it would be a good place to hitch-hike from as we sat at the base of a monument, along with a beautiful puppy (which we fed and watered and Kat wanted to take with her). We'd only waited 20 minutes before we got a suitable lift. The driver's name was Mustafa and was heading to Daklha, the southern part of the Western Sahara just before you get into Mauritania. Explaining we had little money, he agreed a price of 50D so we boarded his vehicle which was a huge 40ft lorry 'camion' and sat on the bed in the back of the cabin. Two more men were traveling with him, Hassain and Mohammed.

After about an hour we shared our food and drinks with Mustafa and the other two men who were also traveling to Daklha; trying to converse with them in French whilst Mustafa was sharing a 'Moroccan cigarette' with Hassain, we were wondering how the journey ahead will go. It was not long after when we were starting to relax there was a sudden BANG!


A tyre blew and Mustafa struggled hard with the steering wheel to keep the truck on the road, but for all his strength he failed and we left the tarmac now going over very rough desert terrain with huge rocks troughs and lots of bumps.
There were three of us on the bed and were thrown around like rag dolls. Kat was in the middle with nothing to hold onto so Ben made a grab for one of her legs that was up in the air. During the commotion our 5litre bottle of water fell down from the seat and smashed a glass laid out on a tea set next to the large gas canister. With only a few bumps to our bodies we luckily came to a stop just before a huge dip in the rocky roadside. Mustafa checked to make sure everyone was still alive and not injured then went to see what the damage was. We all got out to see if we could help and to gather the broken bits of debris off of the road.

The truck looked a mess, it was the front passenger tyre that had had it. Shredded to pieces, most of the fiberglass wheel arch missing, the first step to the cabin gone plus damage to the petrol tank and clutch which we found out later on.

It was a big problem and Mustafa only had spares for the trailer and back wheels of the body of the truck.
So not only did we have to wait for someone to bring a spare, the bumpy terrain meant that there was not enough room for the bottle jacks. Luckily he had two jacks and he donned his overalls and starting jacking up the other side and moving the jacks in each time towards the damaged side as they slowly sank into the soft ground.
All the time spirits were high despite our continuous bad luck. We'd even taught them the card game 'Beat Your Neighbour' to pass the time and they showed us the popular card game in Morocco which is basically Rummy but with 13 cards.

Mustafa got a lift into Tan Tan to look for a part and get food for us, returning at about 9pm that evening. Hobbs and laughing cow cheese with a sugared milky yoghurt drink served in a big bowl that Kat managed to spill all down herself. Feeling like we were an added hassle for them by being there even though they never made us feel unwelcome, we felt worse when she got the milk everywhere. Changing her clothes out in the windy night, we'd planned to sleep in the tent, but as Mustafa was heading to a larger town for other parts and wouldn't return till the next day, he insisted we sleep in the camion. We were going to decline but as he said something about scorpions Ben jumped at the offer and thanked him. It was so hot and stuffy sleeping in there, never did Kat think that a one point she'd be sleeping with 3 men.

It was another waiting game the next day and we were starving by the time Mustafa returned with reinforcements. The food he brought though was freshly fried fish and hobbs. Without wanting to seem rude as he had got it for the 4 of us, we both ate some of the fish. Although they knew Kat was a vegetarian they couldn't understand her not whole heartedly digging into the fish and instead laughed at her when she took pictures of the fishes teeth! Yes teeth!

It tasted like a meaty fish and nobody knew the name of it. Picking the meat off the bone, Ben was careful not to choke and die as his mother apparently told when he was a boy but he enjoyed it nonetheless. It wasn't long after when more problems were found with the truck and more parts were needed. One of the many lorries that stopped and offered help turned out to be one of Mustafa's friends, Aziz. He was a big man who loved his music and loved counting his money. We found out that he was heading to Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, so Mustafa asked him to take us as the truck was kaput and we also were going there. He agreed to take us as and also drop Mustafa off of at Laayoune.


permalink written by  Kat and Ben on June 28, 2009 from Tan-Tan Plage, Morocco
from the travel blog: Kat & Ben's World Adventure
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ID Check Plz

Tan-Tan, Morocco


We got to Tan-Tan after a long and sweaty journey only to discover that the town was fairly small with a lot of police. We were stopped 3 times in the space of an hour and asked for ID and how long we were staying. We laughed off their suspicious looks and told them we were looking for a cheap place to stay for a day or two. After a look around a few places, Kat was gagging for a shower so we opted for hotel number 3 for 90dirhams a night. We were done. Despite checking the place out, we didn't realise there was one filthy squatting loo and one grimy bath/shower for the whole of the hotel. Desperate for both, Kat not only got stage freight and couldn't go for a number 2, she had to get Ben to help her shower for the support was broken and the whole thing leaked, covering the entire floor with water about an inch deep. It was a flip flops jobby anyway. Deciding not to stay another night, we'd made sure not to unpack too much.

