The Most Romantic Time of My Life

Despite the frustrations I experience daily, there is also a huge advantage that offsets them: constantly being told how much I am loved. At times it is creepy, and for the most part it makes me uncomfortable. But hey, who doesn't want to be loved? Or told that they are loved?
Whether it be a random "I love you!" or "hello!" from a stranger, to a heartfelt, "Teacher I love you so much," there is rarely a day where I don't feel loved. I don't mean to come off as being narcissistic, but this may very well be the most loved I ever feel, so I'm gonna enjoy it! Last week I even had a student come up to me and spit a cheesy pick-up line: "I must be in heaven, because I see an angel." I'm going to be in for a rude awakening when I go back to the States and people don't shamelessly say weird things.

Monsoon Season

Monsoon clouds over Lopburi

The time has finally come: monsoon season is slowly pulling into Ayutthaya, and I can't believe I'm saying that I am SO relieved.
Before the rains started coming, temps in Ayutthaya were reaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit  plus close to 100% humidity. YIKES. It was miserable.
Before coming to Thailand, I could not fathom a monsoon season. I thought it sounded like one of the most miserable things that Mother Nature had created. But after living in the extreme April and May heat, I realize what a true blessing these torrential downpours are.

end of a storm

The downpours in Ayutthaya are calm compared to two of the other monsoon rains I have witnessed in Thailand. The first was while I was still in training in Phuket, where one day it rained harder than I've ever seen. On top of that there was also a fair amount of wind, with the palm trees looking like they were about to be ripped out of the ground.

We got our induction into this year's rainy season during a day trip we took to Lopburi. The day was hot and beautiful and we decided to rent motorbikes for the day and see a temple with peacocks, a temple built into the side of a limestone cliff, and hang out at a small lake and take in the scenery, the day, and some food. Just before we were about to leave, storm clouds rolled in and before we could drive for more than 5 minutes we had to seek refuge under a hut overlooking the lake and wait for the storm to stop.
45 minutes of watching the wind sweep thick sheets of heavy rain reducing visibility to only about 15 feet in front of us, the rain finally began to subside and we were able to make our way back to the train station. I couldn't believe that my wet skin was accumulating goose bumps on the ride home as a result of the cooler air and the wind from the motorbike. Though I was cold (in Thailand !), it was a nice change from the extreme heat we had been experiencing the weeks before.

peacock temple

 Though the cool weather has come, the monsoon also does pose problems: like getting drenched on my walk home from work, and getting splashed by cars in puddles from the rain the night before. However, for the time being, I am much happier being soaked with rainwater than my own sweat after being outside for 3 minutes.

I've heard of a castle on a cloud...but never a temple in a cliff

I love Thailand.

the lake and stilted huts where we enjoyed the afternoon

a little worried about the approaching storm...

Morocco: The Last Chapter (Fes, Hammam, and Rabat)

Day 8

We woke up early and were met by our guide for the day at our riad. We had been told that you need a guide to navigate through the large medina of Fez, as it is like a labyrinth: no street signs and lots of winding throughways that could put you in the exact opposite direction without even knowing it.

Our tour started off by going to a mosque that used to also be a school where young men would study the Koran. We were there on Friday, which is the holy day, and had to go the mosque first thing otherwise it would be closed except for those who were going to worship. Our tour guide for the day was very religious and told us that he would have to leave us at noon so that he could go to mosque. He also informed us that after noon most of the stores would close. Friday afternoons are the only times many of the shop owners ever take any time off. Because of this, we had to get as much sightseeing around the medina as possible before many of the shops closed.

Walking around the medina we realized why it was so important to have a guide: it truly was a labyrinth. The layout of the city kind of confused me as well, as there are two separate parts of the medina, plus the new town. The two sections of the medina were once separated by a river, but they have since put a road on top of it and now cars can go through it. it is the only place within the medina you can see cars. Everywhere else only mules and donkeys are allowed…not that any other vehicle would be able to navigate through the narrow streets and up and down the steps. At one point in our visit we saw an older woman atop a donkey; clearly she needed a scooter, but only a donkey could bring her around the ancient city!

garbage truck in the medina

the tannery. the white basins are filled
with pigeon poo and lime

The highlight of the day was the tannery, which is world-famous for making beautiful, buttery leather in the heart of the medina. Upon entering the stores that surround the tannery, you are given mint leaves to hold to your nose so that you don’t have to fully take in the foul smells of dyes and pigeon feces (they use pigeon feces and lime juice to soak the skins in to make them soft before the dying process). The tannery consists of dozens of tubs filled with different colored dyes, and in the back the pigeon feces and lime juice. Even on the holy day there were men in the vats stepping on leather and making sure they got completely soaked and dyed. It was truly incredible to see, especially since we so often take for granted the quality and beauty that can come of handmade things instead of the cheap and easily accessible machine-made products that are so readily available to us.

