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]
Thursday, June 14, 2007
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.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Marrakesh, Morocco
We're now into the heat that I was expecting in Morocco. Along the coast the temperature was mild (we were wearing our fleeces at night), but here in Marrakesh it's stinking hot (35C).
Even getting here by bus was hot. CTM only had one bus, late in the afternoon, so we took another line. There was no air conditioning, but I figured that if we sat on the shady side (going east this was on the left) and by a window, we'd be fine. I had bought some pistachios to share with the locals on the bus (as the Lonely Planet had suggested). Heather had a knot in her back which I was trying to massage, when an old lady (who looked like the old lady in Babel) in the seat behind took over and rubbed Heather's back quickly, stretched Heather's arms behind her back, and presto, knot gone. We shared some pistachios, and she offered some mint in return (which you nibble on). The bus ride was nice, until the old lady motioned to us to close the window (maybe she was cold?) Neither of us were going to suggest that maybe we could keep the window open, so the bus gradually became hotter as the journey continued.
I have a good sense of direction and figured I could find our way to the riad when we arrived in Marrakesh, despite the Lonely Planet warnings that it is difficult to find anything in the souq. I hit all my landmarks on the way to the riad, but then we just couldn't find the place. We asked a few people in the souq, and it was always around a corner, juste là . Finally we had to pay a kid Dh10 to lead us. It was down at the end of a twisty alley, without any markings or signage on the door (as is normal). It was Dh10 well spent.
The riad is really nice, although a bit of a splurge (Dh1050). It's even nicer than the previous place in Essaouira.
Last night we ate dinner in Djemaa el-Fna, a huge open air food market. The food was actually quite bland :( There's a lot of tourists here (even a Club Med right on the square), so I think the food is westernized-down a bit. After eating couscous and tajine, we tried another stall, which had cow's tongue, camel hump and some part of lamb. The camel hump was spongy like tofu. The tongue and lamb were quite good.
This morning we visited Ali ben Yousef Medersa (a theological college), Koubba Ba'adiyn (a sanctuary) and Musée de Marrakech. This afternoon we're taking a cooking class in our riad!
We're not that impressed with Marrakech, although it is interesting to visit.
Even getting here by bus was hot. CTM only had one bus, late in the afternoon, so we took another line. There was no air conditioning, but I figured that if we sat on the shady side (going east this was on the left) and by a window, we'd be fine. I had bought some pistachios to share with the locals on the bus (as the Lonely Planet had suggested). Heather had a knot in her back which I was trying to massage, when an old lady (who looked like the old lady in Babel) in the seat behind took over and rubbed Heather's back quickly, stretched Heather's arms behind her back, and presto, knot gone. We shared some pistachios, and she offered some mint in return (which you nibble on). The bus ride was nice, until the old lady motioned to us to close the window (maybe she was cold?) Neither of us were going to suggest that maybe we could keep the window open, so the bus gradually became hotter as the journey continued.
I have a good sense of direction and figured I could find our way to the riad when we arrived in Marrakesh, despite the Lonely Planet warnings that it is difficult to find anything in the souq. I hit all my landmarks on the way to the riad, but then we just couldn't find the place. We asked a few people in the souq, and it was always around a corner, juste là . Finally we had to pay a kid Dh10 to lead us. It was down at the end of a twisty alley, without any markings or signage on the door (as is normal). It was Dh10 well spent.
The riad is really nice, although a bit of a splurge (Dh1050). It's even nicer than the previous place in Essaouira.
Last night we ate dinner in Djemaa el-Fna, a huge open air food market. The food was actually quite bland :( There's a lot of tourists here (even a Club Med right on the square), so I think the food is westernized-down a bit. After eating couscous and tajine, we tried another stall, which had cow's tongue, camel hump and some part of lamb. The camel hump was spongy like tofu. The tongue and lamb were quite good.
This morning we visited Ali ben Yousef Medersa (a theological college), Koubba Ba'adiyn (a sanctuary) and Musée de Marrakech. This afternoon we're taking a cooking class in our riad!
We're not that impressed with Marrakech, although it is interesting to visit.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Essaouira, Morocco
We've stayed in three places so far in Morocco, and each place has been better than the previous. Here in Essaouira (esa-wera), we're at the Riad Emeraude. (A riad is a traditonal town house set around an internal garden). We have a cosy room on the top floor. The bathroom is more modern than ours at home, straight out of a interior design magazine. The bed has curtains all around. Outside our room are a number of little tables to sit and read or eat or sip mint tea.
We took a grand taxi from Oualidia to Safi. A grand taxi is a car, normally (over)shared here with six passengers. We split it four ways with a french couple we met in our hotel in Oualidia, to be in comfort. The car itself was a Mercedes circa 1984, (there are a lot of old Mercedes here). From Safi, we took a CTM bus to Oualidia. The bus station is just outside the medina (old walled city), and we walked to our reserved room at the riad. We were both amazed at the beauty of the riad and room (and for Dh400!)
