Showing posts with label Morocco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Morocco. Show all posts

Saturday, 21 September 2013

8 days in Morocco



Had been planning for nearly a month,
finally stepping to the blue city in the other side of the world.

Caught a cold before boarding, got off from the wrong train station, overcharged by the taxi driver, missed the coach to Chefchaouen, hotels were all full...... sounded not smooth huh?

but, saw nice view from the top of the hill, tried delicious chicken skewer with a cheap price, talked with nice hostel staff...... these are all laughs and smiles in my memory

This is an amazing journey, thank to my friend who went with me :)

Thursday, 12 September 2013

Sitting in front of a bottle of water, finally I arrived the blue city I have been dreaming of — Chefchaouen.

In the morning we woke up early, or I should say, I didn't sleep actually, talking to my friend till the sunrise, luckily he understood no one could expect what had happened, just to find out what's next.

Had a coffee in a cafe, I even found difficulties in reading the menu. We tried to walk to the train station so that when we came back here for the flight to Hong Kong, we would know how to back to the Centre. It happened again, asking people the same questions got 3 different answers, we know the drill now :)



We gave up because of the time concern, bus was at 1pm, was a long long one. Don't know how long coach did I take, it was so so so long, and when we saw the destination, all people on the bus were excited, of course, including me.

After dropping off from the bus, nearly everyone was fighting for a taxi, area around us were silent, no people walking around. One of the passengers is nice and wanted to help us, but her boyfriend urged him to get on the van they booked in advance. Taxi drivers were picky to choose those tourists who can speak French or Spanish. Finally a man approached us and guided us to walk to the city centre, I knew he would ask for tips but again, we had no choice.

Walking up and passed through some crowded streets, I found that people weren't sleeping yet, just because the bus station is too far from the Medina. I felt like entering a fairy tale suddenly, people surrounding us not really pay attention on me, they were busy at what they were doing, yes, don't look at me with a weird of eyesight please, keep going on what you are doing is alright.

The man guided us to what we booked via Hostelbookers.com but the owner refused my booking saying that he NEVER received my appointment. Roarrrrrr! and his hostel is full already, so he transferred us to another one which is his business as well, 10 more dollars which is Dhr 70 per night.

Phewww, after taking the shower, I am now enjoying my cup noodles

I miss my bed at home :(

Surprised to hear though? Yes, even me feel surprised as well.

Arrived Casablanca and buy the local currency / money here which is Dirham, nearly HKD 1~ Dhr 1.1, we brought USD for exchange.

After that we took a train and wanted to go to our first destination — Chefchaouen. When I approached the Customer Service Counter the guy seems like casual and not professional enough honestly, not sure about my question but just pointing out the airport saying that the bus stop is over there; so I looked for another staff in the departure but she couldn't speak English.

Luckily asked the train staff and bought the tickets. He told us we have to go to the Centre of Casablanca first then change a bus from there, we had to drop off from the 3rd station.

What confused us is, we are not sure which one is the "3rd station" as there was a very very small station right after the airport one. The old man who wore a very tidy suit asked and tried to give us help, and thanked God he speaks very fluent English, answered us so sure to drop off from the last station and take another train. Before he left "Chefchaouen is a very nice place, enjoy your trip."

However, when we dropped off and want to transfer another train to Chefchaouen, the staff saying that there is NO such a train to Chefchaouen! Oh my God! why different people answer something different to the same question? At that time some guys approached us claimed that they could drive us to the station...etc I was nearly mad!

We had no choice, I could only take a cab and he charged us Dhr 60 :( We went back to nearly one station, I think we somehow counted the "3rd station" wrongly.

CTM bus station is what we wanted to find out, but the tickets to Chefchaouen is sold out and there is only ONE bus every day (well I should had prepared better)

We were extremely tired, the straight forward solution was looking for somewhere and stayed night. Hotels nearby are all expensive, they are either bad quality hotels rather than hostels. We first found one is at Dhr160 per night but we would like to ask for some other choices, sad that they were all full, when we went back to the first one it was booked already and only one left WITHOUT windows! oh my goshhh

How lucky were we!

Wednesday, 11 September 2013


After a long flight from Hong Kong to Doha, we are now at the Doha Airport, waiting for a flight transfer.

Sitting in the cross, seeing people around the world walking through in front of me, everyone doesn't know the other, and have their own destination, thank for the creation of plane, making us walking pass by each other today.

Since being bridesmaid for my best friend yesterday, I am really tired today. The first flight from Hong Kong to here wasn't good enough for rest, looking forward to a comfy seat in the next flight.

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