Tag: Travel Tips

Moro-Diaries #3: Casablanca

After a bus journey to Marrakesh , it was time to split the company. David stayed in Marrakesh while Mirjam and I took the train for Casablanca. The almost 3 hours of discomfort in the second class was not my most favorite experience, and the train was packed with locals with no significant air conditioning so that by the end of the ride, I felt myself drained of all manifestations of life, like a deflated balloon! 
But Casablanca was a significant stop on my trip. Many travelers would say that Casablanca is just a big jungle of concrete not interesting to visit. For me, big cities are homes for many smart and professional people, which is a big focus of mine in my trips.

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On the first day in Casablanca, I had a local breakfast and then headed to meet Mirjam to visit the remarkable Hassan II Mosque. It is the largest functioning mosque in Africa, and its minaret ranks as the second tallest in the world. When we arrived, the 60-story minaret was almost disappearing in the fog that surrounded the mosque. It was nearly prayer time, making it clear that Mirjam wouldn’t be going inside. I decided to attend the Friday prayer, while Mirjam waited in a café, and we met again after the prayer.

The mosque is immense, and its decorations exude majesty. Intricate patterns in marble, wood, and other materials, the nature of which I couldn’t identify, contributed to a certain atmosphere of peace and serenity.

During the “Khutbah,” the imam’s sermon, the topic was the earthquake, highlighting how Moroccans were united in managing the aftermath. The absence of differences between Arabs and Berbers hinted at underlying sensitivities in the region. Throughout my trip, I encountered many Moroccans who took immense pride in their nation’s earthquake response, recounting stories of how they proudly declined assistance from France. France was not amused.

A short video showing the Hassan II Mosque



After visiting the mosque, I met Mirjam again, who had managed to make a random new friend, Faisal, a local young guy in his thirties. I also got to know Faisal while observing surfers ride the high ocean waves just outside the mosque. Faisal didn’t hide the fact that he was deported from Germany after living there for 5 years. He was then trying to build his startup, specializing in various crimes like stealing and selling drugs. He traveled around many European countries in the process of finding a new home. After his deportation, he decided to start a new life and switch to the side of the angels by visiting Mecca. He currently works as a taxi driver, and today was his day off. We all went to the “Medina” together, where we had a quiet, fancy lunch with even better food than usual. Afterwards, we joined a Couchsurfing meeting where many young Moroccans and travelers gathered for chatting and later for a party. At some point, I detached to visit a Latin party, only to find that it was canceled because of the prophet’s birthday (which is not as important for Muslims as Christmas is for Christians). I called it a night.

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The next day I went again for a local breakfast and decided to have a Moroccan hammam experience. Who could imagine, that there is a big colossal hammam underneath the big Hassan II mosque? 

I decided to go all-in, and took the deluxe package with all the features, which costed me around 60 euros.

First, I found myself in a jacuzzi filled with sea water, where I tortured my body with a hydraulic massage. After around 30 min, they took me to a steam room, where my hammam-man (?, I don’t  name of this job, maybe hammamist?) soaped up my body, and I stayed there for eternity, I think to open the pores of the skin to receive the next mystery. 

Then came the main event – the hammam table. The hammamist got to work, scrubbing away at my skin like it was his enemy. As I sat down, I noticed some dark thingies on the floor. With an embarrassment, I asked him if that was what he had just exfoliated from my skin. He grinned and confirmed it was indeed my “dead skin.” I thought I was Mr. Clean with my daily showers, but this was next-level cleanliness. I had to ask my hammamist how often he subjected himself to this ritual, and he proudly said that he did it once a month. From that moment on, I became a believer that Morocco must be the cleanest nation on Earth. Sorry, other “hammamistans” out there.

After the epic scrubbing session, he slapped on a mask made of coffee and chocolate, claiming it was a treat for my skin. I felt like a piece of fruit dipped in chocolate in a Christmas market. I didn’t have any erotic thoughts at all 😀

Then, he unleashed a full-body massage and some moves that looked like he was a chiropractor. Following the mask’s wash-off, I received another round of massage, this time with argan oil.

Leaving the hammam, I looked at my skin in disbelief. Somehow I didn’t recognise my own skin. I felt new and I promised myself that I shall offer my body this love regularly. I went straight to the beautiful Casablanca train station and took the train to Rabat, the capital.

A short video showing the hammam
With one of thr fount In front of Hassan II Mosque

Kenya 2022 | Day 10: back to Nairobi ❤️ 🇰🇪

I headed to my last breakfast in this hotel. There I observed the other guests: two Italian families with adults and a few mixed couples. This is a frequent scene in Diani, mostly older white people 👴🏻 coupled with younger black ones 👩🏿 . Somehow, when I see a single white man somewhere in the city, I think that he might be a fugitive. In general, Diani is a good place to disappear if you are internationally wanted by the Interpol.

