We're finally in a beach town in Bali, after five days in Ubud.
Yesterday we had a day trip through some of the sites north of Ubud. We hired a driver, and visited Tampaksiring, Penelokan and Sukowati. This is a very common thing to do, and the day was filled with tourist traps, although still worth it.
Tampaksiring contains both Tirta Empul (holy springs) and Gunung Kawi (10 rock-cut shrines). We only wanted to see Gunung Kawi, but our driver first dropped us at Tirta Empul. We spent about 10 minutes wandering around Tirta Empul, asking for Gunung Kawi, before we realized we were in the wrong spot.
Gunung Kawi is quite cool. We descended around 350 steps down from the parking lot to the river valley. The path at one point is cut through solid rock. At the bottom are 10 shrines, about 7m tall, also cut from solid rock. There were no other tourists there when we arrived, which was nice.
Next was Penelokan for a view of Lake Batur, between the two peaks of Gunung Batur and Gunung Agung. It was okay, not any more spectacular than any lake back home.
We skipped Pura Besakih, a very big tourist trap according the Lonely Planet, and instead went shopping around Sukawati.
There are a million shops around Sukawati, all selling rather high-quality crafts from wood and stone, and oil-on-canvas paintings. We bought five paintings, the largest 1m x 2m, plus some other crafts. It was a busy day of bargaining.
We arrived back at the hotel around 5pm and cleaned up, and then headed to our favourite restaurant (Sura's Warung) for dinner. (Oh yah, the duck last night was excellent, very tender and rich).
This morning we shopped for more souvenirs at the local market in Ubud; and then took a private transport to Sanur. We're staying at the Tamukami Hotel, another nice boutique hotel (it's not in the LP -- Heather found on the web). We've been waiting to get back ocean-side for some seafood; and found a place for lunch (Made's Pub) near the hotel that had very good grilled squid (mmm yummy).
Tomorrow we take a sailboat across the Selat Badung to stay for a couple nights on Nusa Lembongan (Nusa means island); the island is supposed to be relatively untouched but maybe by now they'll have internet access. I'm planning to go for a dive, and relax on Mushroom Bay beach with Heather.
I forgot to bring my SDcard-to-USB thingy so I'll upload some more pics next time. Unfortunately I had some more problems trying to eject my SD card the other day in Ubud (stupid Windows again wouldn't let go of it), so now I'm carrying around two corrupted SD cards. I'm hoping there's a place back home that will be able to restore the pics for me.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Sanur, Indonesia
Today we arrived in Sanur from Ubud. We spent the last 5 days or so in Ubud, so we were ready for a change of scenery. Our time in Ubud was very relaxing. I took in a few different treatments at the health spa down the street from our hotel (deep tissue massage, facial, and, just out of curiosity, an assessment with a elder spiritual healer from the community). The latter didn't really offer much insight to me, but the session was very interesting, nonetheless.
Ubud was a very tranquil town - once you managed to get away from the major tourist centre of Monkey Forest Rd, that is. Luckily, we were staying in a hotel off the main drag, so we were quite fortunate not to have to contend with the constant barrage (kind of a cross between Cavendish in the summer in PEI and the Beach in Toronto on the weekend). Our hotel was quite peaceful, and was very much Balinese in architecture and design. The room was basic, but the exterior was quite lovely, especially for breakfast. We found a neat little restaurant up the road (close to my spa), so spent a few days enjoying the food, street traffic, and surroundings that the restaurant had to offer.
Yesterday, Eric and I hired a driver for the day to take us to some of the surrounding areas around Ubud. We saw the highest peak on Bali (Gunung Agung (3142m)) and a couple of Hindu temples along the way. Eric was able to stop at a number of rice fields to take some pics - a few excellent ones, I might add, which I'm sure he'll soon post.
To finish the day, we stopped at a village called Sukowati to shop for artwork. There is a large, bustling bazaar in the centre of the town. We were on the hunt for abstract art, and our visit did not disappoint :) Ubud (and its surrounding environs) has a high concentration of very talented artists (painters, wood carvers, stone carvers, musicians, and so on). We were so impressed with what we were seeing in town that Eric and I decided we wanted to buy a few pieces at the market - if we could find, and, most importantly, agree on something to buy. In the end, we purchased 2 large pieces at the Sukowati market, and a couple of others back in the Ubud local market when we arrived home that evening. All were very reasonably priced, so we were very happy with the day's outcome!
Right now, we're in Sanur, a beachfront town in the south of Bali. We'll spend tonight here, and then we'll take a boat of some sort over to a small island off Bali called Nusa Lembongan for a bit of diving and snorkeling for a couple of days. It's supposedly very tranquil here, so it'll be nice to relax by the ocean.
Our hotel on this island is a bit of a 'splurge' hotel for the trip (comparatively speaking, compared to the relative affordability of the rest of Indonesia), so it'll be nice to be close to the water again for a few days. After this jaunt, we'll return to Sanur for a couple of days, and then fly out to Jakarta.
Now that we're on the coast again, we're really looking forward to indulging in seafood!!! We're been holding off ordering it on the menu when we've been more inland on the trip...but, now that we're on the water, we can enjoy!
Overall, we're having a great time. Bali has been very relaxing, and we're looking forward to checking out more of the island.
Ubud was a very tranquil town - once you managed to get away from the major tourist centre of Monkey Forest Rd, that is. Luckily, we were staying in a hotel off the main drag, so we were quite fortunate not to have to contend with the constant barrage (kind of a cross between Cavendish in the summer in PEI and the Beach in Toronto on the weekend). Our hotel was quite peaceful, and was very much Balinese in architecture and design. The room was basic, but the exterior was quite lovely, especially for breakfast. We found a neat little restaurant up the road (close to my spa), so spent a few days enjoying the food, street traffic, and surroundings that the restaurant had to offer.
Yesterday, Eric and I hired a driver for the day to take us to some of the surrounding areas around Ubud. We saw the highest peak on Bali (Gunung Agung (3142m)) and a couple of Hindu temples along the way. Eric was able to stop at a number of rice fields to take some pics - a few excellent ones, I might add, which I'm sure he'll soon post.
To finish the day, we stopped at a village called Sukowati to shop for artwork. There is a large, bustling bazaar in the centre of the town. We were on the hunt for abstract art, and our visit did not disappoint :) Ubud (and its surrounding environs) has a high concentration of very talented artists (painters, wood carvers, stone carvers, musicians, and so on). We were so impressed with what we were seeing in town that Eric and I decided we wanted to buy a few pieces at the market - if we could find, and, most importantly, agree on something to buy. In the end, we purchased 2 large pieces at the Sukowati market, and a couple of others back in the Ubud local market when we arrived home that evening. All were very reasonably priced, so we were very happy with the day's outcome!
Right now, we're in Sanur, a beachfront town in the south of Bali. We'll spend tonight here, and then we'll take a boat of some sort over to a small island off Bali called Nusa Lembongan for a bit of diving and snorkeling for a couple of days. It's supposedly very tranquil here, so it'll be nice to relax by the ocean.
Our hotel on this island is a bit of a 'splurge' hotel for the trip (comparatively speaking, compared to the relative affordability of the rest of Indonesia), so it'll be nice to be close to the water again for a few days. After this jaunt, we'll return to Sanur for a couple of days, and then fly out to Jakarta.
Now that we're on the coast again, we're really looking forward to indulging in seafood!!! We're been holding off ordering it on the menu when we've been more inland on the trip...but, now that we're on the water, we can enjoy!
Overall, we're having a great time. Bali has been very relaxing, and we're looking forward to checking out more of the island.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Ubud, Indonesia
We've spent the past few days relaxing in Ubud. Despite all the tourists, the town has maintained its authenticity once you get off the main streets. There's a very nice spa at the end of our street at which we've had almost daily appointments. When you get a massage, there's sounds of a bumbling stream, gentle raindrops in leaves, birds chirping... Except it's not a CD playing -- these are real sounds you hear in the massage rooms which are open on one side to the natural surroundings.
Yesterday we went for a walk along a ridge between two rivers, with views of rice terraces cut into the hillsides. Back in town, we had lunch in a small little cafe on our street. It started raining after we ate, so we decided to have a beer and wait out the rain. Fortunately it's rainy season and the rain continued for a few hours. "A beer" turned into many. There was a break in the rain later in the afternoon, which gave us enough time to get to another little cafe and have a beer. Later we had dinner at Cafe Lotus, a restaurant on the grounds of Pura Taman Saraswati, one of the major temples in Ubud.
This morning I took a Balinese cooking class at Casa Luna. It was more of a cooking show; but still worth the time. Unlike cooking classes I've taken in other countries, the instructor did most of the cooking while we watched. I did get to grind spices into a paste, and chop up some eggplant, but that was it. I also got a nice souvenir apron, and a recipe book. The recipe book gives good descriptions of the ingredients used in Balinese cooking, as well as suggesting alternatives.
Tonight we're having bebek betutu. It's a balinese specialty of duck stuffed with spices, wrapped in banana leaves and coconut husks and cooked in embers all day. You have to order 24 hours in advance -- yesterday's lunch was really tasty so we booked it at that same restaurant.
Tomorrow we've arranged for a driver to take us to some of the sights in northern and eastern Ubud. The last stop is the craft market at Sukawati, where we'll load up on souvenirs.
Yesterday we went for a walk along a ridge between two rivers, with views of rice terraces cut into the hillsides. Back in town, we had lunch in a small little cafe on our street. It started raining after we ate, so we decided to have a beer and wait out the rain. Fortunately it's rainy season and the rain continued for a few hours. "A beer" turned into many. There was a break in the rain later in the afternoon, which gave us enough time to get to another little cafe and have a beer. Later we had dinner at Cafe Lotus, a restaurant on the grounds of Pura Taman Saraswati, one of the major temples in Ubud.
