Casablanca to Marrakech

We started the morning with a jaunt to the Pasteur Institute to get our yellow cards so we can go to Uganda. Success! It was crazy easy to get the vaccine and really cheap. Doc gave us malaria pill prescription as well. They have a very busy and active Covid swab center there as well.

Afterwards we loaded up our things and headed for the train station. It's about 3 hours to Marrekech. I was excited to see the landscape but the train was very lulling and I missed a bunch. It was also fragrant.... I will never complain about the surrey busses in the summer again.

We arrived and were picked up by Anwar who was lovely, thanks for sharing your friend, Sonya!

We got dropped near our place and had to slog through the old Medina to our riyad in the heart of it. It's a gorgeous tiny hotel in traditional style with 7 suites... to get there you weave through ancient mazes and passages full of hawkers and scooters and tourists and locals and food and cats and... there's just so much going on. And then you go through this huge front door and inside is a courtyard paradise.

We were greeted with cookies and juice ( all the fruits grow here

and the juice is really something else) and shown around. Our suite is insane... feels like a different world. 

A floor above is a cool pool and chill area looking down on the courtyard, and above that is a little gazebo with views of the whole Medina.

We napped through the midday swelter (it's high 30s here) then headed into the fray.. the characters are so outgoing. If you even think of food someone is pulling you toward a table. Kebabs and sweets and bread clothes and plants and knickknacks and electronics... It's what the richmond night market wishes it could be. 

a huge assortment of kebabs with the most delicious couscous and harrissa for dipping. 

The gentleman below taught me to barter.. he was hilarious. He got my money.The sweet man above decided to not pressure me and he also got money. He was so kind.

We ended high above a jazz bar sipping drinks from teapots and sneaking food to the adorable litter of kittens behind the hostess desk. I'll finish this one tomorrow as the internet is exactly what you'd expect for an area developed about 800 years ago.

If a kitty happens to come home with me it will be this guy. I've named him Felix.

Frankly, my dear....

Casablanca.

Took a bit to wrap our heads around the idea that we were on  the African continent. 

Checked in to a decidedly normal hotel, and got the sleep we couldn't get on the flight.

Wandered out to the seaside, where I got to smell sargassum for the first time. It's pretty potent. 

There were people from all over the world, kids fishing, snorkellers and surfers and hawkers and vendors.

Absolute chaos under a blistering sun. I love it.

We wandered into the Medina and gawked at things and pet cats and ate food and immersed ourselves in more chaos, but took less photos as holding you phone up was an invitation to some. There were fish vendors and bread makers and stores that sold nearly everything you can think of and carts on the side of the alleys and people living loudly above and motorcycles blasting through the crowds with honks and weaves.

this is the everything store. There were 6 rooms like this with vague themes.

The sweetest cats are here! Some a little mangy to pet.

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 Ok. We went to Ricks Cafe Casablanca because of course we did. We had champagne cocktails and a red wine by Gerard depardieu which led to a conversation about how we both remember far too much about the movie Green Card. 

This led to chasing the sunset. In our quest, we met a trucker named Abdullah who showed us some lovely spots and laughed with us in 3 languages and skipped and was just the sweetest pea. Hope to run into you again buddy!

There is something magical about the cockroaches here.. it's that they can fly carrying that kind of weight. Very uncool.

Abdullah and Chris.

We love that the center lines on the road sparkle instead of reflective lights. There's a video but I'm talking in it and it's one of the times that I agree with Chris, in hindsight, that silence reigns.

To bed, to rise early and chase the yellow fever vaccine that we would have gotten today but was penalized for not accounting for Sundays. 

\Good night!

 Africa! But First: Air Canada.

We left in the morning and had a beautiful flight to Montreal, after which we were downgraded to an antique Airbus 300 held together by tape and dreams, her obese silhouette heaving her way down the runway. We were on a night flight, surrounded by at least 3 screaming babies and one more baby who made odd chirping sounds reminiscent of Alien.

The pretty plane! The happy staff!

The shitty taped plane with the broken things and the staff with broken dreams.

Anyhow, we got there. And I did spend the night playing peekaboo with  2 of the babies who promptly fell asleep the minute we landed.

The foooooooood.

salad rolls. Not super impressive, but I was excited. PP.

mom found her bacon and eggs.

a local street stand outside the Russian market. I often eat before I photo because stoopid.

My dad said "looks like they're selling nuts in something across the street" so I ran out to discover a wooden cart full of warm river clams. They were delicious, if risky. You open them with your teeth which is very hard.

