1. Morocco is really diverse climate-wise. I was expecting dry, dusty landscapes, but while Marrakesh matched my impression, Fez was actually really green, almost Cameron Highlands-like in its cool dampness.
2. Got to ride my first ever camel and donkey. The former is definitely a much smoother ride than the latter.
3. On the subject of camels, they poop. A lot. On our 1 hour ride into the desert, they pooped quite literally every 10 seconds on average. Mostly light pellets, with the occasional plop of a big dump.
3. Spent a night sleeping in the tent in the Sahara desert. Pretty much didn't shower or brushed teeth and just went straight to bed, with boots still on even.
4. Peed twice in the desert, then washed my hands with sand.
5. Saharan sand is incredibly fine.
6. Night time in the vast expanse of the desert was not as dark as I'd expected. With no other light source distracting, the moon actually provides enough light for one to walk around without feeling blind.
7. Asian tourists are rare commodities, especially in Tangier, where two girls accosted us on the street for photos.
8. Moroccans speak French more slowly than the French do, which was great for me as I could understand much more of it. I basically served as the interpreter for the group the whole time and got to practice my French a lot. Their French is not very good, I gotta say. Mine's pretty crappy and still I could detect numerous mispronunciations from various people.
9. Still not a big fan of couscous, which is a popular dish in Morocco. Their beans soup is pretty great though.
10. Due to budgetary reasons, had enough bread in 10 days to last me a lifetime (or at least the next month).
11. Worse olfactory experience of my life in visiting a tannery (leather-making joint). Makes you appreciate the price of leather, as you imagine that the workers have to endure that day in day out.
12. At said tannery, we were sorta threatened. We were promised a free tour, but as we left, were told we had to pay the 'guardian' (bad Arabic-English translation from the guide probably) of the tannery 50dh each. When we refused, he said he could not guarantee our safety afterward then. We settled at 20dh each eventually. "Student discount" for us.
13. Like in Turkey, as we walk in markets, shop owners, random people, touts all shout out "Japonais? Korean? Chinois?" to us. 98% of the time, their first guess is Japanese, reflecting Japan's status as the richest Asian country and hence the one with the most tourists of course. One guy said Singapore in his first try, which was pretty cool. Someone else said Taiwan. Independence-leaning Taiwanese would have been so happy.
14. Speaking of this nationality/ethnicity guesswork of the locals, many like instead to say "Jackie Chan?", then strike a gong-fu pose with requisite sound effect. A whole bunch of soccer-playing kids in Tangier showed off their full repertoire gong-fu moves with enthusiasm as we walked past them. We can anoint Mr. Chan as officially the most famous Asian face globally, methinks.
15. It seems Moroccans are fans of Bollywood. I noticed more of Bollywood titles than Western ones in the pirated DVD shops we came across.
16. Oxonian Singaporeans are all musically talented. Caleb and Elizabeth play the violin, Rachel can do guitar and drums, Junny can do guitar and just picked up the ukelele, which he brought along for the trip. The night in the Sahara, outside our tent, with candles lit, we jammed along with 3 German girls, who were in our same traveling van, to Coldplay, Howie Day, the Beatles as Junny played the ukelele. And for many of the songs, Elizabeth and Junny simply worked out the chords on the spot. I was impressed.
17. Moroccan cities ostensibly have colour schemes, as reflected in the buildings. Marrakesh is orange, Fez is green and Tangier is white.
18. While French carries the day in Marrakesh and Fez, in Tangiers, due to its proximity to Spain, more people speak Spanish and even English then French, it seemed.
19. Medinas (Old cities) are an assault to one's senses. From the donkeys, horses, motorcycles that stream by constantly, to the flies and bees, one is constantly overwhelmed.
20. Had my must-have McDonald's in a foreign country experience in Fez. It was a pretty atas looking setup, gotta say. I had one of the special burgers (outside of the usual McMacs, Fillet o' Fish etc, of which there were 3, that was called "Mythic Chicken". Actual burger wasn't quite as epic as it sounds. Twas basically a McChicken, but larger, and with cheese and tomato slices tossed in. They had awesome fries though.
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