This morning I took a Balinese cooking class at Casa Luna. It was more of a cooking show; but still worth the time. Unlike cooking classes I've taken in other countries, the instructor did most of the cooking while we watched. I did get to grind spices into a paste, and chop up some eggplant, but that was it. I also got a nice souvenir apron, and a recipe book. The recipe book gives good descriptions of the ingredients used in Balinese cooking, as well as suggesting alternatives.
Tonight we're having bebek betutu. It's a balinese specialty of duck stuffed with spices, wrapped in banana leaves and coconut husks and cooked in embers all day. You have to order 24 hours in advance -- yesterday's lunch was really tasty so we booked it at that same restaurant.
Tomorrow we've arranged for a driver to take us to some of the sights in northern and eastern Ubud. The last stop is the craft market at Sukawati, where we'll load up on souvenirs.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Ubud, Indonesia
We're now in Bali, after seeing some beautiful natural wonders in east Java.
We ended up keeping our driver for three days, seeing Gunung Bromo, staying on a coffee plantation, doing the Kawah Ijen hike, and finally getting dropped off in Ubud, Bali. There were quite a few other couples who we bumped into along the trip that were doing similar itineraries, also with a hired car and driver.
First was a long eleven hour drive from Yogyakarta to Cemoro Lawang, a town on the edge of the ancient Tengger caldera. Inside the 10km crater are three volcanoes, including Gunung Bromo (2392m).
We woke up at 3:15am to get to a viewpoint well above Tengger. We arrived just before the break of dawn, and found maybe 300 other tourists (half Indonesian, half foreigners) also at the viewpoint. It was a cloudy morning, and we waited for an hour to see if the clouds would break. We jostled with the other tourists for photo ops. There were occasional great views of Gunung Semeru (3676m) in the background, which spewed up dark clouds of smoke every few minutes. We did manage to get a big picture view through the clouds, but nothing picture-worthy.
Next we drove down a very steep (45*) "road" to the foot of Bromo. The enterprising locals have set up a fence about 500m from the base; and offer horse rides across the short distance. We chose to walk :)
Due to the altitude, it was a tiring climb up 253 stairs to get to the rim of Bromo. The smell of sulphur didn't help. About half way up, we sat down on some rocks to rest. We were soon surrounded by teenage kids wanting to take my picture. I felt I had to uphold the reputation of my doppelganger, the Bollywood star, so posed for a few pics, signed an autograph etc. We resumed our climb after a few minutes. Once at the top, there were great views into the crater, with smoke billowing out. Very smelly, though.
Back at the hotel we had breakfast (it was only 7:30am!) and then settled in for the drive to the Ijen Plateau. About six hours later we arrived at Catimore Homestay on the Balawan coffee plantation. It was a great setting, in a big old Dutch house. We relaxed, had some tea by the garden, and read a bit. Later in the evening we had dinner and a couple beers, and then went to bed around 9pm.
We were up early yet again to visit the coffee factory at 6am. There was a noisy room where dozens of women graded the coffee beans, tossing them into the air with large trays. We also saw a large heated warehouse where the beans are dried. It was pretty cool. I had no idea what a coffee plant even looked like before this trip.
I had to have coffee with breakfast on the plantation (I'm more of a tea drinker). It was excellent. If there was coffee like this in Toronto, I may even become a coffee drinker.
It was a short 30-minute drive from the plantation to Kawah Ijen, which is a beautiful turquoise lake. Sulphur is collected inside the crater by workers who carry 80kg loads along a difficult trek. It was tiring for us and we weren't carrying anything. The path is 3km up the crater, pretty steep for parts; and the smell of sulphur was overpowering towards the crater rim. We stepped aside every few minutes to allow the sulphur collectors to pass going downhill with their loads. Along the path were loads of sulphur waiting to be carried; the yellow sulphur made a nice subject for pics.
We finally reached the lookout point on the rim of the crater. The smoke from the crater obscured views of the turquoise lake and so we waited, breathing through our clothing, hoping for the wind to shift the smoke and give us a view. After about 20 minutes, we were rewarded with a partial view. We started trekking back, and just before we left the rim, the smoke cleared completely! Another 10 seconds and we would been downhill and missed the view. It was gorgeous and well worth the journey. It's off the beaten path, and the lack of tourists was nice compared to Bromo.
We trekked back to our vehicle, and were off to Bali. It was a short one hour drive to the ferry, about an hour across to Bali, and then a four hour drive to Ubud, in the middle of Bali. We said goodbye to Eko (sp?), who had been our excellent driver and guide over the last four days, and checked into the Pradha Guesthouse.
The Pradha Guesthouse is in a beautiful Balinese setting. There grounds are enormous, with intricate carved pillars and roofs, ponds, lots of seating, and a view into the Pura Desa Ubud temple next door. Last night we were pretty tired from the past couple days of travel; and we also had a bit of culture shock with so many tourists (it's like in the movie The Beach when they come back to the partying on the mainland). However, our guesthouse is a bit off the main drag, and there's many walks through rice paddy fields that start from our front door. We'll be relaxing here in Ubud for the next few days, doing walks, maybe hiring a driver for a day trip to surrounding sights, buying souvenirs, (and getting back to a civilized sleep schedule!)
We ended up keeping our driver for three days, seeing Gunung Bromo, staying on a coffee plantation, doing the Kawah Ijen hike, and finally getting dropped off in Ubud, Bali. There were quite a few other couples who we bumped into along the trip that were doing similar itineraries, also with a hired car and driver.
First was a long eleven hour drive from Yogyakarta to Cemoro Lawang, a town on the edge of the ancient Tengger caldera. Inside the 10km crater are three volcanoes, including Gunung Bromo (2392m).
We woke up at 3:15am to get to a viewpoint well above Tengger. We arrived just before the break of dawn, and found maybe 300 other tourists (half Indonesian, half foreigners) also at the viewpoint. It was a cloudy morning, and we waited for an hour to see if the clouds would break. We jostled with the other tourists for photo ops. There were occasional great views of Gunung Semeru (3676m) in the background, which spewed up dark clouds of smoke every few minutes. We did manage to get a big picture view through the clouds, but nothing picture-worthy.
Next we drove down a very steep (45*) "road" to the foot of Bromo. The enterprising locals have set up a fence about 500m from the base; and offer horse rides across the short distance. We chose to walk :)
Due to the altitude, it was a tiring climb up 253 stairs to get to the rim of Bromo. The smell of sulphur didn't help. About half way up, we sat down on some rocks to rest. We were soon surrounded by teenage kids wanting to take my picture. I felt I had to uphold the reputation of my doppelganger, the Bollywood star, so posed for a few pics, signed an autograph etc. We resumed our climb after a few minutes. Once at the top, there were great views into the crater, with smoke billowing out. Very smelly, though.
Back at the hotel we had breakfast (it was only 7:30am!) and then settled in for the drive to the Ijen Plateau. About six hours later we arrived at Catimore Homestay on the Balawan coffee plantation. It was a great setting, in a big old Dutch house. We relaxed, had some tea by the garden, and read a bit. Later in the evening we had dinner and a couple beers, and then went to bed around 9pm.
We were up early yet again to visit the coffee factory at 6am. There was a noisy room where dozens of women graded the coffee beans, tossing them into the air with large trays. We also saw a large heated warehouse where the beans are dried. It was pretty cool. I had no idea what a coffee plant even looked like before this trip.
I had to have coffee with breakfast on the plantation (I'm more of a tea drinker). It was excellent. If there was coffee like this in Toronto, I may even become a coffee drinker.
It was a short 30-minute drive from the plantation to Kawah Ijen, which is a beautiful turquoise lake. Sulphur is collected inside the crater by workers who carry 80kg loads along a difficult trek. It was tiring for us and we weren't carrying anything. The path is 3km up the crater, pretty steep for parts; and the smell of sulphur was overpowering towards the crater rim. We stepped aside every few minutes to allow the sulphur collectors to pass going downhill with their loads. Along the path were loads of sulphur waiting to be carried; the yellow sulphur made a nice subject for pics.
We finally reached the lookout point on the rim of the crater. The smoke from the crater obscured views of the turquoise lake and so we waited, breathing through our clothing, hoping for the wind to shift the smoke and give us a view. After about 20 minutes, we were rewarded with a partial view. We started trekking back, and just before we left the rim, the smoke cleared completely! Another 10 seconds and we would been downhill and missed the view. It was gorgeous and well worth the journey. It's off the beaten path, and the lack of tourists was nice compared to Bromo.
We trekked back to our vehicle, and were off to Bali. It was a short one hour drive to the ferry, about an hour across to Bali, and then a four hour drive to Ubud, in the middle of Bali. We said goodbye to Eko (sp?), who had been our excellent driver and guide over the last four days, and checked into the Pradha Guesthouse.
The Pradha Guesthouse is in a beautiful Balinese setting. There grounds are enormous, with intricate carved pillars and roofs, ponds, lots of seating, and a view into the Pura Desa Ubud temple next door. Last night we were pretty tired from the past couple days of travel; and we also had a bit of culture shock with so many tourists (it's like in the movie The Beach when they come back to the partying on the mainland). However, our guesthouse is a bit off the main drag, and there's many walks through rice paddy fields that start from our front door. We'll be relaxing here in Ubud for the next few days, doing walks, maybe hiring a driver for a day trip to surrounding sights, buying souvenirs, (and getting back to a civilized sleep schedule!)
Ubud, Indonesia
After a few exhausting days, we finally arrived on the island of Bali late yesterday afternoon (with a 1-hr time change from Java - so, now it's a 13-hr time difference for us...not that it really makes much of a difference at this point :))
(Eric and I are both typing our posts at the same time, so there may be a slight bit of overlap).