We cleaned up (one of the nicest showers I've had travelling), and then went out for dinner. There is an outdoor fish grill near the harbour, and that's where we headed. Along the way we sampled escargot from a street vendor -- ladled from a hot peppery broth into a tin cup (you also sip the broth) (for Dh10!). We watched a beautiful sunset from the harbour, and then made our way to the fish stalls. We picked out some seafood -- red snapper, calamari, prawns, and whiting, which were then perfectly grilled, and served with khoobz (the artisan bread), and tomatoes and onion. Mmmm. On the walk back to the hotel, we bought some Moroccan slippers for use inside the riad. They're both in traditional funky colours.
Morocco is mostly Muslim, and drinking alcohol in public is frowned upon. However, there are wine stores (mostly catering to tourists), and so we picked up a bottle of Moroccan red. Heather and I drank it on the roof-top terrace of our riad, and chatted the night away under the stars.
This morning we had breakfast on said terrace -- freshly-squeezed orange juice, french pastries, and tea (Heather had a cafe au lait). We then walked along the boardwalk to Borj el-Berod, a ruin half-buried in sand, about 4km outside the medina. It's really windy in this town, and we were blasted by sand at a few points.
The PCs in this internet cafe don't have available USB slots so I can't upload any pics. Otherwise you could check out our new shoes!
We took a grand taxi from Oualidia to Safi. A grand taxi is a car, normally (over)shared here with six passengers. We split it four ways with a french couple we met in our hotel in Oualidia, to be in comfort. The car itself was a Mercedes circa 1984, (there are a lot of old Mercedes here). From Safi, we took a CTM bus to Oualidia. The bus station is just outside the medina (old walled city), and we walked to our reserved room at the riad. We were both amazed at the beauty of the riad and room (and for Dh400!)
We cleaned up (one of the nicest showers I've had travelling), and then went out for dinner. There is an outdoor fish grill near the harbour, and that's where we headed. Along the way we sampled escargot from a street vendor -- ladled from a hot peppery broth into a tin cup (you also sip the broth) (for Dh10!). We watched a beautiful sunset from the harbour, and then made our way to the fish stalls. We picked out some seafood -- red snapper, calamari, prawns, and whiting, which were then perfectly grilled, and served with khoobz (the artisan bread), and tomatoes and onion. Mmmm. On the walk back to the hotel, we bought some Moroccan slippers for use inside the riad. They're both in traditional funky colours.
Morocco is mostly Muslim, and drinking alcohol in public is frowned upon. However, there are wine stores (mostly catering to tourists), and so we picked up a bottle of Moroccan red. Heather and I drank it on the roof-top terrace of our riad, and chatted the night away under the stars.
This morning we had breakfast on said terrace -- freshly-squeezed orange juice, french pastries, and tea (Heather had a cafe au lait). We then walked along the boardwalk to Borj el-Berod, a ruin half-buried in sand, about 4km outside the medina. It's really windy in this town, and we were blasted by sand at a few points.
The PCs in this internet cafe don't have available USB slots so I can't upload any pics. Otherwise you could check out our new shoes!
Monday, May 14, 2007
Oualidia, Morocco
We're in the fishing village of Oualidia, population 4,000. It's on a beautiful little lagoon, which feeds the neighbouring oyster farms. Yesterday the village and beach were bustling, filled with locals on weekend trips. Today it's much quieter, although very windy and not very comfortable beach weather.
...
Dinner in Casablanca was excellent. I had lamb tanjine, and Heather had the seven-vegetable couscous (a Casablanca specialty). The Lonely Planet describes couscous as "you know the yellow stuff that comes in a box that you boil for 3 minutes and let sit? well that's not couscous". And they're right. The stuff we make at home nowhere resembles how good the couscous is here. It's light, fluffy, tasty... We shared a 50cl bottle of Moroccan wine (also quite good), and tried a Flag beer (not so good - reminded me of Bud Light).
The next morning we caught a CTM bus (the national bus company) to Oualidia. (The "Ou" is a "w", as in the french "Oui"). The CTM buses are very efficient, with computerized seat reservations and tagged luggage. No worries about my pack getting stolen here. I slept for most of the trip, still a bit jet-lagged.
Oualidia is small enough that it doesn't warrant a map in the Lonely Planet. We walked down the road leading to the beach, and found the hotel. Heather had called the day before to reserve a room at the Hotel L'Initiale. It's a quaint little place with six rooms, about 50m from the beach, for 400Dh.
We explored around the beach and the village. We had dinner at the restaurant in our hotel, but we were still hungry, so went to another place that was filled with locals. This place was much better, (they even gave us a half-dozen oysters on the house!) We both liked the oysters here in Oualidia, very distinctive from other places.
A very common sight here is people sitting in cafès having a mint tea. We have had a few so far, although I can't pace my sipping and usually end up drinking half of Heather's as well. The mint tea is some sort of tea leaf, with a lot of mint leaves and some sweetener (maybe honey). It's really good.