The store we were in was filled to the brim with bags of all sizes, wallets, traditional Moroccan slippers, belts, and seat cushions. We spent quite a bit of time in the store talking to one of the men who worked there we almost caused our guide to miss mosque! Luckily the leather shop did not close and we were able to walk through the empty medina after lunch and finish our shopping…and finally be showed to the second floor leather coat section!

I love this cat

After we finally tore ourselves away from the leather goods, we ventured outside of the medina to see one of the king’s three palaces in Fes. It is also one of three palaces that you can take pictures of the outside. The other palaces you aren’t even allowed to take pictures of the walls surrounding them! It was lucky for us, because the gate for the palace is really beautiful…and I got to pretend that I was knocking on the king’s door (cheesy…but whatever).

King? You there?

Day 9

overlooking Fes

This was our “free day” in Fes…and let me tell you, it was not free. We did so much and it was one of my favorite days of the entire trip.

We didn’t have a guide for the day, so we ventured into the Fes medina BY OURSELVES. Our driver wasn’t allowed to be a tour guide for us, which meant that he couldn’t walk with us, especially in Fes, since that’s where he is from and people would probably recognize him. We had him drop us off in front of a gate and in we went. We were very careful to make note of any turns we made, and did not stray too far from the larger street we initially found ourselves on. We took a right off the street and found ourselves away from any tourists and in knick knack shops that were full to the brims and where the shop owners spoke no English. Just beyond, we found ourselves in a square filled with craftsmen making various artifacts out of coper and silver. The noise from the banging of brass against metal was insanely loud, but it was so cool to see people hand-making huge pots.

Making a copper pot

After successfully finding our way out of the medina, we treated ourselves to a hammam. Now I wasn’t entirely sure what a hammam was. All I knew was that it was a bath of sorts, but we were told we were going to a nice one, so I thought I would be in a private one. But no. even though it was a nice hammam, it was still a traditional one. 

Upon entering the locker area, we were extremely confused, as no one spoke English, and we had a series of receipts and tickets we were supposed to hand off to various people. we finally reached the downstairs locker room with our robes, black soap, and towels in hand. My mother and I being uncomfortable around each other naked, we slyly took off our clothes and slipped into our robes. It wasn’t until we entered the hammam, where we saw naked women (except for their underwear) being scrubbed on slabs of marble by other women, did we realized that we looked absolutely ridiculous. We took off our robes and entered the sauna, unsure how we were to know when it was our turn to be scrubbed. A woman eventually came in and took my mother, and then me out to the scrubbing area. I was escorted to my own slab of marble, where I was then doused in water by a bucket of water and began to be scrubbed by a woman wearing a rough black glove with black soap on it. she scrubbed my skin until little black rolls starting coming off. Fearing of slipping off the marble slab, I was instructed (somehow) to turn over and got a full body scrub down. My skin ached and was red. When I thought I could take no more the woman tapped me and pointed me to a shower with shampoo, indicating that this was the point where I washed my hair and showered off. Some women after their shower were sitting in front of sinks where they were rinsing themselves off. Not knowing what this was meant for, I stood around awkwardly and confused until another woman grabbed me and brought me to another room. Luckily, this table was made of plastic, so I was not nearly as terrified of slipping off when she covered my entire body in soothing mud. After about 3 minutes of laying in the mud, she came back and rinsed me off by bringing over buckets of water and pouring them over my head. I felt like a little baby in a bathtub. The last step of the hammam is to hang out in a pool that looked deceptively like a hot tub. It was actually the opposite—almost ice cold water. We sat in there laughing awkwardly with the Moroccan women who could not say a word to us or ask us what we thought of our first hammam, except for one woman that so kindly helped my mother and made sure that she did not walk out of the hammam halfway though when she thought she was done.

Our day of beauty continued with a massage and a haircut (I almost walked out with bangs), and feeling as clean as we had ever. If you’re ever in Morocco, you MUST get a hammam. It’s quite the experience.