Our next Mission was to search for a bank that again took Kat’s card, so we traipsed all over the town and finally found one only to discover a much shorter way back. Time flew by and before we knew it we were heading for bed, not even bothering to have dinner.


permalink written by  Kat and Ben on June 27, 2009 from Tan-Tan, Morocco
from the travel blog: Kat & Ben's World Adventure
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Ouarzazate and the desert

Ouarzazat, Morocco


We arrived here after a 5 and a half hour bus ride through the atlas mountain region on such windy roads Kat was feeling really sick.
It didn't help that someone was sick inside the bus or when an old man got on the bus and started perving on Kat. So much so that even after her telling him off and putting a wrap over her she still had to move to other seat. God help him if he followed or she'd have definitely lost it like she did when we eventually got off the bus in the sleepy town and the pervert tried approaching her to which she just shouted 'Balack!' at him in Arabic to move out the way. Things didn't cheer up when we realised we had no money and no idea where we were. We headed for a western union shop that changes money to get directions to a bank and the centre.
Before we'd set foot in the door we were approached by a tall man who was trying to get us to stay in his 'hotel' and he'd take us in his 4x4. We're sure he was telling the truth but it was too risky and the guy was way too pushy so we got his hotel details and managed to luckily get rid of him. The kind Moroccan in the shop was really helpful and gave us the directions.

The bank didn't turn out to be that far away and a hotel was right next door. Kat had been saying how much she'd love to stay somewhere with a pool. This place turned out to be amazing. It’s called la gazelle hotel and was ironically in our ancient guide book so it’s been in business for a while.

We splashed out. The standard room with double and single bed with bathroom is 159dh and for the added luxury of air con was 200dh, we paid the extra 4euro's. Not only was there hot water, they had a pool and restaurant on the premises. We didn't eat there but made full use of the pool and hot water in the 3 days we were there.

After dumping our bags and had a splash around in the pool, Ben scaring the kids in his Speedos, we got ready to have a walk around the small town and find a place to eat. One place we looked in a guy stopped us and said he'd seen us at Marrakesh bus station that morning. He had come in a car and I asked why he didn't give us a lift. He seemed friendly though and told us of the places we should visit whilst in town.

The next day we headed out to do just that and started walking to the Kasbah. The map the hotel gave us was dated and not to scale so it seemed a lot further, especially as we kept being stopped by people along the way. One guy showed us in his shop and we were just sat talking to him as he showed us the shop items he gets from the desert to sell, we were interrupted as Kat’s mum called. We apologised and left. It was a great catch up and it made Kat sad to hear her mum say she missed her. After being cut off by sim 4 travel that change tariffs without informing their customers thus us being charged for the call and running out of credit, we continued walking only to be stopped again about 20yards up the road. The man's name was Abdul and besides running a shop and 4x4 and camel excursions to the desert, he told us that his family appeared in the BBC Michael Palin documentary about around the world in 80 days. Finally saying goodbye and getting his business card we headed further down the road, this time getting not much further when we were stopped for a third time! This time however the man asked if Kat would write a letter for him. We went into his tiny shop and he dictated whilst she wrote. His name was Mohammed and as a thank you he made us nana tea which is a sugary tea with mint leaves in, the tea is poured from a great height 3 times before serving to give it lots of air adding to the taste. We got talking and he invited us to one of his sister's weddings that were taking place in 2weeks in the desert. We had to decline due to getting to Mauritania before our transit visa expired, but were touched by the offer. It was when we were talking about life in the desert did we find out that the sister getting hitched was only 12years old! Kat's still in shock now just thinking about it.


After about an hour there we finally made it to the famous Kasbah, we think was an old historic fortress over looking the sea. We have to say think because we never made it in. Walking around the huge walls we were approached by a little girl who kept asking for money but then started making kissing noises and gesturing to Ben. Goodness knows what she meant but it made us speed up our walking until she got tired of following us.

Around the corner from the weird kissing girl we stumbled across 'le musee du cinema' Ben managed to persuade the ticket attendant that we were English students and that we left our student ID cards back home so we got in half price.

It's a really interesting walk around seeing all the old sets that had been used in religious films shot here and the many blockbusters filmed in the surrounding desert such as Gladiator, Sahara, The Hills Have Eyes, Lawrence of Arabia plus many more.
About halfway round the museum a security guard unlocked a room for us to look around. On entering the huge room we were amazed to see all the old film equipment from cameras to different lenses from all ages, set and sound equipment and reels of film hanging out of really strange and dated articles, we took a lot of pictures in the Aladdin’s cave.
After walking around for hours and feeling exhausted we stopped at the local cafe over the road for some Fanta lemon and a bite to eat before heading back into town on the bus.

Recovering from our long afternoon in the sun with a slash in the pool a quick shower and little snooze we headed back out to the first shop we had entered because our time was cut short from the phone call and that Kat had seen an amazing golden compass made from brass for reading the stars to navigate through the Sahara desert, we had a price in mind and said we wouldn't go over it. Unfortunately we had extremely underestimated how much the compass was worth but we drank green tea infused in elk and talked for ages it seemed about life and foods. Hassan invited us to eat lunch with him and his family the following day, to see how a tagine is prepared to which we accepted.

The next day after packing our sacks up with all the clean clothes we had managed to wash and dry in the hotel room during our stay we left our bags at reception as our bus was due to leave a 9pm we heading to Hassan’s shop for lunch with his family, while the tagine was slow cooking Hassan showed us around the shop and all the pretty things his family bring from a town in the desert called m'hamid. M'hamid is where the river has been Dammed and is the last town south with a river, it's apparently a very important and religious town. Getting back to the sparkleys, Kat had seen a bangle that was beautiful and also a pendant Ben could see this tagine costing more than the bread and biscuits we had brought as a thank you for him. Having not nearly enough for the compass 200 euro's, Kat fell in love with the bangle, it was a real shame that although it was really beautiful Ben had pointed out some major flaws in the practicality of it. It was rather thin and would have just bent out of shape really easy in our luggage and Hassan had accidentally broken it when sizing it to Kat’s wrists.