Today for lunch we had sardines freshly-caught from the ocean and grilled streetside, with artisan bread. It was very tasty. We had to be shown how to eat the sardines, first peeling away the skin, and then creating a sardine sandwich. Mmmm good. Very cheap too -- about 30Dh for the two of us.
...
Dinner in Casablanca was excellent. I had lamb tanjine, and Heather had the seven-vegetable couscous (a Casablanca specialty). The Lonely Planet describes couscous as "you know the yellow stuff that comes in a box that you boil for 3 minutes and let sit? well that's not couscous". And they're right. The stuff we make at home nowhere resembles how good the couscous is here. It's light, fluffy, tasty... We shared a 50cl bottle of Moroccan wine (also quite good), and tried a Flag beer (not so good - reminded me of Bud Light).
The next morning we caught a CTM bus (the national bus company) to Oualidia. (The "Ou" is a "w", as in the french "Oui"). The CTM buses are very efficient, with computerized seat reservations and tagged luggage. No worries about my pack getting stolen here. I slept for most of the trip, still a bit jet-lagged.
Oualidia is small enough that it doesn't warrant a map in the Lonely Planet. We walked down the road leading to the beach, and found the hotel. Heather had called the day before to reserve a room at the Hotel L'Initiale. It's a quaint little place with six rooms, about 50m from the beach, for 400Dh.
We explored around the beach and the village. We had dinner at the restaurant in our hotel, but we were still hungry, so went to another place that was filled with locals. This place was much better, (they even gave us a half-dozen oysters on the house!) We both liked the oysters here in Oualidia, very distinctive from other places.
A very common sight here is people sitting in cafès having a mint tea. We have had a few so far, although I can't pace my sipping and usually end up drinking half of Heather's as well. The mint tea is some sort of tea leaf, with a lot of mint leaves and some sweetener (maybe honey). It's really good.
Today for lunch we had sardines freshly-caught from the ocean and grilled streetside, with artisan bread. It was very tasty. We had to be shown how to eat the sardines, first peeling away the skin, and then creating a sardine sandwich. Mmmm good. Very cheap too -- about 30Dh for the two of us.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Casablanca, Morocco
We arrived safely in Casablanca none worse for the wear. The biggest adjustment is to this french keyboard, which is not labelled correctly on the keys. It took a bit of experimentation to find the period so I could log into a website.
So far today we have had a sandwich at a popular little local bistro; bought bus tickets to Oualidia for tomorrow; walked around a few pedestrian only streets; sipped a mint tea at a sidewalk cafe; and explored the medina. The medina is packed with little stores and has great photo ops.
I have been pleasantly surprised at the lack of hassling; we have seen very few other tourists, perhaps because it is early in the season. (I cannot find the apostrophe on the keyboard and so feel like Data from Star Trek). The weather is very comfortable, mid 20s with a slight breeze.
Tonight we are having dinner in the hotel restaurant, which is supposed to be quite good.
So far today we have had a sandwich at a popular little local bistro; bought bus tickets to Oualidia for tomorrow; walked around a few pedestrian only streets; sipped a mint tea at a sidewalk cafe; and explored the medina. The medina is packed with little stores and has great photo ops.
I have been pleasantly surprised at the lack of hassling; we have seen very few other tourists, perhaps because it is early in the season. (I cannot find the apostrophe on the keyboard and so feel like Data from Star Trek). The weather is very comfortable, mid 20s with a slight breeze.
Tonight we are having dinner in the hotel restaurant, which is supposed to be quite good.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Toronto, Canada
We called today to reserve a room at Hôtel Guynemer in Casablanca, the "Author's choice" in the Lonely Planet. (I like to reserve ahead for the first night on a trip, because I feel more of a target fresh off the plane.) The Hôtel Guynemer offers an airport pick-up service to boot! I conferenced in Heather to make the reservation (Heather used to be fluent in french), however their english was really good so we conversed in english. They did have problems with her name, so it will be interesting to see the sign (my guess is Hither).
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Toronto, Canada
I found a cool tool, Atlas (which is based on GoogleMaps). I created a sample of my Thailand-Cambodia-Lao trip.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Toronto, Canada
I made it home in one piece, and so did all of my souvenirs. I've posted some pics up on kodakgallery.com:
Gorillas in Rwanda
Safari in Tanzania
Climbing Kili
Zanzibar
The site asks you to sign in, but there's a "View Photos without signing in" button that you can click on.
My favourites:
Gorillas in Rwanda
Safari in Tanzania
Climbing Kili
Zanzibar
The site asks you to sign in, but there's a "View Photos without signing in" button that you can click on.
My favourites:
Friday, November 25, 2005
Nairobi, Kenya
JP, Susan and I returned from Zanzibar and are spending our last few hours in Nairobi before our flights home late tonight. (Quick background: JP and his friend Susan traveled together on safari, similar to Marissa and I. Then JP and I met up to climb Kili, went on to Zanzibar where we met Susan). The three of us are killing the afternoon, buying souvenirs, avoiding the intermittent short rains, surfing the web...
