Wardy’s Travel Blog

Rocking the Kasbah … Marrakech

This was a favourite song of mine when I was growing up and I remember dreaming of how amazing this place must be.  Little did I know that I would have the opportunity to check it out for myself.

So when we booked the flight I was excited to see that the hotel we were staying at was in the middle of the Kasbah! Check out the hotel here: http://www.slh.com/morocco/marrakech/hotel_marsul.html

http://www.lasultanamarrakech.com/# (Click on Marrakech)

And what a place… The sounds of horns beeping, the 5 calls to prayer from the Imam, the smells of lamb cooking in the myriad of herbs they use, the thousands of people wandering around… It was amazing!

Myself, my fiance (Rachel… more about her soon!), and Rachel’s parents spent 4 wonderful days roaming the streets of Marrakech and haggling with the local shop owners.

And did we haggle…  I was not so strong on this but I did enjoy the time doing my little bit.

I will relate some of these stories:

- When I was looking at Leather jackets I didn’t want to come across too interested and said that I was only looking to shop owner.  He said “Brother you must come over… You have no obligation to buy but you do have an obligation to try!”.  What could I do…  I went over and tried on a couple great jackets.  In the end I got a great leather jacket for a very nice price…

- Rachel’s dad, Winston, was a great haggler and set a great benchmark..  His favorite saying was “It may be worth that to you but it is only worth half that to me!”…  And generally he ended up getting it for close to that price!

We also did a day trip up into the Atlas mountains.  And to our surprise when we pulled into this village we were ordered onto muels for a 3 hour ride through the hills.  We had mint tea in a berber home, dinner in a local trekking hotel overlooking a valley and a stones throw from the snow capped mountains… Then muel rides back down into the village.

I must admit that I was very nervous about going because of stories about pickpockets etc.  But I must honestly say that we all felt very safe and looked after.  The Moroccans were very friendly and hospitable and made our stay an incredible experience.

Anyway… need to get back to work now, so have a great New Years!

Amster Damn… it was wet!

Last week I managed to get to the city of red lights, women in windows wearing little and where the coffee shops sell products to let you mellow out.

Amsterdam…

The only problem is that the weather spoilt the show. It was pouring with rain so the ladies just closed the curtains and went home. Except for the really BIG girls that looked like they could curdle milk just by looking at it!

So myself and an American colleague went in search of a restaurant that served decent meat. We stumbled across a restaurant named Gaucho’s. Here you order your steak and the chef slices it the half a chopped cow in the kitchen (which is in the middle of the restaurant), slaps it on the grill and hey presto, you are eating the most delicious 300g of Argentine steak available… YUMMM!

It certainly ranks in my top 5 steak meals… But that is a story for another day!

New Photos…

Hi all…

I have loaded some new photos in the gallery pages of this site. They are mainly those that I took last weekend in Poland.

I am still waiting on Drew to give send me some from New York… hang on… I haven’t given them theirs yet either

Ok let’s just say that there are some more coming for NY,NY and Poland 07.

Cheers
Ian

Corfee in New York!

Hi all…

This week I had the pleasure of going to New York with Drew, Liz and Bec for 5 nights and days of sightseeing, shopping, eating expensive steaks and corfee.

NYC is an amazing city! It is stunning actually. Wide city streets, friendly people, nice buildings and last week, some bloody cold weather! Minus 21 at times. Brrrrrr…. Thankfully I had been through similar before (Sweden at xmas) but this was a first for the others and I did feel sorry for them.

The one thing about NYC that amazed me the most was the friendly people. Everyone was willing to help if you looked lost. In London you don’t see that so it was very reassuring to see.

The next highlight was the HUGE T-Bone that I got for dinner one night. Just to put this into perspective… it has been almost 3 years since I have had a decent steak. Anyway… I realised how much the Americans love their food when everywhere we ate there was a guide on the wall on what to do when people were choking. Does this mean that people there love their food so much that they throw it down without chewing????

The rest of the time there was spent:
- Shopping at the world’s largest factory outlets! What a place!!!!
- Seeing Monty Pythons Spamalot on Broadway
- Wandering around Times Square
- Watching the New York Knicks lose by 1 point at an NBA game at Madison Square Garden
- Trying to work out the correct and appropriate tip for everyone for anything
- Gazing over the city from the top of the Empire State Building - chose the coldest and windiest day to do that
- Walked half of Brooklyn Bridge… started heading back when I couldn’t feel my legs anymore
- buying new toys for my camera at the world’s largest camera shop… lurve that place!
- Paying respects at Ground Zero
- Staring at Libby from Battery Park
- Chilling out at Strawberry Fields
- Making sure someone had dollar bills so we could tip someone
- Being sickened (apparently, I was a bit drunk so I was somewhere else) by a stand up comedian (?) at a comedy club - we left during the show and they didn’t get a tip!
- Walked chinatown, Greenwich Village, Wall Street
- Buying stuff so that we got dollars to tip someone

In the end… NYC is a place that I strongly recommend everyone try to get to. I will definitely be going back. but in the meantime check out some of my photos!

Cheers
Ian

A Peachie Parrot Xmas

I know it is a bit late but…

My first xmas in the old dart was spent with a mate from work (Gary Pcach) and his wonderful and adorable kids (Jemma and Ashley Parrott). We spent the day relaxing, eating too much chocolate, opening presents and playing games on the PS2. A great day was had by everyone and I felt honoured to be included into this very family affair.

What I do think is very funny is that we had a nice pleasant day with blue skies and the south of Oz got snowfall!!!!

To top it all off I got to speak to Mum, Dad and some friends as well. Did make me miss home very much!

Oh yeah, for boxing day, we had a wonderful roast goose and veggies… Very nice!

And before I forget… It was Gary’s birthday on the 25th: HAPPY BIRTHDAY GARY!!!!!!

Cheddar, toasties and childhood memories

As a young-un I grew up having toasted cheddar cheese sangas (called toasties over here) and still fondly think of them on a cold winters day. They bring back so many wonderful memories.

So needless to say I leapt at the opportunity to try the original cheddar cheese from the village of … you guessed it… Cheddar. Tastes much nicer than what i remembered but all those wonderful memories came flooding back with one small morsel. Only could have a small bit because it costs $60 a kilo.

But what a wonderful taste!!!!

The nerve!!!

Over the last few years the US has come up with some unusual laws and rulings, but their current stance on Vegemite takes the cake! Because of a technicality in the FDA rulebook, some Aussies are being checked for “illegaly” importing the taste of Oz: Vegemite!

The recipe of our favourite spread includes folic acid which in the US is only allowable in Breads! Click here for more info:http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20623973-2,00.html

Such a sad day… is there something we can let them win to placate them into changing the rules? Maybe if Thorpie and Hackett tie their legs together when they swim and let the Americans win more golds…. mmmm