Daytrip to the Ourika Valley.

It was quite a ride in the van as the driver and the guide were trying to turn the van into a mini club. First stop was a Berber House, the Berbers are the indigenous people of Morocco. After that watch the woman make mint tea and had tea and bread that they eat with argan oil and butter. Apparently, the Berber woman shakes the cow milk in a flask like thing for about 2 hours to get butter.



After that we went for a short camel ride along the valley.






After that we got back into the van and proceeded towards the waterfall. Once there, it was a 20min hike up. Some awesome views along the way. Quite sianed that the hostel din tell us to bring change so only went in to knee level.




After that we went for a sumptious lunch before heading back to Marrakech.



Tried the kebab for dinner, the fatty parts in between tasted really good. Saw some stalls selling pig head meat but din have the stomach to try.

Day 9

Slept over at London Gatwick, which has definitely been my best airport to sleep in to date. There are lots of benches and some do not have armrests between them, so I could stretch out properly and get some shuteye. Took the early flight to Marrakesh and at the Riad had a mint tea while the manager briefed me. Mint tea is like their everyday drink. They use green tea and then add mint and sugar.
I must say that the first time I went to the main square, I was overwhelmed by people shouting out to me or rather to HONDA to view their shop/take peekture of them/ get a henna. However, I've learnt that theres no need to shoo them off or act blur, cause a handshake and telling them that Im from Singapore and not JapanKoreaChinaHongkong will have them treating you as friends and thats how I met these 3 friends later in the day.



Lunch : Had the couscous with chicken for lunch. Heard that morrocan women do not wear jeans cause eating couscous makes them fat.



The main square is really bustling with life at night... sellers come out and set up stalls while there are also many performers from boxing to acrobats to dancing. No peektures of the performances though cause if they see me taking, will ask for money. The food sellers quite funny cause when they see angmoh, they'll go ," SUP HOMIES!".





Decided to risk my stomach and eat at the stalls. Had the tagine with chicken and the calamari for dinner. The food not bad but they quite smart serve small portions so you will keep ordering.



I think yip will like this.

Daytrip to Ourika Valley tomorrow.

Day 7+8

Took the early bus again, this time to Vienna. After finding the hostel, went off to see the Stephansdom. The exterior of the church, has this ghotic feel like the cathedral at Prague castle.



Went for the tour of the Catacombs below the church which was quite interesting can see all these bones in rooms where people were buried long ago. There are really alot of bones, so the housekeeper of the church has to walk through them when he changes the lightbulbs in the room!

The weather in Europe has been damn hot the past few days... it was 33 degrees yesterday in Bratislava and I was panting from the walking. So after the church I bought an icecream which was really good.


I was also fortunate enough to see the graduation ceremony for police cadets, which was taking place on the square just outside the church. I'm not sure why they chose to have the ceremony right in the middle of town, but I guess its a really good idea cause the cadets can feel the people around them and know what their training for.




After that went to the Naschmarket, which sold alot of spices and foodstuff.

Met this Spurs Fan from London in my hostel room. Hes also traveling alone and heading to Bosnia, Serbia so cant wait to see his photos. haha quite happy also cause I heard these 3 girls talking in the hostel and I guessed correctly that they were danish, or rather Greenland. One of them just graduated high school and even brought her fisherman cap along with her. The cap is something they get after they graduate from high school, and what I was surprised was that they dun just throw it to one side but wear it with pride everywhere they go.

Next day, went to the Vienna Imperial Palace and saw people lazing on the grass and enjoying the sun, so I lazed there for a while as I din have any plans.

After that had what would probably be my last currywurst in Europe.

Day 6

Bratislava. Before coming here, I had pictured Bratislava to be a pretty poor place and was prepared to deal with beggers and stuff. How wrong I was. Its certainly no bustling metropolitan, but Bratislava is definitely progressing, and likes to be known as a Little Big City. Streets are clean and people are dressed really fashionably. No doubt, this might only be the case as it is the capital , and the rest of Slovakia may not be as progressive.

Went for lunch at this place the tourist office recommanded. I ordered some dumplings with smoked cheese thing, which I thought would be something like the vagdult I had previously in Budapest. Well, the dumplinds were similar but it was just way too cheesey for me.



After that went for the free walking tour. It was quite interesting to know for example, that Bratislava was once part of Hungary, explaining their rivarly to this day and that Slovakia was once part of Czech, which was way I found the language famaliar. Other than these however, the tour was pretty dull.

Went into another slovakian eatery and I must say its quite fun to order food which you have no idea what would arriveat your table. I tried to ask the waitress some dishes, but not being able to understand her, I gave up and just pointed at something on the menu. What arrived was good though. Duck with salted veggie and ginger bread ? quite a combination but definitely nicer than what I had for lunch. Took the bus back to Budepast after that.



I have thouroghly enjoyed the past 6 days in Eastern Europe. I definitely want to come back here one day more than anywhere else in Europe and see more of it other than the big cities. 20 years is not a very long time and they are still trying to shake off communistic behaviour like strong bureaucracy in Hungary, but the change should still not be scoffed at.

Day 5

Budapest! Awesome!... One of my favourite cities to date along with Edinburgh and Prague. Went for the Free walking tour in the morning and in my opinion was one of the best i've been on thus far both in terms of the guide and what it had to offer.






The walk had several 'lucky' statues. First, there was this little boy which people rub his kness and make a wish. So of course I rub la.




Then, there was this stature of a horse, which school children during the communist era used to come to rub its balls before their exams for luck but now people rub to improve their you know what. So of course I rub la.. ..not that I need.



Epic Fail Communist errected monument. Its a good thing the water comes out from the sides.



After that, went for lunch at this place the guides recommended. Had the vadgult and galuska which a Hungarian student in the group recommanded me. I was really surprised when he mentioned that he came for the tour to learn more about his city. I've no idea if Singapore has tours like this and I cant say that I will join to learn more about my city.



After that, went to the central market which sold alot of spices, foodstuff. I had no idea that paprika was a very hungarian thing. Apparently, they use a lot of lard, paprika and sour cream in their seasoning.

After that, went for a Hungarian Bath at the Széchenyi Medicinal Bath. Really nice to soak in the water and then swimming for a while.



Daytrip to Bratislava tomorrow. Too bad their match was today....

Day 4

Made friends with this kebab guy while ordering a zapiekanka. Apparently he came to Poland from Tunisia after marrying a polish girl. Oh why am I not surprised... I wont mind being a kebab seller if this happened to me. So we traded facebooks cause he wanted the photos i took of him, and then he forgot to collect money so lucky I remembered and went back. Oh the zapiekanka tasted really good and damn long man!



Went to the Cloth Hall and because the weather was lovely, took lots of photos at the market square as my previous ones were with shitty weather.






Then after that, this aeroplane started dropping paper from the sky. Apparently, an artist had collected 1 million letters from prisoners to society and was now dropping the letters over the city.



haha this building is damn fail. It used to be owned by the Boner Family, so after some individuals bought over it and decided to use it as a hotel, they called it the Boner Palace w/o knowing its meaning in english.


Caught the bus in the afternoon to Budapest. The hostel here quite shiok cause im the only one in a 2 person dorm with my own toliet.

Day 3

Aushwitz. very sad place. I'll let the peektures do the talking.








Went to a Polish restaurant for dinner, and in my curiousity ordered bloodwurst, which I thought would be some type of sausage. The waitress was like 'you know blood?' . Wiki says :Black pudding or blood pudding is a type of sausage made by cooking blood or dried blood with a filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled. I din really like it cause theres this strong taste and feel like im eating blood.



Buda or is it Pest later today!