Barcelona day 1-17 June 2008

I arrived at Barcelona Girona airport at around 2310. Before I go into my arrival at Barcelona, I must talk about 2 interesting Australian guys that I met on the way.

The first was one I met at the hostel and we both happened to be travelling to Barcelona so we went to the airport together. For me, I never arrive 2 hours before the flight time because there's always a long queue and you have a long wait till 20 minutes before the flight time to board the plane. Usually, I just take my own sweet time and get there at probably around an hour earlier. But the Aussie guy was a bit paranoid and he was quite insistent that we go slightly early. So I went along with him. The bus to the airport was late and he was a bit anxious about the whole thing. He kept looking at his watch but I was just so chilled about the whole thing.. I think it's the Scandinavian culture cannibalising on me...haha.. LAID-BACK... But it was nice meeting him.. We crapped quite a bit yet at the same time talked about some serious stuff about life and destiny.. I like this new word that I learnt in Morocco- "Ein-Shala" which means in the will of GOD! :) After we reached the airport, we parted ways. Him to the city centre while me at the airport to spend the night...

Surprisingly, while I was queuing to buy some food, I met the 2nd Australian guy. He studies design in Eindhoven (Holland) and had came from Marrakesh like I do. Barcelona was his transition airport back to the Netherlands.. This guy is more chilled and so we chatted through the NIGHT at the airport. Guess what? We drank a bottle of champagne and red wine. God... He left the airport at 5 for his plane and I sat till there till 830 to catch my bus to the city centre.. I was so tired and slept throughout the 1.5hours bus journey...

The first sight of Barcelona :)

The buildings are just amazing! Applaud MR Gaudi!

This guy was distributing pamphlets for a musical. When he saw my pose, he imitated me.

The moment I arrive in my hostel in Barcelona, 2 people mark my day. First, when I switched on my phone, I received a SMS from Pigsy ang! hahahaa... THANKS PIGSY ANG!! When you travel by yourself for a long time with no friends around you, you feel lonely and receiving a SMS from someone that cares for you genuinely marks your day. I was seriously very very touched when I saw his message. :) Second, my room-mate was there waiting for me. We had arranged to meet up in Barcelona and tour the place together. So we spend the day doing some sight-seeing. It's good to have someone to share with you your trips, experiences, the people you met etc.. Despite not having slept for the night, I still felt energetic to walk around, explore the city etc. We headed to the Gaudi area and the Cathedral.

Narrow Streets of Barcelona..

The Cathedral that is under maintenance. (P/S: Chris, Remember the jigsaw we saw at IMM and I told you it looks familiar? It's actually the Cathedral in Barcelona! ) .. Now WE Know.. Famous Wet Market in
I honestly wonder who will buy all these stuff??!!
Down La Rambla...
As we approach the beach...
Torre de Jaume I

Half Symbol of Singapore - LION!

Also, the beach was on our agenda and just lying on the beach feels great!!! It started to rain a bit in the afternoon so everyone cleared the beach and I commented that it was God's welcome gift for me... When it rains, it really dampens your spirit. You can't walk around as leisurely as you like it to be. You have to constantly search for shelter etc. But anyway, we covered quite a few places and finally, SOMEONE to take photos for ME! hahaa... We had Paella for dinner. It wasn't that good but we were so full from it... haha... At around 5 plus or so, we parted ways because she had to prepare to fly to London and me continuing my journey in Barcelona...

The beach area...

Port Vell!

Look at the fishes. Now you know how clear the water is. Near to the Mediterranean Sea !

The "Moving" Bridge I call it. haha.. Apparently, this bridge will start to "Disconnect" when ships need to pass and dock at the harbour. The guy in the photo is on duty to set the bridge disconnecting from time to time. There are two of them at each end of the bridge. "What a simple job he has!" I thought to myself!

Catch the bridge moving in action.

When the bridge is connected, pedestrians swarm through it.

Just one of spastic shots by me! haha...

The BEACH ! One building in the far end is actually a casino. I can't remember what's the other.

I love settings like this. Simple and peaceful enough.

I honestly wonder how on earth those 2 people managed to make their way there. So I attemptedBut this is the furthest that I could go. hahaha...

My roomie is not a shopaholic but I am quite a bit. So I headed for SHOPPING! I found one really nice Spanish designer brand- Desigual. The stuff there is really unique. I bet you won't catch anyone wearing the same stuff as you because everything seems to only be manufactured in a lone piece. However, the prices are a bit steep and I figured out that for the sake of my LV, I should just compromise with my shopping for other items. When I came back to Singapore, I saw the shop at Vivo City. So now, I feel consoled. I can just head down to Vivo and see if they have what I wanted. SMILE! :)

Yet another of the Spastic shots.

