Ten reasons why Morocco makes me frown

1) Greeting Parrots 

Walking down the street in Marrakesh and Fes, we are always greeted with Japanese, mandarin and even Korean. Moroccans are language genius, anyone can say a few words in the tourist foreign language, but the worst part is, they are saying it reflexively but not really making connection nor conversation - more like parrots.





2) Photos with a price 

Shopkeepers and even small children in village will invite you to take pictures, then ask for money. Or in some cases, children will just say 'Hello, give me money!' I was so stressed and even had a nightmare of being surrounded by children asking for money.






3) Voluntary guides all around 

If you ask for direction in the medina of Fes and Marrakesh, your friendly guide will take you there and ask for tips. Sometimes, people just proactively ask where you are going and expect something in return.

4) Human ATM

Moroccans, especially in those touristy cities, have their brilliant way to make tourist, or at least me, feel like a human ATM, such as asking for tips all the time, charging more than locals etc.

5) No go zones

While strolling along the medina in Fes, we encountered many Moroccans, young or old, telling us that the street is closed and no entry. Many a time, they are trying to take us to tannery visit or make our way to their shop or lead us away from their competitor's shop! Just don't trust every words they say!



6) Beware of tour guides 

Beware of desert tour stouts in the souk of Marrakesh. We are cursed in the street  for shopping around to seek information but not joining the trip and pay right away.

7) Be a bargain queen

It is tiring to bargain for everything and anything, from transportation, tours, shopping to eating.

8) The holy call

It gave me a headache to hear 'pray to Allah' announcement five times a day, but you will get used to it and may love the peacefulness of it after a while.

9) To trust or not to trust? This is the question.

It is sad that its difficult to trust anyone we met in Morocco, especially when we start our trip in the touristy Marrakesh, but we managed to meet a few good men. However, it was really tiring to be suspicious all the time.

10) Hello! Where is woman's right?

Women are very dependent on men and they are the only ones in the family who do all the housework. A man who cook and clean at home is quite unheard of. Even when I took picture with a group of girls and women, the wives need to ask their husbands' permission!  Well, the Muslim might say they tried their best to protect women.

Despite all these, I still love Morocco! See more in my next blog.

Adventure to the rock paradise of Morocco: Gorges of Tohra

After leaving the village life of Sidi-Fah, we aimed to the famous Tohra gorges for some hiking. When we had lunch in the town of Tinerhir, we met a guy who claimed to be a musician and invited us to his village. He said there was cheap camping, there was also a production house making fig spirit, there is also a wedding tonight that we can join. We were attracted by his suggestion. Although Douar Ait Boujane is on the opposite side of the valley from the side entering the Tohra gorge, he said his village is more or less the same as the village in Tohra gorge. It is said to be  less touristy. Attracted by less touristic but local experience we followed the musician.

Instead of waiting for two hours for the minibus going to the musician village, we took a collective taxi for the first part of the journey. Then we had to cross the valley to the village. For the first time to see the oasis-like green valley between both sides of deserts, it is a new experience to see how fields are explored in the dry land. However the walk across was long and tough, especially with full packs like ours. It turned out that there was no camping at all and the so-called "musician" took us to homestay of which the price was out of our budget. The production house fig spirit was closed for another two hours. It seems that we fell on the zeal of the incompetent local who knew not much about his village. So we decided to leave and went back to our original plan.

from one side of the valley seeing another, the entrance of Tohra Gorges

 
After all these hurdles, we finally found a place to stay in a hostel before it got dark in the Todra Gorges. It was low season and could negotiate a discount to stay for two nights in a room with shared toilet. We cooked with our own stove to save some cost.







Well, we were introduced to this place by the guidebook, no wonder it got touristic with luxurious hotels. However, the beauty of the rock was not masked by such superficial. We went out immediately after check-in to walk along the comfortable road into the gorge under moonlight. No car, quiet, though a little unnatural to walk on a flat concrete road between two sides of straight cliffs, we enjoyed the serenity. At the same time we looked forward to stepping on the uneven land surface. It is the more natural walking back to nature, as inspired by Hundertwasser, by stepping on uneven ground instead of the concrete road.