This is at the Foreign Correspondent's Club in PP.

spring rolls, bruschetta, crab cakes at the FCC

Chris' first fish amok, the national dish. Delicious. At the FCC.

I cannot remember what this cocktail was, but it was very good. FCC.

a rooftop patio recommended by a friend, Moroccan food.

Tagine

Curried chicken at the same rooftop patio. Gorgeous views.

we found this amazing Italian place in PP, the meatballs were to die for

My dad got the best shortribs I have ever had

artichoke and pancetta paperadelle

dad wasn't hungry but the ribs were so so good

pretty cappucino

slightly eggy creme brulee

at Romdeng, as per Stacey. So glad we went.

passionfruit cocktail

tarantulas, deep friend and whole

Chris eating them

they were really big

Fish amok, the best we had

pumpkin soup, Romdeng.

Breakfast soup in Battambang, I love there breakfast soup. Like slightly sweet Pho.

another breakfast soup. Easy to find, go into any market before 9am, sit next to an elderly local and point at what they're eating, et voila, for about two dollars.

a wonderful fish soup in Battambang

Ginger chicken. They use so much ginger (that's all the matchsticks) and it's wonderful.

this was a place recommended by another tourist called About the World, an NGO restaurant / charity.

I went to the only East Asian country that doesn't use spice. Be wary when asking for hot sauce.

Khmer chips, the chilli straws were very good.

this is what the street clam carts look like, they are all over the place.

a really good lemon tart

The Italian boy wanted pizza. Siem Riep.

Long Island iced teas, they really pack a punch!

the end of a mango smoothie at 4:30 am after dancing all night. I would prefer to be in bed.

simple chicken soup for the sore tummy in me.

Miss Wongs, one of my favourite restaurants on earth.

They had beautiful and delicious cocktails

bombay, elderflower, ginger and lime

the set dim sum meal for chinese new year

my happy place.

rose and lemongrass martini

as illustrated, go to the market and just pick something.

the market, Siem Riep

a very delicious something.

a simpler something.

I fucking LOVE fresh coconut juice.

guy next to us ordered an 18 dollar (american) steak. We lol'd.

this is kampot pepper finely crushed with lemon juice as a sauce for the below. It was amazing, and I got seconds. Have yet to make it correctly here, but not for want of trying.

a chicken fried rice so full if lemong

rass and ginger that I can smell this photo.

a roadside stand. You may be able to tell by now that the soups are the best!

typical food stalls on the street, you peek in all the lids and pick what you like.

Kapot pepper crab, just divine.

entire pepper groups just tossed in fresh, they were delicious!

steamed barracuda, caught fresh and grilled over open flame on the beach.

side of veggies

fancy restaurant, Chris ordered the 4 seasons pizza (we were a little tummy ill and wanted canadian food). Any excuse for wieners, yah!

I had a very good burger.

the street, every street in every town, is full of these stands.

You get what you get and sometimes it's wonderful.

bad photo but this steamed dumpling had a layer of yam topped with a meat patty inside that was awesome.

Chris got ... something else.

I thought I had pictures of Tanya's from Ukraine breakfasts but apparently I don't. She makes the best blinis I have ever had, eggs, bread, chicken fried chicken type stuff?, soup, a huge pot of tea, and so much more, in bounty. For the two of us. I miss Tanya.

gnocchi

tortellini

cappucino, all at Otres beach in Sihanoukville

just a head full of lobster

a little pepper, a squeeze of lime... et voila!

the octopus was lovely

Pimms cup! (with which we toasted Stacey again).

these are rice ball type things that were really good.

MANGOSTEEN IS THE BEST FRUIT.

That's huge!

 

I do not care where I am, if there is beef carpaccio I will order it every time. It was great!

duck breast and fries near the beach in Kep

Beef lok lak at Sothy's pepper farm in Kampot. This is the other famous dish of the Khmer.

at the crab markets in Kep.

Kampot pepper crab, I could eat this every day for the rest of my life.

heh, "breakfast".

chili chicken

this is at the yacht club in Kep, the crab cakes were really, really good.

pork belly Khmer style

the girl we met up with got crab fettucine

chris got sliders

dessert was black bean brownies and coconut ice cream

passionfruit awesome.

now we're in Japan at that little ramen place... so beautiful.

The steamy closeness of the seats, the poetic movements of the cooks, the smells...

and gyoza, better than I have had here.

There is more food I ate of course, but I got lazy towards the end with photographing things and also had 2 bouts of gastrointestinal distress and did not eat for 3 days each time and it seems I am missing some pages of this blog altogether. I will have to go through my uploads and find them.