If ever we go back to Ouarzazate we will get one and maybe the compass. The pendant however Ben could find no faults and although Hassan wanted to sell both as a pair we settled for a price for the pendant alone, slightly higher than we wanted or should have paid but Ben felt a little guilty about the bracelet and said it would be part birthday present….

At this point lunch was served and we ate traditionally with just our hands and bread. It was a bull tagine and Kat shifted through and ate a little of the veg (did you know they don't eat the middle of the carrot in morocco) we spent ages and talked asked loads of questions and had been sung to with bongos by his younger cousin Mohamed, they told us how a few days ago they had met a Spanish boy with blue hair who was travelling the same way we were and they told us his story how he was in a wheelchair and travels around the world with no money. We thought they must have been mistaken when they said no money but we looked impressed and we think were starting to outstay our welcome.

One of the men said he would help us buy the tagine spices in the local market, we left the stall after saying our good byes and followed the man to the spices he was proud to show us them all and explained what most were and how the were used. We brought the head of shop spice which contains 45 different herbs and spices which are good for the heart, blood, and cancer amongst other things.

On our way back to collect our bags and to use the hotels toilet and courtyard to chill we past a westerner in a wheel chair with blue hair, Kat wasn't sure if it was the same boy Hassan had described but Ben pointed out how many blue haired wheel chair bound people could there be in Ouarzazate bearing in mind this is the only other westerner we had seen in the small town, so we approached him to say hello 'hablo anglais' and that Hassan said to pass on his regards if we saw him. After introducing ourselves, Albert explained how he has traveled the world from the age of 14 with no money and by showing card tricks to people for money to eat etc. We explained we were leaving to go to a place on the coast called tan-tan and he asked if he could join us. We think he thought we were driving, when we said the bus was 200dirhams each he said he would try to blag it some how 'buy two get one free' we arranged to meet up at 7pm which would give us 2hours to walk to the station and buy tickets.

Bad news the bus was full and we had been told the day before there was only one bus a day from Ouarzazate to Tan-Tan we found a place to sit and put our bags down. Not knowing what to do Ben went of to talk to the ticket touts, he found out there were two other busses one and 10.30 and one at 3am the bus at 10.30 had one change in Agadir and the 3am bus was direct. We didn't buy tickets because of Albert, we thought it best to ask the driver for the 3for2 deal, and we sat and waited in the depot for ages until the bus came. It was filling up quick as Kat and Albert went off to barter Albert free passage. by that time the bus was full, we decided as we couldn't miss the 3am bus to buy two tickets and try to get him on the last bus some how. After dinner Albert went to sleep under a tree and we watched his bag and played cards while we waited and waited. By 2.30 we were both really tired and the bus had started boarding Ben went to wake Albert, Kat stayed on bag duty. We spoke to the bus conductor and explained that we had only enough money for 2 tickets and that in the UK disabled people travel free of charge but this didn't work. Ben got on board to bagsie some seats while Kat and Albert tried to bend some ones arm. The bus started to leave and the conductor was now saying the bus was full and that Albert could not join us Kat came to sit in the reserved seats and the bus was half empty. We felt sorry for Albert but Ben said he had been travelling for 4 years sleeping rough and he should be ok, this made Kat feel slightly less guilty but still worried.

Our first night bus journey.... It left at 3am half empty and we sat on separate seats to sleep, but with frequent stops it filled up quickly we woke up with people trying to sit on our feet so Ben asked people to move so we were next to each other Kat against the window and Ben against some ones bottom the bus was packed and more people kept getting on. In the morning Kat let a little girl sit on her seat while Kat sat on Ben’s lap in the desert heat we think the girls mum saw Ben’s leg getting pin's and needles and told the girl to give the seat back. Kat then invited the girl’s younger sister to sit on her lap for part of the journey rather than on the cramped floor thus allowing her to sleep in between staring and laughing at Kat waving her fan. Kat noticed the girl’s hair had been tied up with bits of old string so Kat asked the girl’s mother if we could give them a hair tie each. The girls loved the present and one put hers in straight away. The journey in whole took just under 14 hours with one half hour stop but the views over the Atlas Mountains were spectacular.



permalink written by  Kat and Ben on June 26, 2009 from Ouarzazat, Morocco
from the travel blog: Kat & Ben's World Adventure
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Tourist Central

Marrakech, Morocco


We are slowly getting used to the bus rides this time it was a 5hour ride to the outskirts of Marrakesh. We managed to get some sleep so on arrival at 2am we were awake when we were pounced on yet again by ticket touts and taxi drivers trying to take our luggage to their mode of transport. We got our stuff together and started walking towards the centre ville. We passed a closed supermarket and in the distance saw the blue neon sign of a hotel where the security guard on duty called the receptionist down who took half an hour so we waited and talked to the guard. Unfortunately the hotel ended up being far too expensive but they did suggest a local cheap one and they hailed down a cab gave directions to the driver and then asked us how much? We didn't know what they were saying at first, how could we know how far it was or the rates out here?! So the driver said 3euros and Kat immediately haggled it to 2,not wanting to have a repeat of the tangier taxi ride. The taxi ride was fairly long and we think we got the better deal considering the time as well. When we got out and started walking across the square in the direction pointed out we were Lucky to bump into 3 English speaking people so we kindly asked if they knew the location of the cheap hotel. The girl in the group who was from Canada said we could stay in the one she was in and showed us her key. It was 3am at this point and the taxi driver was waiting to make sure we were safe which was nice so Ben gave him the thumbs up and we followed the Canadian, Moroccan and a Korean. They were very helpful and the Moroccan gave us a list of all the good places to visit. Kat kept being shushed by the receptionist as it was 3 in the morning so we handed our passport details over, said our goodnights and headed upstairs to bed.