JP and Susan fly on BA and I'm on KLM so I won't see them on the flights (nor on the seven hour layover in Amsterdam), but I have my big fat Dostoyevsky book to tide the time.
Zanzibar was VERY relaxing. Mostly it was spent at laying around the Nyota bungalows, listening to the ocean, reading books, staying out of the sun, waiting for the next meal (the seafood was amazing).
We got out diving once (on Thurdsay, every other day was fully-booked). Went on a double dive. The first one was rather uneventful, not many fishes or coral to look at. The second dive was better, we saw three big turtles, including one swimming, which I've never seen while diving, it was pretty cool. Overall I thought there was more to see in the Caribbean (plus the water's warmer there -- about 28C vs only 25C here). We did wear full wetsuits which was a first for me. But it was fun to be out diving again. I'd like to go on a diving vacation at some point, because the first dive is mostly wasted on getting my feet wet again (pardon the pun).
I'll be home shortly, and I'll post pictures from my trip. See you soon if you're in Toronto!
JP and Susan fly on BA and I'm on KLM so I won't see them on the flights (nor on the seven hour layover in Amsterdam), but I have my big fat Dostoyevsky book to tide the time.
Zanzibar was VERY relaxing. Mostly it was spent at laying around the Nyota bungalows, listening to the ocean, reading books, staying out of the sun, waiting for the next meal (the seafood was amazing).
We got out diving once (on Thurdsay, every other day was fully-booked). Went on a double dive. The first one was rather uneventful, not many fishes or coral to look at. The second dive was better, we saw three big turtles, including one swimming, which I've never seen while diving, it was pretty cool. Overall I thought there was more to see in the Caribbean (plus the water's warmer there -- about 28C vs only 25C here). We did wear full wetsuits which was a first for me. But it was fun to be out diving again. I'd like to go on a diving vacation at some point, because the first dive is mostly wasted on getting my feet wet again (pardon the pun).
I'll be home shortly, and I'll post pictures from my trip. See you soon if you're in Toronto!
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Stone Town, Zanzibar Island, Tanzania
JP and I are now on the "relaxing" part of our trips. We flew into Zanzibar Island yesterday, and got a hotel on Matemwe Beach, about an hour from Stone Town on the northeast side of the island.
We wanted to stay at a resort that is affiliated with a 5-star PADI Dive Centre, but the hotel was full. However, they recommended a new place (not even in the Lonely Planet yet), and it's really nice. It's the nicest bed I've slept in on this trip, and the food is the best I've had in east Africa. It's run by Patricia, an italian ex-pat, and it's very well done. Everything is quite simple, but it all works. Yesterday for lunch, JP had the best calamari I've ever tasted (I'm going to have that today). We're sticking with seafood for the rest of the trip here.
Unfortunately the Dive Centre is booked up today and possibly tomorrow, so we may only get diving in on Thursday.
The place we're staying at is very nice to relax and read. I traded one of the books I finished for a Dostoevsky (sp?) book, which will be some nice light reading for the long trip back.
Today we took a day trip into Stone Town, bought some souvenirs, took lotsa pictures, and have access to the web. The place we're at is so remote, the taxi driver had to continually ask people where it was, and there's no real roads around the place, just random sand roads.
The beach is amazing, very very fine white sand. The water's only 25C (lower than the 28C I'm used to diving in in the Caribbean). But there should be lots of little fishies to see.
We wanted to stay at a resort that is affiliated with a 5-star PADI Dive Centre, but the hotel was full. However, they recommended a new place (not even in the Lonely Planet yet), and it's really nice. It's the nicest bed I've slept in on this trip, and the food is the best I've had in east Africa. It's run by Patricia, an italian ex-pat, and it's very well done. Everything is quite simple, but it all works. Yesterday for lunch, JP had the best calamari I've ever tasted (I'm going to have that today). We're sticking with seafood for the rest of the trip here.
Unfortunately the Dive Centre is booked up today and possibly tomorrow, so we may only get diving in on Thursday.
The place we're staying at is very nice to relax and read. I traded one of the books I finished for a Dostoevsky (sp?) book, which will be some nice light reading for the long trip back.
Today we took a day trip into Stone Town, bought some souvenirs, took lotsa pictures, and have access to the web. The place we're at is so remote, the taxi driver had to continually ask people where it was, and there's no real roads around the place, just random sand roads.
The beach is amazing, very very fine white sand. The water's only 25C (lower than the 28C I'm used to diving in in the Caribbean). But there should be lots of little fishies to see.
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Moshi, Tanzania
We made it! was all I could say to a group of amused Germans after JP and I returned to the Kibo huts from Uhuru, the peak of Kili.
...
We started the climb on Tuesday. We drove from Moshi to the Marangu gate, our guide (Emmanuel) went through the paperwork, and we were off by noon.
The first day we climbed from 1800m to 2700m, to the Mandara huts. The walk was first through rainforest, abruptly changing to heathers around 2300m (JP has a GPS, a neat little toy for a trip such as this). It took us 3.5 hours to cover the 8km.
