Golden Tulip Farah Casablanca

... we are always in a nice hotel, which is nice in a place like Morocco to not have to worry about stuff like that. We had a Moroccan buffet dinner that night at the hotel and hung out there for a while. There were numerous SAS groups staying in hotels nearby in Marrakech, so that was cool. Katie was on another trip and was staying nearby, so I went and got her and we walked back to our hotel. Marrakech was a much more touristy and therefore comfortable ...

... maybe the big mosque) and its quite a bustling city with a modest Central square. What it does have is an interesting range of crumbling/restored 20's building as highlighted on the Lonely Planet walking tour - loved the cinema (pity it was showing Night at the Museum 2). It also has an enormous orphan French church.
The image from the movie is not here at all, bar the OTT ex-pat Ricks Bar. I didn't make ...

... my Frogger-like abilities crossing the street in india or of how it was at all possible that i did not get eaten by a bear or a lumberjack while in Alaska. no matter what you do with this email once you receive it, thank you for giving me an outlet and being a part of this on-going experiment (whether it's purposely, or by the luck (good or bad) of me stumbling upon your email somewhere along the way) in any capacity. sometimes it feels like ...

... and higher into the peaks, getting out occasionally for amazing photo opportunities. After driving for hours and I do mean hours, we finally made it to this really old Berber village on the edge of the Atlas Mountains (yes, we really were that close to Algeria) and had a kind of tour of the village. We visited one of the oldest castles in all of Africa and that was really awesome because the inside was gorgeous. Oh my gosh, so intricate and beautiful. The architecture in ...

... of many taxicab adventures, in this case with a metered cab that refused to acknowledge us when we repeatedly asked why the meter wasn't running. We got to the hotel and he asked for the extortionate amount of 60 DM, and we gave him 30 DM and pointed out the lack of using the meter. Of course, this was also one of many times when we would deny a financial request but end up paying more than we should anyway, which continually left a bad taste in the mouth.

... the campsite and looking ill the cheese burger crew made their way off Chuck the truck (still searching for a name) whilst some continued into Rabat and Martin to the football stadium. We just lounged around the campground. News that our Mauritania VISA's would not be ready till 15:00 on Thursday filtered through so armed with the knowledge of another day on site and another sleep in the beers were cracked, wines ...

... however we're not sure Humphrey Bogart has ever actually been to Morocco because Casablanca the movie was not shot in Morocco.  The movie did, however, receive some fantastic free press in 1942 due to a major allied landing at Casablanca which coincided with the movies release (coincidence or hollywood plan... or military plan?!?).  Anyway, back to the mosque. The Hassan II mosque was built 1987 and 1993, involving thousands of craftsman and ...

... here. Rachel actually went "Moroccan streaking". Here, we decided to put our lives in some else's hands by taking a taxi. It felt like we were in a horror movie, as when we reached over to get air from the blistering heat, we saw that there were holes where the window handles should have been, as well as where the lock should have been.

... in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto ...

... of locals living in the area were īrelocatedī for itīs purpose - where we saw some of the lovely cardboard walled/tin rooved establishments where they now live from our train window coming into the city. Thinking that weīd beat the tourist fan fare, we got there for the first tour and grabbed some great early morning digitals... only to be joined within minutes by the 5 busloads that were to push their way through so ...