Always attempting something different.

The fishy structure. See the glass building behind? It's the casino! I wonder if the fishy structure signifies "NIAN NIAN YOU YU" for the Spanish! So they earn BIG BUCKS from the Casino biz.

Yet another of the weird and funny structures by the beach. The area to go to- Barceloneta (The Beach?)

Some real-life soccer tricks in action! I wonder why he doesn't go PRO ?

After all the shopping, time to head back to the hostel to watch the France Vs Italy game and to my GREATEST DISAPPOINTMENT, France is out of the Competition.. It was a pretty bad game....

Had to settle down for the night pretty early since I need to catch some sleep badly.... :)

Morocco-Marrakesh day 5-16 June 2008

Yup, I am leaving Marrakesh in another 3 hours. Where am I heading to?

I Barca I Barca! Yes, that´s Barcelona. I headed to the new town of Marrakesh this afternoon and indeed, it was completely different from the Old Town. No more harrassment, just high-end shopping places. Gosh, KFC is a restaurant in Morocco. hahaha...

Marrakech New-Town! Zara!

Once you go pass these walls, sad to say, you'll be back to reality, back to the Medina.

Basically, I just kept blogging the whole day and spent only a few hours out. I have completely used up all the Dirhams that I´ve got with me but those kids just won´t let me off. I showed them my penniless wallet and they asked me to give them my EURO coins!

I was chatting with my sister and I told her I felt like going home already. i don´t know why but as my return date draws nearer, I feel I am starting to miss home. I didn´t have this feeling when I was in Stockholm.. I guess it´s a great thing afterall... I am looking forward to my return in 12 days!

I caught the sunset on the plane. Honestly, it's amazing. But I don't get the chance on the time. It depends whether I picked the correct side to take and if I was dozing off on the plane. haha...


Barcelona, here I come!

Morocco-Marrakesh day 4-15 June 2008

Before my post, I would like to ask this question the nomads posted to us and hopefully some intellectual individual out there can figure out the answer: (I will announce the answer at the end of the post.)

"Why are WOMEN like CAMELS to the NOMADS?"

After the disappointment of missing the stars, the beautiful sunrise made up for it the very next day! At around 6, we got up for breakfast and watched the sunrise. Similar to sunset, from the time the sun hid behind the mountains till it rose up above the horizon took probably only 2 minutes! But the view was just MAGNIFICENT. You guys got to see the photos I took. Sad to say, my camera had a bit of problem after that because the sand got into it. I was afraid that it would die on me. I still had Barcelona and Paris on my itinerary, probably the next 2 loved cities on my list. :)

The minute ray of light in the desert at 5a.m in the morning.

We rode the camels back to where we headed out from the previous day and this time round, the sun was behind us all the time... The most fabulous thing was I didn´t go to the loo for another 13 hours this time round. It was a breakthrough from my record of 12 hours in Vietnam when we were on the train from Sapa back to Hanoi. I didn´t want to do it in the desert so I controlled my water intake really hard. hahaha...

Watching the sunrise is simply amazing! :) I hope it will not be once and also the last in the desert. MORE to Come please! Eygpt~My next destination!

Watching the sun "crawl" up the horizon is just memsmerizing! :) I can't put any words to it. It's a feeling/emotion that keeps your heart occupied and not want to take a look at anything else.

Along the way, we did talk to the nomads here and there to find out more about their life. The tents that we stayed at was their base from the BIGGER DESERT out there. It was nearer to the city so from time to time,tey will use it as a transition point to go to the city to get food supplies. Their families stay in the BIGGER DESERT in the SAHARA which explains why we didn´t meet them.

I remember before we reached the destination, one of the Welsh girl sitting next to me asked if I would live in the desert and I gave her a firm NO. My reason was that I am a CITY GIRL and I can´t stand being isolated from the world, from technology etc. However, when we chatted at the desert that very night, I told her I´d change my previous answer. She questioned about the availability of running water, of good food, proper sanitation and I thought about that too. I think you will definitely find it difficult to adapt to it initially but if you are there for long, together with your family, somehow you will get used to it. Further, you will not miss the luxury of urban living because everyone around you doesn´t own that and there wasn´t any room for comparison. Most of the time, jealousy and envy only comes along when there´s comparison. Isn´t it so?

Life in the desert. Vast yet simple. :)

They are shelters for the nomads to rest along the way.