The next morning well early afternoon we woke up and went for a stroll around the town and medina on exiting our hotel we came straight out onto the 'Place Jemaa El Fna' square we walked though the night before was now alive with people jam packed with juice stalls, shops, snake charmers, henna ladies, ill treated baby monkeys, thousands of western tourists and Moroccan musicians playing bongos.

The main snake charmer stand had a big group of people around it so we had a look to see what the attraction was. As we got closer we saw the Cobras being really provoked to keep them in the attack pose and really long grass looking snakes being hung around the less morale tourists, one struck one of the handlers who threw it on the floor, picked it up and threw it down again which wasn't so pleasant to see. Another snake made a quick slither for freedom which panicked the crowed to jump back gasping. At this point we were both upset and sick of how the animals were treated and the fact a snake charmer was heading straight for Ben’s neck with the biggest snake we'd ever seen in the flesh we decided to move on. Kat took a sneaky photo which was then challenged for ten dirham’s, we gave them one but regret taking it as its encouraging the spectacle.

On the way out of the square we headed towards the 'La Koutoubia', the biggest mosque in the Marrakesh medina. We had past this in the night and to be honest it looks a lot better all lit up in lights than when it does during the day. On the way, we passed a small park that was completely surrounded by horse and carts doing tours of the city, the horses in Marrakesh all looked bad with malnutrition, off the beaten track on our long walk we saw the working horses carrying food stock who were so dehydrated their tongues hung out of their lopsided mouths all shriveled up. We also got very lost and some kind children helped us find the main road. The boy who helped us most didn't ask or beg for money so we gave him a little, we normally give pens, food, or what’s left in our water bottle as we really don't agree with giving money to child beggars-you never know who it goes to.

In the heart of the souks we found a little shop that sold 'silver' rings for Kat’s wedding finger, (don't panic it's just to help prevent all the perverts letching on her and to give Ben more bartering leverage. Plus it’s far more expectable in Muslim countries for sharing hotel rooms etc.) We haggled from 80dirhams down to 30dirhams having a strong suspicion it wasn't silver. 3pounds for a band was still extortionate but will serve a good purpose.

On getting lost the second time we stumbled across the 'Palais Bahia', one of the beauties that the Moroccan guy last night pointed out to us. He was certainly right and Kat got her camera out and snapped away at the buildings high walls and beautifully crafted ceilings, Ben got a bit jealous with all the people with their SLR'S missing his canon. Still being lost we jumped in a taxi and asked the nice driver to take us to a point on the map that we knew, on departing the taxi the meter said 3dirhams he demanded 6 claiming something about a minimum payment we got out the taxi quickly after paying 5 and the driver was furious over 1dirham about 7pence but we ran for it well walked away quickly before he could think about running us over.


After spending far too long in the sun and getting lost 3times Ben had a little sleep whilst Kat had some peace to write her journal, it was near sunset when we were ready to go out. So we got our sleepy self’s up and went to find the restaurant we spotted earlier. When we hit the square it was yet again completely different, replacing the snakes and market stalls stood large industrial sized canteens, all serving different styles of Moroccan food.

We walked around them all first and settled on Jamie Oliver’s number 10, all the canteens had numbers with several touts trying to sell their menus. On seeing us a few started talking in London slang (lovely jubly, Sainsbury’s taste the difference veg, air conditioning 'with a menu waved in our faces', and other funny typical English sayings) Jamie Oliver’s mum owed the place where we sat. Her face proudly stamped on the menu, shame she had been hit by an ugly bat but her stern look said keep away from the money as she was the cash register. Being white yet again we got ripped off, Ben was having none of it this time and questioned why the bill was so high. They had over charged 20dirhams for our meals and tried to charge us for the 'free' bread served while we waited. We think they only gave in and paid up because Ben bravely stood right in the way off big momma and the incoming cash from the waiters.

Before we went for dinner we paid a high price for drinks and for a really high view on a rooftop terrace over looking the square. The sun had just gone down by the time we got to the terrace and had left a shepherd's delight sky. The view was amazing and this is definitely a must do if you visit, although it's tourist central we loved the views and Ben also loved seeing all the really really expensive slrs at work (Adam would have died and Kat thinks both are sad buggers).

Our colorful evening came to an end as we headed back to our hotel to prepare for leaving Marrakesh the following morning. Seeing the old men outside the hotel playing checkers with water bottle tops made Ben start collecting them.


permalink written by  Kat and Ben on June 24, 2009 from Marrakech, Morocco
from the travel blog: Kat & Ben's World Adventure
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Rabat

Rabat, Morocco


From where we left Fez, we went from the bus station that catered for the CTM style buses which means new and air-conditioned and a bit more expensive than the beat up local buses. It only took us three hours to get to Rabat's Gare Routier (bus station), where we arrived not knowing where we were and with no money on us. This was becoming a recurring trend for us, which we really had to avoid for the next time we traveled as it was difficult to explain to a taxi driver where we wanted to go (an Auberge De Jeune recommended to us) via a bank and not get ripped off in the process. We got around his original quote of 50dirhams by demanding that he put the meter on, which is something they conveniently turn off and say is broken. It only turned out to be 18dirhams and we were happy to have found the place that was just outside the medina wall and down the road from the city centre.