I checked out and headed to the supermarket 🛒 to get come aloe vera to heal my burnt 🔥 skin. Unfortunately, there is no cream for the wounds of the heart 💔. Maybe only cream brûlée 😂😂😂.

Since the coffee in the hotel was the usual bad (horse piss 🐎 as my brother says, or aqua sporca as Andrea says), I decided to go for a decent cappuccino ☕️. However, Café Apero apologized to me because they had no electricity ⚡️ at the moment. I don’t remember having experienced this before, but I was also not surprised.

The zebra is eating fire and the lion is surprised

I took a small plane from Ukunda airport to Nairobi. This might be the second-smallest airport 🛫 I have been to, after that in one of the Galápagos Islands 🇪🇨 🏝️. We landed gracefully in the smaller Airport in Nairobi. I spontaneously visited some offices to inquire about some new adventure I am planning. Then headed to “Nairoby street kitchen” which I chose just because of the name! When I entered, I was welcomed by a modern and smart-looking young lady that explained the concept. It was a big hanger with many well-designed stalls, trucks, or vibe-full cafés. I was somehow euphoric by the modern design and the creativity. I love to see this in Africa 🌍 . There were also paintings displayed there for sale by local artists 🎨  . I wished I were a bit richer at that moment. I went to some stall and ordered tasty chicken wings 🐔 , as well as cassava roots (called Mhogo). I also found a huge bar on the rooftop with a big screen 🎦.

The African cup of nations ⚽  started two days ago. I have squeezed a couple of games in my not-at-all busy schedule, but today Egypt 🇪🇬 plays against Nigeria 🇳🇬 . I thought it would be cool to watch it with some Egyptians, so I tried to call the embassy in Nairobi. However, all the phone ☎️  numbers were out of service! This also didn’t surprise me! I decided to watch it in the rooftop bar. In that game, Egypt lost and I was sad/grumpy. The team’s performance was miserable. Maybe it is better I didn’t watch in a group after all.

P.S.: using emojis in this post was inspired by Cäcilia. I will probably not do it again 😀

AdhaMexiCovid 08: Mexican Paradise


Do you believe in paradise??

On Monday we went to Akumal, a beach near Tulum where you can snorkel and see turtles. Not far from the shore you can swim with the turtles in their natural habitat. Please don’t step on the sea weed because this is what they eat. I was partly struggling with catching up with our small group consisting of Marika, an older American couple and our snorkeling guide, Daniel. Marika was all the time checking on me to see if I drowned already! We moved from one spot to another sneaking to see turtles, sea eels, corals and colourful fish. I spent half the time trying to breath through this snorkling tube and the other half taking it off and catching air on the surface. I was, nevertheless, very happy with what I managed to see.

During this trip, I have collected a list of favorite Spanish words that sound nice to me. One of them is “chaleco” which means “life jacket”. Maybe not because it sounded nice but rather because of the number of possibilities it allowed me to expediences as a bad swimmer. My most favorite word from this trip is “cubreboca” which is the face mask that we are wearing now because of this shit virus. There is a nice musicality to this word. In Spanish, you can make things smaller by adding “ito” for masculine or “ita” for feminine at the end. For example, doctor becomes doctorito and means “little doctor”, sounds cute. I saw a grill bar called ” infiernito” which translates to “little hell”. I found the translation rhymes even better: ” little hell, BBQ and grill”.

This will be my wallpaper! Animal beach.
With two towels, not the traditional mexican clothes!
By Marika
Marika excited about tasting tres leches. Kind of a habit since our trip to ecuador.

Tuesday started somehow cloudy and rainy, so we opted for visiting the Grand Cenote near Tulum. A very beautiful Cenote where many turtles are living. Here as well you can swim with the turtles and watch them in different sizes eating and chilling. I counted around 15 turtles chilling on the stones or tree leaves just above the water surface. This Cenote consisted of two parts connected by a cave that you can swim. But that swimming path passes under a lot bats. This part crept me out and I swam this path only once.


Swimming in this Cenote while watching the turtles made me forget life worries. They made me think of Paradise. A place where you are immersed in beautiful nature without worries. I  this is not the big motivation I am currently a believer but at that moment i found the concept appealing.
In the afternoon we visited Tulum’s paradise beach. Sand, clear water, sun, palm trees and everyone having a good time. I decided, a regular visit to the seaside is mandatory to maintain my mental health.

