Hey all!
Right now I'm sharing a room with a lovely American girl so you will forgive the slightly American accent... lolz Can I please tell you how much I LOVE Morocco? It's such a beautiful country.
Today we visited the Fez medina, which went something like this (imagination ready?)
Close your eyes and pretend that you are walking down a crooked, cobbled walkway. If you stretch out your hands you can touch the walls on either side, which are faun coloured and rough. If you look up you can see ornate windows covered in curling wrought iron. You walk past a shop selling camel meat (tasty)... you can tell it sells camel 'cos there is a camel head smiling at you... it's very dead.... you make a quick dash past it with eyes half shut and you hear the cry "balek, balek!" (watch out!) and you press yourself against the wall to avoid the mule carrying crates of coca cola. You start to breathe again as you pass a vendor selling baskets of rose blossoms for rosewater. There is a call to prayer... people have headed toward the local mosque and you watch through a gap in the door as men touch foreheads to their prayer mats... a man bumps you, he's selling water... you can tell 'cos he's wearing a pointed hat and riotously coloured clothes, decorated with gold disks... you walk past a tiled fountain where the locals are casually bathing faces and hands.... a woman smiles at you as she absent mindedly strokes the head of her sleepy, dark-eyed baby, curled snugly in brilliant red scarf on her shoulder.
I love Morocco!
Love to all,
D
PS sorry no photos again, this camera doesn't seem to work on this PC! x x
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Bonjour Casablanca!
Hello all
I think this computer might curl up its toes and die if I tried to plug in my camera, so excusez moi, mes amis, pas de photos! I am typing this on a French keyboard this time, which gives me the urge to scream... in French, bien sur! Also it is much easier to use the ! rather than the full stop so there will be even more !s than usual in this post, I suspect! Right, commence!
So first, how was Tacky Turkish Night? Great, actually! Tacky as advertised but a whole lot of fun: dancing, dervishes, belly dancing, raki... who could ask for more! set in a fake cave under a disco ball of all things (advertised as traditional... yeah right) So it was a great night and somehow an oddly appropriate ending to a trip that really was so much fun. I miss my group immensely.... hi guys!!! So far this group seems lovely too but I never believe that they could be as nice as the previous group, you meet such great people on Intrepid trips.
After Tacky Turkish Night there were many hours of transportation. Try this yourself, mes enfants: spend five hours on a local bus, overnight train where you get intermittently hot then cold depending on who was currently winning the window open v window shut game to arrive at 8am with very little sleep, run around a new city for 6 or so hours, then take two flights to a new city and see how it is that YOU feel! I have never, never been so tired! The man who transferred us tried to sell me a tour when I arrived and I was so out of it that I actuellement laughed in his face; mind you it was kind of funny if you think about it, trying to flog 45 Euro tours at 1 am!!!!
So Casablaca it is. To me, after Egypt etc it all seems très French and very civilised, there is a little bit of man hassle but not to the extent of Cairo, by any means. An amazing, obscenely large mosque, very modern women, great mint tea! I had tagine for dinner and I suspect that is the first of many... not that I am complaining! I have had many hours of quality sleep, too, which was very needed!!!!!!
Anyway I must go, sorry, more to come later.
Much love
D x x
I think this computer might curl up its toes and die if I tried to plug in my camera, so excusez moi, mes amis, pas de photos! I am typing this on a French keyboard this time, which gives me the urge to scream... in French, bien sur! Also it is much easier to use the ! rather than the full stop so there will be even more !s than usual in this post, I suspect! Right, commence!
So first, how was Tacky Turkish Night? Great, actually! Tacky as advertised but a whole lot of fun: dancing, dervishes, belly dancing, raki... who could ask for more! set in a fake cave under a disco ball of all things (advertised as traditional... yeah right) So it was a great night and somehow an oddly appropriate ending to a trip that really was so much fun. I miss my group immensely.... hi guys!!! So far this group seems lovely too but I never believe that they could be as nice as the previous group, you meet such great people on Intrepid trips.
After Tacky Turkish Night there were many hours of transportation. Try this yourself, mes enfants: spend five hours on a local bus, overnight train where you get intermittently hot then cold depending on who was currently winning the window open v window shut game to arrive at 8am with very little sleep, run around a new city for 6 or so hours, then take two flights to a new city and see how it is that YOU feel! I have never, never been so tired! The man who transferred us tried to sell me a tour when I arrived and I was so out of it that I actuellement laughed in his face; mind you it was kind of funny if you think about it, trying to flog 45 Euro tours at 1 am!!!!
