MuchoTravel: Morocco - Getting lost in Marrakech

A mixture of perfume scents and spices twirl in the air. It's like this mix of lush luxury and local simplicity enveloping your senses as soon you step onto the street and into a souk in Marrakech. My senses was heighten as I was fortunate to have stayed at Hostel Riad Marrakech Rouge, which is two minutes from Place D'jemaa El-fna, a lively souk with entertainment and amazing Moroccan local goods.

Reminiscing about Morocco gives me the shivers. It was total senses overload, in all sorts of good measures. I arrived a little past 8 p.m., to Marrakech by train, followed by a lone walk through the alley ways of Morocco in search of my hostel. But I did make it safely, and was awakened by the liveliness of the hostel despite how cruddy it looked from the outside. With a cup of Moroccan tea, I slept through the night. In the morning, I stepped out into a bustling market scene, and was ready for some hustling, bargaining, eating, jiving and meeting.

Garden Marjorelle

I hustled my way through markets and lines and saw many landmarks, mosques, riads, etc. I also found out that I was very good at bargaining. And/or lying as well. By the time I got out of the souk, I realized that somehow I've become a student, who volunteers in Africa. Bargaining, an art I picked up in Tanzania and mastered it by the time I got to Morocco.

I stopped at a cafe nearby and ate what to me is the best food out of all of my travel. Lamb Shank Tangine. It was the most mouth-watering, best tasting thing I have ever tasted. I mean, seriously I have eaten a lot of foods throughout my travel, but this by far took the cake.

Lamb Shank Tangine

Another amazing thing I got to do was to get lost. I got so lost and normally I try to find my way back, but this time I sort of jut let myself be. Dodging my way in the souk/medina, I met a very nice amazing local guy, who at first I tried to tell him that I didn't speak English. And when he found out that I spoke Vietnamese, he went about to chatter a couple of words in Vietnamese. And from then on, he became my unofficial-official guide. It was quite nice because he took me to so many different venues. One place was rug making house. Another was wood. And another a local bargaining hour of Moroccan goods. Kind of true, getting lost will only help you find yourself and many other good things.

Some Mosque that I wasn't allowed in

Another awesome experience was that a friend of mine, I met through Couchsurfing, flew in from France and met up with me. We met up the second day that I was in Marrakech, and we continued to sightsee, but only to discover the difficulty of finding beer in an Islamic country. More than our shared love for beer, I love how we nurtured a simple bond of traveling and kept in touch since 2011, in order to be able to meet again for the sake of traveling.

Marrakech, to me, was a marvel. A mixture between an under-developed and developed country. The space invokes a red passionate painting in my mind. Ah, Marrakech, you are all touristy in all the right places.