The hostel was the same price as Fez but there were no private rooms, just male and female dorms (Kat had discover bed bugs in one of the beds she slept in so wasn’t too taken with the place at first). We ended up staying in Rabat for about a week in total and did so much in the time we were there, including having a little haircut session one day that consisted of Kat going crazy with the scissors and not only cutting all of her hair off
, took the blades to Ben’s bushy beard
.

We met Oli at the hostel and instantly became friends on the first day; there he took us to an English bookshop that he found where we brought a Rough Guide book for Africa for 135Dirhams. On the way back from the bookshop some little boy struck Kat’s arm with his fist for no reason whatsoever, in shock she just turned round and stared at the little shit whom was walking with his parents who knew what he’d done yet didn’t do anything in response except look at Kat’s gawping stare.

At the hostel we also met a man called Fabien. The crazy Frenchman took a little longer as at first we thought he was constantly drunk and the language was a barrier, but that didn't last long as we discovered he just looked squiffy in the mornings and the reason for lying down a lot was because of his bad back.

The touristy site-seeing we did in Rabat was visit the Royal Palace which was a mission to get to and although was free to enter, we had to go through a police check-point where they photocopied our passports. The palace was built in 1864 and has a glazed green tiled roof; we have found that most of the royal buildings have the green roofs, which we discovered in Fez is the colour of royalty. We sat down in the grounds for a while taking it all in and snapping away at the grand entrance of the palace.

On one of our walks around the riverside of the medina we were both attacked by henna ladies, Kat having her name and flowers doodels all over her left hand and up her arm and Ben having a manly scorpion (not by his choice), his name and for some reason a love heart on his arm. Despite our protests and saying we really didn't have much money on us, the two women having finished their speedily doodling asked or rather, demanded 100dirhams.
Even though they had said previously 'any price you like' and the fact that Ben didn't want a henna we gave them 20d as it was all that we had. They then wanted 20each or Euros to the value at which point Ben was getting agitated and said sternly no and pulled Kat away and started to walk off with them shouting in the background. The second set of henna ladies we came across in Rabat were a few days later and again we firmly said we didn't want one and had no money, but for some reason Kat's arm was tugged from her socket and saying it was a gift from them as they hennaed her name in Arabic up her arm. Ben again was offered the scorpion but almost ran away in protest. Afterwards yet again they demanded money and we said we thought it was free as it was a gift and we walked away.

Being at the hostel for a week we got to know the staff pretty well. We frequently shared our food with them and they loved the fresh melons we kept buying, one of their friends shared his red wine with us one evening which was a real treat. The wine gave us an idea for a wine and cheese night, which ended up to be just Brie in Flat breads and olives from the market for lunch one day; it was so really scrummy and the Brie was quite expensive but worth every penny. As we got to know the staff we thought we could trust them all until the moody breakfast lady asked to borrow our sun cream. We thought this was a little odd, but being English and naive we lent it to her. Rather than putting some on her face there and then, she took the bottle away with her and we heard in the distance of what sounded like the women transferring our sun cream into another bottle. Kat went of into the female toilets to investigate, but didn’t see anything as the moody cow went from the toilets to the reception. Ben got frustrated and went to the reception to ask for the sun cream back and catching her in the act with sun cream all over her hands and clothes, the woman got angry and held the sun cream to her chest in which Ben just snatched it back from her saying NO! loudly.

After the sun cream instant Ben stopped saying thank you to her for breakfast and her moody attitude didn’t alter, so we weren’t expecting an apology from her. We all thought her attitude was quite humorous in the end, especially when Kat, Oli and Fabien got their own back and helped themselves to extra coffee one morning which they had to deny like naughty children when she questioned them about entering her kitchen. She really wasn’t happy as it meant she had to make more coffee for some of the other guests who arrived later.

The other site-seeing thing we did in Rabat was walk to Tour Hassan that is a huge Kasbah where next to it lays the ruin of the second largest mosque in the Islamic world. The mosque was originally commissioned by the founder of Rabat, Abou Youssef Yaacoub el-Mansour, at the end of the 12th Century and had died 4 years after the building had begun and when the work was stopped it gradually fell into ruin, which was accelerated by a major earthquake in 1755.
Next to the ruined Mosque stands the Mausoleum of Mohammed V. where we wondered round trying to escape out of the sun whilst taking lots of the pictures of the Tour building.


Oli had heard that Morocco were playing Togo in a football match at the Rabat stadium which wasn't far away and tickets were bound to be cheap so we went along for the outing with him and Fabien. On arrival at the grounds there seemed to be a lot of army and police personnel who all mentioned to us to be extra careful with our bags and there were a lot of pickpockets. Due to Oli’s good, but broken French, he had managed to get the times mixed up and we had arrived 4 hours early. The tickets cost 30Dirhams (3Pounds), we started to get a bit peckish and Oli, along with Hamed (a Moroccan man from Casablanca who we met outside the stadiums grounds, and thought Ben looked like Brad Pitt which gave us all a laugh), went to a shop nearby to get supplies.
Hamed was a kind man and helped us a lot as it appeared he is a regular at the big football matches and he showed us the best and safest places to sit (up high and in the shade wherever possible). At this point just before the match started Emma had called us and Ben got to speak with Heather who told us that she had been in the local newspaper; Ben couldn’t hear very well because the boys were all cheering and shouting in the background in excitement and wanting to sound like the hooligans they are.
The match and atmosphere reminded Kat of the time when her and her sister (Georgina) took their dad to see a match one Father’s Day years ago to see Tottenham Hotspur play a friendly with Reading… Hamed sat with us and he was very passionate about his team, which was funny to watch when there was a near goal because he jumped up out of his seat screaming as if he'd sat on hot coals.
Fabien was cheering for the underdogs, Togo, and we stuck with Morocco (for they were the better players and we had to be loyal to the country we resided in).

