Marching in Manchester

well I did say I was gonna blog about the march, unfortunately as is the usual case with me, I forgot to take my camera, pathetic really, and I always remember it as soon as I get to my destination, what is the point, so I will put up some picture but they weren't taken by me instead I stole them from the ever wonderful internet...

it was really a hectic week before the demo, we had been franticly calling the media to inform them of this amazing demo to be held in Manchester, it was estimated that 30,000 where to attend and instead we got between 50 - 60 thousand marching the streets of Manchester.

I was at Albert Square from 8 am, I hadn't slept the night before cause I was stressing over the speech I had to do, although ever the idealist your pre-Ramadan do was a de-stressor for me so thanks a million sis, your a star.

it was only me and hana and the odd stop the war person, eventually Fatima joined us and the rest of the crew as well, we where there to hunt, that's right hunting for the media who decided to turn up around 11am so we could have had some extra sleep but oh well, well worth it inshallah.

there was some weirdos around, like in the morning an elderly man approached me and hana and started to have one of the most weridest conversations I have ever heard, I don't even know what he was mumbling, and when hana politely asked him what he said he started to copy her which I thought was hilarious, eventually he got bored of us and walked away.

there was another lady,( I stole her picture from the site you gave me anglo, thanks, curtsey of br essa's handy photography), she was walking around shouting and muttering things that didn't make sense, she attracted a lot of attention but for all the wrong reasons, people where laughing at her, at one point I heard her shout ' I'VE FIGURED IT OUT ALL BY MYSELF, THAT'S HOW CLEVER I AM' figured what out? What you talking bout woman? Then she started shouting 'BIN LADEN, BIN LADEN, BIN LADEN' for no reason what so ever..

one of the guys who was standing next to me, he was from London turns around to me and say 'white African, Manchester has a lot of weirdos, man I didn't realize how weird mancunians are'

to which I replied: ' ummm excuse me, I wil have you know that we are not weird, and to be fair any demo that is held in any city including London always brings out the weirdos, its not some thing attached to Manchester only, and I bet you she's from London (no offence to lonondoners it was just a hit back).

to which he laughed and said no way, so I turn around to a fellow mancunian and I say to him ' br come on you gotta defend your fellow mancunains, our brother from London is taking the mick out of us, he thinks were all mad'.

did I find support, umm no, my fellow mancunian who is a dr turns around and says: ' mancunians are crazy, your right, do you know how many mancunians are depressed, studies shows that in all of Britain Manchester has the highest depression rates, and continued to drone on including statistics to his speech, ugh the betrayal...

more people started coming, a thousand came from Scotland which was cool, you can always rely on the Scots. There was a rally just before the march, and my speech was due soon, my heart was pacing at like 20,000 beats per second, I swear I was so nervous, I had never spoken infront of so many people, and I hadn't practiced my speech, I kept having images of me falling of the stage although I did contemplate jumping into the crowd like they do in rock concerts now that would have been funny and something for people to talk about lol.

I remember once being told that if you ever have to do a public speech or talk in front of a crowd of people, then one way of calming the nerves is to visualize every one naked, (I know I know astghfurallah and all that, but its funny and it makes every one look ridiculous).

Salma Yaacoub introduced me and as I walked towards the microphone I kept thinking to myself, why do I put myself in such situations, how is it I find myself saying yes even though I meant to say no.

approaching the microphone and seeing all those people standing there waiting for you to say something was nerve racking, the person before me was shorter than me so somebody had to adjust the microphone height, I started my speech and had just finished the introduction when a lady taps me on my shoulder and says '1 minute left please', what??? I had prepared for like a 4 minute speech like I was told to, 1 minute?? My god, I had to skim past most of the stuff and just about mentioned the main parts, she had to tap me again to remind me.

I swear the feeling I got when I finished was like a massive weight had been lifted of my shoulders, wow.

that's when I started to enjoy the rest of the rally and the march, every one started marching around Manchester town towards the GMEX where Blair and his cronies where meeting and then marched back to Albert Square, such a colourful crowd, and the atmosphere was amazing, unfortunately I didn't march with every one as I had to sort out media interviews but I heard from so many people how brilliant it was.

there was more speeches from amazing speakers like Tonny Benn who was introduced as 'the best prime minister Britain never had'

obviously George Galloway spoke and as usual he was brilliant, Tony Blairs sister in-law also spoke and said she was ashamed to be related to him, strong words...

all in all glad I went and participated in this history making event, hope it wil be a lesson to whoever will be blair's successor.