Over the past few days, we've been in a very mountainous region of Java province (north/central). We hired the same driver (Eko) to take us to the last few spots: Mount Bromo, to see a couple of active volcanoes in the region; and, Kawah Ijen (Ijen Crater), to see a turquoise lake located inside a volcano. The latter was situated in a heavily forested area, so the roads were VERY rugged. Luckily, it wasn't raining, so we were able to drive up the mountain.
I really liked Bromo and Ijen. At Bromo, we woke up around 3.30am to get to a wonderful look-out point to catch a view of 3 rather large volcanoes. They are still active, so when the clouds cleared, and the sun rose, we were actually able to see the smoke and ash billowing out (no lava, though). From here, we drove to Mount Bromo (one of the mountains) to hike to the rim of the volcano. This was an interesting climb. Unfortunately, there were quite a few tourists here and at the lookout, but that was okay. We are traveling in the "low season" in Indonesia (and at the beginning of rainy season), so I can't imagine what "high season" numbers must be like!! Java is the most heavily populated island of Indonesia, with over 120 million people alone.
After Mount Bromo and region, we traveled to the Ijen Plateau area of Java (central/east). This was about a 6-hr drive from Bromo. Ijen is full of coffee plantations, and the hotel we stayed actually bordered on one. We had the chance to tour the plantation yesterday morning, which was very cool. So, needless to say, the coffee for our breakfast that morning was awesome! The accomodations were a bit rough (I kind of felt like we were sleeping outdoors with the animals and insects rather than indoors!), but it was worth it given the scenery and proximity to the Ijen Crater and Bromo. Next time, we're packing a mosquito net (we're in a part of Indonesia where malaria isn't a real threat, so we didn't bring one with us).
Once we left our hotel, we headed for the Kawah Ijen. It was about a 1.5 hr trek up the mountain (probably about 5-6 kms in total). It was incredible! Luckily, the clouds broke a few times at the peak (around the crater rim) so we could view the surreal turquoise lake and sulfur mine. The fumes from the sulfur pit were, at times, overwhelming, tho. At this altitude, breathing was a bit difficult with the fumes. Eric will likely post some pics of the sulfur and the miners. It was well worth the journey!
After Ijen, we headed for Bali. We'll likely spend the next few days in the town of Ubud (according to the Lonely Planet, it's the cultural apex of Bali). The rice fields surrounding the town look amazing! Our hotel is close to the centre of town, so it's convenient for doing walking tours around the town. The hotel is very Balinese in architecture and in furnishings. It'll be relaxing to hang out here for a few days. So far, our trip has been quite active, so both Eric and I feel that we haven't had a chance to get caught up on our rest or relaxation yet (as a lot of mornings have been 3am or 4am starts). Today, we'll likely do a bit of reading by the pool, maybe walk down to a local market and buy some fruit, and rest my back...it's a little tired after all the mountain hiking!
(Eric and I are both typing our posts at the same time, so there may be a slight bit of overlap).
Over the past few days, we've been in a very mountainous region of Java province (north/central). We hired the same driver (Eko) to take us to the last few spots: Mount Bromo, to see a couple of active volcanoes in the region; and, Kawah Ijen (Ijen Crater), to see a turquoise lake located inside a volcano. The latter was situated in a heavily forested area, so the roads were VERY rugged. Luckily, it wasn't raining, so we were able to drive up the mountain.
I really liked Bromo and Ijen. At Bromo, we woke up around 3.30am to get to a wonderful look-out point to catch a view of 3 rather large volcanoes. They are still active, so when the clouds cleared, and the sun rose, we were actually able to see the smoke and ash billowing out (no lava, though). From here, we drove to Mount Bromo (one of the mountains) to hike to the rim of the volcano. This was an interesting climb. Unfortunately, there were quite a few tourists here and at the lookout, but that was okay. We are traveling in the "low season" in Indonesia (and at the beginning of rainy season), so I can't imagine what "high season" numbers must be like!! Java is the most heavily populated island of Indonesia, with over 120 million people alone.
After Mount Bromo and region, we traveled to the Ijen Plateau area of Java (central/east). This was about a 6-hr drive from Bromo. Ijen is full of coffee plantations, and the hotel we stayed actually bordered on one. We had the chance to tour the plantation yesterday morning, which was very cool. So, needless to say, the coffee for our breakfast that morning was awesome! The accomodations were a bit rough (I kind of felt like we were sleeping outdoors with the animals and insects rather than indoors!), but it was worth it given the scenery and proximity to the Ijen Crater and Bromo. Next time, we're packing a mosquito net (we're in a part of Indonesia where malaria isn't a real threat, so we didn't bring one with us).
Once we left our hotel, we headed for the Kawah Ijen. It was about a 1.5 hr trek up the mountain (probably about 5-6 kms in total). It was incredible! Luckily, the clouds broke a few times at the peak (around the crater rim) so we could view the surreal turquoise lake and sulfur mine. The fumes from the sulfur pit were, at times, overwhelming, tho. At this altitude, breathing was a bit difficult with the fumes. Eric will likely post some pics of the sulfur and the miners. It was well worth the journey!
After Ijen, we headed for Bali. We'll likely spend the next few days in the town of Ubud (according to the Lonely Planet, it's the cultural apex of Bali). The rice fields surrounding the town look amazing! Our hotel is close to the centre of town, so it's convenient for doing walking tours around the town. The hotel is very Balinese in architecture and in furnishings. It'll be relaxing to hang out here for a few days. So far, our trip has been quite active, so both Eric and I feel that we haven't had a chance to get caught up on our rest or relaxation yet (as a lot of mornings have been 3am or 4am starts). Today, we'll likely do a bit of reading by the pool, maybe walk down to a local market and buy some fruit, and rest my back...it's a little tired after all the mountain hiking!
Friday, November 14, 2008
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Today we saw the Hindu temples around the Prambanan plain. We had hired a private car and driver for the day to get to all the ruins, and it was well worth the $22.
We were up at 5am, our internal clocks still a bit messed up. Breakfast at the Ministry of Coffee didn't start until 8am, but we couldn't fall back asleep so just stayed up. Breakfast was great, the best on the trip so far (although still short of breakfasts we had in Morocco). Our driver arrived at 9am and we started our day.
First we stopped at Candi Sambisari (Candi translates as temple), about 10km outside of town. This is a ruin 6m below ground level that was discovered by a farmer. It now sits fully uncovered, surrounded by farms in the village. We didn't even see until we were right upon it. I went to take a pic and realized that my memory card was corrupted, most likely when I uploaded pics yesterday (stupid Windows). So we were now on a SD card hunt as well as ruins.
Next we saw Candi Kalasan and Candi Sari. These are also in the middle of farms and villages, which continue on with life as if nothing's extraordinary about a temple sitting next to your house. There were no other tourists at any of these ruins.
Before getting to the Prambanan complex we headed to a market and found a camera store, and picked up a 1GB card for $12. Yippee!
Just east of the main complex is the Plaosan group of temples. This was our favourite site, (maybe even better than Borobudur). Again, it's set surrounded by farmer's fields. Most of the site is an archaeological work in progress, with big mounds of rocks waiting to be arranged into temples and shrines and stupas. Two of the main temples are restored; the rest just a jumble. It was quite beautiful and peaceful.
Finally we headed to the Prambanan complex. Most of the temples (the highest reaching 47m) were damaged by the earthquake in 2006; and so access is very restricted. However they're still amazing to see.
We had a quick stop at Kraton Ratu Boko, primarily to see Prambanan from a lookout spot in the hills surrounding the plain. You need a pretty good zoom to get a decent pic -- my five-year-old camera with a 3x zoom just didn't cut it. Boko also has some basic ruins to see, which we glanced at.
...
A couple days ago while I was about town, I was stopped by a few groups of girls so they could take their picture with me. Heather and I figure I must look like some Bollywood star or the other.
...
We're now finished with ruins for the trip. Next up are a couple of natural wonders: Gunung Bromo volcano and Kawah Ijen (a turquoise sulphur lake). We've booked the same driver to take us for the next two days. The driver was great, and the car has good lower lumbar support (it's a couple of long days in the car for Heather's back). After that we're off to Bali for the remainder of the trip.
We were up at 5am, our internal clocks still a bit messed up. Breakfast at the Ministry of Coffee didn't start until 8am, but we couldn't fall back asleep so just stayed up. Breakfast was great, the best on the trip so far (although still short of breakfasts we had in Morocco). Our driver arrived at 9am and we started our day.
First we stopped at Candi Sambisari (Candi translates as temple), about 10km outside of town. This is a ruin 6m below ground level that was discovered by a farmer. It now sits fully uncovered, surrounded by farms in the village. We didn't even see until we were right upon it. I went to take a pic and realized that my memory card was corrupted, most likely when I uploaded pics yesterday (stupid Windows). So we were now on a SD card hunt as well as ruins.
Next we saw Candi Kalasan and Candi Sari. These are also in the middle of farms and villages, which continue on with life as if nothing's extraordinary about a temple sitting next to your house. There were no other tourists at any of these ruins.
Before getting to the Prambanan complex we headed to a market and found a camera store, and picked up a 1GB card for $12. Yippee!
Just east of the main complex is the Plaosan group of temples. This was our favourite site, (maybe even better than Borobudur). Again, it's set surrounded by farmer's fields. Most of the site is an archaeological work in progress, with big mounds of rocks waiting to be arranged into temples and shrines and stupas. Two of the main temples are restored; the rest just a jumble. It was quite beautiful and peaceful.
Finally we headed to the Prambanan complex. Most of the temples (the highest reaching 47m) were damaged by the earthquake in 2006; and so access is very restricted. However they're still amazing to see.
