And so, here we are again …

And so, here we are again. Captain Clarke and I have embarked on a very short sortie and are in North Africa, or more specifically Morocco for a few days. RudyMenTerry was not due to awaken but we feel there is some justification for him to rise once more. Largely because this country is so very different from other countries we have visited. It is hot (31℃ at the moment) and culturally so different that it warrants a short awakening of RudyMenTerry. We are here, once again, not on holiday but sadly one of us (and it isn’t Captain Clarke) is working. The first ever African Data Centre Conference begins this evening and, of course, it is vital that I take part. I am a judge on the first ever African Data Centre Awards and I shall be speaking and chairing a panel of African experts. It is going to be interesting!

To fly from Gatwick meant getting up at ridiculous o’clock for an 06:40 flight, so we decided to fly from Heathrow on the 10:30 flight. Having been to Marrakesh previously, and to Casablanca last year, I knew that there are certain things you don’t do when flying to Morocco. One of them is fly down the back! Business Class gets you through all of the bureaucracy and hassle of getting there and it is absolutely worth the money. Normally, when flying relatively short haul it isn’t worth paying for Business Class but with Morocco it is. Our friend Simon took as to Heathrow and dropped us off, which was great. We walked into the terminal, dropped our cases, were fast tracked through security, straight into the lounge for a good breakfast and then waited for the plane which was delayed by an hour but there are worse places to be!

On arrival in Marrakesh I had made one mistake and forgotten to book the fast track through the airport. As it was, it wasn’t too bad queuing for passport control – all of the entry visa, inside leg measurements and numerous checks before you are allowed to reach passport control have gone, thank goodness. It took about 30 minutes to get through but by that time our bags had arrived and we picked them up, went through security and were out in the very warm open air! (Note to self, next time book the fast track in Morocco, it is worth it! Our friend Philip who is the conference organiser was also on the flight and had booked the fast track in Marrakesh, he had picked his bags up and was in the hotel before we even got to passport control!) So, having arrived in Marrakesh we made our way to the digs we had booked. We are at the Es Saadi Palace and checkin, whilst slow, was painless and we made it to our room without much trouble. We met up with Philip, his partner, Nicola and her husband, Stela who does the marketing and Lena who helps out too, for a drink. Philip then invited us all for dinner which was very generous. I enjoyed my meal (carpaccio of beef) but sadly Captain Clarke did not enjoy his (calves liver which was apparently chewy and not great).

After dinner we decided to retire but were a little tempted to have a nightcap (it was actually only 21:30!) in the bar near to the pool. The air was warm, the cicadas were cidada-ing, the birds were singing and all in all it was a pretty satisfactory start to our trip. The only downside is that everything in the hotel is about a million pounds! A single scotch last night was £10 each! We had to limit ourselves pretty quickly!! It transpires that this five star resort is quite expensive all round, but more of that in a moment. We enjoyed our drinks and then retired to our digs where we had some duty free scotch and, having rang down to room service for some ice (we asked at the bar but you have to follow the system and you can only get it by ringing room service when the same person from behind the bar knocks at your door with some ice!) we enjoyed a larger nightcap at a fraction of the cost.

Today, (and this will be one of only two missives as I will be too busy working), we got up, had a good breakfast (although quite different to one we would have in England) and then decided to walk to the souk. We hadn’t really appreciated that walking in, what was then 28℃ heat, over a mile to the souk would be quite so tiring but it was! We then proceeded to walk around the souk. They say it is very easy to get lost in the souk … and it is. We decided to do a recce before considering any purchases. We walked around the souk and saw stalls selling everything from clothes, to shoes, to ceramics, bags and other leather goods, food, spices, shiny metal objects, wooden spoons and just about everything else one might imagine. Now, if there is one thing to learn from this, it is that the souk is not somewhere to go without having your wits about you. The streets are very narrow and it is extremely likely that without a moment’s notice there will be a motorbike or a donkey appearing from nowhere and about to run you down! The whole experience is not for the feint hearted. But we survived and, having walked around pretty much every street of the souk (it is actually several souks that have expanded so much that they have pretty much become one) and seen everything from carpets, to leather goods, to shoes, ceramics and anything else that man has, at some point invented, we decided to go back to the leather area and look at briefcases as I do need a new one.