Ramadan Mubarak to all, May Allah bless you and may we all benefit greatly from this amazing month...

we got to make the most of this month, i swear i feel that the atmosphere changes as soon as Ramadan comes subhnallah its truley amazing, most people think that food is the issue in Ramadan, it's not really, its about training ourselves, its about preparing ourselves, reminding us that we have to better ourselves, ramadan is really a preparation for the next 12 months, its not a matter of keeping away from food and drink from sun rise to sun set.

its always sad to say good bye to ramadan, i write this in the 2nd day of Ramadan but within a blink of an eye lid i will be saying farewell to ramadan and only allah knows if i will witness the next one, so brs and srs make the most of it, truly an inspiring month inshallah.

Radio Ramadan is starting again here in Manchester and my slot is from 8:30pm - 10:30pm, thats kinda late, first one is tonight and i havent really prepared cause i've been working on the march but i'll see how it goes...

i will blog about the march inshallah, it was really good mashalah, over 50,000 atteneded now thats an achievement for manchester, Albert square was packed like anything..

demo tomorrow in Manchester, the place to be this satuarday, you all have to come and let your voices be heard.

we dont want the war criminal to lead Britain any more, enough is enough Tony...

Panda Bites Man, Man Bites Him Back

BEIJING (AP) - A drunken Chinese migrant worker jumped into a panda enclosure at the Beijing Zoo, was bitten by the bear and retaliated by chomping down on the animal's back, state media said Wednesday.

Zhang Xinyan, from the central province of Henan, drank four jugs of beer at a restaurant near the zoo before visiting Gu Gu the panda on Tuesday, the Beijing Morning Post said."He felt a sudden urge to touch the panda with his hand," and jumped into the enclosure, the newspaper said.The panda, who was asleep, was startled and bit Zhang, 35, on the right leg, it said. Zhang got angry and kicked the panda, who then bit his other leg. A tussle ensued, the paper said."I bit the fellow in the back," Zhang was quoted as saying in the newspaper. "Its skin was quite thick."

Other tourists yelled for a zookeeper, who got the panda under control by spraying it with water, reports said. Zhang was hospitalized.Newspaper photographs showed Zhang lying on a hospital bed with blood-soaked bandages and a seam of stitches running down his leg.The Beijing Youth Daily quoted Zhang as saying that he had seen pandas on television and "they seemed to get along well with people.""No one ever said they would bite people," Zhang said. "I just wanted to touch it. I was so dizzy from the beer. I don't remember much."Ye Mingxia, a spokeswoman for the Beijing Zoo, confirmed the incident happened but would not give any details. She said Gu Gu was "healthy.""We're not considering punishing him now," Ye said in a telephone interview. "He's suffered quite a bit of shock."

what!!!! 'no one ever said they would bite people' duh its was asleep, you disturbed it, also its an animal they bite.

beer, panda and humans just dont mix...

I dedicate this poem that I made up on the spot to ever the idealist, its just a bit of fun on my part, enjoy it and any one who wants to ad any verses please do, some one can come up with a tune and we can sing it this Friday lol

There was once a nurse by the name of ad
Who held a party for 33
In her flat near Shrewsbury
Where we squashed together so warmly

8 on the sofa laughing madly
10 in the kitchen cooking franticly
12 in the bath tub squashed soundly
3 on the carpet spread out hysterically

Food came from all friends sharingly
Music played all night amazingly
Some danced other clapped Caucasianly
Chatting and enjoying the moment lovingly

Thanks ad for the pre Ramadan get together, you where an amazing host naturally
May Allah reward you tremendously?
And may he bless you forever and keep you smiling massively.

ad I just wanted to entertain you sis while your doing your long nights at the hospital, luv you loads...

tomorrow is the anniversary of the death of the Freedom fighter, the shaheed Omar Al-Mukhtar.

I was talking to an Iranian brother last week, I was at a stop the war meeting, and he was one of the speakers, he asked me where I was from and when I replied Libya he said that one of his greatest hero's is from Libya. For a split second I thought he was gonna say the kernal himself, gaddafi, and I was preparing myself to uncover his dark secrets when he volunteered the info and to my pleasant surprise he said it was the shaheed Omar Al-Mukhtar, wow, the fact that Omar AL-Mukhtar is still a hero and a role model by the youth is amazing, and why not I say, we need such role models to stay alive in our minds, were barley scraping the bottom of the barrel as it is for some decent role models for us in today's times.