We had a quick stop at Kraton Ratu Boko, primarily to see Prambanan from a lookout spot in the hills surrounding the plain. You need a pretty good zoom to get a decent pic -- my five-year-old camera with a 3x zoom just didn't cut it. Boko also has some basic ruins to see, which we glanced at.
...
A couple days ago while I was about town, I was stopped by a few groups of girls so they could take their picture with me. Heather and I figure I must look like some Bollywood star or the other.
...
We're now finished with ruins for the trip. Next up are a couple of natural wonders: Gunung Bromo volcano and Kawah Ijen (a turquoise sulphur lake). We've booked the same driver to take us for the next two days. The driver was great, and the car has good lower lumbar support (it's a couple of long days in the car for Heather's back). After that we're off to Bali for the remainder of the trip.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
So we saw Borobudur today! It is a very impressive ruin; it's amongst my top-five favourite ruins in the world. First on my list is Machu Picchu; followed by Angkor Wat and Tikal; and then Palenque and Borobudur.
We left yesterday around noon from our hotel in Yogyakarta. We took a private car & driver to the ruins, ($20 for the 90 minute drive). I had reserved a room at the only hotel on the grounds, Hotel Manohara. The service was excellent -- when we arrived, we were served javanese tea and a snack, and then showed to our room. Hotel guests get unlimited access to Borobudur; so we headed over (about a five minute walk). We walked around the ruin(clockwise, as is the Bhuddist custom), and then up to the top. It was later in the day but still pretty hot (30C+), so we didn't stay long.
Back at the hotel, we figured on a nice dinner at the outdoor hotel restaurant which overlooks the ruins. We ordered a large beer to share and settled in for dusk. Unfortunately we forgot that open air + rainy season + dusk = mosquitoes and bugs. (We didn't actually forget, as we had brought bug spray, but didn't think about it when we were thinking of a nice dinner). Being city folk we didn't much care for the bugs, so quickly ate and retired to our room for the night.
We had to be up at 4:00am to catch the sunrise from the top of Borobudur. Our internal clocks are still messed up, so getting up early wasn't a problem (we had fallen asleep at 7pm). Sunrise access is only available to hotel guests (the main reason I wanted to stay at Manohara) (for an extra $11). The "Sunrise Tour" ticket is a nice souvenir; we also received complementary flashlights :)
There were less than 15 of us on the sunrise tour, which was nice as the ruins are more mysterious when there aren't hundreds of other tourists. We all settled in at various vantage points at the top to watch the sunrise. It's hazy this time of year, so we didn't get the colours of a sunrise, but it was beautiful with the mist and haze. The mist was slowly burnt away by the sun, finally exposing the countryside. Busloads of tourist arrived shortly after 6am which broke the spell. I spent a couple hours taking pictures, and then Heather and I headed back to the hotel for breakfast.
After breakfast, we went back to our room and took an unplanned two-hour nap. Woke up and went to see a video in the "audio-visual room". The video was filmed in the 70s, but did a great job of explaining some of the bas-reliefs that surround the first few layers of Borobudur.
Around noon we took a private car back to Yogyakarta, and checked into the Ministry of Coffee (I had reserved the room prior to going to Borobudur). It's one of the nicest hotels I've stayed at while traveling.
We had lunch at our favourite restaurant (Deja Vu), then ran some errands (dropped off laundry, booked the trip to Prambanan for tomorrow, picked up our plane tickets from Denpasar to Jakarta, bought some water).
Tomorrow we're off to see Prambanan, which is a complex of Hindu temples (Borobudur is Bhuddist) (both built around 1200 years ago). We've once again booked a private car & driver ($25 for five hours).
We left yesterday around noon from our hotel in Yogyakarta. We took a private car & driver to the ruins, ($20 for the 90 minute drive). I had reserved a room at the only hotel on the grounds, Hotel Manohara. The service was excellent -- when we arrived, we were served javanese tea and a snack, and then showed to our room. Hotel guests get unlimited access to Borobudur; so we headed over (about a five minute walk). We walked around the ruin(clockwise, as is the Bhuddist custom), and then up to the top. It was later in the day but still pretty hot (30C+), so we didn't stay long.
Back at the hotel, we figured on a nice dinner at the outdoor hotel restaurant which overlooks the ruins. We ordered a large beer to share and settled in for dusk. Unfortunately we forgot that open air + rainy season + dusk = mosquitoes and bugs. (We didn't actually forget, as we had brought bug spray, but didn't think about it when we were thinking of a nice dinner). Being city folk we didn't much care for the bugs, so quickly ate and retired to our room for the night.
We had to be up at 4:00am to catch the sunrise from the top of Borobudur. Our internal clocks are still messed up, so getting up early wasn't a problem (we had fallen asleep at 7pm). Sunrise access is only available to hotel guests (the main reason I wanted to stay at Manohara) (for an extra $11). The "Sunrise Tour" ticket is a nice souvenir; we also received complementary flashlights :)
There were less than 15 of us on the sunrise tour, which was nice as the ruins are more mysterious when there aren't hundreds of other tourists. We all settled in at various vantage points at the top to watch the sunrise. It's hazy this time of year, so we didn't get the colours of a sunrise, but it was beautiful with the mist and haze. The mist was slowly burnt away by the sun, finally exposing the countryside. Busloads of tourist arrived shortly after 6am which broke the spell. I spent a couple hours taking pictures, and then Heather and I headed back to the hotel for breakfast.
After breakfast, we went back to our room and took an unplanned two-hour nap. Woke up and went to see a video in the "audio-visual room". The video was filmed in the 70s, but did a great job of explaining some of the bas-reliefs that surround the first few layers of Borobudur.
Around noon we took a private car back to Yogyakarta, and checked into the Ministry of Coffee (I had reserved the room prior to going to Borobudur). It's one of the nicest hotels I've stayed at while traveling.
We had lunch at our favourite restaurant (Deja Vu), then ran some errands (dropped off laundry, booked the trip to Prambanan for tomorrow, picked up our plane tickets from Denpasar to Jakarta, bought some water).
Tomorrow we're off to see Prambanan, which is a complex of Hindu temples (Borobudur is Bhuddist) (both built around 1200 years ago). We've once again booked a private car & driver ($25 for five hours).
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Just a quick post, as Eric has run out to the local market to see what he can pick up to aid in the recovery of my lower back spasm from yesterday. I think the hot, humid heat of Java is the best medicine. It's already morning, and I'm very mobile compared to previous times my back has "gone out" on me. I actually just finished a series of stretches by the pool, and am able to do almost all of the "normal" exercises assigned by my chiropractor and physiotherapist -- so I'm overjoyed, to say the least :) (usually it takes 2-3 days to get this point). I've been so impressed with how the locals have accommodated my back problem...they've really, really gone out of their way to help me.
As Eric mentioned, today we're heading to Borobudur (one of the major reasons why we picked Indonesia for our trip). Eric's a huge ancient ruin fanatic, so I'm sure it will be an impressive sight! Then, we'll likely head back to Yogya (as the city here is commonly known) and plan a day trip to see another ancient ruin (a large Hindu temple about 30 mins from here called Prambanan (sp?)).
As Eric mentioned, today we're heading to Borobudur (one of the major reasons why we picked Indonesia for our trip). Eric's a huge ancient ruin fanatic, so I'm sure it will be an impressive sight! Then, we'll likely head back to Yogya (as the city here is commonly known) and plan a day trip to see another ancient ruin (a large Hindu temple about 30 mins from here called Prambanan (sp?)).
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
We've been in Indonesia for a little over two days, but it seems much longer with the jetlag.
Heather's back survived the 24 hours from Toronto to Djakarta, and then the eight hour train ride to Yogjakarta. Heather's chiropractor had given her stretches for her back and hip, and so every couple hours she got up and stretched on the plane and train. Every time she did so, it prompted a number of older asian folks to get up and start doing their own stretches.
Yesterday was our first real day of travel, and after being cooped up in trains and planes and becaks, we set out to see Yogyakarta. (Becaks is the local term for a three-wheeled pedal-powered transport. The driver sits on a raised seat at the back, and you're in the front zipping and cutting through motorbikes, scooters, bikes and cars.) I think we both let our guard down about Heather's back (figuring the flight was the hardest part), and overdid it on Tuesday morning.
We spent the rest of the day in the hotel, allowing her back to recover. Heather wasn't too mobile, so I asked the restaurant next door for take out (we ate there on Monday night). Instead, they delivered the food right to our room in the hotel! I took back the plates after we ate.
Heather's feeling much better today. We have a reservation at the only hotel in Borobudur for tonight, which we'll be heading to later this afternoon. Tomorrow hopefully we'll be seeing Borobudur!
Heather's back survived the 24 hours from Toronto to Djakarta, and then the eight hour train ride to Yogjakarta. Heather's chiropractor had given her stretches for her back and hip, and so every couple hours she got up and stretched on the plane and train. Every time she did so, it prompted a number of older asian folks to get up and start doing their own stretches.
Yesterday was our first real day of travel, and after being cooped up in trains and planes and becaks, we set out to see Yogyakarta. (Becaks is the local term for a three-wheeled pedal-powered transport. The driver sits on a raised seat at the back, and you're in the front zipping and cutting through motorbikes, scooters, bikes and cars.) I think we both let our guard down about Heather's back (figuring the flight was the hardest part), and overdid it on Tuesday morning.
We spent the rest of the day in the hotel, allowing her back to recover. Heather wasn't too mobile, so I asked the restaurant next door for take out (we ate there on Monday night). Instead, they delivered the food right to our room in the hotel! I took back the plates after we ate.
Heather's feeling much better today. We have a reservation at the only hotel in Borobudur for tonight, which we'll be heading to later this afternoon. Tomorrow hopefully we'll be seeing Borobudur!
Monday, November 10, 2008
Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Just a quick post to say we arrived here in one piece. The flights went by surprisingly quick. The food on the 2nd flight (the Cathay Pacific one) was really good.
