Tag Archives: morroco

Poor Donkeys

I just spent a great week in Marrakech…. if you’re ever thinking of going then Dar Zemora is the place to stay, it was a truly fantastic “Riad” (sort of posh house palace thing) with only 5 rooms, a great pool, amazing staff, wonderful architecture, awesome food, amazing staff, lovely setting and amazing staff. But *best* of all was that we were pretty much the only guests so it was like it WAS MINE, ALL MINE. Sigh, why am I not rich?

Anyway, Marrakech reminded me of a quote in a book about the Vietnam war I was reading. The quote was something like “The village boy went from the 15th century to the 20th century in just a few seconds” as he saw something like an American air strike coming down on him, meh, I can’t remember the quote so good. But anyway, in Marrakech in the year 2008 it was possible to go from a cultured quiet modern environment to seeing a poor beaten donkey trotting his sorry ass down some dangerous street delivering camel hides to a market seller, very scary. You can go from incredibly poor bums to swanky 21st century night club just by turning a corner. So, my highlights…

  • A couple of OK photos going up on Flickr
  • Six course meals in my own private palace that I felt like I owned for a week
  • Reading 4 books
  • Being driven through Marrakech and thinking I’m going to die I’m going to die constantly, wow the driving was nearly as bad as Bali (officially the worst driving conditions I’ve ever seen except when I’m angry and behind the wheel)

But mainly, totally, top of the list by a long long way…. was this item on a trendy restaurants menu…

HARIBO CANDIES!!!!! And here they are….

Wow!!!!