May 10, 2016

May 9, 2016 Monday

Sunrise over the Sahara

No news, so I'll put some other interesting facts here. No doubt of great interest to Catherine was the warm chocolate melting cake that she found.

In Fez there is an American veteranarian place that was started in the early 1900's. It's sponsored by Americans and people can go there and have their animals taken care of for free. Every year the US donates money to keep it open.

One of the teachers has brought his six year old daughter, Elsa along. Elsa is loving all the cats everywhere. She speaks cat. She practices all the time, but is no longer allowed to practice cat on the bus.

If you watch the Abu Dahbi National Geographic Channel, it only shows weird weight loss commercials from the 90's. 

May 10, 2016 Tuesday
Today they are in a city I've never heard of and weirdly, for the area, it's raining.

Turns out this is a city I should know. It's nicknamed "The blue city" for good reason and is one of Catherine's favorite places so far.

They're off to the medina and then Catherine is going to try to clean her jeans and art supplies--thankfully not paper or any art itself, from a shampoo explosion. AS far as we know the shampoo does not smell of divine seduction, but since the label is in Arabic we can't be sure.

May 8, 2016

May 8, 2016

Catherine called for mother's day and was able to fill in a lot of details about her trip. There has been A LOT of time spent on buses.

She enjoyed Fez. Some of the streets are so small it's hard for even one person to walk through. They were in a non-touristy area which she enjoyed greatly.

The jumping off point for the camel trip was a lovely resort. She especially appreciated the soft pillows. Apparently, Morocco doesn't really do soft pillows. Or soft at all. That was what was so difficult about the camel ride. The hump is covered with padding and then a hard saddle is put on top of that. There is no cushioning on the saddle and the ride is bumpy. I can see where that would be tough after about 10 minutes.

Here's a camel parking lot

This is Reginald, her camel. she thought he looked like our cat, Tigger.

My favorite experience that she told me about was in the desert. The rest of the group had climbed to the top of a giant sand dune. Catherine stopped part way up and just let the group go on out of earshot. Then she had the whole huge desert and the sky to herself. She says she's never seen such stars. She just sat there as part of the universe and feeling small.

May 7, 2016

May 7, 2016 Saturday

They left for Fez and had lunch in Azrou, visiting the souk afterward. Back to Fez. It sounds like an interesting place.

They got to visit a newly refurbished tannery. These things have been around for thousands of years.

To my great envy, Catherine got a hot stone massage. Only $15 for 30 minutes.
She also picked up some laundry soap. She says that all of her clothes now smell like "divine seduction."  And for Mother's Day, I will be getting some fancy day and night creams made with Moroccan oils.

The hotel in Fez has weird lobby music. "It was motab (mormon tabernacle choir) style organ before breakfast, then Star Wars and now flute versions of Abba songs.  over in Thailand, Dave is getting Abba music as well. Never knew they were still so popular!

May 5 CAMELS

May 5, 2016 Thursday

"TIME DOES NOT FLY WHEN YOU'RE ON A CAMEL"

Catherine got very lucky. Two days before the camel trip, it rained for the first time in 4 years. So the weather was in the 70's and breezy. I asked why time wasn't flying? Wasn't it fun? She said it was fun for the first 20 minutes or so for the remaining 3.5 hours it was rather painful.

They rode to Khyams a nomad tent. No pics yet of the tent, but this looks like an interesting oasis stop.

May 6, 2016 Friday

The day began with a sunrise camel ride.

After this they had classes and lunch and then visited a Gnaoua village. The tradition on marriage is for Berber men to give their bride In Berber a metal jewelry box. This box comes apart and is also a bracelet for the woman to wear.

From here they returned to Merzouga, the jumping off place for the camel trip. Catherine was delighted to report that her hotel room came with its very own bug spray. Lucky girl!

Thailand Temples

Dave's travels are confusing since he's a day behind. So, I think today was the city and temple tour.

First off though, he found a cat. It's a good trip.

A monestary--no idea what the official name is. Perhaps the monastery of the green Buddha?

It sounds as though he got to go into at least one monastery, but not this one.
Dave and Dee Dee  enjoying a ride on a tuk tuk.

Morocco--Sheep!

May 4, 2016 Wednesday

Catherine is somewhere out in the desert. She got to stay at an organic farm where she got to hold a baby goat AND a baby sheep. Doesn't get better than that!

Also, she got to see this fortress which is used in lots of movies-anyone recognize it?

But of utmost importance. Catherine learned to tie a turban.  Good thing she doesn't look AT ALL like a terrorist.

Thailand

May 3, 2016


Dave arrives in Chaing Mai, Thailand--a little worse for wear from the long flight, but in one piece. He had the joy of sitting next to a man who reeked of onions on the plane, but the man was a master of chess. He said so himself.


Dave got to see this part of an old city wall

before collapsing into bed at this beautiful hotel. He's 13 hours ahead of me in Utah.