So Casablaca it is. To me, after Egypt etc it all seems très French and very civilised, there is a little bit of man hassle but not to the extent of Cairo, by any means. An amazing, obscenely large mosque, very modern women, great mint tea! I had tagine for dinner and I suspect that is the first of many... not that I am complaining! I have had many hours of quality sleep, too, which was very needed!!!!!!
Anyway I must go, sorry, more to come later.
Much love
D x x
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Turkey... and no rugs!
Hi again
I am much less grumpy today, so I thought I would post again in apology for last time! But in my defence, you have no idea how frustrating it is to have the keyboard letters in the wrong place. Call me a creature of habit, but I like my I to be where the I is supposed to be, not somewhere off near the enter key!!!
I am writing this in Goreme, Turkey, in a small hotel that looks like a traditional house. The owner reminds us a little bit of Manuel from Fawlty Towers... if you can imagine what he would be like freed of Basil Fawlty! All over the place! But he just gave us a flower each and an apple tea, bless. Argh, he's looking over my shoulder! Loves my photos, which have taken me hours to upload, feel lucky, people!!!
Turkey is incredibly different from Syria. It's almost like magic... you cross the border and everything changes. It's greener for starters and you actually see women with uncovered hair (weird!)
We've been through a couple of places but here is my fave, so I'll tell you about Goreme.
It's in an area known as Capadoccia. You might have heard of the fairy chimneys... that's what's in the photo at the top. They are formed from volcanic ash then eroded by water and time into what you see. Ancients carved them into homes, stables, churches... it's completely incredible. Somehow, though, the Smurf theme song keeps going through my head!
We've done some lovely walks and it's been great to get into greenery again afer the desert. So beautiful, too, wildflowers and those amazing chimneys, underground cities and temples. I've crawled through caves and hopped over rocks.
Outside nature there have been some other temptations, namely pottery (the photo of me at the top was taken in a pottery factory, using a kick wheel to throw a pot, sort of!) Fortunately all the pottery was very expensive and I was easily able to resist. Perhaps in Istanbul! Also today we went to a rug place where we were entranced by beautiful carpets. No I don't NEED one, but I WANTED one! Still, I resisted (thanks Mum for the blunt and timely text message!!! no I cannot afford one, you are SO right!) but I am a little tiny bit sad at the loss of such a lovely thing.
Anyway, I should really go as we are off to what our excellent leader Nina affecionately calls Tacky Turkish Night, complete with dancing and buffet.
Love to all,
D x x
Thursday, May 14, 2009
from Jordan via Syria to Turkey.... no ı am not dead!
Well hi all! Sorry it has been so long since I last wrote. And you will need to excuse the fact that this wıll again be short and fılled wıth many mıstakes as a) it ıs late b) i am tıred c) i have a cold and am therefore a little bıt self-pityıng and d) thıs Turkish keyboard ıs Killıng Me - the letters are ın the wrong places! please no one else ask me for pıctures, I know that they are lovely thıngs but they take forever to load, forget fancy wıreless connectıons at home, cable internet and the lıke, it ıs more than tedıous ın some places!
and i have the best excuse ever for not wrıtıng for a while, as blogspot ıs actually censored ın Syrıa, along wıth facebook! can you belıeve ıt!!!!
so i can't belıeve how far i've come. not to mentıon how long ıt just took me to find an apostrophe on this keyboard! last i wrote i had just conquered a mountaın and sınce then i have done two border crossıngs and so many thıngs ıt hurts my head to thınk of them!
so some hıghlıghts for you...
Wadi Rum.... desert! another nıght under the stars! and thıs tıme (sorry Egypt group) i caved ın to the majestıc settıng, shisha pipe (just tobacco Mum and don't worry i don't plan to make a habıt of ıt believe me) and peer pressure and sung for our Bedouin hosts and my tour group, poor people. but amazıngly, ıt raıned! ın the desert! around 15 mm per year and most of ıt that nıght! maybe i can sing the rain ın, should try ıt back home!!! but wadı rum is ıncredıble. rocks risıng out of the sand lıke Ayers rock but so very dıfferent...
Petra! i have alway wanted to see Petra and ıt didn't dısappoınt. more hikıng up stone stairs but worth every mınute! the temples at Petra have been chiselled out of the clıff faces, thousands of years ago, then buried ın sand. Unbelıeveable stuff!