The second day we climbed to Homboro, at 3700m, about 11km from Mandara. This took us about 4 hours, and we had now cleared the treeline and the walk was through beautiful moorlands. I felt quite sick that evening, with headaches, and was worried about altitude sickness. A couple Tylenol cleared that up, and I now suspect it was caused by sun exposure rather than altitude, because I did not have any problems the rest of the way.
The third day was a planned rest day, in order to help acclimatization. We had a short day-trip to about 4100m, (it's better to sleep below the high point of the day), from which we had an excellent view of the remaining walk.
The fourth day we walked to the Kibo huts, at 4700m. The normal 6-day Marangu climb involves walking to Kibo on Day 4, and then getting up at 11pm to ascend to the summit by 6am and returning back to Horombo on Day 5, and then back to the gate on Day 6. However, we covered the 9km to the Kibo huts in 3.5 hours, and our guide asked us if we wanted to climb to the summit that afternoon! -- the benefit being that it was about 10C at the summit dayside, and -15C nightside. We got all excited, and quickly had some lunch, and by 12:15 pm we were off! (JP and I, plus Emmanuel and a assistant guide -- so that there was one guide per climber).
The climb from Kibo huts to Gilman's point is a 1000m ascent, at about a 45* incline. We covered the first 500m quite quickly, and then took a break. I had a Snickers bar (packed with peanuts, I found it really satisfying), and an "energy tablet" from Emmanuel, which I think was just a citrus candy. That gave me a boost, and we started on the remaining 500m to Gilman's. The terrain was now steeper and just loose gravel and sand. Not the easiest thing to walk up.
We made it to 200m remaining and took another break. I didn't have a headache, which surprised me, but at over 5000m it was tough going. My heart was beating as fast as I have ever heard it, and I just couldn't get a full breath of air because it was so thin. We psyched ourselves up, thinking only 200m to go, we can do that! But I kept on looking up every couple minutes and it wasn't getting much closer.
Finally we reached the top of Gilman's, at roughly 5700m, after 3.5 hours. Almost there! From Gilman's there was a great view into the crater, and it was cool to see clouds wisping up the mountain, breaking into streaks that dove into the crater and then up the other side.
I had another Snickers bar and Emmanuel's energy tablet.
Our true goal was another 200m up, around the rim of the crater, to Uhuru. Fortunately, this was an easier walk, although we started by going down 10m, and all I could think was that we'd pay for that by having to ascend 10m later on.
The walk to Uhuru took about 1 hour, and this was the only part that was really cold. Finally in the approachable distance, we could see the signs announcing Uhuru!
JP reached the peak first with his guide, and shortly after (local time 5pm, Toronto time 10am Friday), I reached there. The guides hugged us and congratulated us.
(This next part is slightly fuzzy, and mostly is recounted from stories JP and I told over beers back down at the hotel. The lack of oxygen at that height 5896m, affected our thinking, in that we weren't really thinking at all)
I looked around, not clear on what to do next. Our guide took pictures of us with our cameras. I had enough wits to take a 360 panaroma. I don't remember feeling elated or happy or anything. I was just on autopilot.
We walked back to Gilman's (about 30 minutes), and then began descending the gravel. This was fun, although really exhausting. We took giant moonsteps down, each foot sinking and sliding about 5m before stopping. It was like skiing moguls, and JP and I could only keep it going for 10 seconds at a time, before our legs gave up. The descent down to Kibo huts took about an hour, finishing just as darkness fell on the mountain. That's when I entered the hut, and showed up in front of the Germans in the dining room, telling them that we had made it.
I was drenched in sweat, and took off most of the layers of clothing. We could only have soup for dinner, solid food seemed like too much work. I tried to sleep, but my body was too pumped from the last 11 hours of walking up 2200m and back down 1200m, over 18km. My brain still wasn't really thinking.
Everyone else at Kibo woke up at 11pm to begin their night ascent, and JP and I both wished everyone luck. Finally around midnight I fell asleep.
on Day 5, we walked all the way back from Kibo to the Marangu gates, a drop of 3000m over 30km. This was the most physically exhausting part of the climb. Passing down through 4000m, I was surprised that I was thinking again, and realized that I hadn't had much thoughts over the last little while. Amazing what oxygen does for the brain. The air became gradually thicker, and it was very noticeable.
We got back to the hotel by 5pm, and showered for the first time in 5 days. Over that time, I had had no alcohol or caffeine (to help prevent altitude sickness), the cook was good but had some kind of aversion to salt, walking 10km a day in clean air -- in short, it's probably the healthiest my body has been in a while.
A few beers at the hotel fixed that problem, with JP, and Gary and Ricky, two other guys we had met on the climb (Gary was also on my safari). It was then that much of the stories of the ascent to Uhuru were pieced together. I hadn't realized the effect of thin oxygen on thinking until that point!