After the football which ended in 0-0, Oli and Fabien went to an African music concert that same night which was on for 3days over the weekend, whilst we were pretty tired after the long day and shared a taxi back to the centre of Rabat with Hamed.

There were two music concerts on that weekend and we managed to get to both of them. The first was on the coast and was a French festival to celebrate the first day of summer and had a selection of local big bands, our favourite being a hip hop group called Fez City Clan
where one of the main rappers was a 13 year old boy - amazing. Whilst they were playing a group of guys next to us started to body pop and break dance to the music, which was really good and reminded of us of some of the nights out in Bristol. We have a few videos but have no idea if we can post them on here, we might try and put them on Facebook in the meantime.

The second concert was a variety of African music that ranged from acoustic guitars to loud yelping. We ate toasted corn on the cobs and homemade crisps that were sooo salty. Unfortunately we didn't stay that long at this one as we both had delicate stomachs and
we didn't enjoy some of the music as much as we had on the other night, however it was very different and on one of the performances, the dancing was crazy.
The women were going nuts on stage, scantily clad and thrusting parts of their body all over the shop. It gave us the impression that the women in Africa are much more sexually liberated then the ones we saw in Morocco, which was quite refreshing really,

From the moment we became friends with Fabien, he quickly became a legend in the boy's eyes as the 42yr old man seemed to have a girl in every port so to speak. He was visiting one of his girlfriends, Sana who lives in Sale, whilst he was in Morocco. She's from a traditional Muslim family so her relationship with him was a secret. It was lovely to get to know her in the little time we spent with her as she seemed so friendly and loved Fabien to pieces. One night the 4 of us went out for a very rare beer and stumbled through a broken French and English conversation which was good fun. It is illegal to drink in public outside an establishment here so we were sat amongst the prostitutes, dodgy police officers and other punters. It was because of this, photos inside the place were strictly a no no. We drank 2 types of beer, we can't remember the first it was that good but the second was called 'special' which was 5.5%, cost 15d a bottle and what everyone in the bar was drinking. We were a little merry after the 2 rounds and had to go back to the hostel that night and cook for 8 people. Oli’s friend Matt arrived that day for the festival in Essouara along with 2 new guys who they got speaking to, Kory the Canadian and Eddie the American who had grown up in Kenya. Both were traveling through to Senegal and like ourselves needed to get the Mauritania visa from Rabat.

Getting our first visas was like taking an exam that you hadn’t revised for. We didn’t complete the form fully because it was all in French and our French is pretty bad; Oli helped us a little but we didn’t want to lean on him too much as we saw he was struggling as well. We paid 680d for the two and had to wait till the following day to find out the result, worried that we would be rejected and wondered if that was the case would we get our money back… Luckily we passed first time and got the 30day transit visa for Mauritania.

Whilst in Rabat we also went to get a Nigerian visa, but after walking an hour there the receptionist said they only issue visas for Moroccan residents. On the way back we stopped at an authentic Italian restaurant which to Ben’s surprise sold Calzone that he regretted a little later after he wolfed it all down. We had olives and bread to start which meant the main was a little struggle even though Ben ate all of his and some of Kat’s; we took 3 slices with us and being all pizzed out gave them some homeless men sat in the shade near the Medina.

On the last day in Rabat we went to a huge beach near Sale in the early morning that Fabien had found earlier in the week; it was about 45mins away on the bus so Oli, Fabien, Kory, Matt and ourselves boarded the bus and headed to the coast where Sana would meet us. On the bus we got chatting to a Moroccan who was a Nuclear scientist at the Rabat research facility and was so passionate about his work, he got brochures out and started explaining to us about the machinery he works with and the intricate details of his profession. He offered to show us around his work but we had to decline as we wouldn’t be in the area much longer. We imagine it would have been interesting, but it was way over our heads.

We had to walk a fair way to the beach which was busy and full of people asking us if we wanted to buy things, we were asked 8 times to see if we wanted parasols in the 100yards walk from the start of the beach to the sea! Fabien had mentioned it was a swimming beach, but the sea had a really strong undercurrent and had waves you could easily surf on (if we could surf). We did little sun bathing as it was hot and took it in turns to look after the bags whilst we swam.

It was there where we said our goodbyes to Fabien and Sana before returning to the Mauritanian embassy to collect our visas and then said goodbye to Oli, Kory and Matt once we had exchanged contact addresses etc. The two of us returned to the hostel to collect bags and with a little help from the woman in charge, we got on the right bus towards the gare routerier for our onward travel to Marrakech.


permalink written by  Kat and Ben on June 18, 2009 from Rabat, Morocco
from the travel blog: Kat & Ben's World Adventure
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The Medina of all Medinas

