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#31
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Trip report: Casablanca and Marrakech
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#32
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Trip report: Casablanca and Marrakech
"Mike...." wrote in message ... Following up to "a.spencer3" wrote: The Spanish enclaves are the pits indeed. Don't even think about them. oh right! My wife keeps suggesting going to the paradors, you wouldnt recommend it i assume! I don't know the paradors there, but I wouldn't return to either enclave. There's little point from a visiting point of view. You'd get a brief synthetic semi-taste of N. Africa, if that's what you want. Surreyman |
#33
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Trip report: Casablanca and Marrakech
"Mike...." wrote in message ... Following up to Dusty Furtile Morrocan wrote: Next up: Rabat and Fez have you been near the high atlas? Thats probably where i would want to go, which brings me to kilimanjaro (OK that was totally contrived) But i'm impressed by this chap I met the other day, hes climbing it, but with an extra challenge "http://www.stumbling.co.uk" -- The High Atlas villages and people are fascinating. But I prefer to see them en route to the south. Surreyman |
#34
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Trip report: Casablanca and Marrakech
Following up to "a.spencer3" wrote:
You'd get a brief synthetic semi-taste of N. Africa, if that's what you want. it probably is! :-) -- Mike Remove clothing to email |
#35
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Trip report: Casablanca and Marrakech
"a.spencer3" wrote in message ... "tim....." wrote in message ... "Martin" wrote in message ... On Sun, 06 Jan 2008 12:25:50 GMT, "a.spencer3" wrote: Agree totally re Casa. Just miss it. Marra is Marra - helps if you speak French? I love the place. Must admit I never got drunk on any of countless mint teas! I saw a snippet on Dutch TV of a program about Dutch royal tours of 2007. In the bazaar in Istanbul a carpet seller offered the queen, her son and his Argentinean born wife Maxima, tea. Maxima said to the Turk in Dutch "We are a typical Dutch family, we take the free offers, but never buy anything" I tried to turn down the offer (as I don't like tea) and the response was "are you refusing my hospitality". This kind of puts one in a position where you have to accept. I took the tea and discovered that it doesn't taste anything like the stuff sold in England. As to (not) buying something, if you really don't want it, it is easy (if time consuming) to avoid. The opening prices are staggeringly high - they may be good value for hand made quality items (assuming that they are hand made quality items), but I have no desire to buy such items in this environment and would only be interested in cheap (but functional) tat, which it is not. I once spent two days negotiating for a genuine ceremonial knife. It's a ritual and a way of life, intended to incorporate hospitality and conversation. But presumably you wanted this item. The point is that you are taken in by the guides and someone trys to sell you something that you don't want, at a price that is far too high and expects you to 'waste' an hour negotiating the price down to something, which in many is still more than buying a similar thing (though not hand made) at home. tim |
#37
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Trip report: Casablanca and Marrakech
On the particular moment of Mon, 07 Jan 2008 10:27:11 GMT in relation
to Mary's disappointingly immaculate rumpy pumpy, "a.spencer3" put forth: "tim....." wrote in message ... You used the bus! Or more pertinently, you actually managed to find out about the bus! All I ever got when enquiring was "use a Taxi it's cheap", which it is if they don't try to rup you off, which they usually the do. I hated this aspect of Morocco, so much so that I'm loath to go back: too much walking because trying to avoid getting ripped by the taxi driver is too stressful. You give 'em a price you're willing to pay or say you'll go to the next cab. Few want to lose the business. When you arrive by an overloaded train, many others want a taxi too, and you may find yourself on the road waving at already full taxis. The technique I used was to just jump in giving the illusion I was willing to pay any price, and then once moving, insist they start the meter. Apparently they are defenseless against this. -- --- DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com --- -- |
#38
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Trip report: Casablanca and Marrakech
On the particular moment of Mon, 07 Jan 2008 14:17:02 GMT in relation
to Mary's disappointingly immaculate rumpy pumpy, "a.spencer3" put forth: "Mike...." wrote in message .. . Following up to "a.spencer3" wrote: The Spanish enclaves are the pits indeed. Don't even think about them. oh right! My wife keeps suggesting going to the paradors, you wouldnt recommend it i assume! I don't know the paradors there, but I wouldn't return to either enclave. There's little point from a visiting point of view. You'd get a brief synthetic semi-taste of N. Africa, if that's what you want. Come on, don't be so elitist! All but one country in Africa has been colonised, and it shows. There is no pure N. Africa experience. -- --- DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com --- -- |
#39
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Trip report: Casablanca and Marrakech
"Dusty Furtile Morrocan" wrote in message ... On the particular moment of Mon, 07 Jan 2008 10:27:11 GMT in relation to Mary's disappointingly immaculate rumpy pumpy, "a.spencer3" put forth: "tim....." wrote in message ... You used the bus! Or more pertinently, you actually managed to find out about the bus! All I ever got when enquiring was "use a Taxi it's cheap", which it is if they don't try to rup you off, which they usually the do. I hated this aspect of Morocco, so much so that I'm loath to go back: too much walking because trying to avoid getting ripped by the taxi driver is too stressful. You give 'em a price you're willing to pay or say you'll go to the next cab. Few want to lose the business. When you arrive by an overloaded train, many others want a taxi too, and you may find yourself on the road waving at already full taxis. The technique I used was to just jump in giving the illusion I was willing to pay any price, and then once moving, insist they start the meter. Apparently they are defenseless against this. I fail to see how. The only one that I insisted turn on the meter refused ("it is broken") and just repeated his demand for 10 Euro for the 3 mile trip. I started to get out and we agreed on 5 Euro which was still four times what it should have been, but it was a long day, I was tired. tim -- --- DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com --- -- |
#40
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Trip report: Casablanca and Marrakech
On the particular moment of Mon, 07 Jan 2008 12:43:31 +0000 in
relation to Mary's disappointingly immaculate rumpy pumpy, Mike.... put forth: Following up to Dusty Furtile Morrocan wrote: Next up: Rabat and Fez have you been near the high atlas? Thats probably where i would want to go, which brings me to kilimanjaro (OK that was totally contrived) But i'm impressed by this chap I met the other day, hes climbing it, but with an extra challenge "http://www.stumbling.co.uk" After Scotland, Tasmania, Romania, the Himalaya, and god knows how many other mountains, I couldn't be arsed doing the long bus trips. There didn't seem much point, and it was reportedly heavily touristed. -- --- DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com --- -- |
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