Essaouira, Morocco

Click HERE for Karla’s photos on Google Photos.

*Notes by Chris

Essaouira

Took 2.5 hour taxi ride from Marrakech with Talib. Super Nice driver guy.  

Saw lots of orange & olive trees, eucalyptus, and towards the end Argan trees.

June 25 Arrived in Essaouira, Talib had called ahead to Fatima to arrange our meetup.  She met us at Bab Marrakesh and walked us into the walls of the Medina and to our airbnb. Quirky cool three  story + rooftop spot with a super cool top floor lots of windows etc.  

We set out to get some food. Sean’s birthday (travel day, always).  Ate at a place near the beach, sat near the washroom, Okay food.  After lunch returned to airbnb and relaxed on the couches.  Video games, photo catchup WiFi usage time.  Went to Carrefour to stock up on food and drink.  Beer was Casablanca - pretty good. Dinner was at home, Spaghetti + local cakes for dessert + pudding + whipped cream.  Weather was beautiful clear blue skies.  Watched Guardians of the Galaxy after dinner. 

June 26 Day 2 Essaouira

I was up early for photos went down to the harbour and took photos about 6am.  Cloudy.

Walk on the beach after this in morning.  Long walk down to the rocks, not really that windy at all. Played in the sand dunes and were accosted by Camel drivers.  Dogs chased camels and ate their tails.  By the time we got back it was lunch time. We went out as a family looking into the souks.  I had been reading about carpet bartering skills online Found a carpet shop and settled in. Abdulla got the mint tea out and we did carpets.  There was a kilim style rug we all liked that was about 1.3 x 2.0m. It was the mirage in the desert style.  Abdulla started at 4600MAD.  We left the carpet shop with him down to 2200MAD

We went for lunch at The Loft. 

Sean and I found corn nuts for sale in the market. 

June 27 Day 3 Essaouira

Cloudy in the morning again.  I didn’t go out. Just coffee and internet catchup.  Kids had surfing lessons from 10:30-12:30am. Windy to start and wind built during the day.  Kids did great, both popped up early and had some great waves, Sami getting a push onto waves and Sean heading farther out and paddling into waves himself!  I couldn’t take it any longer so after a great lunch of meat Tajine and mint tea, I rented a windsurfing rig and headed out.  It was a 6.4m sail and a 106L wave board.  A bit off balanced but I managed for an hour 

I went for a walk in the evening after dinner to take photos ge the lay of the land. Headed to the ramparts and through the Medina in the northern parts.  We went back to the Carrefour for more food and beer.  Beer was “33” Dinner Cheese and crackers and peas & peppers. 

June 28

We went surfing in the morning.  Rented surf boards 3 of them and surfed in the wind~! Sean and I paddled into waves and Karla pushed Sami into some.  It was pretty chilly with the wind. We headed home before noon and had “fast food” panini and Morocco tacos.  Big hit. Karla and I left the kids for their afternoon screen time and headed out shopping.  We were looking for a pottery sink.  We checked out a number of shops learned about the difference in pottery between Safi and Fez.  Fez pottery is higher quality more time in the oven and heavier. Sinks were about 400MAD and nothing we fell in love with. Not much flexibility in the price for them either. We had wanted to buy some plates as well but nothing really came together.  I ended up buying a beautiful bowl and some egg holders for 200MAD total. Dinner was pesto pasta.

June 29th 

We packed in the morning as our checkout was 11am.  Or else at least that was what time Fatima’s mom came to clean.  We headed out to look for carpets as we found out that the post office is closed on Saturdays!  We met a group of americans who were just about to enter a carpet shop.  I was showing interest in a carpet hanging outside the shop and this man started to explain to me the quality of the carpet.  His friend sort of jumps in and tells me the guy is his colleague at UCLA as a professor of anthropology. I got caught up in a conversation with David talking about how Omar his friend is from Morocco and is super knowledgeable. Super connected up to the royal family and such.  We ended up coming back to see Aziz the carpet seller.  Karla and I both loved the rug that had originally brought us into the shop and we also found a number of rugs that the Omar family had been looking at earlier.  I fell in love with a distinctive Beni Mguild from that group but the price was 9500MAD the smaller yellowish one we saw from outside was 4800MAD (Berber style) .  Opposite to our first carpet experience this guy was not so mobile in his bartering.  His shop was a bit higher end and his English was perfect.  He went as low as 8000 in bargaining  and 3000 for the two respective rugs. Then we decided to go out and have some lunch.  We sort of needed to buy something from Aziz as we needed someone to arrange shipping of our previous purchases.  

We took the bus back to Marrakech.  Comfy.  80MAD per person.  Had McDonalds on the way to the airport after the bus ride.  Sean lost out on McDs again!  Burger never was packed into the bag!  Airport trip by big taxi 100MAD.  Checkin with a Greek tour group took forever.  Airport was empty but gorgeous!

Marrakech, Morocco continued

Saturday, June 22

• C up around 6 to walk and take photos, KSS slept in a bit!
• 8 am KSS reading and talking about what they wanted to see in Marrakech. I think Sami mentioned mint tea and henna, Sean might have said take photos? between his no yous  and yeets. C returned declaring there was no reason to go out before 8 as no one was out yet. But he HAD already had mint tea and brought back some baked goods for us to try.
• 9 out we went to walk the streets of the markets to Djema El Fna (market). We smelled fresh mint and herbs by the cart, spices and raw meat and fish. We saw bees landing on the carts full of baked goods (which bothered no on and C pointed out that bees are clean, unlike flies). As we went further into the alleys/streets, we saw everyday household goods to more and more specialised souvenirs.