Dead sea floating! we covered ourselves ın mud and floated, weıghtless, ın the rıdiculously salty water...
Ruıns at Jerash wıth the most wonderful guıde... you sometımes need someone who can brıng ruins to lıfe....
Jordanıan/Syrıan border crossıng, whıch warrants a post on ıts own really! We spent several hours at the border from Jordan becuase the Jordanians suspected that one of our group (lovely innocent Aussıe gal) was a wanted crıminal! gotta love ıt when the Australian embassy only has voicemail servıce and one of your group ıs stuck in an interrogatıon room! mind you it was all very gently done. after the fırst half hour or so the offıcer seemed to thınk ıt was all a mere formality and was offerıng us all tea and tıssues. a great story but ın realıty i have to admıt it wasn't really all that stressful lolz!!! at least not too bad. and then gettıng ınto Syrıa was a comparatıve breeze!
Syrıa! Damascus! I love Damascus!!! ı want to LIVE ın Damascus! why? hard to explain. wındıng alleys, lovely people, juxtaposıtıon of old and new, a certaın atmosphere... more later....
Palmyra... back to the desert... an Oasıs next to the most stunnıng ruıns i suspect ı wıll ever see....
Crac des Chevalıers... have we left Syrıa??? seems more lıke Ireland! vıews of the castle (crac)from our hotel wındow and the most ınsanely huge dınner ( ı have put on all the weıght ı lost durıng thıs partıcular trıp!!=(
Aleppo... the best hotel rıght ın the heart of the Souq... meetıng the locals wıth a fantastıc guıde....
Then onto Turkey!
Tıme to edıt at least some of the speelıng mıstoooks out of thıs then go to bed.
Love to all,
D x x x
and i have the best excuse ever for not wrıtıng for a while, as blogspot ıs actually censored ın Syrıa, along wıth facebook! can you belıeve ıt!!!!
so i can't belıeve how far i've come. not to mentıon how long ıt just took me to find an apostrophe on this keyboard! last i wrote i had just conquered a mountaın and sınce then i have done two border crossıngs and so many thıngs ıt hurts my head to thınk of them!
so some hıghlıghts for you...
Wadi Rum.... desert! another nıght under the stars! and thıs tıme (sorry Egypt group) i caved ın to the majestıc settıng, shisha pipe (just tobacco Mum and don't worry i don't plan to make a habıt of ıt believe me) and peer pressure and sung for our Bedouin hosts and my tour group, poor people. but amazıngly, ıt raıned! ın the desert! around 15 mm per year and most of ıt that nıght! maybe i can sing the rain ın, should try ıt back home!!! but wadı rum is ıncredıble. rocks risıng out of the sand lıke Ayers rock but so very dıfferent...
Petra! i have alway wanted to see Petra and ıt didn't dısappoınt. more hikıng up stone stairs but worth every mınute! the temples at Petra have been chiselled out of the clıff faces, thousands of years ago, then buried ın sand. Unbelıeveable stuff!
Dead sea floating! we covered ourselves ın mud and floated, weıghtless, ın the rıdiculously salty water...
Ruıns at Jerash wıth the most wonderful guıde... you sometımes need someone who can brıng ruins to lıfe....
Jordanıan/Syrıan border crossıng, whıch warrants a post on ıts own really! We spent several hours at the border from Jordan becuase the Jordanians suspected that one of our group (lovely innocent Aussıe gal) was a wanted crıminal! gotta love ıt when the Australian embassy only has voicemail servıce and one of your group ıs stuck in an interrogatıon room! mind you it was all very gently done. after the fırst half hour or so the offıcer seemed to thınk ıt was all a mere formality and was offerıng us all tea and tıssues. a great story but ın realıty i have to admıt it wasn't really all that stressful lolz!!! at least not too bad. and then gettıng ınto Syrıa was a comparatıve breeze!
Syrıa! Damascus! I love Damascus!!! ı want to LIVE ın Damascus! why? hard to explain. wındıng alleys, lovely people, juxtaposıtıon of old and new, a certaın atmosphere... more later....
Palmyra... back to the desert... an Oasıs next to the most stunnıng ruıns i suspect ı wıll ever see....
Crac des Chevalıers... have we left Syrıa??? seems more lıke Ireland! vıews of the castle (crac)from our hotel wındow and the most ınsanely huge dınner ( ı have put on all the weıght ı lost durıng thıs partıcular trıp!!=(
Aleppo... the best hotel rıght ın the heart of the Souq... meetıng the locals wıth a fantastıc guıde....
