Donuts For Me and You

morocco before desert

jingtzyh — Tue, 15 May 2007 09:32:00 GMT

hey everyone this is just to let you know i am ok

will update pics later

will head out to the desert without email access for three days or so, so just wanted to drop this quick note to let you know i am ok

will upload more later when i get back into civilization

Gallery: Morocco

jingtzyh — Fri, 11 May 2007 07:28:00 GMT

Morocco May 9-10

jingtzyh — Fri, 11 May 2007 07:01:00 GMT

I landed in Casablanca yesterday on the 9th. All the Moroccans have been very friendly and very helpful and interested in travellers. A few have obviously tried to charge way to high for things that I want to buy, but overall the experience has been very good.

Casablanca has a huge mosque that is worth seeing. They spent billions on it and interestingly wasn not even designed by a Muslim. It is quite impressive though. Then after sampling some mint tea and local chawarmas (quite good), i took a train to Marakesch and had a really good conversation with three guys who live in Marakesch and were going home on the train.

Arriving in Marakesch at night, the first thing that I thought was actually - TOURIST TRAP! Lots of stores, lots of tourists, the square and market all seemed to be aimed at one thing and one thing only - suckering you in to cough up some cash.

However, upon awakening the next morning, I had a better impression. It still felt quite touristy, but the city is really pretty and well done up...I would compare it to Santa Fe -- touristy, yes, but also very nice. Saw lots of nice Berber rugs and handcrafts and sampled a bunch of local good eats (some good bread, fried fish, sausage, etc). I also bought the local form of Tiger baum for $1.50. The guy originally was asking $15.00. I think I still probly overpaid but didnt feel like haggling anymore.

Everyone in the streets thinks Im Japanese and would shout Konichiwa at me.

Overall Marakesch is really pretty and I tried to take many pictures of the Medina, ie the old Muslim quarter where most of the sightseeing is at.

May 8

jingtzyh — Wed, 9 May 2007 07:47:00 GMT

Just a quick note to let everyone know I am ok before I get on the plane to Morocco...this is really just a placeholder entry...I will fill in the details of the last few days soon...I do have some new highlight pictures in the gallery

May 1 - Dakar

jingtzyh — Wed, 2 May 2007 05:28:00 GMT

Purely by chance, I am in Dakar on a national holiday -- Labor Day is May day or May 1st in this part of the world. I took some pictures of a parade with beautifully dressed people. Lots of music and dancing in the streets.

The meeting was at a nice hotel named Hotel Al Afifa. Nice hotel with an African feel. Interestingly, even though the walk from my hotel would have only been 15 minutes, my cab driver had no clue how to get there and we finally got there after 40 minutes after we had asked just about every other person in Dakar for directions. I think I could have found it faster using my map than he could by asking.

The conference is going well. People actually showed good interest in my work, and a couple of the people know Leon. I also heard interesting work on Ascaris and Schistosomiasis. Remind me to tell you stories about beatches and hygenic bathing. We had dinner at a fantastic Senegalese restaurant for $5. To my delight they use habaneros and habanero sauce generously here. Tasty!

The French keyboard here in Senegal is also driving me nuts. Everything takes three times as long to type.

I`ve got some pics in the photo gallery.

April 30 - the flight there

jingtzyh — Wed, 2 May 2007 05:24:00 GMT

Paris airport was interesting. A modern airport. The thing I found interesting was their duty free shoppe. It was most likely the smelliest duty free shop i have ever seen - and intentional too - from all the cheeses and stuff.

Unexpectedly, I actually used more Chinese than English or French at the Paris airport. There are lots of Chinese tourists running around, and I had this long conversation with a guy who flies kites professionally, i.e. in tournaments all over the world. I have a pic of his business card. The Chinese really are going to take over one day, and the French won`t be complaining about the American tourists, but rather their Chinese equivalents.

Air France airline was also an experience. Probably the best airline food I have ever had and good wine too. That was proof that the French really do take their food seriously. I did not get to check out Paris on my layover, but maybe on the way back...

Gallery: Senegal

jingtzyh — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 03:20:00 GMT