Road of Tajines_1

2008.10.05

We said goodbye to AC and left my London's flat at 2:30am to catch the 6:00 flight at Luton. After 3.5 hours of flight time and a long and chaotic queuing at the passport control, we finally arrived at the lobby of Marrakech's Menara Airport (a). We immediately felt the heat as we left the plane. Compare to the wet and chilly night of London, the Moroccan sun warmed up our spirit despite we hardly got any sleep.

After all the practicalities of storing our backpacks, securing tickets for the night bus, payment for our desert tour and a quick lunch, we finally entered the old city of Marrakech. From Djemma el Fna, the main square at the heart of the medina, we lose ourselves into the labyrinth of the souk. In mid afternoon, we found ourselves at the door of Marrakech Museum. We stayed in the cafe at the entrance courtyard, purchased 4 bottles of coke and played some big2 and then dosed off and waked up one after another until we all felt it was time to leave. We left without entering the museum. We headed back to Djemma el Fna and found a dessert cafe (b). We ordered some cakes and drinks and allowed time to pass.

We ventured off into the busy and dusty streets of the old city (c), meandered through some markets and arrived at the bus station. Again we found ourselves having a bottle of coke at a small cafe/bar across the station, for the purpose of using their toilet. All people in the cafe had their eyes fixed on the TV showing the last 15 minutes of the La Liga game: Real Madrid vs Espanyol.

At last, we boarded the night bus for the town of Zagora, which situated right at the edge of the Sahara. In the middle of winding through the ranges of the High Atlas, our bus arrived at a stopping point along the mountain road, in the middle of nowhere, for toilet and food. Raw meat were hung at shop front at every eatery along the highway while smoke and smell of cooked meat filled the air(d). The local passengers gathered at their favorite shops and enjoyed their late dinner. This was our first time to see cooking tajine pots in the fire.