It’s not all bad

[Wapping]

richie’s excellent posts and thread in the Travel Reports section, should remind us all that Morocco, a Moslem country, is a fantastic place to visit, whether on a motorbike or flying in on a package holiday. I have been lucky enough to go twice and once to its neighbour, Tunisia.

This is in complete contrast to frequent rabid (and seemingly encouraged) posts in the pub section of the forum, with its branding of all Moslems and by inference their homelands, as child rapists, murderers and terrorists, who need to be expelled from Europe, in the style of some 21st century version of the 1400’s Ferdinand and Isabella.

 

[leadfarmer]

I have a few Muslim friends and colleagues

none of them have murdered me yet

 

[RedRick Esq.]

I have a few Muslim friends and colleagues

none of them have murdered me yet

Keep a pound of butter in the fridge just in case

Or is it a Pound of Tofu that stops Muslims murdering you

 

[Kitsilano]

I have a few Muslim friends and colleagues

none of them have murdered me yet

It's a pity that the same can't be said of the 'English' (whatever that can be said to mean since Roman times), who are happily stabbing their way through teen youth up and down the country....

 

[Berin]

It's a pity that the same can't be said of the 'English' (whatever that can be said to mean since Roman times), who are happily stabbing their way through teen youth up and down the country....

Errr

“Most of the victims and the perpetrators of these crimes were Black or Asian, especially young people aged 10 to 25 [16-18]. “

Exploring UK Knife crime and its associated factors: A content analysis of online newspapers

Knife crime has become a common phrase used by the media, but it is not always clear what it refers to or what they mean when they use the term. Knife crime can cover many offences, making it challenging to define and estimate its prevalence. This review ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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[Berin]

And I don’t want to piss on Wapping’s celebration of foreign cultures and what happy and joyous places they are to visit but Richie’s just been robbed.


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[Berin]

Now, I know that can happen anywhere and it was only cash, but I did think the timing was funny


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[richie]

I'll get over the robbery, it is disappointing but as has been said could happen anywhere. The only other time I have been robbed was on the Andaman Islands years ago, the circumstances were different. I have never been robbed from my room before.

 

[Berin]

Only time I’ve ever been mugged was the good ole’ US of A, in New Orleans.

Oh, and Barcelona. And St John’s, come to think of it.

Never been robbed in the Middle East, except in a carpet shop.


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[brut33]

Sorry to hear about this Richie.

Looking at you're route, youre about 350 miles from Imlil which is a stepping off point for mountaineers
who climb in the High Atlas.
It's a Berber village and very hospitable to say the least. It's also a lovely run by road with stunning scenery.
I can suggest have a ride up there if it doesn't interfere with any of you're plans.

Anyhow, I'll share an experience of Morocco I had which may go some way to reboot you faith in human nature
and Moroccans....

I've been to Morocco three times, albeit never on two wheels.
My first trip was the most memorable because we drove there and was
under canvas for a five weeks (Nov/Dec 1975).
The hospitality we experienced from the locals was the warmest I've had
in any part of the world, especially from the Berbers in the High Atlas.
I can still taste the mint tea, delicious.
We crossed this range from north to south starting at the village of Imlil.
Our guide was a great chap who took us to the summit of Mt.Toubkal,
nick named himself Tenzing and lived in Imlil. On our way down the south side of
the range we swam in lac Ifni and passed through several Berber villages who fed and
watered us.
Our pick up rendezvous with our truck (a white Bedford QL with canvas tilt) hit a snag
because of an empty fuel tank and miscalculation.
Two of us set off for help with a map, compass and a gerry can walking
along unmetalled roads not knowing if we'd get petrol or not. After we'd gone about seven miles
and bering in mind we hadn't seen a motor vehicle of any kind for several days, our attention
was drawn to a dust cloud in the distance behind us. As it got closer we saw that It was an
old Peugeot estate.
It stopped beside us, the driver clad in his djellaba and sandels jumped out and pointed back
down the road saying "camion blanc". "Kaput" we said holding the gerry can in the air.
He pointed for us to get in his car. This was surely a miracle. We were drove a good
eight miles to a small village, then back to our truck with a 5 gallon gerry can full of petrol.
We paid for the petrol but he wouldn't accept any cash for the lift.
We got back to the truck and commenced filling it up from the gerry can. One of the lads tried
to pay the Moroccan chap for his good will, but he again refused any money and wished us well
for the rest of our journey, then drove off into the distance leaving in an ever decreasing cloud of
dust. What an absolute saint he was.

 

[squibb34]

Whilst we all seem to share an extremely favourable view of Morocco & it's people, we nonetheless need to be aware that tensions in the Middle East could wreck all that in an instant, so it's important to keep up-to-date with FO travel advice: -

.............. https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/morocco/safety-and-security

Friends just returned from a package trip mentioned that they were counselled, in the light of events, about making sure they don't wear any overtly religious symbolism in public, which included something I have never really thought about - tattoos.

 

[ChasMill]

Only time I’ve ever been mugged was the good ole’ US of A, in New Orleans.

I was "lucky" enough to attend a conference in New Orleans a few weeks after 9/11. One of the other conference attendees was robbed at gunpoint outside the conference hotel in broad daylight. It is by far the worst city I had visited in the States, prior to going to San Francisco last year.

 

[Paul G (BHT)]

It's not all bad.... but it's not all good either.

I have visited Morocco 10 times in the last 20 years. The majority of my time there is spent in the far South near the Algerian border.

Morocco is certainly changing, both the environment and the people.

The younger people seem to be displaying less respect to tourists. I have been told by friends who live there that this is due to social media becoming more freely accessible to them.
As usual the media have a way of dividing people, this can so easily be seen there, certainly more in the North.

This was the very last photo I took in Morocco, it was as we were approaching the border just North of Fnideq.
The young lad clearly had a strange way of bidding us fair well as we were leaving.

 

[Wapping]

Yoof of today, no respect. I read it all the time on these pages.

The way to deal with them, is to wind down the window and shout, “Oy! You little shit, fuck off!”.

Or maybe that is what you did and the lad gave you the finger in response?

 

[bristolsaint]

The way to deal with them, is to wind down the window and shout, “Oy! You little shit, fuck off!”.

Would it be possible to have that translated into Urdu as I am off to India in January and I like to make an effort for the locals.

 

[Wapping]

اوئے! تم چھوٹی سی گندگی، بھاڑ میں جاؤ

That should do it.

 

[bristolsaint]

Thanks, Wapping. Very helpful, as ever.

Perhaps I'll stick with English, spoken louder and more slowly. Having said that, many Indians speak better English than many English people. I read that somewhere, so it must be true.

 

[Engineer]

richie’s excellent posts and thread in the Travel Reports section, should remind us all that Morocco, a Moslem country, is a fantastic place to visit, whether on a motorbike or flying in on a package holiday. I have been lucky enough to go twice and once to its neighbour, Tunisia.

This is in complete contrast to frequent rabid (and seemingly encouraged) posts in the pub section of the forum, with its branding of all Moslems and by inference their homelands, as child rapists, murderers and terrorists, who need to be expelled from Europe, in the style of some 21st century version of the 1400’s Ferdinand and Isabella.

Had a great conversation with my educated (biology graduate) Kurdish (refugee) taxi driver a few minutes ago about conflict, religion and the troubles in the middle east - education is the key - the uneducated are fodder for the politicians.

Back on subject:

I have never been to Morocco or Tunisia but I bet they are fab places to visit.