Many people say it's the hardest thing they've done in their lives. For me, it was physically exhausting, but no more so than say playing hockey with only 2 guys on the bench. Mentally, I find it harder to wake up for my early morning meetings on Wednesdays. It was physically and mentally exhausting, but not that bad. (For the record, I found learning to roll a kayak the hardest thing I've done. I was on a kayak course in Nepal, and didn't have to learn to roll -- but I wanted to, and spent many extra hours in the glacial (ie darned cold) waters of the Kali Gandaki before I finally got it. Climbing Kili, I had to reach the peak, or there was no point to it.)
JP and I are relaxing today (getting our laundry done, sending emails, etc), and tomorrow we fly to Zanzibar.
Later!
...
We started the climb on Tuesday. We drove from Moshi to the Marangu gate, our guide (Emmanuel) went through the paperwork, and we were off by noon.
The first day we climbed from 1800m to 2700m, to the Mandara huts. The walk was first through rainforest, abruptly changing to heathers around 2300m (JP has a GPS, a neat little toy for a trip such as this). It took us 3.5 hours to cover the 8km.
The second day we climbed to Homboro, at 3700m, about 11km from Mandara. This took us about 4 hours, and we had now cleared the treeline and the walk was through beautiful moorlands. I felt quite sick that evening, with headaches, and was worried about altitude sickness. A couple Tylenol cleared that up, and I now suspect it was caused by sun exposure rather than altitude, because I did not have any problems the rest of the way.
The third day was a planned rest day, in order to help acclimatization. We had a short day-trip to about 4100m, (it's better to sleep below the high point of the day), from which we had an excellent view of the remaining walk.
The fourth day we walked to the Kibo huts, at 4700m. The normal 6-day Marangu climb involves walking to Kibo on Day 4, and then getting up at 11pm to ascend to the summit by 6am and returning back to Horombo on Day 5, and then back to the gate on Day 6. However, we covered the 9km to the Kibo huts in 3.5 hours, and our guide asked us if we wanted to climb to the summit that afternoon! -- the benefit being that it was about 10C at the summit dayside, and -15C nightside. We got all excited, and quickly had some lunch, and by 12:15 pm we were off! (JP and I, plus Emmanuel and a assistant guide -- so that there was one guide per climber).
The climb from Kibo huts to Gilman's point is a 1000m ascent, at about a 45* incline. We covered the first 500m quite quickly, and then took a break. I had a Snickers bar (packed with peanuts, I found it really satisfying), and an "energy tablet" from Emmanuel, which I think was just a citrus candy. That gave me a boost, and we started on the remaining 500m to Gilman's. The terrain was now steeper and just loose gravel and sand. Not the easiest thing to walk up.
We made it to 200m remaining and took another break. I didn't have a headache, which surprised me, but at over 5000m it was tough going. My heart was beating as fast as I have ever heard it, and I just couldn't get a full breath of air because it was so thin. We psyched ourselves up, thinking only 200m to go, we can do that! But I kept on looking up every couple minutes and it wasn't getting much closer.
Finally we reached the top of Gilman's, at roughly 5700m, after 3.5 hours. Almost there! From Gilman's there was a great view into the crater, and it was cool to see clouds wisping up the mountain, breaking into streaks that dove into the crater and then up the other side.
I had another Snickers bar and Emmanuel's energy tablet.
Our true goal was another 200m up, around the rim of the crater, to Uhuru. Fortunately, this was an easier walk, although we started by going down 10m, and all I could think was that we'd pay for that by having to ascend 10m later on.
The walk to Uhuru took about 1 hour, and this was the only part that was really cold. Finally in the approachable distance, we could see the signs announcing Uhuru!
JP reached the peak first with his guide, and shortly after (local time 5pm, Toronto time 10am Friday), I reached there. The guides hugged us and congratulated us.
(This next part is slightly fuzzy, and mostly is recounted from stories JP and I told over beers back down at the hotel. The lack of oxygen at that height 5896m, affected our thinking, in that we weren't really thinking at all)
I looked around, not clear on what to do next. Our guide took pictures of us with our cameras. I had enough wits to take a 360 panaroma. I don't remember feeling elated or happy or anything. I was just on autopilot.
We walked back to Gilman's (about 30 minutes), and then began descending the gravel. This was fun, although really exhausting. We took giant moonsteps down, each foot sinking and sliding about 5m before stopping. It was like skiing moguls, and JP and I could only keep it going for 10 seconds at a time, before our legs gave up. The descent down to Kibo huts took about an hour, finishing just as darkness fell on the mountain. That's when I entered the hut, and showed up in front of the Germans in the dining room, telling them that we had made it.
I was drenched in sweat, and took off most of the layers of clothing. We could only have soup for dinner, solid food seemed like too much work. I tried to sleep, but my body was too pumped from the last 11 hours of walking up 2200m and back down 1200m, over 18km. My brain still wasn't really thinking.
Everyone else at Kibo woke up at 11pm to begin their night ascent, and JP and I both wished everyone luck. Finally around midnight I fell asleep.
on Day 5, we walked all the way back from Kibo to the Marangu gates, a drop of 3000m over 30km. This was the most physically exhausting part of the climb. Passing down through 4000m, I was surprised that I was thinking again, and realized that I hadn't had much thoughts over the last little while. Amazing what oxygen does for the brain. The air became gradually thicker, and it was very noticeable.