Day 10

in Volubilis

Our last full day in Morocco, we had to leave Fes early to fit in Volubilis, Meknes, and Rabat all into the same day. We arrived in Volubilis around 9 AM, just in time for a cold, rainy tour of the ancient Roman city. Only half of the city is excavated, but there are still quite a few well-preserved mosaic floor in the ruin. Since I had been to Pompeii, Volubilis was not too impressive, though it is always interesting for me to learn about the Romans. I can’t believe the land they covered and the cities they built. The fact that they had running water for fountains and sewers in their cities is incredible to me. The facts that stuck out the most to me during our tour is that the public toilets is where people talked about politics and society, and that Romans ate laying down and were bulemic.

Though it was a cold and rainy day, the wildflowers peeking out from the ruins were very beautiful. My favorite part of the city is that it is situated just outside of Moulay Idriss, the most religiously important city in Morocco that also looks like a camel. We were not allowed to go there because we are not Islamic.

Our next stop was Meknes, which was once home to one of the most terrible kings of Morocco. The city has 3 walls because the king was so paranoid about getting overthrown. We did not spend much time in this city, but we did see the prison that the king kept to people who were accussed of conspiring against him. The prison is underground and now has skylights in it, but when prisoners were kept there they were kept in complete darkness. It was kind of weird because it was huge with high vaulted ceilings, but I can not even imagine how miserable I would be wandering around endlessly in the dark just waiting to starve to death.

man with his donkey full of flowers in front of Moulay Idriss

Our last stop before I final riad was Rabat, which is the capital city of Morocco. It is really clean and beautiful and right on the coast. We enjoyed seeing the foundation for a huge mosque that was never built, along with a marble mausoleum with beautiful Moroccan tile work inside.  We even got to go up to the King’s permanent residence…well, we couldn’t go that far, but we got to see the palace in which all of the government is housed, much like the Moroccan version of the White House.

My favorite part of Rabat was the kasbah (in some parts of Morocco a Kasbah is an enclosed, walled area of the city), which was right on the water and had a beautiful view of the Atlantic Ocean and the two beaches of Rabat. After taking in the scenery and the beautiful day, we were ready to head to our final Riad, which was just outside of Rabat in La Salle.

underground prison

Trekking for 10 minutes through the narrow medina in La Salle had us confused and a little worried as to if we were ever going to find our final place of rest. Luckily, the trek was worth it, and we ended up in a 2 year-old 4 bedroom riad. The riad is owned by a British woman who came over to morocco about 12 years ago and never left. She designed all the rooms, and made them all different themes. It was one of my favorite riads because of the homey décor and its placement in a medina we would have never gotten to experience had we not stayed there. We wandered around the crowded medina for about an hour, being the only westerners in sight. We went around dinner time, so the markets were bustling with people buying groceries for dinner and random knick knacks and clothing sold at the various stalls. AND WE DIDN’T GET LOST!

We returned back to the riad for one of my favorite meals of the trip, which also happened to be entirely vegetarian (VERY un-Moroccan). It was the perfect way to end our incredible trip….until we had to wake up at 4 in the morning and wait for hours in the airport because our driver insisted that we would miss our flights if we left any later. BUT, all driver hatred aside, it was an incredible trip!

mosque foundation

mausoleum

outside of the King's palace

Mom looking over the Atlantic and the beaches of Rabat

so many beautiful doors in Morocco

after our last dinner

Morocco pt. 2 (Sahara Desert and LOTS of driving)

Day 5

Mom and me in the High Atlas Mountains

We sadly had to check out of our luxorious and romantic riad for two long days on the road, which would eventually get us to the Sahara. The first part of our trip took us through the High Atlas Mountains, which can be seen from the city of Marrakech. They rise 14,000 ft. above Marrakech, which is absolutely amazing since they just come out of a flat plain. On our way to the mountains, we passed the ritzy suburbs of Marrkech, which were once the slums, but the poor people of Marrakech were kicked out or the land was bought from them. The poor people were then displaced about 40 km away from the city (where all the jobs are), and are living in government subsidized housing, which is already falling apart or not completed at all. The Moroccan government is very obviously corrupt, and it seems as if the poor get no help at all for an improved life. It is all very superficial, in that the government will pave roads or build housing, but it is only from the cheapest of materials and disintegrates quickly.

window in the Kasbah

After about an hour we reached the base of the mountains and began our steep and winding ascent. The mountains were absolutely gorgeous, with sharp peaks and SNOW (I hadn’t seen snow in a year), and lush green valleys. The cool mountain air was refreshing, especially compared to the hot and dusty air of Marrakech.