I hadn't though of Omar Al-Mukhtar may Allah have mercy on his soul, for a long time, I remember some of the Arab channels broadcasted 'The Lion of the desert' last year, and I always manage to miss most of it and only just join in the part where he's preparing himself for the hanging, and each time I still cry, I guess this is the only good thing that gaddafi has given us, memoirs of his life....

ever since a child every time I ever saw a film with Anthony Quinn I would be well pleased as I associated Omar Al-Mukhtar and hamza the uncles prophet whom he played the role of, and I always hated Oliver Reid cause of the Italian character he played in The lion of the desert, my dad would always tell me that it was only acting but I guess once you associate some body with something then its difficult to remove that stigma, kinda like what some viewers of cornation st or eastenders do when they see the actors who play villains in real life, they attack them lol....

I once was asked to write an article on the history of the shaheed as well as the then Libyan resistance to Italy, and it was really interesting finding out the information, but to be honest there really is int that much info on the shaheed in English. The Iranian brother said to me that one of his wishes is to go to Libya and research on the life of Omar Al-Mukhtar and then write a book in English on his life story, wow... Its amazing really, he wasn't young when he fought the Italians, he was ill a couple of times and many of his comrades asked him to retire and leave the country, he was 80 years old, 80 years old, subhanallah. He refused to stop and give up and kept fighting and he really deserved the name given to him as "The Lion of the Desert."

On 16 September, 1931 the Italians hanged Omar Al-Mokhtar in the city of Solouq and they forced the Libyans to watch their hero being hanged. No consideration to Omar Al-Mokhtar's old age, no consideration to international law and no consideration to world war treaties. The anniversary of his death is coming up, I pray that Allah accepts his efforts and the many others who fought along side the shaheed.

not many people know realize that Libya's history is one of blood tears and broken bones, the Italians really thought that taking Libya was going to be similar to taking candy from a baby but they where in for a shock, there aggression was courageously and strongly resisted by the Libyan people.

the resistance spread across the country from the far western region to the far east, the numbers kept growing, beginning with less than a thousand to within a short period, over 6 thousand. They united to protect their land, freedom and honour from the Italians and they fought as religious men.

the Italian-Libyan war was a David vs Goliath battle, the Italians where equipped with the then latest battle gear, all types of weaponry, tanks etc... The Libyans had old rusted rifles and there horses but despite all that they had tremendous courage and determination to liberate there country and they had faith and reliance on Allah which was there greatest weapon against the Italians.

the resistance lasted nearly 20 years, that's a long time, the Italians where embarrassed by the lack of power and control they had over the Libyan resistance which kept increasing no matter what the Italians did to destroy it.

from May 1930 to September 1930 more than 80 thousand Libyan men, woman and children where forced to leave there homes and where put into concentration camps, 55% of the Libyans died in the camps, it's reported that in November at least 17 funerals a day occurred in the camp due to hunger, illness and depression.

the Libyans never once compromised there beliefs, they continued to fight for freedom, after the death of Omar Al-Mukhtar, the Italians didn't stay long in Libya and shortly afterwards Libya gained its independence.

Libya now is going through a different stage, I pray that the likes of Omar Al-Mukhtar will rise again amongst the Libyan population, primarily the youth, and bring justice to a country in dire need of it.

saw 3 is coming out soon, usually i dont like sequals and prequals but this is different people this is saw,

so who is up for watching this???

how funny is this...

Pinocchio and friends converted to Islam

Malcolm Moore in Antalya (Filed: 31/08/2006)

Pinocchio, Tom Sawyer and other characters have been converted to Islam in new versions of 100 classic stories on the Turkish school curriculum. "Give me some bread, for Allah's sake," Pinocchio says to Geppetto, his maker, in a book stamped with the crest of the ministry of education. "Thanks be to Allah," the puppet says later.

In The Three Musketeers, D'Artagnan is told that he cannot visit Aramis. The reason would surprise the author, Alexandre Dumas. An old woman explains: "He is surrounded by men of religion. He converted to Islam after his illness."

