Morocco Je T'aime

 We sat together as a group wondering where we want to go as a group on a vacation and considered South America, Asia, Europe and Africa. We really wanted to go to Japan but they were still under strict covid practices so ditched that real fast and moved over to Turkey or Morocco. We narrowed in on Morocco as it was gateway to Sahara that all of us wanted to visit. We booked our travel - into Marrakech and out of Tangier and then let it lie for a bit. We then started micro planning it and it looked something like this. I am sharing it here in case you want to copy our itinerary. My only recommendation would be start in Tangier and end in Marrakech :) Marrakech has great shopping for cheaper than Tangier that you can shop and carry out rather than lugging it around the entire trip. Tangier was slightly on the pricier side for shopping.

Days	Dates	Time	Night Stay	Visit / Hotel
Day 1	Nov 19	6:45pm Arrival	Marrakesh	Riad Sidi Baba
Day2	Nov 20	Full	Marrakesh
Day 3	Nov 21	8:30 AM	Safari
Day 4	Nov 22	Full	Safari
Day 5	Nov 23	Full	Safari
Day 6	Nov 24	6:00pm Arrival	Fes	Riad Farah
Day 7	Nov 25	Full	Fes	Moulay-Idris and /Volublis
Day 8	Nov 26	8.00pm Arrival	Chefchaouen	Hotel Al Khalifa
Day 9	Nov 27	Full	Chefchaouen
Day 10	Nov 28	7.00pm Arrival	Tangier	Akchour Falls and Tetouan en route
Day 11	Nov 29	Full	Tangier	Royal Tulip
Day 12	Nov 30	1:25 PM Departure	Flight back

Things that were surprising / shocking:

• Moroccans genuinely love Bollywood and Indians. They will stop to sing a song for you or tell you that they love Shahrukh Khan or Salman Khan. They will be ready to drop a beat and chat with you about their favorite movie or song.
• The most welcoming people I have met in all my travel. They are ready to invite to you their house for tea or share their number so that you can call them if you need any help.
• In contrary to what is on youtube about Morocco - the hawkers do not touch you, or force you to buy anything. They tell you - if you are happy to buy, I am happy to sell, if you do not like anything, do not be afraid to say no, I will still be a friend. 
• No lady randomly drew henna on my hand.
• Bargaining was fine, they did not force you if you were unreasonable but if you were close, they were ready to make a deal.
• Did not feel intimidated in any of the Medina's or the food squares that we were in. We in fact played along and enjoyed the pseudo celebrity status quite a bit.
• The Riad's were amazingly beautiful and the hosts were gracious and generous with their love.
• The Desert Safari that we booked through Desert Majesty was a leap of faith and faith was restored as we enjoyed it wholeheartedly.
• The food is not at all spicy, I think we ate gallons of harissa to make up for it. 
• Bread is served at every meal and each city or restaurant has it's own flavor of bread.
• They have paratha like bread that is just amazing but mostly served only at breakfast. Also, try out their onion paratha - yummy.
• Surprisingly, we got dates served only at two hotels and at none of the Riad's.
• Public bathrooms are available everywhere but for some you need to pay at 1 or 2 MADs to use. They are not generally equipped with toilet paper or soap. It is advisable to carry some wipes or sanitizer to make up for it.
• The hikes are spectacular.
• We were surprised by the variety of landscape that you come by as you drive through the countryside. Every half hour, there is something new to see.
• Kids and people alike look happy, content.
• Watching football in the square at Chefchouen was beautiful with dance, music and chanting!

For more - read through my city by city diary :)

A Moroccan ART

Night 1 of Me and Myself!

Edit to add - this post is two years old...It was lying uncared for in the Drafts and I had fun reading it. So, decided to post it.

I dropped off my wards...G and S and came back home talking on the phone...I opened the front door and as I turned around to shut it, I noticed some overhead action...it was buzzing! There was a live wasp nest. Crap! I shut the door fast and took a few minutes to think WWGD (What would G do?). I went to the laundry room and looked, it was not there...then rushed to the garage, it was sitting there...the wasp nest killer spray. I grabbed it and walked inside the house. Read instructions and got armed. A quick call with G confirmed that I should wait for twilight. I walked out through the backdoor, watered the plants and then got out through the side yard gate and went to gym. I got back home and it was still bright as crazy. I did not want to wait till dark as I would have to use the side yard gate again. So I stood by the door, a few feet away and sprayed. The bees/wasp chased me...I ran to the car and hid behind it. Then I ran back and sprayed once more at the nest that was not very busy now and my can was empty. I went and parked in the garage and got inside the house to cook myself a meal. I was so tempted to go check at the door but good sense prevailed over my curiosity.