Sunday, June 23

(To be updated)

Monday, June 24

Bus 12 to Java El Fna, catch big bus to Oasiria: the water park extraordinaire! The water park was so quiet for most of the day. No line ups, about 7 different slides for 150 cm and over and 4 that Sam could do. Rock climbing travers wall that splashed into the water when you fall, wave pool, swim-up bar, heated pool, longest lazy river in Africa (and most beautiful we’ve ever seen), and young, athletic local guys as lifeguards to patrol every station with whistles. Very beautiful grounds design that incorporated many trees and nature. Of course, it used millions of gallons of water. After all my reminders about sunscreen, I ended up a burn on my back. No shirts allowed for safety.? 

Afterward, as we were hot and tired, Sami and I stopped at the Henna Art Cafe for juice and henna tattoos on our hands. We brought falafel sandwiches and hummus home for everyone. 

We also decided during a chat with a friendly worker at the lazy river to abandon our plan to visit Fez, since it is just like Marrakech, and instead visit the windiest city of Africa:  Essaouira. 

Marrakech, Morocco

Hello - Salaam 

Thank you - Shokran

Let’s go - Yella

How much? Sha-hel

Friday, June 21, 2019

Casablanca airport: From Dubai, we travelled with a large group of elderly Moroccan travellers returning from their trip to —- Long white gowns, orange hands and fingernails, gold urn-type containers, noisy, unfamiliar with airplane rules (sit down when food service/landing, how to open the bathroom doors, 

Airport baggage claim: many Moroccans completely cover their suitcases with plastic wrap. It took nearly an hour for our luggage to come through and many old luggage was lined up on the ground, taken off the conveyer belt by airport staff (I think).

Sounds and culture: many raised voices by men and older women, people cutting the line, body odour, etc.

Drive to Marrakech with 2 drivers: young guys, 1 named Abdeljalil who was friendly, spoke excellent English and taught us som Arabic words. When Chris told him both at the beginning and end of our drive that he had already paid online, Abdel acted like this was not true, he had no record of it, and once we were taking out our bags and leaving to go to our riad with the Airbnb guy—-, Abdel was calling someone on the phone while Chris showed him his copy of the invoice email. Out Airbnb man said “It’s ok, let’s go.” And we left.

TRAVELLING: You think people are being friendly, but often they have alterior motives.

Riad in Marrakech: what a beautiful home! From the outside these buildings are all joined together by one wall all red clay. The only exterior display of uniqueness are the doors. And some are incredible! Inside, you step into a whole new world (cue song) including a small pool to sit in and cool off, colourful rugs and lamps everywhere, carved details in every ceiling and alcove, ornate mirrors and vases and hand-crafted tiling everywhere, especially the sinks in the bathrooms. The whole house is 3 floors, the third is the rooftop! Women were still cleaning the rooms and washing towels when we arrived, so we stayed out of their way. Sami jumped into the pool right away - it was super hot and dry and we were all travel-weary from 20 hrs of travel and being awake for around 36 in total. 

It was around 4:00 when the owner/manager  returned and took out suitcases for the people who stayed here before us and stored them here. I could barely keep my eyes open. Chris was already exploring the neighbourhood and kids were having screen time. I plopped onto one of the beds (there are 4 full bedrooms with ensuites, big pillows but comfy mattresses) and slept.

So good to be on our own: to let down our guard and relax!

Goodbye Hong Kong

June 2019 signaled the end of our time in Hong Kong and the start of a new adventure in Canada. We have lived in Asia for 18 years now: 3 years in Bangkok, 2 years in Shanghai, and 13 years in Hong Kong. We had one baby in Shanghai and one in Hong Kong and all they know about living in Canada is summertime fun, a couple of Christmases skiing/snowboarding and playing in sun or snow with the cousins. We are accustomed to living close to school/work, having access to resources for teaching, playing with friends who live a few doors away, and having someone help us with all the household chores. Our intention, however, was never to settle down somewhere and become an immigrant anywhere. We moved after our third year of marriage and teaching careers to experience new things and explore the world. It just happened to take us 18 years instead of the initial 2-year originally took!


It’s hard to believe that just a couple of weeks ago, we were handing in our keys and HKIS ID cards and taking one last picture of the kids’ growth chart on their bedroom walls. We didn’t take many pictures of the empty apartment at A4 Tai Tam Gardens because, well, it wasn’t ours anymore. It’s how I felt about my classroom once I’d taken all of my things out. When it had my special touches, it was mine, but now it’s just a classroom.

Before we begin looking for a home, job, school and church somewhere in Chilliwack or Kamloops, BC, we’ve decided to travel around this side of the world one last time. I really am looking forward to a new chapter of life where we switch from holidays spent traveling in Asia to family road trips around North America. But first, from June 20 to September 1, we plan to travel to Morocco, Greece, Italy, France (for a few days), Slovenia, Poland and Iceland. Phew! Here we go!