On Wednesday we explored playa del Carmen. We didn’t stay there long though as we felt it was more prepared for American tourists. We had a quick meal and headed to Cancun and from there we took the ferry to Isla mujeres, which translates to island of women. A name given by the Spanish colonials upon arriving when they saw a lot of images of women. The images belonged to Ixchel, a goddess of childbirth and medicine in the Mayan culture. We had very little beach time before the sunset then we walked through the market Street with many restaurants. We had such a fine dinner at a good price. I am definitely going to miss the food in Mexico.

These three days of leisure have rejuvenated me. I felt ready to be back to real life after all these experiences but I didn’t actually want to! Well, we still have around 3 days more!

AdhaMexiCovid 07: The Mystery of Cenote and The Healing Curanderos

Sunday 21.02.2021

I went all in. I had a beef sandwich from a street-food stall and followed it with a coconut-juice where the seller used a bucket to get my portion from another container. I trusted the higenic standards in Mexico.

I rented a car and met Marika in Valladolid in a small restaurant in a small unspectacular neighborhood. Still, a lot of tourists passed by. We discussed about what to do. Marika has discovered some Mayan archeological site near Merida and was not excited about seeing more of the same. Chichen itza is the largest site in Mexico but I couldn’t convince her to go there. It was also too hot to be outdoor in that hour of the day. We decided instead to go to a nearby cenote. Wait, what is a cenote? I didn’t know what it was, Marika has visited one yesterday and she then explained to me that it is like a cave under the ground with water in it where you can swim. So we went and it was one of the highlights of my travels so far!
We paid around 120 pesos to access two Cenotes. The first was called Samula. With some wooden stairs you go through a hole into the underground as if you are going into a mine. The basic infrastructure includes also the mining spot lights. It was a big cave with crystal clear water and one opening in the top where magical sun rays sneaked into the cenote. It was surreal. Thankfully forced to wear a life jacket, I could compensate for my in-prpgress swimming skills. The place was mainly full of locals and families and only a few tourists. We took a few photos but I also leave you with a YouTube video:

We also visited the other nearby cenote which was dark and kind of creepy. Since these cenotes had been there for thousands of years, I was sure there were dead bodies underneath. If we were to dive deep enough, we would have probably collected some material for the anatomy lessons!! I actually guess not. Maybe the government has sent divers at some point to sanitize the bottom of the cenote.
The Yucatan peninsula, which is where we are now in Mexico, is full of these cenotes. It is thought that they are thousands connected by a network of underground rivers. It is still a mysterying how they were formed. One theory is that a meteorite hit the earth millions of years ago and created a big explosion and changed the geography of this place, and created cenotes. I chose the following two short videos as well.

We then wanted to go to Tulum, a paradise beach 2 hours from Cancun. But on the way back there is a small archeological site in Coba that we thought we could spontaneously see. As we arrived there and we parked the car in the empty parking meadow, another traveler told us that the site was closed and that he also missed the opening time. We chatted a bit and then decided to go altogether for dinner.
Our fellow traveler, M. from Croatia is travelling around Mexico then will go on his yearly trip to Peru where he studies in a jungle with the Masters of healing, shamans, using the “sacred” ayahuasca plant. He is an alternative medicine therapist in Croatia and believes the the plant has cognition. He says they believe that with the plant you have access to the knowledge of the universe and that through drinking the ayahuasca infusion, you somehow get connected to the plant and also get this access. This is supposedly a process that takes years and they have masters. In the therapy ceremonies, both the “patient” and the healer drink the infusion, then the therapist would be able to see the bad organs. They would even see to the vessel precision. No need to tell your story or your problem. They would simply see it. M. seemed to deeply believe in this. He says he knows many people who got cured after such treatment. We listened attentively to him in what seemed to be a lecture. He didn’t seem to want to know anything about us and focused in passionately conveying his ideas about the metaphysical world of ayahuasca.

We have no idea what cognition is. We have theories, but how we think what we think and our very subjective experience that defines who we are is far from being scientifically understood. Psychedelic drugs alter our perception of the world. Whether they pseudorandomly generate patterns of experiencs or grant us some access to usually-not-accessible inputs, we can not tell. I stay between my skeptical attitude of metaphysics and my personal experiences along with the experiences of some friends that are hard to explain with a sole scientific approach. Besides, who doesn’t like a bit of mystery?

M. told us we have to visit Chichen itza.

We bid our new friend farewell and drove to Tulum. A destination of breathtakingly beautiful beaches and good vibes. We booked our accommodation because it was supposed to be full of travelers, probably with many stories as exciting as that of our friend M. It was indeed full of travelers but mostly around 20 years old with many tattoos and half naked. I might be a bit judgemental here but they didn’t seem to be our kind of folks. We drove to a street food stall where Alejandro and his two assistants prepared us wonderful Tacos. The neighbouring stall with Goumi prepared us a wonderful quesadilla.