Fes, Morocco


A seven and a half hour bus ride without air-conditioning or windows that opened, we finally made it to Fez. Dropped off at the old bus station just outside the medina, we began walking with our 20kg rucksacks through the small uneven streets. It just so happened to start raining the second we were in fez and it was so heavy at this point, we were soaked through to the bone and Ben’s farmer hat looked a little worse for wear.
our rucksacks, pale skin and Ben’s “look at me” hat were a dead giveaway that we were tourists and needed a place to stay. We might as well of had a neon sign above our heads saying “Cash Cows”, so we were jumped upon and couldn’t shake two of them off as we were shown into a Riad (house hotel) that wanted 300dh a night. We slyly asked the Moroccan chamber-maid who had an American English-speaking accent where we could stay for less than 200dh a night. He kindly said there’s a hostel in the new part of town and we’d need to get a petit taxi. Getting directions that its near McDonalds (that sells prawn burgers), we left the riad only to be led down some alley by one of the faux guides. Realizing quite suddenly it was a dead-end and he was knocking on someone’s front door, we swiftly and firmly said “no thanks” and spun around. It was a bit dodgy and a few steps behind us there was another Moroccan who also turned at the same time we did so we quickly made an exit from the busy medina, jumped into a petit taxi and said “to McDonalds si vous plat” feeling like a couple of chavs abroad.
Getting to the new town, we went for a wander and after mistaking a hospital for a hotel, Kat amazing found the Auberge de Jeune (youth hostel). It was 7.30pm by this time and we were wet, hungry, tired and felt grimy from the long journey. A private twin bed (shared bathroom) cost us 130dh and it included breakfast!!!
We also discovered that there were several randy tortoises in the large garden/courtyard area – very nice. The guy at reception seemed to be friendly and told us the rules of the place (doors locked at 3 till 6pm and 10pm to 8am). He also mentioned about the medina being very dangerous, easy to get lost in and has a load of pickpockets etc. He said that if we were approached to say that we’ve been in Fes for 10 days and that it was our 6th time to the medina. We had explained that we had been in Tangier and loved the medina there but his reply was that it is completely different and it’s a lot bigger. Because of this, he suggested that we hired an official guide from the tourist office which only cost 120dh and he could book it for us. Not bad we thought so we booked it for 11am the following day. Waking up to cold showers, pan aux chocolats, tea and coffee, we were ready to face the medina for the second time; packing our hats and loaded with our English speaking Moroccan tour guide we headed to the south of the medina.
The guide happened to be the same one two of the other hostel’s guests had the day before and had said how helpful and informative he was. Having to unexpectedly pay for the taxis there and back at roughly 12dhs a pop, we needed a cash point that took Kat’s card (Natwest are rubbish out here). On entering the medina from the south one of the first things we were presented with was the butchery and fish mongers section (unfortunately for Kat) outside one of the stalls was a camels head hanging from a butchers hook. Informing the guide that Kat’s a veggie, he said he guessed she wouldn’t want to see the shark meat at the adjacent stall. The guide led us through the maze and right into the different Souks (the souks are where all of the trades and crafts are handmade that make up the different sections of the medina). On route through the heart of the medina and heading to the north, we saw and stopped at several places including silver smiths
, the cotton weavers (where we found out you can get vegan silk from cactuses), tin
and blacksmiths
, coppersmiths
, bakeries where the local bread (hobz) is cooked and the guide explained how the Moroccan women take their dough there to be baked as its cheaper and in return they make more dough as payment for it. Other things we saw were the wood workers, apothecary,
rug and clothes makers who man-handled us to try on turbans,
the impressive stairs at the local library
and we also got to go into a house and out onto the terrace to get a panoramic view of the media which was impressive (although there were surprisingly a lot of satellite dishes).

One of the most memorable parts was seeing the infamous Fes tannery that hasn’t changed the way its worked for over 200 years.
It was one of the grown-up sons who told us about the history of the tannery and how it functions, saying that a piece of leather is ‘stripped’ in lime, then put into a natural dye for 7 days and is turned and massaged for about 3 hours each day.
The dyes used are: red (poppies), blue (indigo and the colour of Fes), orange (henna), green (mint and the colour of royalty), yellow (saffron and signifies wealth so a lot of men wear yellow leather shoes
) and we can’t remember the rest. It’s a grueling process and it’s quite shocking how much work is involved. The workers get 10dh per piece and can produce 10 in a day so they earn about 10euros a day. The man explained that they only use goat, sheep and cow leather in this tannery, but camel leather is often used in other tanneries but gives a really stiff leather. Kat almost died when she thought her bag could have been made of camel but the guy said it was goat which didn’t make it a great deal better. It was amusing to see the
American tourists on another balcony clutching their video cameras with one hand and a handful of mint with the other, as they were holding it to their noses to avoid the strong smell of animal hide and a stronger vision of the hard labour that went with it.
After a great 3 hours walk around in the 1000 acre medina with its 83000 stalls, 12000 streets and over 300 mosques, we had seen a lot and learnt many things including what ‘Balak!’ meant which is ‘move’ in Arabic (you hear it a lot) and we found out that there is no VAT inside the walls of the medina. Drawing to an end of the tour our guide turned from being mr nice guy to mr I want your money because you haven’t bought anything today and demanded 150dh rather than the previously agreed 120dh at the hostel. We were going to tip him before all this happened, but being shafted once Ben wasn’t going to let it happen again as he argued the price until the guide just took the money and left with no goodbye. Bit of a shit ending to a really good day but it did get better when we went back to the hostel and met a really lovely Argentinean woman called Natalia. She seemed a little stressed and explain her day which sounded really awful – from landing at the airport and being questioned on Swine flu; being stuck on a local bus for ages; getting lost trying to find the hostel; being followed by a pervert; finally arriving at the hostel for it to be locked and then coming back an hour early as she hadn’t changed the time on her watch, and finally checking in discovered she had booked a room for 4 people and wasn’t allowed to change it so had to pay for all 4 beds. She really had a day of it. When she was going through all of this we couldn’t help but laugh at it because it was so tragically comical, which was her in a nutshell. Another girl joined us called Emma who was from Cambridge and studying to be a vet in Liverpool, so we had a really good chat and Kat loved having the female company for a change. As the evening drew on, the receptionist left a bit early leaving the caretaker in charge who didn’t speak English. Shortly after at 9.45pm and as luck would have it there was a knock on the locked doors. A kiwi and a Korean guy were both stood on the doorstep and were being refused entry by the caretaker. The kiwi got agitated because he had already checked-in in the morning and all of his stuff was in his room and he had handed his key into reception (which was locked). Nobody spoke French let alone Arabic to explain this so the receptionist guy had to come back and sort it all out. In the meantime the Korean guy who didn’t speak French, Arabic, Spanish or English had the door slammed in his face by the caretaker. None of us didn’t really know what to do and were shocked that even the apparently friendly receptionist wouldn’t let the guy in saying that it was full (despite Natalia saying she had 3 spare beds). It’s a shame how the people can turn quite quickly on others out here, something which we’re beginning to learn.
In the morning we decided to explore the Jewish quarter of the Medina by our self, it was only a short walk away and we passed the palace of Mohammed V.
By this point we were all medina’d out and decided to chill for the afternoon at a local café in a park.
The following day we decided to say our goodbyes to our new friends with lots of lovely invites to their home countries (we will hopefully see you soon Natalia in Buenos Aires) and headed towards the bus station.