We arrived in Djakarta around 8pm. It was straightforward to get through immigration and customs. The visa is really nice-looking -- a full page sticker. Took a taxi to the Marco Polo hotel, which I had reserved earlier from home. We had a bite to eat, and then fell fast asleep.
Five hours later we were wide awake (it's a 12 hour time difference from Toronto), so we decided to get the train to Yogyakarta today. There's not much to see in Djakarta, and we'll have a day to sightsee on the way home.
It was very easy to purchase a ticket for the executive class train to Yogyakarta (about $23 each for the eight hour trip). We tried to book into the Lonely Planet recommended "Ministy of Coffee". It was full, but they suggested a nice boutique hotel (Duta Guest House) just down the street which we are now staying at for a couple nights.
Tomorrow we'll tourist around (there's plenty to see here). It's the start of rainy season, but it looks like it just rains before sunset for an hour or so.
I haven't taken any pictures yet (we're still getting situated after the journey). Anyways were off to have some large Bintang beers (and dinner later on).
We arrived in Djakarta around 8pm. It was straightforward to get through immigration and customs. The visa is really nice-looking -- a full page sticker. Took a taxi to the Marco Polo hotel, which I had reserved earlier from home. We had a bite to eat, and then fell fast asleep.
Five hours later we were wide awake (it's a 12 hour time difference from Toronto), so we decided to get the train to Yogyakarta today. There's not much to see in Djakarta, and we'll have a day to sightsee on the way home.
It was very easy to purchase a ticket for the executive class train to Yogyakarta (about $23 each for the eight hour trip). We tried to book into the Lonely Planet recommended "Ministy of Coffee". It was full, but they suggested a nice boutique hotel (Duta Guest House) just down the street which we are now staying at for a couple nights.
Tomorrow we'll tourist around (there's plenty to see here). It's the start of rainy season, but it looks like it just rains before sunset for an hour or so.
I haven't taken any pictures yet (we're still getting situated after the journey). Anyways were off to have some large Bintang beers (and dinner later on).
Friday, November 07, 2008
Toronto, Canada
Eric has signed me on as a blog contributor, so I'll be posting here periodically on the trip (...I think he was getting a little tired of me saying, "Eric, don't forget to post this, that, and the other thing")
We're really looking forward to our trip to Indonesia. The trip was kind of "up in the air" with my lower back trouble over the past couple of months, but I'm officially on the mend - haven't had a lower back spasm in over 2 weeks and have been feeling great!
We arrive in Jakarta late Sunday night, so we'll likely post again early next week.
We're really looking forward to our trip to Indonesia. The trip was kind of "up in the air" with my lower back trouble over the past couple of months, but I'm officially on the mend - haven't had a lower back spasm in over 2 weeks and have been feeling great!
We arrive in Jakarta late Sunday night, so we'll likely post again early next week.
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Toronto, Canada
We're getting excited about the trip! We leave Saturday morning -- fifteen hours to Hong Kong, a two hour layover, and then five hours to Jakarta. We're flying Cathay Pacific, which I've heard good things about.
The Indonesian government has said they'll be executing the Bali bombers around the middle of November, unfortunately also in the middle of our trip. It's a big story in the local media. We'll be careful as usual, but don't think it's any more risk than Leslieville lately. See comments on the Lonely Planet travel forum.
In our three weeks we're planning to see Borobudur (the last major ruins on my list), dive in Bali, and maybe see the Komodo dragons and Kelimutu. For those keeping count (Gerry), Indonesia will be country number 61 in my lifelong quest to travel to 100 countries.
The Indonesian government has said they'll be executing the Bali bombers around the middle of November, unfortunately also in the middle of our trip. It's a big story in the local media. We'll be careful as usual, but don't think it's any more risk than Leslieville lately. See comments on the Lonely Planet travel forum.
In our three weeks we're planning to see Borobudur (the last major ruins on my list), dive in Bali, and maybe see the Komodo dragons and Kelimutu. For those keeping count (Gerry), Indonesia will be country number 61 in my lifelong quest to travel to 100 countries.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Toronto, Canada
We arrived back in Toronto a couple days ago and have started to get back into life over here.
I took 951 pictures over the four weeks. I've posted some of them on Picasa in three albums. Click on the pictures below to see the album.
[Editor's note: Picasa no longer exists. The photo albums can be found in Google Photos]
I took 951 pictures over the four weeks. I've posted some of them on Picasa in three albums. Click on the pictures below to see the album.
[Editor's note: Picasa no longer exists. The photo albums can be found in Google Photos]
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Casablanca, Morocco
Rabat was a nice city to spend a few days relaxing. We saw most of the major attractions: Le Tour Hassan, the masoleum of Mohammed V, Chellah & Sala Colonia, the medina, kasbah des Oudaias and the Archaeology Museum.
Chellah and Sala Colonia are ruins in the south end of the city. Sala Colonia are Roman ruins, upon which the Merenid necropolis of Chellah was built in the 14th century. The whole site is overgrown with wild flowers and plants, and there are hundreds of nesting storks. It's a great ruin to wander around and sit and wonder. I liked it much better than Lixus, and about the same as Volubilis.
The medina in Rabat is different from other medinas, in that there's listed prices, and not much haggling. It's a good place to pick up souvenirs, because you know you're getting a fair price. Unfortunately most of the things we liked are difficult to transport, and it's easier just to buy it at Pier 1 when we get home.
The kasbah was okay to wander through; it's dusty and not as impressive as the kasbahs we saw in the High Atlas. The only nice part was the Andalusian gardens in the kasbah.
We also visited the Archaeology Museum. There's quite a few artefacts from the Roman ruins that we've visited. I've also just finished reading The Rubicon, which is a narrative history of the Roman empire, and so I recognized some of the names on the statues.
Aside from the tourist attractions, Rabat's a nice city. The ville nouvelle has large boulevards with pedestrian-only paths, which were filled every evening with strolling locals. There are plenty of restaurants, and we found an english bookstore that had second-hand classics. We spent our mornings sightseeing; the afternoons reading and sipping Moroccan wine from our terrace; and then having a nice dinner.
Our terrace overlooked a park, as well as a mosque. On Friday we were fortunate to witness the Friday noon prayers -- the attendees overflowed from the mosque into the surrounding streets! It was busier than a Catholic church on Christmas or Easter. The prayers are broadcast from loudspeakers atop the mosque, and so we could hear (although not understand the arabic), and see the men pray.
On our last night in Rabat we ate at an italian restaurant that had excellent pizza. It's the 2nd best pizza I've had (nothing comes close to the pizza at Fortino's in Vaughan).
We took the train from Rabat to Casablanca, staying at the Ibis hotel because it's right beside the train station (we'll be taking the train to the airport as well). Tomorrow we're off to see the Hassan II mosque (one of the few open to non-Muslims), and the next day we fly home.
Chellah and Sala Colonia are ruins in the south end of the city. Sala Colonia are Roman ruins, upon which the Merenid necropolis of Chellah was built in the 14th century. The whole site is overgrown with wild flowers and plants, and there are hundreds of nesting storks. It's a great ruin to wander around and sit and wonder. I liked it much better than Lixus, and about the same as Volubilis.
The medina in Rabat is different from other medinas, in that there's listed prices, and not much haggling. It's a good place to pick up souvenirs, because you know you're getting a fair price. Unfortunately most of the things we liked are difficult to transport, and it's easier just to buy it at Pier 1 when we get home.
The kasbah was okay to wander through; it's dusty and not as impressive as the kasbahs we saw in the High Atlas. The only nice part was the Andalusian gardens in the kasbah.
We also visited the Archaeology Museum. There's quite a few artefacts from the Roman ruins that we've visited. I've also just finished reading The Rubicon, which is a narrative history of the Roman empire, and so I recognized some of the names on the statues.
Aside from the tourist attractions, Rabat's a nice city. The ville nouvelle has large boulevards with pedestrian-only paths, which were filled every evening with strolling locals. There are plenty of restaurants, and we found an english bookstore that had second-hand classics. We spent our mornings sightseeing; the afternoons reading and sipping Moroccan wine from our terrace; and then having a nice dinner.
Our terrace overlooked a park, as well as a mosque. On Friday we were fortunate to witness the Friday noon prayers -- the attendees overflowed from the mosque into the surrounding streets! It was busier than a Catholic church on Christmas or Easter. The prayers are broadcast from loudspeakers atop the mosque, and so we could hear (although not understand the arabic), and see the men pray.
On our last night in Rabat we ate at an italian restaurant that had excellent pizza. It's the 2nd best pizza I've had (nothing comes close to the pizza at Fortino's in Vaughan).
We took the train from Rabat to Casablanca, staying at the Ibis hotel because it's right beside the train station (we'll be taking the train to the airport as well). Tomorrow we're off to see the Hassan II mosque (one of the few open to non-Muslims), and the next day we fly home.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Rabat, Morocco
We've reached Rabat, which is our last stop on this trip before returning to Casablanca to fly home. There's quite a lot to see in Rabat. We're planning to spend four days here, which is the longest we'll spend in one spot.
...
Asilah was a nice place to relax. On Saturday we took a little trek along the coastline to get to Paradise Beach, about 4km south of Asilah. There were great views of the Atlantic Ocean as we walked. Paradise Beach was a wide, long beach with fine sand, which we had almost all to ourselves. There was another person off in the distance, and oddly, a cow. We looked around for a few minutes, and then headed back to town. The round trip trek took us about four hours, and we were glad we left in the cool early morning hours (9am).
Dinners were hit-and-miss in Asilah. The first night we were very disappointed with the fish we ordered (swordfish and calamari). The next night, (at a different restaurant), the fish was excellent! (merlan and loup)
From Asilah we took a quick (30 minutes) grand taxi ride to Larache. We had reservations at La Maison Haute, and it was a short walk to the hotel with our packs. Larache is not as touristy as other northern towns, and we were pretty much ignored as we walked through town.