AdhaMexiCovid 06: The Magnificent Cañon del Sumidero

Saturday 20.02.2021
No rain today, so it is the Cañon tour day. The bus collected the guests from different hotel and we had a bit more than an hour ride. The group was an interesting mix. I spent the way talking to Jenny from Switzerland, Agnieszka from Poland and Harold from Sweden. We arrived to a small port where we took a small motor boat with a guide and we set in the river in the canyon for around two hours.It was a magnificent natural formation of two mountain chains separated by a river. You feel hugged but also very small and vulnerable. We are small and insignificant. Oscar our guide stopped in different sides to show us crocodiles, monkeys and stone formations. With strong wind against our faces and somehow cloudy sky, I was immersed in imprining the view in my memory. Since I also have trust issues with my memory, I took a couple of photos.

Floating Supermarket 😀

Here is also a video from Youtube of a drone-video of the Canyon

Canyon de Sumidero

I thought about all these years I have not seen such a wonder. First, I didn’t know where such things exist. I also didn’t know how expensive it is to get there. This is why I would like to share with you a simple plan to experience this. First you need a flight to Mexico. Either to Mexico City or to Cancun. From Europe the flights are very cheap currently. For between 300 and 400 Euros. Then take another flight to Tuxtla. Could be around 40 euros. Then get a couple of nights in a hotel or a hostel. You can easily manage with 10 to 20 Euros per night. The tour itself including the transportation, the boat and the guide would cost around 15 euros. When your eyes are happy, satisfy your taste buds with delicious tacos  for between 2 – 4 euros. I think such a trip combined with all the things you can experience in this great country is something for the bucket list.

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After the tour I detached from the group and took a taxi to the airport to fly to Cancun. In Cancun, I spend some time having action with taxi drivers that tried to rip me off. I was pretty pissed off when I went to my very cheap hotel. The hotel was so basic that they didn’t even have a lift. The poor room service lady had to push the cleaning cart on a very long ramp between the floors. I was glad that I didn’t have to do this.
I went to bed early that night. The next day, Sunday, I will reunite with Marika who has discovered Merida on her own and will meet me tomorrow.

Adham & Trump 7: Found Luggage!

I arrived to the hotel to find Alex the receptionist with a big friendly smile. Alex was obviously gay. As soon as he found out about me losing my luggage, he offered me everything I will need for the night. Toothbrush, shaving creams, etc… In the western world, being very friendly and welcoming towards other men seems to be exclusive for gays.

I planned to go shopping today for gifts. Plans cancelled since I won’t be able to get things in my carry on and since I had all my scarfs in the lost luggage. I satisfied myself with staying in the hotel watching a movie, writing and going to bed early. In the morning, Frontier airline sent me an email that the luggage has arrived. I called them and we arranged that they send it to Atlanta where I will have my layover. It worked! The friendly black fat woman in the checkin desk even gave me priority boarding and extra comfortable seats! Leg room so big that I needed to experiment on which position I will need to have to be able to touch the seat in front of me. I know I was not gifted with an exceptional height, but I would still be average in many countries. In this trip, I have developed a new affinity for fat black women. They are mostly friendly. At least towards me. Fat black men, on the other hand, do not share them this attitude. Think black men do 😀 I don’t know.. I have a bit of positive racism towards black people. I find them friendly in general.

I have to confess that I was not that sad when I lost my luggage. Only filled with socks, underwear and old cloths, there was nothing really valuable. It is easier to be chill when you don’t lose much.

This trip, I have managed to go through the whole week without using US dollars. I mean I didn’t use cash. I have only used my credit card. This seems to work very well in the states. You can use your card to pay a couple of dollars without getting strange look from the vendor.

Now I am in Atlanta. One hour before my flight to Stuttgart. Luggage shipped (hopefully it will arrive) and I am bidding my trip farewell. I have some resolutions for the post-journey era and I am looking forward to see all my friends again and to continue my research. I enjoyed this trip as if it is the last time in the USA (you never know). Just had a very nice steak at the airport that I wanted to go kiss Moniqwa, the waitress. A medium cooked rib eye steak is a synonym of “Happiness”, “Desire” and a whole lot of life quality vocabulary.


So, this is the end of the journey, thank you for following and reading this trip and being part of my story for a week 🙂 I wouldn’t probably write if nobody reads!

Hasta Luego!
Adham