MOROCCO, Day 4
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$LAYYYTER
todays bird
we're not kids anymore.

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MOROCCO, Day 4
MOROCCO, Day 3
We woke up at six in the morning to climb to the top of the dunes to watch the Sahara sunrise. As we climbed up the dunes our sneakers filled with sand, but the view of the sun rising above the endless sea of golden Sahara sand was worth it. After the sun rose, we headed back down to our camp and got back on our camels to head back to the city. At Zagora we met up with our driver again, and we began our 400km journey back to Marrakech. On the way to Marrakech, we stopped again at Ouarzazate, where we were invited into a local Berber nomad’s store. At the store our hosts welcomed us with a tea ceremony which was very similar in spirit to a Japanese tea ceremony. After being served sweet mint tea, our host showed us around his collection and shared with us his culture of nomadic Moroccan people. At the end of our visit our host showed us a large room full of traditional Moroccan carpets, each one hand made by the local Berbers and Touaregs. When bargaining for a good deal on one of the carpets, my host told me “I understand that you are student, and that you want good deal. If we cannot arrive at a deal, it’s no problem, lā mushkilah. You can keep your money, and I can keep my carpet. So if no deal, it’s no problem, we both walk away with a smile.” These people know how to kill you with kindness…so I bought a carpet. It was probably one of the most expensive non-electronic things I’ve purchased in my life, but the uniqueness, quality and story that the carpet holds is worth the couple hundreds of dollars. For lunch we stopped at a restaurant that was nestled in a valley near the top of the Atlas Mountains. I ordered the Chicken Couscous again with mint tea. Then began our final 200km back to the city of Marrakech. Before boarding the train to our next destination, Fez, we visited Djemaa el Fna, the busy market and square at the heart of this city of 3 million people. Then at 8pm, we headed to Marrakech station for our overnight train ride to Fez…or so we thought. Just like our first day in Morocco, we’re always unlucky when it comes to the trains. We were told (with the help of a translator) that there was only one more train departing for the night, and the closest we could get to Fez tonight (without veering off in the wrong direction) was if we took a train back to Casablanca, then wait at the station till 5am the next day to board another train to Fez. So, with another slight change to our plans, we boarded the last train and went back to Casablanca, where we first began our trip.
MOROCCO, Day 2
Day two of our trip got off to a good and early start. We woke up at 6am and had breakfast at our riad/hostel. At 7 we met with our local guide, Adil, and began our 400km journey towards the Atlas Mountains, Ouarzazate and Zagora. We first stopped at a Berber village on the way up to the High Atlas (the second highest peak in Africa). There we had Berber style omelette, characterized by its strong taste of cilantro and other medicinal herbs mixed with eggs and tomatoes. We also had some picked olives and mint tea. After brunch we drive another hour up to the top of the Atlas Mountains, which is about 3000 meters above sea level.
Leaving the snow capped Atlases behind, we continued east toward Ouarzazate, which means "tranquil city". At Ouarzazate we walked the streets of the old part of the city, and saw the famous Kasbah of Ouarzazate, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We also had lunch at Ouarzazate, and we tried the Couscous Poulet, or Chicken Couscous. This is one of Morocco’s famous staple foods and is cooked by steaming couscous with a variety of vegetables and fruits (in our case, orange raisins, squash, zucchini and other vegetables). Our couscous was accompanied with hot thyme tea. After lunch we continued east towards the Algerian border, to Zagora. It was almost sunset by the time we arrived in Zagora. Tonight we were staying at a traditional Berber nomadic camp ground, so we mounted the camels that were waiting to take us to the desert camp, and rode one hour into the Sahara desert. We arrived at the nomads’ camp just before nightfall. The Berber’s camp was beautiful—it was a collection of over a dozen large tents which surrounded the commons area of the camp. The commons area had a bonfire and Moroccan carpets were spread out to cover the desert sands. In the middle of the camp was a large open tent, where we were immediately welcomed by the nomads’ hospitality, and we were served pastries, nuts, biscuits and mint tea. At the camp we met a German couple and a group of college students from Madrid and other parts of Spain. It was surreal meeting other people from around the world in the middle of the Sahara desert, and it was cool to hear their stories and share ours with them. After our Tagine dinner at the camp, we headed to the bonfire where our nomad hosts played instruments and sang for us, as we played along with the drums that they gave us. After the singing died down, I spoke with Ahmed, one of the nomads, and then we all called it a night. Before going back to the tents for bed, I looked up at the night sky which was full of thousands and thousands of clear stars, a night sky that we rarely see nowadays due to the light pollution that our cities give off. The camp also had showers—thank God there was hot water!