We were initially really impressed with La Maison Haute. It's a restored Hispanic-Moorish house, with 15' ceilings and large common rooms. The view from the rooftop of the city and beach was one of the best we've had in a hotel. However, our room was musty (and hot without a/c), and the manager was very overbearing, and so we cut our stay short, for only one night. It was our least favourite hotel this trip.
In the morning before we took off from Larache, we had a quick trip to the roman ruins at Lixus. These aren't restored at all, and not worth more than the 30 minutes we spent at the ruins.
A very comfortable CTM bus ride brought us to Rabat. We're staying at the Hotel Royal, beside the French embassy. Our balcony overlooks Jardin Triangle de Vue, a large park in the Ville Nouvelle. Last night we ate at a fancy french restaurant (I had braised lamb shank, Heather had half rack of lamb), for less than $30 CDN!
This morning visited Le Tour Hassan, and the mausoleum of Mohammed V. The rest of the day we're just going to relax...
(GoogleMaps was giving me trouble so I haven't updated the map)
...
Asilah was a nice place to relax. On Saturday we took a little trek along the coastline to get to Paradise Beach, about 4km south of Asilah. There were great views of the Atlantic Ocean as we walked. Paradise Beach was a wide, long beach with fine sand, which we had almost all to ourselves. There was another person off in the distance, and oddly, a cow. We looked around for a few minutes, and then headed back to town. The round trip trek took us about four hours, and we were glad we left in the cool early morning hours (9am).
Dinners were hit-and-miss in Asilah. The first night we were very disappointed with the fish we ordered (swordfish and calamari). The next night, (at a different restaurant), the fish was excellent! (merlan and loup)
From Asilah we took a quick (30 minutes) grand taxi ride to Larache. We had reservations at La Maison Haute, and it was a short walk to the hotel with our packs. Larache is not as touristy as other northern towns, and we were pretty much ignored as we walked through town.
We were initially really impressed with La Maison Haute. It's a restored Hispanic-Moorish house, with 15' ceilings and large common rooms. The view from the rooftop of the city and beach was one of the best we've had in a hotel. However, our room was musty (and hot without a/c), and the manager was very overbearing, and so we cut our stay short, for only one night. It was our least favourite hotel this trip.
In the morning before we took off from Larache, we had a quick trip to the roman ruins at Lixus. These aren't restored at all, and not worth more than the 30 minutes we spent at the ruins.
A very comfortable CTM bus ride brought us to Rabat. We're staying at the Hotel Royal, beside the French embassy. Our balcony overlooks Jardin Triangle de Vue, a large park in the Ville Nouvelle. Last night we ate at a fancy french restaurant (I had braised lamb shank, Heather had half rack of lamb), for less than $30 CDN!
This morning visited Le Tour Hassan, and the mausoleum of Mohammed V. The rest of the day we're just going to relax...
(GoogleMaps was giving me trouble so I haven't updated the map)
Friday, June 01, 2007
Asilah, Morocco
We're now back on the Atlantic coast after taking a couple grand taxis from Tetouan to Asilah (where we are now) via Tanger.
Chefchaouen was a nice place to relax. We ate dinner at the same restaurant (La Lampe Magique) for three nights in a row. The restaurant was right on the main plaza, and from the rooftop terrace there was a great 360 degree view of Plaza Uta el-Hammam, the restored kasbah, the mountains and houses in the distance, and of the full moon. It was one of the best settings for a restaurant that I've ever seen. The food was great, and each night we stuffed ourselves full.
From Chefchaouen we took a grand-taxi to Tetouan. Originally we were going to take the CTM bus at 12:30pm, but we were packed up and ready to go by 10am. Rather than wait around for a bus, we took a grand-taxi. It was a good move as we were in Tetouan by noon.
Both of us felt good to be back in an urban setting. So far on this trip, we have stayed in the touristy parts of Morocco -- riads, kasbahs, medinas. However, most places also have a "nouvelle-ville", which are more cosmopolitan and modern.
There's a large spanish influence in Tetouan. As we walked through the pedestrian-only streets, we felt that we could have been in any city in Europe. I guess that's why most Europeans avoid the nouvelle-villes and head straight to the medinas -- they can get european at home.
In Tetouan we walked briefly through the medina but we both felt out-medina'd. We visited the archaeology museum, which was quite good. It had a number of artefacts from the roman ruins of Volubilis (which we've visited), and Lixus (which we're going to in a couple days).
There was not much else to Tetouan, and so this morning we took a couple grand taxis to get to Asilah (via Tanger as there's no direct grand taxi).
Asilah is a resort town on the Atlantic. The medina is heavily gentrified. It's nice to walk through, and does not have the hustle and bustle of souqs in other medinas. We walked around the medina for a bit.
We're staying at the Hotel Patio de la Luna, which looks like a nice place to have a bottle of wine after dinner tonight.
As you may guess from the name of the hotel, spanish is more prevalent as a 2nd language as we've travelled through northern Morocco. Between Heather's french, and my spanish, we've been able to travel quite easily throughout our trip.
Morocco is the only country I've visited that it has been difficult and expensive to have a beer (and I've been to other predominantly Muslim countries). Most cities / towns have only a handful of licensed restaurants, where a 200ml bottle of Flag costs Dh20 (about $3 CDN). On occasion we've been buying a bottle of wine in alcohol stores, if our hotel room had a nice terrace to have a drink. The alcohol store in Asilah is right beside the hotel, so we're thinking of having a cold beer before dinner!
Chefchaouen was a nice place to relax. We ate dinner at the same restaurant (La Lampe Magique) for three nights in a row. The restaurant was right on the main plaza, and from the rooftop terrace there was a great 360 degree view of Plaza Uta el-Hammam, the restored kasbah, the mountains and houses in the distance, and of the full moon. It was one of the best settings for a restaurant that I've ever seen. The food was great, and each night we stuffed ourselves full.
From Chefchaouen we took a grand-taxi to Tetouan. Originally we were going to take the CTM bus at 12:30pm, but we were packed up and ready to go by 10am. Rather than wait around for a bus, we took a grand-taxi. It was a good move as we were in Tetouan by noon.
Both of us felt good to be back in an urban setting. So far on this trip, we have stayed in the touristy parts of Morocco -- riads, kasbahs, medinas. However, most places also have a "nouvelle-ville", which are more cosmopolitan and modern.
There's a large spanish influence in Tetouan. As we walked through the pedestrian-only streets, we felt that we could have been in any city in Europe. I guess that's why most Europeans avoid the nouvelle-villes and head straight to the medinas -- they can get european at home.
In Tetouan we walked briefly through the medina but we both felt out-medina'd. We visited the archaeology museum, which was quite good. It had a number of artefacts from the roman ruins of Volubilis (which we've visited), and Lixus (which we're going to in a couple days).
There was not much else to Tetouan, and so this morning we took a couple grand taxis to get to Asilah (via Tanger as there's no direct grand taxi).
Asilah is a resort town on the Atlantic. The medina is heavily gentrified. It's nice to walk through, and does not have the hustle and bustle of souqs in other medinas. We walked around the medina for a bit.
We're staying at the Hotel Patio de la Luna, which looks like a nice place to have a bottle of wine after dinner tonight.
As you may guess from the name of the hotel, spanish is more prevalent as a 2nd language as we've travelled through northern Morocco. Between Heather's french, and my spanish, we've been able to travel quite easily throughout our trip.
Morocco is the only country I've visited that it has been difficult and expensive to have a beer (and I've been to other predominantly Muslim countries). Most cities / towns have only a handful of licensed restaurants, where a 200ml bottle of Flag costs Dh20 (about $3 CDN). On occasion we've been buying a bottle of wine in alcohol stores, if our hotel room had a nice terrace to have a drink. The alcohol store in Asilah is right beside the hotel, so we're thinking of having a cold beer before dinner!
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Chefchaouen, Morocco
We're now relaxing in Chefchaouen, a little vacation within our trip. Chefchaouen (the 'ou' is pronounced as a 'w') is a little town in the Rif mountains. Most of the buildings are painted a sky-blue on the ground floor. The main square, Plaza Uta el-Hammam, contains a beautifully restored kasbah. The streets are all narrow cobblestone, climbing steeply up and down. The men here wear gowns with pointed hoods, and pointed shoes, which adds to the fairytale-like atmosphere. The only downside is that one of the main sources of income is from kif (aka marijuana). It's annoying to walk about town when every second step you have someone whisper to you if you'd like to buy some kif.
We've spent most of the time eating in nice restaurants overlooking the plaza, and reading / relaxing on the terrace in our hotel. Today we scrounged up enough energy to visit the kasbah and museum.
The weather has been a bit cooler since we left the desert. In the Todra Gorge and Meknes it was about mid-20s, and here it's been about the same. Today it feels a bit warmer.
We've spent most of the time eating in nice restaurants overlooking the plaza, and reading / relaxing on the terrace in our hotel. Today we scrounged up enough energy to visit the kasbah and museum.
The weather has been a bit cooler since we left the desert. In the Todra Gorge and Meknes it was about mid-20s, and here it's been about the same. Today it feels a bit warmer.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Meknes, Morocco
We've spent the last three days in Meknes, which is the longest we've been in one spot so far this trip.
We arrived very early in the morning in Meknes (5:30am!). Fortunately our hotel let us check in early as well, without charging us for the extra day. After showering, we headed out to the medina and souq. The souq wasn't that impressive. However, lunch was great. We had brochettes at an open-air restaurant in the main plaza, Place el-Hedim, watching the scene.