We got back to the hotel by 5pm, and showered for the first time in 5 days. Over that time, I had had no alcohol or caffeine (to help prevent altitude sickness), the cook was good but had some kind of aversion to salt, walking 10km a day in clean air -- in short, it's probably the healthiest my body has been in a while.
A few beers at the hotel fixed that problem, with JP, and Gary and Ricky, two other guys we had met on the climb (Gary was also on my safari). It was then that much of the stories of the ascent to Uhuru were pieced together. I hadn't realized the effect of thin oxygen on thinking until that point!
Many people say it's the hardest thing they've done in their lives. For me, it was physically exhausting, but no more so than say playing hockey with only 2 guys on the bench. Mentally, I find it harder to wake up for my early morning meetings on Wednesdays. It was physically and mentally exhausting, but not that bad. (For the record, I found learning to roll a kayak the hardest thing I've done. I was on a kayak course in Nepal, and didn't have to learn to roll -- but I wanted to, and spent many extra hours in the glacial (ie darned cold) waters of the Kali Gandaki before I finally got it. Climbing Kili, I had to reach the peak, or there was no point to it.)
JP and I are relaxing today (getting our laundry done, sending emails, etc), and tomorrow we fly to Zanzibar.
Later!
Monday, November 14, 2005
Moshi, Tanzania
The last couple days of the safari were uneventful, as there were no more game drives. We were able to upgrade to lodges the last two nights, and so finished the safari in relative comfort.
Overall the safari was much what I had hoped for, my favourite game drive was the last morning in the Serengeti, the scale of the view just blew me away. The animals were very close to us, which was also really nice (for those of us without huge zooms on our cameras!). The group of people were really fun to be with, and our guides and cook were excellent. Overall two thumbs up!
I'm now in Moshi waiting to start the Kili climb tomorrow morning. I was dropped off by the safari at the Springlands Hotel yesterday early morning. Said goodbye to everyone on the safari, including Marissa who carried on back to Nairobi to fly home. Having traveled a bit, it wasn't that weird for me to become really close to people and then say goodbye, but I think for other people it would be odd. Usually this happens every couple of days when backpacking!
The Springlands Hotel is a resort-type place that you don't really need to leave. They did all my laundry at reasonable prices (60 cents for a pair of pants!), they sell water, have internet access, and will cash traveller's cheques. The hotel is on the outskirts of Moshi, and they have a shuttle to and from the town every 30 minutes.
I relaxed yesterday, catching up on my reading and keying in my safari blog entries.
This morning, JP arrived at the hotel (JP is my friend from Toronto, who is in east Africa at the same time, and we're doing the climb together). JP booked the trip over here, and thanks to the internet we were able to organize meeting etc, even though we were on separate safaris. That still amazes me.
This morning we booked a flight to Zanzibar, returning to Nairobi. It was also very painless to my surprise. We walked into the travel agency, and walked out 10 minutes later with tickets in hand!
Tomorrow JP and I start walking up Kili. We're doing the Marangu route, which has huts the whole way. If all goes well, I'll be at the top (5896m) on Friday night just before midnight Toronto-time. I'm not expecting internet access along the way, so this may be it for another week.
I was expecting more internet places to cut CDs from digital camera cards. However, I've only seen them in Nairobi. My card was full, and yesterday I walked all around Moshi looking for a place to cut a CD, but got only blank stares. However, JP rescued me because he was able to download my pics to his iPod, and lent me an extra 1GB card. Thank goodness, or else I would have had to delete some more pictures. I bought the largest card at the time (256MB) when I bought my camera, but I definitely need to upgrade that to a 1GB card.
Well, I'm off to have an afternoon nap!
Overall the safari was much what I had hoped for, my favourite game drive was the last morning in the Serengeti, the scale of the view just blew me away. The animals were very close to us, which was also really nice (for those of us without huge zooms on our cameras!). The group of people were really fun to be with, and our guides and cook were excellent. Overall two thumbs up!
I'm now in Moshi waiting to start the Kili climb tomorrow morning. I was dropped off by the safari at the Springlands Hotel yesterday early morning. Said goodbye to everyone on the safari, including Marissa who carried on back to Nairobi to fly home. Having traveled a bit, it wasn't that weird for me to become really close to people and then say goodbye, but I think for other people it would be odd. Usually this happens every couple of days when backpacking!
The Springlands Hotel is a resort-type place that you don't really need to leave. They did all my laundry at reasonable prices (60 cents for a pair of pants!), they sell water, have internet access, and will cash traveller's cheques. The hotel is on the outskirts of Moshi, and they have a shuttle to and from the town every 30 minutes.
I relaxed yesterday, catching up on my reading and keying in my safari blog entries.
This morning, JP arrived at the hotel (JP is my friend from Toronto, who is in east Africa at the same time, and we're doing the climb together). JP booked the trip over here, and thanks to the internet we were able to organize meeting etc, even though we were on separate safaris. That still amazes me.
