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.
--

Works at Heathrow, too! :-))

Surreyman

"Dusty Furtile Morrocan" wrote in
message ...
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.
--

I'm the opposite to elitest.
I was comparing for this poster's apparent 'tourist' experience desired.

Surreyman

"tim....." wrote in message
...


Tangier is equally easy to get to, and whilst it is the least interesting
Moroccan city (by a long way) it is undoubtidly different to Europe.


That's for sure!

Surreyman

"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 08 Jan 2008 09:45:11 GMT, "a.spencer3"
wrote:


"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.
--

Works at Heathrow, too! :-))

Taxis from Heathrow didn't used to have to be metred. Have things changed
in the
last 40 years since I used one there?
--

Most are there, having queued for quite some time, expecting a long trip to
London which, legally, could be negotiated.
But my trip was relatively local, which they didn't want, and should be on
the meter, and they would often refuse (again, legally, I believe) if you
were still outside the cab.
Once in, however, they had to do the trip, even when they found it was to be
a local meter journey.
That's how it used to be, anyway, but that was all some time back now.

Surreyman

Following up to "a.spencer3" wrote:

I once spent nearly two months there! You must be talking about
sightseeing rather than visiting or travelling

well, yes, that's the big difference isn't it. To know anywhere
requires at least weeks, realistically months. To see "the sights" may
take a few hours.
--
Mike
Remove clothing to email

Following up to "a.spencer3" wrote:

But my trip was relatively local, which they didn't want, and should be on
the meter, and they would often refuse (again, legally, I believe) if you
were still outside the cab.
Once in, however, they had to do the trip, even when they found it was to be
a local meter journey.
That's how it used to be, anyway, but that was all some time back now.

this came up on the radio a couple of days ago and what was said was
that a passing cab can refuse to take you at will but on a rank they
must take you (this could differ for Heathrow) or be plain wrong!
--
Mike
Remove clothing to email

"Dusty Furtile Morrocan" wrote in
message ...
On the particular moment of Mon, 7 Jan 2008 19:59:54 -0000 in relation
to Mary's disappointingly immaculate rumpy pumpy, "tim....."
put forth:


"Alfred Molon" wrote in message
om...
In article ,
says...

Another useful tip for travel in Morocco:- Spend one day MAX in
Marrakech
and then get the hell out.

Hmmm... Marrakech is worth at least two days.

Get on a bus down to Essaouira and chill out there. Half the price of
Marrakesh, sea breeze, wonderful colonial (Portuguese) architecture,
walk
the city walls, fresh sea-food, absolutely no hassle whatsoever in the
souks. Morocco truly at its best.

Indeed it's a nice place. But Morocco has so much to offer elsewhere as
well.

During my last trip to Morocco I experienced little hassle. It's just a
matter of being careful and keeping a certain distance to Moroccans in
tourist hotspots such as for instance Marrakech's Djemma el Fna.
And by the way, even there not everybody tries to rip you off. While
walking in Djemma el Fna I was offered a delicious freshly squeezed
orange juice at a very reasonable price.

I agree. The food in the local food hall was also good value with
everybody
offering free samples to entice you in.

I would also agree with this.

A problem with being excessively pestered is that you can find
yourself rudely shunning genuine kindness through no fault on anyone's
part.

I had exactly this problem in China.

They opening line for the con is "I want to talk with you to practice my
English" and you very quickly learn that eventually they will get around to
inviting you to one of the standard "con traps", so you start to tell
everybody who approaches you in the street to "go away".

Yet I heard many stories of people who did actually make friends with local
Chinese who "wanted to practice their English". They must have got
incrediably lucky.

tim

"Mike...." wrote in message
...
Following up to Dusty Furtile Morrocan
wrote:

If the negotiating is fun, then it's not a waste.

as much fun as dealing with estate agents and used car salesmen.

Yep. ISTM that it can only be fun if the opening offer is reasonable and you
are trying to beat the guy down 10-20%. But when the opening offer is 4
times the absolute maximum I would consider paying and I need to offer 10%
of his price to get a deal, it's bloody hard work.

tim

"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 08 Jan 2008 09:45:11 GMT, "a.spencer3"
wrote:


"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.
--

Works at Heathrow, too! :-))

Taxis from Heathrow didn't used to have to be metred. Have things changed
in the
last 40 years since I used one there?

For the more distant destinations the price that you should expect to pay
(metered or otherwise) is posted on the board at the end of the queue.

tim

On Tue, 8 Jan 2008 12:28:48 -0000, "tim....."
wrote:


I had exactly this problem in China.

They opening line for the con is "I want to talk with you to practice my
English" and you very quickly learn that eventually they will get around to
inviting you to one of the standard "con traps", so you start to tell
everybody who approaches you in the street to "go away".

Yet I heard many stories of people who did actually make friends with local
Chinese who "wanted to practice their English". They must have got
incrediably lucky.

tim

Friend of mine and me I did a trip to Marrakesh and spent 3 nights
there.

It was enough time to learn to spot the hustlers a mile off, so we did
a bit of reverse hustling and approached them.

"We're going to the medina, and if you'd like to come with us and
practice your English, you're most welcome. Only 20 dirham."

They laughed their heads off and said "Thank you, Meester, you very
funny" and away they went.

Did take a lad on, however, who seemed to know what he was talking
about - he showed us around the souks showing us what was where and
took us through the maze of alleyways to the Bin Yussuf Medersa.







Keith (formerly of Bristol UK)
now moved to Berlin/nach Berlin umgezogen