MOROCCO, Day 1
After being in transit for over 22 hours with three flights, my brother and I finally touched down in Casablanca, Morocco at eleven in the morning. Aside from nearly being ripped off by a porter the moment we exited the airport, everything else about Morocco has been friendly so far. At the airport the immigration officer saw that I was born in Japan and greeted me in Japanese, "Konnichiwa! First time in Morocco?" This entire trip is a literal race against time, since we're planning (hopefully) to circle around nine towns and cities during our 6 and a half days here. So, without wasting another minute my brother and I searched tried our best to decipher the French and Arabic signs and found the train station. 45 minutes later we were on the ONCF train bound for Casa Voyageurs station, Casablanca. After arriving at the station, we took a Moroccan "Petit Taxi" (Small Taxi) to the bus station, where we successfully booked our bus tickets for later on in the trip, after negotiating prices through a mixture of English, French and Arabic. From the bus station we walked toward the Old Medina (Old City) of Casablanca, a congested part of central Casablanca full of markets, vendors and beggars. One of the beggars surprised us when we passed by when he shouted out "youkoso, youkoso!" (meaning "welcome, welcome!" in Japanese). Everyone seemed to know we were Japanese or East Asian, which I would have never expected. For lunch we stopped by at Café Ramses, where we had traditional Moroccan chicken and beef Tagine. We also ordered thé à la menthe (Moroccan mint tea) which is famous for its strong mint taste and excessive use of sugar. After lunch we walked another half hour to the Hassan II Mosque, which is one of the largest mosques in the world. The mosque is characterized by its massive minaret, and was built right on Casablanca's shoreline. We then took a petit taxi back to Casa Voyageurs station to board a train to Marrakech, where we will rest for the night. This is when the day got crazy. We arrived at the station at 4:00pm and bought our tickets for the 4:50pm Marrakech-bound train (a four hour train ride). At 4:50, there was no train in sight. We waited and waited, and as the sun set we continued to wait with hundreds of other frustrated passengers for the Marrakech train. The train finally arrived at 6:15pm, and hour and a half late, and when we tried to enter the economy class cabin, all the cabins were packed--all seats and aisles were taken, and every square inch of the floor was taken up by tired and angry passengers. My brother and I ran to the front of the train to the first class cabin, where we paid an extra 60 dirhams (roughly 4 dollars) each on the spot, and we made it on the train. Despite being exhausted from an entire day of travel, waiting nearly two hours on the platform and not getting more than a couple naps since we left Michigan, we were nevertheless glad that we were on our way to Marrakech, and that we would make it to our hotel and meet our tour guide in time. Or so we had hoped. We ended up arriving in Marrakech at around 11pm, 3 hours late, because our train lost power and the entire train just went pitch black. We were stuck for a while just a couple miles north of Marrakech. When we finally met with our guide, he drove us to our hotel, or so we thought. He accidentally brought us to the Riad du Bonheur hostel instead of the Riad Bonheur hostel. So we got back in the car and drive another 15 minutes to Riad Bonheur. Unfortunately, the owner said we were "too late" and he had already canceled our booking and locked up the hostel. In the end, the guide found us a pricier but better hostel, Riad La Lune de Marrakech, and at 1am, after nearly 40 hours of sleepless travel, we could rest our heads.
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zigzagged
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龍虎塔
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