Ha, you may say, how easy was that. Well, it turned out not to be so easy! We walked back to where we thought the leather market was, but it wasn’t there anymore. We walked past stalls and shops that we knew we had passed before, but there was no leather market. At one point we emerged from the souk into daylight (the souk is largely under cover of either tarpaulins or camel skins) which we definitely knew wasn’t right. They say that you should always keep the minaret in sight so that you don’t get lost, but that’s a bit tricky when you are under cover and can’t even see daylight! So we walked some more and saw stalls and shops that we had definitely seen before but to no avail. No leather market appeared. Eventually we were accosted (that happens quite a lot) by a stall holder who was selling shoes. We said we didn’t want to buy shoes and he asked what we were looking for. We explained that we were trying to find the leather market and he immediately told us that he would show us the way to the best leather shop in the souk. We tried to say that we would be fine but he insisted he would just take us there and then leave us. So, eventually, a little brow beaten, we followed him. We followed him to what, indeed, was a leather shop but it wasn’t in the leather market. He claimed there was no commission involved for him and that he was just being helpful. So, the shop owner came over and he disappeared.

We looked at a few briefcases and I did find one that I wanted to buy. Then the negotiation started! He wanted 2000 Moroccan Diram for it (£200), so I offered him 500. He shook his head and I said we would leave it then. Then he offered it for 1600 MAD, I said I’d give him 600 MAD, he shook his head and I said “OK, we’ll leave it then”. Then he asked me what price I would want to pay to take it there and then. I decided to make a final offer of 700 MAD which he turned down. I started to walk away and he said if I had cash I could buy it for 1000 MAD. I said no and said my final, final, offer was 900 MAD. He said 950 MAD and we had a deal. I kept to my 900 MAD until eventually he said no, it was 950 MAD or no deal. So my final, final, final offer was to agree on 950 MAD! Am I MAD, almost certainly, but it was less than I would have to pay for something like that in the UK, it is hand made (I later learned it was made in the leather market that we couldn’t find again) and it is exactly what I was looking for, so I almost certainly paid too much but I got what I wanted and I’m happy with my purchase.

Having purchased the briefcase we started to wander back to where we had entered the market (well, where we thought we had). Along the way we were accosted by a man selling everything from coffee brewed in sand with a blend of spices added to it which you could drink on his ‘roof terrace’ which looked just a little bit rickety to natural perfumes, spices, natural makeup and goodness knows what else. We managed to walk away saying that we didn’t want to buy anything but then Captain Clarke said that he really did like the natural Amber perfume and, as it was only 1 MAD per gramme, we decided to go back. We didn’t bother with haggling. The man was, but this time, fully engaged in making some coffee for some American tourists, so he just told us that we should go inside his shop and he wouldn’t be a minute. We went in and Captain Clarke noticed some scales. He picked up a piece of said Amber natural perfume, (it is a bit like a block of wax but smells of Amber) and weighed it. 30 grammes which equated to 30 MAD or £3. We bought it without any negotiation! We walked to the end of the street and what did we find? The leather market!! Too late, but we actually discovered that they were making the briefcase I had bought there, so I didn’t feel so bad.

We eventually exited the market and were accosted by a man with a donkey and cart who wanted us to pay for a ride on it. We declined and he wasn’t too happy that we’d taken a photo and then weren’t spending any money with him but, frankly, we’d had enough of being accosted so it was tough! Actually, we didn’t find the souk to be as pushy as we had heard. Yes, there were stall holders who tried to accost you but generally it wasn’t too bad. We enjoyed our visit but decided to walk back to the hotel and, having completed a six mile walk around the souk, decided it was time for some lunch. We sat in the bar area near to the poolside, (there are two bars near the pool but this one was nearest to the hotel and we were a little tired from the walk), and Captain Clarke ordered a pepperoni pizza and I ordered a dish that sounded unusual of cherry tomatoes with a strawberry sauce, balsamic vinegar, burrata and raspberries. I thought it sounded refreshing and, indeed it was. It was actually very nice indeed. I would happily order it again! Sadly, Captain Clarke’s pizza was not so good. He was disappointed with it and struggled to eat half of it. We had a bottle of Moroccan rosé wine with lunch which was surprisingly good. Then we got the bill. £81 for lunch!!! This is not a cheap hotel!! So now, I have one hour left before my work begins. Captain Clarke is resting his eyelids and sounding a little like a wart hog on a motorbike but I will need to get a shower in a minute and get ready for this evening, so that is bound to waken him. But I have to work, so that’s it, he will get woken … it’s RudyMenTerry! Until next time …