The day trip was marvelous. We realized that the rock surface in front of the hostel was for climbing and there were people doing that. Without gear and not wanna take cost for climbing tour, we just looked and hoped that one day we could bring our own gear for the climbs. 




 

Then we walked along the road to the end and there opened huge rock areas and hiking routes. From there we saw some people climbing on higher routes on the tooth-like ridges. We envied them for such a nice climbing trip.

it is all for climbing !!!

Hiking on the dry land was not easy and we got thirst easily. We used up all the water we brought with no refill and had to go back to the hostel with dry throats. Under the blue sky the rock shined with yellow and red. It is a climber paradise.

Do you find the climbers ?

We left the next day with the hope that one day we shall come back and climb.

Finally our first couchsurfing experience in a village in middle Morocco

After being given an ad-hoc host in an unfinished concrete block in outskirt Marrakech and bombarded with trip itinerary, we were hesitant about enthusiastic hosts who accepted our request too quickly and expected us coming sooner than we planned. It may mean another chance of a host using couchsurfing for tourist business. We were glad to meet a real couchsurfer hosting us in a village for two nights.

It is called Sidi-Flah, ten kilometres from Skoura.When we asked for host in Ouarzazate, Lachine invited us to Skoura. Thinking that it was just 30km from Ouarzazate, along the direction to the east and Tineghir, we went. He was very enthusiastic about our coming and texting us about the time for bus. It is hard to reject the enthusiasm. When the bus was full, we paid triple the fare to take shared taxi to Skoura. Then we met him and were told that his village is another 10km further from Skoura. His cousin and him took us in their motorcycle to there. It was an adventure to carry the heavy backpack and the back of the motorcycle and ride along rough terrain. It was mostly rocky dessert; the early evening sky was purple and the rocks were red and purple.

We were greeted by many curious look from the villagers when we arrived, guessed we were the first Asian they saw in the village. It was already dinner time when we arrived. Lachine’s mother made a good targine and we were well-fed. Although we had told him that we would prepare dinner that night as we had some rice, onion and carrot, with eggs we can make a good fried rice, with her good heart and targine we left our cooking for the next night. While eating, he was checking the TV signal for the African cup match in which Moroccan team were playing, but in the village there was no signal, so did our mobile phone, we missed the game. We still had conversations to share. We talked and did not realize that the living room we had dinner and watched TV was also the sleeping space for the mother, who has been waiting if we felt tired and ready to go to bed. She was careful not to tell us that she wanted the room and to sleep early. Lacchine’s father also appeared but by practice the father does not enter at the middle of a dinner in family and he had dinner by himself after praying in mosque. Lacchine told us there would be some work to do and we were eager to help out. We had an early night of sleep and expected a village life the next day.

On the next day we woke up at 7:30am and found that the mother had prepared breakfast for us. There were bread, jam, honey and olive oil. We were so enjoying the natural products, especially the olive oil and the honey, and ignored the French-branded cheese. Expecting some work to do, we went with Lachine to the nearby hillside to see the shepard with the sheep and goats. It was not easy to let the adult sheep off, leave the lamb behind for better feeding, because the latter always wanted to go out with the adults. I had some hard time chasing after the lambs around the hillside and catching them back. We saw how the shepard, who escorted sheep of several families for grass, did his good job: keeping different groups of sheep apart, throwing a stone at the right position to scare a sheep out of boundary back to the group, going gently near a lamb and pick it up without effort (remember I was chasing one around the hill), and feeding the two well-grown sheep for the coming selling while scaring other hungry sheep away. I think of Jesus my Shepard doing similar.