The next day we had a day trip, visiting both the Roman ruins at Volubilis, and the pilgrimage village of Moulay Idriss. We hired a driver for the half-day (Dh300), who of course drove a Mercedes.
I love visiting ruins and Volubilis did not disappoint. It was cool to see the expanse of ruins, spread over 40 hectares!! There were a few houses with cool mosaics still preserved.
Next we headed to Moulay Indriss. We were fortunate to be there on a Saturday, market day. It was nice to wander around the market without being hassled (there were very few tourists). Had lunch from a market stall, a brochette sandwich. Meat (usually beef) is barbecued, and stuffed into a pita-type bread, along with tomatoes, olives, some spices, and sometimes french fries. The breads are amazing here, as well as the olives and tomatoes and ..., generally all the ingredients are amazing. (We'll be on a bread and olive hunt when we get back to Toronto).
After lunch we hopped into our Mercedes and asked our driver to take us home. (Okay, so the Mercedes was circa 1975).
Today we had a day trip to Fes, about an hour east of Meknes. Most people head to Fes on a trip to Morocco; but we decided to stay in the less touristy Meknes, and see Fes on a day trip.
The souq in Fes is one of the better ones we've visited, topped only by Essaouira. We were trying to find the tanneries (where leather is cured and dyed), and were able to wind our way through the souq all on our ownsome! The occasional maps on the wall (similar to the PATH maps in the Toronto downtown underground) helped.
The leather shops have figured out that tourists want to see the tanneries, and so the only access to view them is from the roofs of leather shops. After, you may purchase an item or two if you so wish...
The smell was a bit intense (the leather is cured with pigeon dung and cow urine). However, it was a photographer's dream. You cannot take a bad picture here. Thank goodness for digital photography, because I took about 50 pictures.
After, Heather bought a purse from the co-operative. She had wanted to buy one from Fes, so the whole leather-shop-with-a-view-deal worked out.
While in Fes we had some b'sara. This is a local specialty, a soup made with chick peas and garlic, and other spices, served from little carts in the middle of the souq. It was really really tasty.
We made our way back to Meknes. The previous day we had seen a small butcher that made sandwiches that was extremely busy. So we checked it out for lunch. It was one of the best brochette sandwiches I've had. The place was a California Sandwiches of Meknes (California Sandwiches is an italian sandwich shop in Toronto that has huge line-ups of locals for the food).
This afternoon we saw a bit more of the medina in Meknes, including the masoleum of Moulay Ismail, and Heri es-Souani.
The masoleum was very beautiful. Its calmness was broken by numerous busloads of tourists following their guides. We waited about fifteen minutes to get a tourist-less picture of the fountain in the masoleum. Unfortnately the picture didn't look as good as I hoped.
Heri es-Souani is a huge granary that once held grain for 12,000 horses. It fell into disrepair, and is now being restored. It is massive. We wandered about, mostly on our own (very few other tourists made it here).
Tomorrow we're on a train/bus journey to Chefchaouen.
We arrived very early in the morning in Meknes (5:30am!). Fortunately our hotel let us check in early as well, without charging us for the extra day. After showering, we headed out to the medina and souq. The souq wasn't that impressive. However, lunch was great. We had brochettes at an open-air restaurant in the main plaza, Place el-Hedim, watching the scene.
The next day we had a day trip, visiting both the Roman ruins at Volubilis, and the pilgrimage village of Moulay Idriss. We hired a driver for the half-day (Dh300), who of course drove a Mercedes.
I love visiting ruins and Volubilis did not disappoint. It was cool to see the expanse of ruins, spread over 40 hectares!! There were a few houses with cool mosaics still preserved.
Next we headed to Moulay Indriss. We were fortunate to be there on a Saturday, market day. It was nice to wander around the market without being hassled (there were very few tourists). Had lunch from a market stall, a brochette sandwich. Meat (usually beef) is barbecued, and stuffed into a pita-type bread, along with tomatoes, olives, some spices, and sometimes french fries. The breads are amazing here, as well as the olives and tomatoes and ..., generally all the ingredients are amazing. (We'll be on a bread and olive hunt when we get back to Toronto).
After lunch we hopped into our Mercedes and asked our driver to take us home. (Okay, so the Mercedes was circa 1975).
Today we had a day trip to Fes, about an hour east of Meknes. Most people head to Fes on a trip to Morocco; but we decided to stay in the less touristy Meknes, and see Fes on a day trip.
The souq in Fes is one of the better ones we've visited, topped only by Essaouira. We were trying to find the tanneries (where leather is cured and dyed), and were able to wind our way through the souq all on our ownsome! The occasional maps on the wall (similar to the PATH maps in the Toronto downtown underground) helped.
The leather shops have figured out that tourists want to see the tanneries, and so the only access to view them is from the roofs of leather shops. After, you may purchase an item or two if you so wish...
The smell was a bit intense (the leather is cured with pigeon dung and cow urine). However, it was a photographer's dream. You cannot take a bad picture here. Thank goodness for digital photography, because I took about 50 pictures.
After, Heather bought a purse from the co-operative. She had wanted to buy one from Fes, so the whole leather-shop-with-a-view-deal worked out.
While in Fes we had some b'sara. This is a local specialty, a soup made with chick peas and garlic, and other spices, served from little carts in the middle of the souq. It was really really tasty.
We made our way back to Meknes. The previous day we had seen a small butcher that made sandwiches that was extremely busy. So we checked it out for lunch. It was one of the best brochette sandwiches I've had. The place was a California Sandwiches of Meknes (California Sandwiches is an italian sandwich shop in Toronto that has huge line-ups of locals for the food).
This afternoon we saw a bit more of the medina in Meknes, including the masoleum of Moulay Ismail, and Heri es-Souani.
The masoleum was very beautiful. Its calmness was broken by numerous busloads of tourists following their guides. We waited about fifteen minutes to get a tourist-less picture of the fountain in the masoleum. Unfortnately the picture didn't look as good as I hoped.
Heri es-Souani is a huge granary that once held grain for 12,000 horses. It fell into disrepair, and is now being restored. It is massive. We wandered about, mostly on our own (very few other tourists made it here).
Tomorrow we're on a train/bus journey to Chefchaouen.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Er-Rachidia, Morocco
We spent the last two days in the Todra Gorge, trekking and relaxing at one of our favourite hotels so far on this trip.
We took a CTM bus from Ouarzazat to Tinerhir, and then a grand taxi (a shared taxi -- six of us in a car for four) to our hotel, Auberge-Camping Le Festival, in the middle of the gorge. The road from Tinerhir travels along the bottom of the gorge, and in places is only 20m wide with 300m walls on both sides. It's really cool to see.
Our hotel was built out of stone from the surrounding area. The people who worked at the hotel were really friendly. After dinner, they handed out instruments (percussions for us and the other two travellers, sitar and guitar for them) and we played traditional Berber songs. It was really relaxing.
Yesterday we did a little trek through the High Atlas. It was supposed to be four hours through the mountains to a berber town called Tamtattouchte, and then two hours back along the road to our hotel.
We started from the hotel (1600m) at 8am, and followed the occasionally marked trail up a dry river bed. We picked out trail markings every 10-15 minutes, a small pile of stones here, or a red paint mark there. After two hours, we didn't see any more markings; however, we had a general idea of the geography and so weren't too bad off. We had to crest the range at 2400m, and then walk down the other side towards the main river (which the road followed). It was a beautiful walk, with only the two of us and the High Atlas. We ran into a couple of nomadic Berbers, but that was it.
A friendly dog from the hotel had followed us, and we hoped he would turn around at some point. But he kept with us, and so we had to share our water, with Heather cupping her hands for the dog to drink from.
It took us four hours to crest the range, at which point we could see the main river in the distance. We found a feeder river (dry at this time of year), and followed the river bed down. It was a bit difficult, and it took us two hours to descend to the main river (which did have water), and then to the village.
At this point the dog took off in Tamtattouchte. We were worried about the dog finding its way back home, and so ran all over the village trying to chase it down. He was scared of the local kids, and didn't have a collar, so when I found him, I had to carry him through the village back to Heather. We must have looked quite the sight, two tourists running about the village yelling for a dog. We attracted a merry bunch of about 20 kids, all eager to be part of the adventure.
We had lunch at a restaurant, and then debated walking back to our hotel. It was 15km down the road, and it was already 3pm so we decided to take a grand-taxi back (with the dog).
We got back to the hotel, at which point we found out that the dog was stray, and had showed up at the hotel about two weeks ago! He was well-behaved and looked to be well taken care of, so we're not sure where he came from.
This morning we took a much more leisurely two-hour walk, down the road through the gorge. It's amazing to see the 300m walls rise up beside the road. Unfortunately there are plenty of makeshift stalls selling souvenirs, which mar the pictures. I guess they give scale...
Right now, we're in the middle of bus rides to get to Meknes. It was a short bus ride (two hours) from Tinerhir to Er-Rachidia, where we're waiting for our overnight bus to Meknes. CTM only runs buses overnight between the cities. There are other private bus lines with dayside buses but they're not as clean or punctual as CTM.
We took a CTM bus from Ouarzazat to Tinerhir, and then a grand taxi (a shared taxi -- six of us in a car for four) to our hotel, Auberge-Camping Le Festival, in the middle of the gorge. The road from Tinerhir travels along the bottom of the gorge, and in places is only 20m wide with 300m walls on both sides. It's really cool to see.
Our hotel was built out of stone from the surrounding area. The people who worked at the hotel were really friendly. After dinner, they handed out instruments (percussions for us and the other two travellers, sitar and guitar for them) and we played traditional Berber songs. It was really relaxing.
Yesterday we did a little trek through the High Atlas. It was supposed to be four hours through the mountains to a berber town called Tamtattouchte, and then two hours back along the road to our hotel.