This morning we booked a flight to Zanzibar, returning to Nairobi. It was also very painless to my surprise. We walked into the travel agency, and walked out 10 minutes later with tickets in hand!
Tomorrow JP and I start walking up Kili. We're doing the Marangu route, which has huts the whole way. If all goes well, I'll be at the top (5896m) on Friday night just before midnight Toronto-time. I'm not expecting internet access along the way, so this may be it for another week.
I was expecting more internet places to cut CDs from digital camera cards. However, I've only seen them in Nairobi. My card was full, and yesterday I walked all around Moshi looking for a place to cut a CD, but got only blank stares. However, JP rescued me because he was able to download my pics to his iPod, and lent me an extra 1GB card. Thank goodness, or else I would have had to delete some more pictures. I bought the largest card at the time (256MB) when I bought my camera, but I definitely need to upgrade that to a 1GB card.
Well, I'm off to have an afternoon nap!
Friday, November 11, 2005
Karatu, Tanzania
We were up and packed by 6:30am for breakfast, and headed into the crater by 7am. It was quite a drive to get to the bottom (almost an hour!) and looked nothing like I had envisioned. I had pictured jungles with barely enough room to drive the Land Rover, with trees all around us as in Lake Manyara NP. Instead it was mostly a big grassland plain, with occasional trees at the edges and salt pans. At first I thought we could see all the animals from the entry point. But as I found, there were little crevices and water holes where different animals hid or stayed. As well, the crater is 22km in diameter, so it's quite difficult to see animals across the entire crater.
I was disappointed near the end of the drive, because this was our last game drive and best opportunity to see a rhino, the last of the Big Five for me. But, as we were at the toilet facilities just near the exit drive from the crater, one of our guides spotted a rhino in the distance! It wasn't possible to take a picture at that distance, but still, it was a rhino!!!
Saw: Guinea fowl, Thomspon gazelle, ostrich, maribou, spotted hyena, buffalo, monkey, elephant, baboon, waterbuck, zebra, hartebeest, warthog, Grant's gazelle, blackstriped jackal, goldenbacked jackal, hippo, flamingo, cheetah, rhino
We also had stopped at a hippo pool where there were maybe 30 hippos, and got a picture of one yawning! As well, there were hundreds (maybe thousands?) of flamingos in one of the bigger salt lakes, and they were flying around in formation, turning pink or black or white depending on the angle they were flying.
We drove back to camp for lunch, packed the Land Rovers, and headed for our next campsite.
I forgot to mention, our guide had amazing eyesight, and was constantly impressing us with spotting animals. There were six tourists in the LandRover, and all we had to do was look for animals. He had to watch the road for potholes, watch the sides for overhanging acacia branches that might hit us on the roof, and look for animals. He still found most of the animals well before we did.
At this campsite (outside of Karatu), it was possible to upgrade to a lodge for $20 per person. Marissa and I did, and it was one of the nicer places we have stayed at so far, (not including the Kivu Sun!) I had a hot shower and shaved, and then caught up in my diary (I was keeping notes on paper, to be typed into my blog when I got access to the web), sitting at a nice wooden desk in the room.
I was surprised at how tanned my face was. This was the first time in six days that I'd seen myself in a mirror!
I was disappointed near the end of the drive, because this was our last game drive and best opportunity to see a rhino, the last of the Big Five for me. But, as we were at the toilet facilities just near the exit drive from the crater, one of our guides spotted a rhino in the distance! It wasn't possible to take a picture at that distance, but still, it was a rhino!!!
Saw: Guinea fowl, Thomspon gazelle, ostrich, maribou, spotted hyena, buffalo, monkey, elephant, baboon, waterbuck, zebra, hartebeest, warthog, Grant's gazelle, blackstriped jackal, goldenbacked jackal, hippo, flamingo, cheetah, rhino
We also had stopped at a hippo pool where there were maybe 30 hippos, and got a picture of one yawning! As well, there were hundreds (maybe thousands?) of flamingos in one of the bigger salt lakes, and they were flying around in formation, turning pink or black or white depending on the angle they were flying.
We drove back to camp for lunch, packed the Land Rovers, and headed for our next campsite.
I forgot to mention, our guide had amazing eyesight, and was constantly impressing us with spotting animals. There were six tourists in the LandRover, and all we had to do was look for animals. He had to watch the road for potholes, watch the sides for overhanging acacia branches that might hit us on the roof, and look for animals. He still found most of the animals well before we did.
At this campsite (outside of Karatu), it was possible to upgrade to a lodge for $20 per person. Marissa and I did, and it was one of the nicer places we have stayed at so far, (not including the Kivu Sun!) I had a hot shower and shaved, and then caught up in my diary (I was keeping notes on paper, to be typed into my blog when I got access to the web), sitting at a nice wooden desk in the room.
I was surprised at how tanned my face was. This was the first time in six days that I'd seen myself in a mirror!
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