As we descended the High Atlas Mountains, we found ourselves in a region called the road of 1001 Kasbahs. A Kasbah has two meanings, one is a posh street in a medina, and the other is a fortress made of hay and mud. The region we were in featured the latter. Whole families would live in the Kasbahs and have to rebuild them each year after the rainy season. Because people do not defend their families from intruders anymore, most of the Kasbahs are disintegrating into their original forms of mud and hay. We were able to go into a working Kasbah that two brothers own and keep up for tourism purposes. It was really cool to be inside a real, working Kasbah. The view from the top was spectacular, with a view of an oasis and mountains in the background. There were also some incredible wind-swept rocks that looked like round pillars in caves.

After the Kasbah we drove on through Ouarzazate, which is the Moroccan Hollywood. We didn’t stop in and take a tour of the studios, but the town was very nice, with statues of director’s clipboards (you know, the things they snap when they say “action”) in the middle of the roundabouts. About 40 minutes outside of Ouarzazate we passed a beautiful lake that was the most incredible blue I had ever seen. It was especially incredible since we had become accustomed to the barren, grey wasteland of desert we had been driving through. According to our guide, the lake is filled with many minerals, including silver, which give it its incredible blue color. We also passed a neighborhood filled with huge houses next to the lake that allegedly has houses that are owned by Hillary Clinton and the King of Morocco.

Our day ended just before sunset in a small town that had a huge hotel for people just like Mom and I on our way to the Sahara. It was the only proper hotel we stayed in, and were ecstatic when we found out that there was a gym there. Upon checking in we asked where the gym was, since we wanted to use it after our 9 hours in the car. I had already put my backpack on to go up to the room, and was confused as to why there was such a commotion when we asked them to just describe to use where the gym was located. Neither the bellman nor our driver would attempt to give directions, so I was left in the lobby with the bags while mom was escorted by the bellman AND our driver to the gym, which was just down a hall and easily found by following signs. Real difficult, guys. Thanks for having so much faith in us following directions and reading signs.

Lake that Hillary Clinton's house looks over

Day 6

house in the cliffs

Our day started out with another long drive through desert. We made a few stops, the first being a canyon, which wasn’t too exciting. We then went to a Berber village and stopped in a carpet store, which had incredible Berber carpets. We learned of the two types of Berber looms: one is horizontal and is stationary, the other is vertical and is used by the nomadic tribes because it can be picked up and moved. My favorite carpet was one that was made by a nomadic tribe. It used weaving and knotting and had different textures that were used to massage to nomads’ feet after a long day of traveling. The carpets sold in his store were all made by Berbers for their families, but they had to sell them because they are so poor and need the money. They carpets have incredible detail and can take years to make. Because the wools are dyed right after they are sheared from the sheep, the colors go into the cells and become one with the wool, meaning that they don’t run or fade, so an 80 year old carpet can look just as good as a 10 year old one.

Berber carpets

Later on we stopped on the side of the road and saw some old wells that nomads used to get water from. Wells were dug by hand and are about 10 feet underground and go for many miles. I recently watched an episode of Human Planet (incredible TV show) where they featured Sahara people that still do this. The wells are dug separately and then joined together. they also are dug at a slight decline so that the water will always flow and can come out at the end for a garden or miniature oasis for whoever lives there. It is an incredible way of surviving. The lines of wells we saw were unfortunately dried up, but we were able to go down and see how large they really were. Above ground they look like huge mounds and run parallel to each other. Each line of wells belongs to a different family. Each family knew exactly where their well was and would have to travel for kilometers to get water when they needed it.

inside the well

 Our drive got a lot more interesting when we entered the valley of the roses, which had young men and women selling roses strung together to make shapes such as hearts and necklaces. The valley smelled beautiful, and we were lucky to be there when we were, as the huge rose festival was only a couple of weeks away and many of the flowers were in bloom. We saw stores stocked with different rose products such as soap, water, and perfume. Getting to the valley of the roses meant the end of our long car ride. As we got into the town where we would switch vehicles to an all-wheel-drive to take us to the desert, we stopped for a Moroccan calzone, which was quite delicious, and bought scarves that would be turned into turbans for the desert.