Yummy, red hot potatoes were cooked and puliyogare rice was made with left over rice. I ate it all up watching the first 10 minutes of Rangasthalam. I cleaned the house, moved things out of the way, worked for a bit and then moved to the bedroom. Showered, lied down and caught up on my K-Drama. Finished My Princess for a second time and started a new one. Then saw a few more minutes of Rangasthalam and decided to call it a night. I kept night lights throughout the lower floor so that I could step out and not be freaked out by darkness. Not sure it worked because I slept most of the night. I was awoken twice but did not stay up long enough.

Survived Night #1. Was a wasp/bee nest killer. Confirmed that the nest was indeed killed and headed to work! Overall so far it has been decent.

Lonely ART

2018 - Recap

I always enjoy writing a re-cap of the year that was. It takes me through the travails of the days gone and helps set realistic goals for what I want to do this year. But I slacked. I took a really long break from writing. Not that I did not have much to write or the time but lacked energy or the enthusiasm to do so. I know this is more of a whiteboard for me and my thoughts and memories that hopefully my daughter will find entertaining enough to read about in the future. So keeping with the tradition, though a month late, here is a quick recap :)

January: December 2017 ended with G and taking a look at ourselves. We did not look healthy or fit. We did not like our reflection, this is not what we wanted to become, old and unfit. Growing old is not a choice but being fit is. I hope I come back to this statement in the future if I get back to being unfit again. So, we took it upon ourselves to start living a healthier life. We had to make some adjustments, not a lot of dieting though. We still ate the same but added a workout routine. We started to bike.

Biking - Start of the Year

February: I got one of those calls that you dread about - mom is sick - please come. I rushed to NC the very next morning (thanks to my friend RR who got me a seat on a flight) and spent a few days.  Mom seemed to be recovering, so I got home.

March: A night in a camp that we had evacuate because of rain. Celebrated Holi with friends. A hike in the hills of south Dallas. Another trip to meet family in NC again, this time mom was doing much better.

It was also the month I turned 40. My daughter, niece and nephew were the first ones to welcome my 40's. They surprised me with cake, decorations and lots of fun. Then of course, G threw a huge party for me along with my friends and it was a super fun night!

Turning 40 is not so bad...nothing really changes drastically overnight. The only difference is that I have slowed down. I like to go to bed by 10 on Friday nights. My wild nights now end by 11 and if they last past that, I am extremely tired. I am enjoying it though, I feel well rested and energetic that I can run 5 miles and bike 10 miles all in one day.

Happy Birthday to Me!

April: There was more biking. The distances were growing and the time spent on trails were longer and we were thoroughly enjoying it. It was a relatively quite month in terms of activity. We were winding down towards end of school year.

More Biking...weather getting better - shorter sleeves

May: S had her annual Dance recital show. It was exciting for us also, the dress rehearsals and the practices. School ended and S was the happiest. She had the whole summer planned out. Another trip to NC for mother. She was sick again and this time we had to make some really tough decisions. I had to rush to NC from my fun work trip in Nashville. I was so sad to have been having a great time.

June: G and S left on their EU trip. They spent a couple of days in London before heading to Paris. S spent the whole of June and part of July on her own with her uncle's family. I spent a couple of fun weekends with friends. I went with R to Legacy West and had a great evening and then had a girls night out with M and A - an evening to remember. I also went to Sallu show with friends and relaxed and chilled the rest of my alone time.

July: G was back and we had 2 weeks to ourselves. What did we do? We biked. We did 30 miles...in our crappy cheap bikes. It felt like we could run faster on some days.

Then I left to Paris to pick S up. We went up to Italy for P's wedding and spent three days with my brother and his family walking around Pompeii and Rome. It was so relaxing.

G joined us in Iceland where we spent 5 days hiking up all the waterfalls in the south of the island. One beautiful trip with great stories and memories. The photos show how much coffee I drank and bits and pieces from all our trips

I got so sick after this ride. It was 115 deg's on this day and we did 25 miles

Coffee in a Cafe in Paris

Coffee in Italy

Coffee in Paris

Crepe in a Creperie in Paris

Kid like joy enjoying nature in Iceland

G and S trying to fill water from a waterfall - Iceland

August: We were back in the States and ready for new school year. It was still hot in Texas so we biked some more. S tied Rakhi to A again this year...that is 3 years in a row. They are growing up together so well now that it is cute.

More Biking - different trails, different days

September: A trip to Houston - lots of gluttony, boating, walking, playing tennis. More biking and relaxing as the cold starts to come in.

Getting colder - it rained right after we took this pic - fun experience

October: It was S's 11th. We had a great time celebrating her but unfortunately I had to rush to my family once again and could not celebrate G turning a year older. It was a stressful week for me. I did get to meet with S in NY when I went there for work. His twins were the best thing that happened to me in a while. We had a great time. I actually got to eat in a real Korean restaurant in NYC. It was amazing. I enjoyed the company and the food and it was exactly like I had imagined it would be....Daebak!

Samwon in NYC - the best Korean Bap! They even had the right kind of silver!