permalink written by  Kat and Ben on June 15, 2009 from Fes, Morocco
from the travel blog: Kat & Ben's World Adventure
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Welcome to Maroc

Tanger, Morocco


We stepped off the boat and were hustled in a matter of seconds. A taxi driver and an unofficial tour guide managed to “help” us get some money changed and after bundling us and bags into the car, set off for a 3minute journey (supposedly 5km walk) to a ‘cheap’ hotel. The funny thing about this was that as typical westerners, we got into the car and immediately went to put our seat belts on. “You’re in Morocco now! You don’t need to bother with that” the driver said turning round to us and not paying any attention of the people he was just about to run over. So we were stung by both 70dirhams (7euros) for the taxi which should have been 4dhs (40cents) and the guide which was to just get rid of him (and because we didn’t have anything smaller) 100dhs (10euros), lets just say we were very careful not to make the same mistakes again.
We found our feet here and got a few Arabic words under our belts, not to mention stumbling through with some French.
Our first night we stayed in the Medina, noisy and a little more than we wanted to pay for a room with a shower and no toilet so we moved out and into a hostel the next day to for 150dhs a night.
Although it was up about 10 flights of stairs and the hostel itself was located on a steep hill, we had a great view
and breeze from our large room with ensuite. The people were quite nice too and let us cook one night so we didn’t spend too much money. More money for spending as Kat bought a traditional Moroccan leather bag to replace her blue plastic one that had fallen apart 2years ago but was still “usable”. Karma came though the next day when she almost took her eye out with it somehow, but it was to be expected apparently as its leather.
The only real touristy thing we did was to go to the museè du Kasbah which we sort of stumbled across in the end, despite some little brat saying we were going the wrong way.

A wee word of warning for anyone who hasn’t been to Morocco yet, don’t ever believe it when someone says “that way is closed, you’re going the wrong way”, especially if you are visiting a point of interest. They’re lying! It’s not like us to be judgmental, it’s just unfortunate that we’ve been stupid enough to believe it several times and then having to put up with them trying to be your ‘unofficial tour guide’. Just go your own way. We found some great streets doing just that and although we got lost a few times, we enjoyed exploring somewhere new.

Getting back to the Kasbah, it was grand but not earth shatteringly amazing. We’re biased because we couldn’t exactly grasp the French, Spanish and Arabic writing explain the history of Tangier, but we got the gist. Something amazing did happen outside though… after days of trying to find an English guide book of morocco with no success whatsoever, we found one. Dated back to 1998, with such a faded front cover it’s a bit of a joke, the guy wanted 100dh for it so using our rusty haggling skills we got it for 80dh – rip off but it’s something.
At least now we had a little more of a clue as to where we were heading and some information about the town as a rough guide.



permalink written by  Kat and Ben on June 11, 2009 from Tanger, Morocco
from the travel blog: Kat & Ben's World Adventure
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Last stop in Europe

Algeciras, Spain


After a 4hour bus ride we arrived in Algeciras, where we planned to get a cheap ferry crossing over to Tangier. The hotel we stayed in was pretty basic and Kat even shared her bed with a cockroach which she discovered in the morning when it tried hitching a lift on her rucksack.
We went out for our last beer that night, where we met an old guy who thought women drinking beer on the streets was unusual and even weirder that Ben was drinking pints of Spanish beer and not a coffee. At least that’s what we think he was saying. A short walk away from the hotel was the ferry port and we had the choice of 32Euros for a 2hour crossing or 37Euros for half hour crossing, obviously Ben taking his farther for the sake of spending 8Euro more we decided to take the longer one as we are in no rush to get around the world.
The ferry was unfortunately delayed an hour and a half so we both got a little burnt sat on the deck waiting for the car's to board.


permalink written by  Kat and Ben on June 10, 2009 from Algeciras, Spain
from the travel blog: Kat & Ben's World Adventure
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