Funky Cold Medina

I don't feel like I've given near enough detail to some parts of our trip on my blog, but such is the nature of international travel!

Paris was good. I got used to the dinginess and seediness of the area, and began to quite enjoy it. There were lots of shops and cafes and stuff. Not dissimilar to Fitzroy. We left Paris without much ado, although Anita did get told off and kicked out of the elevator by a narky Italian woman at the hotel..

We took the chunnel train to London from Paris, which was good. It was very quick, and you really had no idea at all that you were travelling underneath the English Channel. It was dark, but yeah. You get that...

On our arrival in London, we experienced some whinging whingy Poms. Surprised? Surprisinly, I *was* surprised. Throughout the trip it has been the Americans who have stood out the most for the complaining and arguing (the best one I think I heard, was the couple demanding their money back from a museum exhibit at the castle in Prague because not all of the exhibitions captions were in English). And I was quite taken aback by the ferocity with which some people we encountered would not let go of the 'wrong-doing' that someone had committed against them, namely, pressing the stop button on a travelator when a bottle-neck of people and suitcase threatened to take everyone out.

In any case, we spent a short amount of time in London, had a look around, came out to stay with Anita's friend Sarah, then on the second day, we went to Spitalfields market, which I quite enjoyed, in fact, I was really disappointed, as I saw an excellent upcycled bodice made of vintage ties and pants and I just couldn't find one in colours that I could justify paying the asking price for. We didn't make it to Portobello Road though. I was really disappointed about it, but it is one of those things, where we could rush and not see either properly, or meander, and really enjoy the one we were at.

We headed on to Victoria station, and caught the train to Gatwick airport, making ready for our early morning Easyjet flight to Marrakech. Which was delayed because a computer wasn't working (after we had been pushed back and were getting ready to take off) so they pushed us back and then got the engineers or technicians or whoever. Not before a woman, who showed up at the check in gate 15 minutes before we were due to take off ranted and raved because she could not sit with her daughter. Then engaged in a disagreement with the flight stewards. Who were then called because another (American) passenger had made a complaint about this woman. At which point the captain came out of the cockpit, and took her to the back of the plane for a good talking too.

All good now we could take off. Until the captain announced we would have to wait in the queue because other planes had passed us. At which point the guy sitting opposite us started shouting 'You've got to be taking the piss' and other such insightful comments, prompting another passenger to ask him to stop swearing because his kids could hear, and so it went.

We finally took off, made it to Marrakech, where, with 5 people in front of us at customs, we were waved through, rather than having the official actually do some work. We made it into the old city, the Medina, and were hit with the heat, the noise, the smells, and the overwhelming culture shock.

Once we had found our hotel (riad) and paid the kids who took us there, we settled in for a rest after a very long morning,. We ventured into the main square where we saw snake charmers, tarot readers (who I'm sure could give a very accurate reading in a couple of languages...) and henna tattoo artists. We then retreated to a terrace cafe for a cold drink and some subtle observing. We had dinner in the same place, a brilliant meal, and reasonably cheap too. A really good way to get used to the sights and sounds and smells of the frenzy of Djemaa el-Fna square in full swing after dark.

The next day we ventured into the souks, a labrynthine series of shops and stalls with vast range of treasures, from shoes to jewellery to clothes to spices. We spent a few hours being beckoned into shops aplenty, did some shopping and rested again. We experienced a dust storm, which was cool, but over very quickly, and went to a traditional Hammam, which was an experience.

In the hammam, we stripped to our underwear and were taken to a room where a woman poured water all over us. We were then rubbed down with olive oil soap, the consistency of jam and sent to the sauna for ten or fifteen minutes. After this we were washed down again and a cool mud was applied to our bodies, and we went back in to sweat through some more. After this, we lay down and were scrubbed to within an inch of our lives. Washed down again we were wrapped in robes and ushered into a dark room to drink some mint tea. Next we were treated to a massage. All in all, it was awesome.

Dinner in the square was an experience... They serve lambs brains and sheeps heads. We chose wisely. Vegetarian Tagine...

Back in London, and staying with Sarah, we are trying to fit a month's worth of shopping and dirty clothes into our bags. Tomorrow we are heading out early, making our way to our hotel (which is a bit flash), tryin to cram in as much as we can before we go to see Avenue Q tomorrow night.

I'm really excited to head home. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and Angus!!
I'm even slightly looking forward to the cool weather. A bit. I'll be over it after a few days I'm sure!

Can't wait!!
Will be putting up a tonne of photos when I can!

Tanya