Finally Lachine took us to work, we walked around the fields and saw how different areas take turn in different seasons on growing lawn, maze, vegetable etc. Then we also went to the river with non-biodegradable rubbish on both banks : baby diapers and plastic bags. Latter we realized that he meant to take us for a walk (not work). It is a good experience to see local life and the effect of modernization to this part of the world. For the rest of the day we just lazed around at home, because it was a festival on the birth of Mohammad and there was not much transport going out and most shops in the town should be closed. It was a good chance for us to rest. Maria tried a very local hammen. I finished some blogs. At that night we made some fried rice and it was this family’s first time to try some chinese food. We are glad that they enjoy that, especially the mother. Later the family brought us to a pre-wedding party of a neighbour where Maria finally had her first henna and I enjoyed the local music and percussion.

The last day the mother seemed to miss us and gave mother a stone as gift (we cannot take that because of heavy luggage) and a headcloth (which she used for wedding, it was so precious that we should not take it either). Therefore we took pictures. We left the village with a local collective van and Lachine accompanied us to take the bus to Tineghir. We missed the simple quiet life in the village and only because of couchsurfing we can enjoy that. We thank Lachine's family so much for their generosity and hospitality, we really hoped that Lachine could visit us one day.

摩洛哥地痞沖涼記

聽說摩洛哥Spa聞名，到了Marrikesh搜尋了點資料，發現去摩洛哥Spa像去曼谷Spa一樣，有五星級酒店遊客價，亦有樓下舖仔平民價。摩洛哥浴場源於其地近沙漠，水源短缺，並非家家有浴室，而穆斯林信徒在入廟拜神前會先到附近浴場(Hammam)淨身。對摩洛哥女人來說，浴場好像阿太去hightea一樣，是她們的社交場，聊聊天說說八掛的地方。

到五星級浴場帶錢便成(300-1000dh不等)，但到平民浴場卻要有充足準備。我們先到市場買黑欖皂及擦身手套，並要帶備拖鞋、毛巾、洗頭水。本地人更會自備大小水桶、凳仔及膠地席，再豪華一點可添購火山石或雕花赤泥腳底死皮擦、名貴AGONE油（西班牙黑毛豬吃的那種果仁，有緊膚去皺功效），Atlas山的天然高嶺土及出產自摩洛哥中部的玫瑰花水。

我們想去本地人浴場，感受真正的平民價本地風。源著穆斯林廟旁必有浴場的線索，找到了Marrakech中心市集Jaam el Fna橫街的一家土炮浴場。享用其沐浴、磨沙、按摩套餐，總值70dh。男女浴場分開，各有入口，入場付費。布幕內是更衣室，四周有櫃，但接待處的女人硬要我付10dh服務費替我看管物件，還不斷指手畫脚，用法語解釋按摩後要付10dh貼士。早有聽說浴場要另收貼士，也無可另奈何，再說總數也不過100dh。

換了三點式，一個身穿吊帶內衣的中年女人硬要我脫掉上衣，並把兩個大水桶塞過來。一臉疑惑之下只好跟她進浴場。推開門，她先停在近門口的水喉前沖身及喝水，並叫我把毛巾掛在牆上。進入第二間房，燈光陰暗，蒸氣瀰漫，滿地是赤裸的婦女。她們坐在石地上，專心擦身，而身旁總有兩桶熱水。那女人原來是按摩師，她著我坐下，然後將水桶排到水喉前開始排隊拿水。有浴客跟她打了個招呼，然後讓她擦背。我脫光光的坐在又濕又暖的石地上，只有在一旁看的份。終於，水沖好了，兩桶熱水、一桶溫水包圍著我倆。她示意讓我攤在地上，濕了點水，將黑欖皂往我身上揉，然後，在我全身各處用力地擦。像一隻脫掉皮的蛇,死皮全乖乖跑出來。不知擦了多久，總之上上下下前前後後連面頰也擦了一遍，便用溫水沖掉死皮，再以洗頭水按摩了一下頭部，另再按幾下背，沖洗乾淨，最後再沖一下冷水，便算完成。我表示想留下，她便讓我再取一桶溫水並提我走前要給貼士。