There will be some day in the near future when I will not spend just 2 days 1 night in the desert but rather a whole week or month or so out there in the desert. Apparently, there´s this famous sign ´TOMBOUCTOU 50 JOURS´ (In French) which means Tinbucktoo (nowhere) in 50 days somewhere in Morocco but I didn´t find it. What it simply means is you will find yourself in nowhere after 50 days in the desert. hahaha.. Anyone who´s heading to Morocco and happen to see it please tell me where it is!! I wanna find it... hehe...

Honestly, after the night at the desert, I smelled really bad. I smelled like a CAMEL and I hadn´t bathe for 2 full days. hehe.. But rug and dirt was meant to be part of the tour so I´d no complaints. :) Furthermore, I am seriously an AFRICAN-KID REBORN once again. I get tanned easily and after spending the past 7 days, 4 in Portugal and 3 in Morocco under the scorching sun, I can´t find any reason of me being fair. haha.. But I am a FAT African kid compared to those real ones. hehe.. Honestly, I didn´t see a single FAT NOMAD or kid in my 2 days there. Everyone walks so much that there wasn´t any possibility of putting on weight. haha...

While You and I are happily enjoying the air-conditioner installed in our cars at a temperature of 33deg celsius, kids in the desert are doing the pony-ride under a temp. of 40deg celsius. :) So the next time before you wanna complain about the weather, why not think about kids out there?

Kids who run errands and earn pocket money out of it. :) It could be providing directions or buying some takeaway.


On the journey back, everyone was so tired and sick of taking photographs. There weren´t too many stops compared to the journey there. The only one which I remembered vividly was the shooting venue for all the desert related or ancient movies. I don´t know the name of that place because the guide didn´t say but I went to the museum and saw the shooting scenes for shows like Alexander, Kingdom of Heaven, Gladiator etc. Both the battery in my camera went flat when I entered the museum and I was so exasperated. I don´t know why but somehow I had a guide to bring me through the museum and it was great. It beats me going around in circles in the museum. I finished touring the museum in like 20 minutes since I didn´t take any photos but a thought strike me after I finished. I had my camera phone but it was on the van so I asked if he could wait while I go get my phone. He actually agreed and since there weren´t many people in the museum, he took me through the venues once again to let me take photos. I even had one with the gladiator costume! COOL!

The shooting studio in Morocco.

Yeah! If only it was My Gladiator Costume! :) I'd love to daunt on something like this. Like I said, I wished I was a KNIGHT! hahaha...

Recall scenes in shows like Alexander, Kingdom in Heaven. These are the chambers.

I think this was used in Kingdom of Heaven where they carry those Princesses and Princes...


Some insights from the tour. The group of 7 of us talked quite a bit about what we observed in Morocco. People just keep bugging you all the time to buy things and sometimes you get really pissed off. Well, Vietnam is worst than Morocco but when we were there, people didn´t keep bugging us. I never had a single meal in peace. As we were chatting, some of them commented that I was too soft to actually give in and give them money, buy the tissues etc. I didn´t argue my way out with them and took the comments as it is as I felt it was unnecessary. But I did a lot of thinking throughout my 4 days in Morocco and came to this conclusion myself which made me part with my money.

I am considered well-off to many of them out there but I thank god that I was born in an urban city. All of us do not have a choice when it comes to the family we are born into. However, being born in an urban city provided me the opportunity to seek education and improve my life and standard of living. What about them? They were not given and will NEVER EVER be given that opportunity. All their lives, they will stay in this country and be dependent on others. I believe if they had a choice, asking for money will be the last thing on their mind too. Yes, they can work but they are kids. What can they work as? Can they give tuition like me? Can they work part-time like me? THEY CAN´T. So all of you out there, be FORTUNATE that we are born in Singapore, an urban city with an island-wide size but first-class living standard. If you are not contented with life, think about the vast opportunities out there that you may explore yet refused even before you try.

The 2nd thing is I never see WOMEN out there in the streets. The streets are always dominated by males. I really wonder where the women are?

I talked to Alvin and PL after I came back from the desert. When I told them I was in Morocco-Marrakesh, both commented I was crazy. Yes to a certain extent, I think I really am. In fact some of the people in the group questioned my courage to come to Morocco by myself as a girl. Marrakesh is in North Africa and women here are like RARE human beings and you don´t see them on the streets. So as a women walking along the streets, you often attract a lot of stares here and there. I don´t know what gave me the courage to come here by myself either. I guess my dreams is what that drove me to come here. As the Chinese saying goes, ´Ren Ying Meng Xiang Er Wei Da´. To realise my dreams, I will embark on any journey and may even do anything which people might think is MISSION IMPOSSIBLE.

Last but not least, I shall end my post with the answer to the question I asked. It´s a super meaningful answer and I am amazed by the nomads´ thinking capacity.

Camels are for CROSSING through the Desert while Women are for CROSSING through LIFE.