Then onto Turkey!
Tıme to edıt at least some of the speelıng mıstoooks out of thıs then go to bed.
Love to all,
D x x x
Saturday, May 2, 2009
I did it! Mt SInai to Aqaba
Well hi all
this is going to be the shortest blog post ever and will likely contain a number of spelling mistakes etc. but given that I have about 15 minutes I am sure you will forgive!
So we left grotty Cairo and all of those horny men, gee damn! lolz It is very weird to be on the streets here and not be hissed at or undressed by the eyes of dozens of men. Occasionally there is the odd "hello", but it is SUCH a relief! Anyway, getting sidetracked....
Once we left Cairo we made our way by bus to Mount Sinai - think Moses, burning bush, la da. As many of you will already know, it was the one thing I was massively stressed about, given that the mountain contains... wait for it.... 3750 steps!! wooooooooo. I was contemplating taking a camel up, however let me tell you that I MADE IT! Yay me! I even went the hard way (steps rather than the sloping camel path), mainly ços it was shorter, but also cos my leg does not enjoy inclines upwards. And I am perfectly fine, though at one stage I thought I was going to DIE of exhaustion.
The steps are known as the Steps of Repentence. Here is what i repented on my way up:
*The days that I skipped working out with Murray (sorry Murray)
*Chocolate Borios (that is what they make here, surprisingly similar to Orios)
*Chips
*All the fried food I have ever consumed
*Sitting on my bum in all of those cities where I opted to sit and have coffee rather than walking/hiking around, hrll i should have jogged!
And the fact that almost all of the rest of my group were infinitely fitter than me! They were very polite about it, but I suspect I was the one holding ém back, and the guide did offer to carry my daypack (which I accepted, just goes to show how completely buggered I was!)
So that was that and I am glad that I did it! I HAVE CONQUERED A MOUNTAIN!
We left there and went to Paradise, otherwise known as Sawa Beach Camp on the Red Sea. SOOOOOOOO lovely, beach huts, blue sea, snorkelling, great food, I was in Heaven. Could have done a couple more nights.... and then maybe a couple more..... mmmm napping....
We then took the ferry across to Aqaba. So now we are in a whole new country, Jordan! It seems very clean, modern and expensive compared to Egypt, has sort of a Gold Coast feel to it here, but that just could be in comparison.
Anyway, must go!
Love to all
D x x x
this is going to be the shortest blog post ever and will likely contain a number of spelling mistakes etc. but given that I have about 15 minutes I am sure you will forgive!
So we left grotty Cairo and all of those horny men, gee damn! lolz It is very weird to be on the streets here and not be hissed at or undressed by the eyes of dozens of men. Occasionally there is the odd "hello", but it is SUCH a relief! Anyway, getting sidetracked....
Once we left Cairo we made our way by bus to Mount Sinai - think Moses, burning bush, la da. As many of you will already know, it was the one thing I was massively stressed about, given that the mountain contains... wait for it.... 3750 steps!! wooooooooo. I was contemplating taking a camel up, however let me tell you that I MADE IT! Yay me! I even went the hard way (steps rather than the sloping camel path), mainly ços it was shorter, but also cos my leg does not enjoy inclines upwards. And I am perfectly fine, though at one stage I thought I was going to DIE of exhaustion.
The steps are known as the Steps of Repentence. Here is what i repented on my way up:
*The days that I skipped working out with Murray (sorry Murray)
*Chocolate Borios (that is what they make here, surprisingly similar to Orios)
*Chips
*All the fried food I have ever consumed
*Sitting on my bum in all of those cities where I opted to sit and have coffee rather than walking/hiking around, hrll i should have jogged!
And the fact that almost all of the rest of my group were infinitely fitter than me! They were very polite about it, but I suspect I was the one holding ém back, and the guide did offer to carry my daypack (which I accepted, just goes to show how completely buggered I was!)
So that was that and I am glad that I did it! I HAVE CONQUERED A MOUNTAIN!
We left there and went to Paradise, otherwise known as Sawa Beach Camp on the Red Sea. SOOOOOOOO lovely, beach huts, blue sea, snorkelling, great food, I was in Heaven. Could have done a couple more nights.... and then maybe a couple more..... mmmm napping....
We then took the ferry across to Aqaba. So now we are in a whole new country, Jordan! It seems very clean, modern and expensive compared to Egypt, has sort of a Gold Coast feel to it here, but that just could be in comparison.
Anyway, must go!
Love to all
D x x x
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