November: BIL came down with his family. S went back with him to Houston and we got to spend Thanksgiving with them. It was pretty much relaxing and cold. Visited a brewery and had a full pint of beer for the first time. I took three hours to down it but it is still not my favorite. Though I see the advantage of drinking beer over other things...not looking forward to a beer belly so beer is still unpopular with me. And of course the most memorable Diwali party that we will remember for a life time! Oh! and the cold trip to Iowa for work.

December: Was a travel month. Visited Chicago, KC, NC, and Santo Domingo. Each of them memorable in their own way.

Chicago: I missed my family as I was in downtown without them. I enjoyed my walk to Millennium Park. I enjoyed hanging out with work friends and it was a fun trip.

KC: A day trip. Tiring but still got a lot accomplished.

NC: Family trip. S went to Savannah with my brother's family and I got 4 full days alone with my parents. It was the best part of the entire year. I was a little kid but the roles were reversed where I was taking care of them.

SD: The best freaking trip. We had the best AirBnb house - the house itself was basic but we hired a cook - Maribel. She was godsent. She cooked the best food, hooked us up with rental car, sent us to private beaches and was just an awesome human being. The trip itself was great, made some great memories, learnt a lot of new things, ate some real authentic DR food and spent a lot of time relaxing.

Seeing myself in the reflection - a lonely walk

Santo Domingo - Very fun history walk

December 31st night: We were driving from Houston to Dallas and made it home just a few minutes past mid-night. I hope this year is filled with a lot more travel. There is a whole lot of world left to see.

Countries Visited this year:

France

Italy

Iceland

Santo Domingo

Cities visited this year:

Kansas City, MO

Des Moines, IA

Greenville, NC

New York, NY

Chicago, IL

Austin, TX

Houston, TX

Nashville, TN

Biked more than 1000 miles, walked more than that. It was a great year where collectively G and I lost a whole another mini human in terms of weight. We hope to keep it down and never go back to where we were before.

I hope I will get to blog more this year if not, I will at the very least keep the yearly recap going. 

Traveling ART

Competitive

Competitive...The latest trend amongst people my age is to claim their virtues and be proud of it. I have literally heard people loudly and proudly say, "I am so competitive," or "I am type A personality," or "I hate to loose." Sure, I am always looking forward to my next loss!

I have an acquaintance who is proud of simple thing as cleaning the counter, well, because he is Type A personality and has self acclaimed to posses OCD. This is just insulting those who have been diagnosed with the disorder while all he does is clean the counters well.

Then there is this lady who walks around claiming that she is competitive in three out of five conversation I had with her. It was an immediate turn off. I understand that you are competitive but you do not have to competitively tell everyone about it. I feel that everyone is competitive about things they want and care about. I, for example, won't compete in a drinking game because I know I would loose on the second drink but that does not mean I am not competitive, just that I have better things to fight for.

When I thought this was an oddity I realized that this is more common than not. A few weeks ago two women quickly claimed that they were both aggressive about winning. One could hardly hold herself back while the other was claiming it that she rushed to chime, "me too." I saw them both and across their room and they turned into little kids fighting for the one last ice cream. I laughed so hard inside that I could barely contain it when I was talking to them later. Their stature became so small and cute that they were not imposing any more.

I hope that my daughter does not turn up to be them. That she can relax and compete in things that matter to her because that is what life is all about, fight for what you not and not what others want you to fight for. Do what you enjoy and you would never have to claim personality traits to fit in. Just because your strength turns out to be an achiever in one of those useless test does not mean that you will achieve everything in life or vice versa. It is ok, we all have one life to live, while live it being a "me too?"

A Zen ART

Mental Wanderer!

The last few months have been a roller coaster - of emotions, of lives, of my world as I know it. I was forced to look inside and see that I was not what I thought I always was. I almost entertained a thought that I never thought I would in my life. I was chastised for something that should not have been and I my many apologies seemed to fall in deaf ears. I looked around and saw smiling faces and I felt guilt every time I wanted to laugh. I went on a party wagon but could not let loose to enjoy the ride. Every meal I ate made me feel bad, every word I said made me look inside. I looked at others and felt a pang of jealousy wondering how nice it would be to live life without being me. Yet through all these times I was grateful. I was grateful because I had things that others did not, like love and support, and things to love. I wonder if everyone go through life like this or similar in their life. Yet, I see that as we move on, get stronger, we do not stop to hold others' hands. Instead, we chug along racing towards the never-finding goal ignoring the one's whose lives are down in the dump like mine was a few days ago.

I hope to come out of these funky months very soon and when I do, I want to be stronger, look in the eyes of the perpetrators and tell them that "the shit they threw at me did pass but when it happens to them and if I am around I will extend my hands instead of shitting over them."

Mental wanderer is the state of my mind the last few days. I smile on the outside but the brain is looking around for something that is not touchable. I am hoping that the sun will rise and will shine on me and others going through similar things, it cannot be dark forever, it should not be dark forever. Keep reminding yourself that it is always "mind over matter."

Mental Wandering ART!