#not pictured: the over 2kg of tea I bought at a shop in the old town and had to have shipped back to shanghai

[jayswing101]

March 2024 - Dali, Yunnan province, China

One of the coolest things we did was learn about Bai style tie-dyeing (bottom two pictures)

[mygainyear2024]

Day 73 Farewell EU and your 90 day visa rules, I'm/we're off on a bucket list adventure to Morocco

Rose and I spent the morning playing tetris with our luggage, particularly as we're flying Ryan Air from Santander to Marrakesh. We duck out to grab some cash and Rose wanted to look at a different Pull & Bear shop. One of the great things about Europe has been the late checkouts, 12 noon at Hotel Chiqui.

I made a reservation at BNT Street Food for lunch, a place on the water I'd seen the first night I walked (no google, no Fork App, just intuition!). First stop the seals and lone penguin at Parque Marino de la Magdalena. This is a free park with ocean on either side and a lovely green space for hanging out.

Lunch did not disappoint. The view out to the beach/ocean, the wine and the burgers, yum. And Rose offered to buy me a cocktail, I opted for the local red instead, so smooth and good with or without the food, I had two!

Our suitcases were both 2kgs over. It worked out ok, we were allowed to remove stuff and jump the queue to bring them back as he'd ticketed us. And no-one really checked our excess carry on!

I was excited to arrive in Marrakesh and it wasn't horrid through passport control. I even practiced my very poor French with the Officer. Sadly the perfume Rose has been desperate to buy in Australia, and we found at Duty Free here, was only available in the departures area, not the arrivals area, despite me pre-ordering. Fingers crossed the pre-order at Tangier Airport on our way out will be available.

We pre-arranged transport with the Riad, and were expecting to see a sign with "Bohemian Jungle" on it and Hassan waiting. But nothing. Luckily the free airport wifi worked outside the terminal, as I left the purchase of a sim card as the Riad owner, the usually very responsive Anna from the Netherlands, said Hassan would help us with all of that. I rang Anna several times, and the Riad, and no answer. I wondered at what point I just get a taxi knowing that we still needed to walk at the end. After about 20 minutes someone else showed up with the scatchings of "Bohemian Jungle" on the back of his sign and said "I'm not Hassan, and handed me his phone to speak to Hassan to confirm we should get in the car!" It was a very exciting ride, even more exciting than any Asian country I've been to. Big cars, down narrow two way alleyways, motor cycles, cyclists, pedestrians, chaos. We entered one medina, passed the Kings Palace, and exited that one and in and out of a couple more. Rose said "I thought we were going to the jungle". My reply "it is a jungle of sorts"! We reach our destination, and I said to Rose, we'll be met and need to walk the rest of the way. The driver and Hassan seemed to be having several heated conversations. I think it was about how far he needed to drive us in. Thankfully Hassan was there when we stopped and we walked about 300 metres around several corners and we arrived. It is magnificent. Hassan served us traditional mint tea and biscuits, gave us a map and explained the important sites, a book with pictures of how to get out of the Riad and back again, and an old phone to ring if we get lost. He's already suggested to Rose that they share shisha, having given up alcohol. I heard them talking and Rose said something like "my mum won't let me"! I sang out and said "I don't mind it's up to you"! We asked for some ice so we could make a start on the second 1 litre bottle of gin! And I asked if there was fresh milk I could have for my coffee in the morning, already googling that fresh milk is available in Marrakesh, but best bought early before the sun affects it!!

[mygainyear2024]

Day 73 Farewell EU and your 90 day visa rules, I'm/we're off on a bucket list adventure to Morocco

Rose and I spent the morning playing tetris with our luggage, particularly as we're flying Ryan Air from Santander to Marrakesh. We duck out to grab some cash and Rose wanted to look at a different Pull & Bear shop. One of the great things about Europe has been the late checkouts, 12 noon at Hotel Chiqui.

I made a reservation at BNT Street Food for lunch, a place on the water I'd seen the first night I walked (no google, no Fork App, just intuition!). First stop the seals and lone penguin at Parque Marino de la Magdalena. This is a free park with ocean on either side and a lovely green space for hanging out.

Lunch did not disappoint. The view out to the beach/ocean, the wine and the burgers, yum. And Rose offered to buy me a cocktail, I opted for the local red instead, so smooth and good with or without the food, I had two!

Our suitcases were both 2kgs over. It worked out ok, we were allowed to remove stuff and jump the queue to bring them back as he'd ticketed us. And no-one really checked our excess carry on!

I was excited to arrive in Marrakesh and it wasn't horrid through passport control. I even practiced my very poor French with the Officer. Sadly the perfume Rose has been desperate to buy in Australia, and we found at Duty Free here, was only available in the departures area, not the arrivals area, despite me pre-ordering. Fingers crossed the pre-order at Tangier Airport on our way out will be available.

We pre-arranged transport with the Riad, and were expecting to see a sign with "Bohemian Jungle" on it and Hassan waiting. But nothing. Luckily the free airport wifi worked outside the terminal, as I left the purchase of a sim card as the Riad owner, the usually very responsive Anna from the Netherlands, said Hassan would help us with all of that. I rang Anna several times, and the Riad, and no answer. I wondered at what point I just get a taxi knowing that we still needed to walk at the end. After about 20 minutes someone else showed up with the scatchings of "Bohemian Jungle" on the back of his sign and said "I'm not Hassan, and handed me his phone to speak to Hassan to confirm we should get in the car!" It was a very exciting ride, even more exciting than any Asian country I've been to. Big cars, down narrow two way alleyways, motor cycles, cyclists, pedestrians, chaos. We entered one medina, passed the Kings Palace, and exited that one and in and out of a couple more. Rose said "I thought we were going to the jungle". My reply "it is a jungle of sorts"! We reach our destination, and I said to Rose, we'll be met and need to walk the rest of the way. The driver and Hassan seemed to be having several heated conversations. I think it was about how far he needed to drive us in. Thankfully Hassan was there when we stopped and we walked about 300 metres around several corners and we arrived. It is magnificent. Hassan served us traditional mint tea and biscuits, gave us a map and explained the important sites, a book with pictures of how to get out of the Riad and back again, and an old phone to ring if we get lost. He's already suggested to Rose that they share shisha, having given up alcohol. I heard them talking and Rose said something like "my mum won't let me"! I sang out and said "I don't mind it's up to you"! We asked for some ice so we could make a start on the second 1 litre bottle of gin! And I asked if there was fresh milk I could have for my coffee in the morning, already googling that fresh milk is available in Marrakesh, but best bought early before the sun affects it!!