We started from the hotel (1600m) at 8am, and followed the occasionally marked trail up a dry river bed. We picked out trail markings every 10-15 minutes, a small pile of stones here, or a red paint mark there. After two hours, we didn't see any more markings; however, we had a general idea of the geography and so weren't too bad off. We had to crest the range at 2400m, and then walk down the other side towards the main river (which the road followed). It was a beautiful walk, with only the two of us and the High Atlas. We ran into a couple of nomadic Berbers, but that was it.
A friendly dog from the hotel had followed us, and we hoped he would turn around at some point. But he kept with us, and so we had to share our water, with Heather cupping her hands for the dog to drink from.
It took us four hours to crest the range, at which point we could see the main river in the distance. We found a feeder river (dry at this time of year), and followed the river bed down. It was a bit difficult, and it took us two hours to descend to the main river (which did have water), and then to the village.
At this point the dog took off in Tamtattouchte. We were worried about the dog finding its way back home, and so ran all over the village trying to chase it down. He was scared of the local kids, and didn't have a collar, so when I found him, I had to carry him through the village back to Heather. We must have looked quite the sight, two tourists running about the village yelling for a dog. We attracted a merry bunch of about 20 kids, all eager to be part of the adventure.
We had lunch at a restaurant, and then debated walking back to our hotel. It was 15km down the road, and it was already 3pm so we decided to take a grand-taxi back (with the dog).
We got back to the hotel, at which point we found out that the dog was stray, and had showed up at the hotel about two weeks ago! He was well-behaved and looked to be well taken care of, so we're not sure where he came from.
This morning we took a much more leisurely two-hour walk, down the road through the gorge. It's amazing to see the 300m walls rise up beside the road. Unfortunately there are plenty of makeshift stalls selling souvenirs, which mar the pictures. I guess they give scale...
Right now, we're in the middle of bus rides to get to Meknes. It was a short bus ride (two hours) from Tinerhir to Er-Rachidia, where we're waiting for our overnight bus to Meknes. CTM only runs buses overnight between the cities. There are other private bus lines with dayside buses but they're not as clean or punctual as CTM.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Ouarzazat, Morocco
We've just come back from a two-day trip into the Sahara, including a night in a berber tent in the Sahara.
...
The cooking course was excellent! We made the two standard dishes of Morocco: couscous and tajine. The couscous is made in multiple steps, steaming it slightly, adding a bit of water and oil, mixing by hand, and then repeating three times. Our couscous actually came out quite light and fluffy! Tajine is basically a stew, cooked in an earthern pot slowly over coals. The locals all have a place that they take their pot to slow-cook. Ours was a few doors down from the riad, in the basement where they had a firepit for the hotwater for the hammam. Many people already had their tajine cooking, and so we had to mark our names to identify our pot. Unfortunately we had to walk through the streets in white aprons that screamed tourist!
We ate our meal with a bottle of Moroccan red on the rooftop of the riad, by candlelight with the sounds of the market off in the distance. It was really nice.
From Marrakesh we took a long bus ride through the Tizi'n'Tichka pass, with many hairpin turns. Many people got sick from the journey, including Heather. She was happy to finally get to Ouarzazat.
Ouarzazat relies heavily on the movie industry. That also means that there are not many places catering to backpackers. We stayed in a kasbah, just for the experience. In other countries, these would be called crumbling adobe buildings. However, in Morocco they're called kasbahs, The Clash wrote a song about them, and now they're expensive places to stay.
The kasbah actually contains many buildings in a fort, all linked by tunnels under the main floors. This provided protection in the old days, and the system also kept the living floors quite cool during the day. (It was 42C outside when we stayed here).
Our room was really nice, with dark pise walls and crimson upholstery, giving it an oriental feel. Plus, it had a/c!
Aside from the nice room, though, we didn't get a good feel from the town. The next few days promised more heat, long bus rides on winding roads, and so-so accommodation, in order to reach the dunes of the Sahara outside M'Hamid. So, we dropped into a travel agency, and signed up for an organized tour.
It's low season, so there was just Heather and I in a large Toyota SUV, along with a driver and a go-fer. Instead of taking a couple days by public bus, we were able to hit all the highlights in the Draa Valley in one day, reaching the dunes by mid-afternoon. It was another hot day, reaching over 40C. (A dry heat, which supposedly makes it feel better). There were some great views along the drive, of kasbahs and palm groves and Berber villages. Our driver (also the guide) was excellent.
We reached the Erg Lehoudi dunes around 6pm. There was a strong wind, and it was not pleasant to be outside the SUV, facing the blowing sand which gets into everything. We climbed the tallest dune (I was surprised at the lack of footprints from other tourists, as even in a strong wind, footprints take a while to be erased). We quickly ran down (the wind had packed the sand into a hard surface, so it wasn't a fun run down loose sand that I was expecting).
Dinner was couscous and tasted quite good, with a little bit of grit (did I mention the sand gets everywhere?)
Into the night, the wind died down and the desert became quite pleasant. The stars were amazing.
We woke up at 5am in order to catch the sunrise. It's not the actual sun that's impressive, but rather the lighting on the sand dunes. It was well worth the early rise -- the untouched sand dunes were really impressive. The only other time I've seen sand dunes without footprints was in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. It was really a treat to see untouched dunes again.
The drive back to Ouarzazat was much more pleasant, because it was in the (cooler) morning hours. A couple of seemingly mandatory stops at carpet shops and the inevitable cup of sugary mint tea later, and we were finally back in Ouarzazat. Our first priority was a shower, but first we had to have more tea with the tour operator and look at fine Berber artefacts. Finally we checked into a hotel, showered and cleaned up.
Tonight we're relaxing, and having dinner out. The first night here (before the Sahara tour), we ate at an Italian restaurant (which caters to the many Italian film types here). We had gnocchi in a gorgonzola sauce, and spaghetti in pesto sauce. It was a nice break from Moroccan (I generally like the food of the country I'm in, but it's nice to have some variety now and then). Tonight we are looking at a French restaurant.
Tomorrow we're off to the Todra Gorge for some trekking.
...
The cooking course was excellent! We made the two standard dishes of Morocco: couscous and tajine. The couscous is made in multiple steps, steaming it slightly, adding a bit of water and oil, mixing by hand, and then repeating three times. Our couscous actually came out quite light and fluffy! Tajine is basically a stew, cooked in an earthern pot slowly over coals. The locals all have a place that they take their pot to slow-cook. Ours was a few doors down from the riad, in the basement where they had a firepit for the hotwater for the hammam. Many people already had their tajine cooking, and so we had to mark our names to identify our pot. Unfortunately we had to walk through the streets in white aprons that screamed tourist!
We ate our meal with a bottle of Moroccan red on the rooftop of the riad, by candlelight with the sounds of the market off in the distance. It was really nice.
From Marrakesh we took a long bus ride through the Tizi'n'Tichka pass, with many hairpin turns. Many people got sick from the journey, including Heather. She was happy to finally get to Ouarzazat.
Ouarzazat relies heavily on the movie industry. That also means that there are not many places catering to backpackers. We stayed in a kasbah, just for the experience. In other countries, these would be called crumbling adobe buildings. However, in Morocco they're called kasbahs, The Clash wrote a song about them, and now they're expensive places to stay.
The kasbah actually contains many buildings in a fort, all linked by tunnels under the main floors. This provided protection in the old days, and the system also kept the living floors quite cool during the day. (It was 42C outside when we stayed here).
Our room was really nice, with dark pise walls and crimson upholstery, giving it an oriental feel. Plus, it had a/c!
Aside from the nice room, though, we didn't get a good feel from the town. The next few days promised more heat, long bus rides on winding roads, and so-so accommodation, in order to reach the dunes of the Sahara outside M'Hamid. So, we dropped into a travel agency, and signed up for an organized tour.
It's low season, so there was just Heather and I in a large Toyota SUV, along with a driver and a go-fer. Instead of taking a couple days by public bus, we were able to hit all the highlights in the Draa Valley in one day, reaching the dunes by mid-afternoon. It was another hot day, reaching over 40C. (A dry heat, which supposedly makes it feel better). There were some great views along the drive, of kasbahs and palm groves and Berber villages. Our driver (also the guide) was excellent.
We reached the Erg Lehoudi dunes around 6pm. There was a strong wind, and it was not pleasant to be outside the SUV, facing the blowing sand which gets into everything. We climbed the tallest dune (I was surprised at the lack of footprints from other tourists, as even in a strong wind, footprints take a while to be erased). We quickly ran down (the wind had packed the sand into a hard surface, so it wasn't a fun run down loose sand that I was expecting).
Dinner was couscous and tasted quite good, with a little bit of grit (did I mention the sand gets everywhere?)
Into the night, the wind died down and the desert became quite pleasant. The stars were amazing.
We woke up at 5am in order to catch the sunrise. It's not the actual sun that's impressive, but rather the lighting on the sand dunes. It was well worth the early rise -- the untouched sand dunes were really impressive. The only other time I've seen sand dunes without footprints was in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. It was really a treat to see untouched dunes again.
The drive back to Ouarzazat was much more pleasant, because it was in the (cooler) morning hours. A couple of seemingly mandatory stops at carpet shops and the inevitable cup of sugary mint tea later, and we were finally back in Ouarzazat. Our first priority was a shower, but first we had to have more tea with the tour operator and look at fine Berber artefacts. Finally we checked into a hotel, showered and cleaned up.
Tonight we're relaxing, and having dinner out. The first night here (before the Sahara tour), we ate at an Italian restaurant (which caters to the many Italian film types here). We had gnocchi in a gorgonzola sauce, and spaghetti in pesto sauce. It was a nice break from Moroccan (I generally like the food of the country I'm in, but it's nice to have some variety now and then). Tonight we are looking at a French restaurant.
Tomorrow we're off to the Todra Gorge for some trekking.
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