Dedicated to a wonderful Mother Jean Noble 31/5/1929 - 20/8/2007 - may we never take our mothers for granted. - Goodbye Mum

MOROCCO PAGE 5 MARCH 2008

Present day knowledge almost universally believes Africa is the birthplace of our species – Humankind. The picture above shows the ordinary people of Morocco. The currency of Morocco is the Dirham 1 MAD = $AUD 0.15... Of course no one EVER gets the “interbank rate”. For ordinary mortals like us, this is a myth!

Saturday 1^st March to Thursday 6th, 2008. Remain Tangier.
Approx. k's Average Speed kph Cycling time Hr(s) Min Max speed kph Max temp we recorded °C
Remain Tangier.... Some people may be wondering why we remain so long in Tangier.... ALL will be revealed in the coming days... We have dismantled our Bikes and had boxes made.

The boxes are extremely light (about 2kg) and we HOPE will be acceptable to the Airlines. The Box dimensions are: 135x65x55 Centimetres (0.48 Cubic Metres). The boxes are wooden framed with re-enforced light ply sides. They cost about $70.00 each to be manufactured.
After dismantling the bikes we measured the “piles” and added a little extra for error...

There is a tempting amount of space left around the bikes, once packed :-) However we are limited to 32KG MAX by almost ALL airline rules.
We did a bit of “sightseeing” in this fascinating city...

and “peeled back” a few layers, which I hope to write about soon. Catchya Later...
Thursday 6th, 2008. Depart Tangier by overnight train to Marrakech. (No cycling)
Approx. k's Average Speed kph Cycling time Hr(s) Min Max speed kph Max temp we recorded °C
With our bikes dismantled and in our new boxes, we started our journey to Marrakech. We began from our new found friends in a local “sandwich bar” (Which rarely sells sandwiches)

With little choice we had to accept a van at 100 MAD (About $15.00).. for the short journey from our hotel to the railway station.

The journey for the bikes, to Marrakech was 217 MAD (About $32.00). Fatima the partner of one of our friends came with us to the railway station to ascertain our travel details. Her excellent language skills meant for a smooth transition.

We booked a “sleeper cabin” for 350 MAD (about $AUD55.00), only slightly more than the bikes.

We left Fatima and Mahni, then began our night journey to Marrakech...
Friday 7th, 2008. Marrakech to Manchester/Wigan, United Kingdom by Truck and Aircraft. (No cycling)
Approx. k's Average Speed kph Cycling time Hr(s) Min Max speed kph Max temp we recorded °C
We arrived at the railway station in Marrakech at a little after 8am. Our flight was 11:20am. We needed to get the bikes to the airport and rearrange, if necessary, our packaging, once we could weigh things. Our gear was the last things off the train. NOTHING we could say or do was going to stop them taking all the trains baggage to the storage and dispensing area – some distance from the train carriage.

We walked to this area and “begged” for our gear to be expedited ASAP. Without language this was difficult. As luck would have it, we came across a deaf mute. Sign language was his forte, he took it upon himself to help. With sign language we identified our boxes and told him we needed to get to the Airport. Remarkably he FULLY understood and within fifteen minutes we had boxes loaded into a truck and were on our way.

Sadly we were to be ripped of for this 5 minute ride as the guy charged 200MAD (About $AUD30.00). Now for the airport... Despite ALL our pleadings we were dropped off in the car park, some distance from the easily accessible (by the truck) entrance. We were then inundated by the Porters... We tried to find out the price of the 150 metre trip to the terminal building.. but ALL refused to understand.. We COULD NOT get a trolley ourselves as ALL were commandeered by the Porters. So we went along with two of them.

At the terminal we gave them 20MAD each (about $3.00 each) for their 2 minutes of work. With impeccable English they demanded more.. Lee went straight to the Police that were on duty nearby and they both “bolted”... One policeman said, with a smile “looks like you fixed the problem”.
We then set about weighing and re-arranging our gear... With only 1hr 45 minutes before the flight, we worked furiously... With the benefit of the airlines scales, we found we were 5kg over EACH... After a nightmarish battle with Thompsonfly's ground staff we were told the 10KG will cost us 1,700 MAD (About $AUD250.00)... Pay or you do not fly was the ultimatum – defeated by the airline, we paid.

On board the flight was a grossly obese Woman, luckily for her there were two empty seats, side by side. She was removed from her single seat and placed in the two, so she could fasten the seat belt. She probably paid MUCH less for her seat(s) than my 10kg overweight. I paid less for my seat, meal, and bicycle than the10kg that I was over. I have written to Thompsonfly so that it can be ignored like all other complaints.

After we got all the “Check In” formalities done we went to immigration/customs. A woefully slow process and for Lee very intrusive.. Her body search was bordering on the obscene. They even checked her wallet for Dirham.. which is illegal to take out of the country. We finally made it to the departure lounge and were whisked straight on to the plane.. We were the last to board and the plane was late taking off.. We arrived in Manchester 25 minutes late.

I want to be fair here.. IF you are leaving from England flying to “anywhere” with Thompsonfly they are VERY bike friendly. You need to read their site carefully and if you follow everything to the letter, you will not have any unpleasant surprises. We could NOT weigh anything before we got to the airport... We (and you) cannot book on line (WITH BIKES) and we had to make an international call (at considerable expense). You should still read all the rules on line – AND REMEMBER THEM – as you need to relay your wishes during the booking process.

SUMMARY MOROCCO

We have written summaries for many countries, this one is by far the most difficult one to write. We desperately wanted to cycle the length and breadth of Morocco. The attacks by young boys and girls, were so severe and distressing, that all the enjoyment one gets from cycling was taken from us. The attacks (Unless these children are a different breed of our species) are taught and encouraged by “significant” adults! If they are a different breed (Which of course they are not), then the attacks could be instinctive. Of course they are just children!!

Conversely if one could point to a more accommodating people on this planet, than the Moroccans, we would love to know who. We were met with incredible warmth and kindness wherever we went. We were invited into homes to share meals, were escorted to buy things we needed, to prevent overcharging. We were assisted with language (We speak NO Spanish, French or Arabic), people spent hours with us in taxi's and at transport hubs, translating our needs. An incredibly humbling experience.

Corporate Morocco, just like Corporate “anywhere” is beset with “rip off's”. One has to be careful not to get sucked in. Sadly the people that attempt the deceptive practices often miss a sale altogether, be it a simple sale of a bottle of water or jar of coffee... A bit of research and diligence on the part of the visitor to Morocco, will cause these dishonest people considerable loss of earnings.

There is a dark side and I have agonised whether or not to write about it???, unfortunately as a pair of cyclists it is outside the scope of what we feel we should be writing about.

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