Our 40 minute drive in the all-wheel-drive vehicle was extremely bumpy. We were lucky we put on our seatbelts, for if we hadn’t we would have slammed our heads on the roof of the car from the bumpy unpaved road.

We finally reached the red dunes of the Sahara, which rose out of the ugly grey desert we had become accustomed. Upon our arrival, we were informed that this is not THE Sahara Desert, as in the largest in the world, but a 25 km2 patch of desert. In Arabic, Sahara means dunes, so technically we were in a Sahara since it’s a desert of dunes, just not THE Sahara. Morocco does have some of THE Sahara in its Southern territory, but it is very dangerous and disputed between Algeria, so it is not safe to go to.

well

For some reason we were very quickly put on camels, without any chance to get to pet them and pet the cute, weird creatures. Our guide pointed to the two camels we were to ride on. We climbed onto the camels, who were laying down with their legs underneath them. We were told to lean back, and before we knew it we were getting thrown back and forth as the camel got up and grew about 6 feet. The camels were a smoooooth ride, and I could not get over how cute they were! They have the longest eyelashes and have a seemingly permanent smile.

first sighting of the Sahara

We rode for about 20 minutes before getting off and being led to the top of a dune to watch the sunset….that wasn’t supposed to happen for another hour and a half. We were very confused, but asked our guide Aziz to take us on a stroll through the dunes. As we began our walk, clouds started to roll in. Of course, the one day we were in the desert it rained for a bit. It was extremely shocking, since it had been an absolutely beautiful day and…you know…it’s called a desert because it almost never rains there. We were not expecting the wind and the rain, and even with our turbans the whipping sand was quite uncomfortable. Mom even went so far as to say, “can we get out of the sand?” (no, Mom…there’s no escaping the sand here…and we’re sleeping here tonight). But Aziz knew what she meant and moved us down the dune to get out of the wind…which alleviated the sand blowing in our faces. Just before sunset the clouds cleared just enough so we could see the sun dipping below the horizon.

We then hopped back on a couple of camels and made our way down to our own private tent. We were greeted by a group of musicians playing Gnawa music. They were dressed in white robes and turbans. I loved the music, especially the clapper-type instruments they played.

We had a HUGE dinner of couscous and tagine. Unfortunately, we could not have a fire since it was so windy, and because of the clouds we couldn’t see the stars or the moon lighting up the dunes.

men playing Gnawa music

the queen in her bed

Day 7

sunrise over Algeria

We woke up at the crack of dawn (literally)to watch the sun rise over Algeria and take a walk along the dunes before getting into the car for 10 hours and heading to Fes. On our way out of the desert we stopped to pet the camels for about 20 minutes, since we were not able to do it the day before. Aziz was there and ensured us that the camels would not hurt us and that we could pet them as we pleased. At one point, a camel who did not belong with our hotel’s camels (there are 23 hotels in the area we were in, which is called Merzouga), and was chased away by a motorbike, which was pretty funny. I then found the cutest camel of them all, who we took many pictures with. He even gave Mom a little love nibble!

We then had to move on since we had a looooooong day of driving to the medieval city of Fes. Our drive took us through an amazing range of climates and landscapes, from desert oasis, to grasslands, to cool, lush, mountains, to forests with monkeys. It was absolutely beautiful. Even though our trip consisted of so much driving, it was really worth it since we were able to see so much of the country and the vast difference of landscape. I think that driving on less-traveled roads allows you to catch a glimpse into the daily life of people in a country, apart from the city life. So many of the people live in little shacks and herd sheep or carry alfalfa or flowers many kilometers on donkeys to make a living. It was truly incredible to see.

As we neared Fes and got to the cool, lush mountains, we saw a drastic change of houses: they looked very European. Though Morocco is very close to Europe and has been colonized by both the French and Spanish, all the places we had been had kept their Moroccan and Arabic feel without too much European influence. But these towns were amazing with their white stucco outsides and red tiled roofs.
We got into Fes kind of late, and were absolutely exhausted after our long ride which also included our driver playing us a karaoke version of the Hotel California, and going on a 2 minute tangent about ziplock plastic bags--needless to say, we were not in the mood to explore the labyrinth of Fes, so we just hung out in our beautiful riad and went to bed early for our big day in the medina.

Oasis

monkey drinking water in the forest

beautiful, lush landscape

European looking houses with storks on top