浴室內有個小男孩跟著媽媽洗澡，本來歡天喜地的玩水，忽然嚎啕大哭，嘩嘩不得了。原來媽媽正在為他出力地擦身，彷彿要將嬌嫩的皮再磨出一層新的出來。浴場內，人家自己各自擦身，只有我脫光光的攤在地上，像那兩歲小孩，頭沈在媽媽大腿，讓她出力擦，實在有點無助與鑒介。人新路不熟，就試一下人家媽媽的手勢，下次還是只交10-20dh入場費，自己擦好了。無可否認，洗完摩洛哥浴是前所未有的白滑，全身更是乾淨到不得了。剛洗完正想再去呢!

Ten things that I love about Morocco

1) Food! Food! Food!

Tajine, couscous, tanjia, kafta, baklava and pastries - food are irresistible in Morocco, cost of living is low compared to most countries.  Despite getting bored with the similar list of menu after a while, they are finger-licking good!

2) Beauty Secret

Most Morocco women have beautiful soft skin. I asked a few of them and they said they don't use any skin care product! The only connection I can make is Hammam - the public bath and furious scrub that helps deep exfoliating and made their skin soft like baby. I can't resist going to hammam whenever possible.  Furthermore, I think, by covering their faces, with the hijab, iit helped to avoid UV, dust and oxidation. 

3) The unique beauty product

Although there are many places that produce acorn nuts and black olives, Morocco is the only producer of Acorn oil and black olive scrub in the world! Local women think acorn oil are too expensive for them, but they do use black olive scrub during Hammam.  If you are buying them from repackaged department stores or US online shop, they are much much much more expensive. American beauty websites say acorn oil works better than Botox, only more natural, while the black olive smooth your skin when you scrub. 

4) Welcome greetings all over us

We always receive all kinds of greetings, while we were walking down the street, especially in Fes and Merrakech, that make us feel special.  We got all kinds of Asian greetings, like 'ohaiyo' in the evening, singing gannam style, 'xie-xie' in saying hi, and sometimes more creative guess of 'Thai'? 'Vietnam'? Well, it's funny sometimes as I guess they don't really know where these places are! And I'm amazed that they have such talent in language, as some can really speak a few words in Mandarin, Korean and Japanese. (But we are from Hong Kong and they always got it wrong!)

5) Beautiful nature

Sunset at the Sahara is never to be missed and we hope to rock climb in Torda Gorges next time.

6) Morocco do have wine

Morocco wine brings us big surprise. They are actually not bad - though you could find better ones with the same price in any supermarket in Bordeaux. But we are surprised to try a few good ones.

8) Wonderful oranges and tomato of Morocco

Morocco oranges are in fact much sweeter and cheaper than Sunkise.  We always get a glass or more of the orange juice everyday to quiche our thirst in the medina of Merrakech. On the other hand, Morocco got really good tomatoes, juicy and cheap.  It also has increasing export of tomato to EU. For instance, in the period between the 1st and the 14th of April 2013, Morocco had exported a total of 20.05 million kilos, 6 percent more than in the same period last year to the EU.

9) Fun to get lost in the medina

The medina of Merrekesh, Fes, Tétouan and Essaouira are all in the UNESCO Heritage list, representing the unique historical art and architecture.  They are also the unique example of a living historic town with its tangle of lanes, its houses, souks, fondouks, artisanal activities and traditional trades.  Apart from local eateries, souvenirs, farmers products, there are old trades like tannery, wool weaving, blacksmith, carpentry, old bakery that people still go with their dough and pay some small money for baking their own bread. Its almost like time travel, experiencing life hundreds years ago. 

10) Amazing Islamic architecture

The white wooden carving in the mosque and palace in Merrakech is a wonder. The stunning architecture and carpentry is one of its kind.