Tom Sawyer may always have shirked his homework, but he is more conscientious in learning his Islamic prayers. He is given a "special treat" for learning the Arabic words. Pollyanna, seen by some as the embodiment of Christian forgiveness, says that she believes in the end of the world as predicted in the Koran. Heidi, the Swiss orphan girl in the tale by Johanna Spyri, is told that praying to Allah will help her to relax.

Several more books have been altered, including La Fontaine's fables and Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. The clumsy insertions by Islamic publishing houses have caused controversy in Turkey, which has been a strongly secular state since the 1920s. Other books contain insults, slang and rude rhymes which mock the president and the prime minister. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is Turkey's first Islamic premier, has called for swift action to be taken against the publishers. The education ministry has threatened to take legal action against any publisher which continues to issue such books. Huseyin Celik, the education minister, said: "If there are slang and swear words, we will sue them for using the ministry logo."

how cool is that lol, we had a family friend who used to tell us all these brilliant fairy tales but with an islamic out look to them so reading this article brought back memories...

i wonder whats next on there list? you know whats really funny, watching the lion king, lilo & stich as well as other cartoons in an egyptian arabic accent, that just makes it even more entertaining?

I knew that work was going smoothly and that it was too smooth to be true, eventually something had to happen, I mean that's how things work..

seriously, how is it that one human being can really cause so much anger and annoyance, subhannallah, and at the moment I'm on the edge as it is of exploding and saying things that I don't mean although in this case what I did say I meant...

I get called to the office, and the manager (bless his patronising cotton socks) asked me to read a new notice that he wants to put up for the staff, he wanted me to double check on the spelling and grammar and structure of the notice, so I'm reading this notice and he's basically not allowing staff i.e me and the other girl, from entering the office, and from having access to the kettle unless its in our break time, the really funny thing is that we don't actually get allocated a break time, ok sure we close from 12 - 2 but DUH, like is said, DUH, I'm expected to type the letters and do the one hundred and one things that I cant do when we are open, so his rule sucks, and I said that to him which he wasn't pleased about...

ok second thing, if it was in any other office then fine, but what you have to understand is that HIS OFFICE, (bless him), has the fax machine, has the photo-copier, it has the stationary cupboard, it has the filling cabinets, its got the majority of things that allow for the surgery to function, and unless he is going to get up from his leather upholstery chair, and do the work that we generally do, then the surgery will collapse from us NOT ENTERING HIS lovely OFFICE, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, some one give me a wall to bang my head on, hey maybe if I bang my head hard enough on the apartheid wall in Palestine I will knock it down, see that's how frustrating it is some times working with certain individuals....

well I kinda said that his notice was rubbish and did a dramatic twirling of my flat shoes and walked out with my head held high (loool its so easy to anger him) and I counted the seconds (15 seconds to be precise) it took him to call me back into the office. so I counted a further 15 seconds, plastered a fake smile on my face and walked back in to HIS office ( I swear its not even his office wallahi, we don't have enough space in the surgery to allocate personal offices, even the Dr rooms are used by nurses and midwives). so I walk in he asks me to sit down, I did remember to say thank you, and then he burst not into tears but into gibberish, un related things that have nothing to do with the now situation, he does this all the time...

so I apologised for calling his master piece rubbish, I know I shouldn't have said that, it was wrong of me, I'm afraid that when I'm angry my mouth talks for itself...but I still raised my points on how ridiculous his rule was, the funny thing is he wants to ban the drs as well, see when he said that I nearly fell of my chair and rolled around the NHS carpet from laughter, but I had to contain myself and ask him whether that was a good idea, to which he replied yeh brilliant.

I had to remind him that the drs will not listen to him, and one of the drs is addicted to tea, kinda like I was to coffee, he has one after the other so how in the world you gonna tell him not to walk into YOUR amazing office and make tea?

he told me off for calling his office amazing in a sarcastic manner, for the love of Allah......

any way watch this space cause I haven't finish the battle of the OFFICE, and besides I haven't completely given up coffee, I've just reduced it, so I do need at least 1 cup....

ya Allah give me strength and patience.....

i'm supposed to put up some more morocco entries, but i'm not in the mood right now, i've only just come back from Ireland and i'm so tired that i've reached a point where i cant sleep cause i'm so tried which i know doesnt make sense but to me it does.

on the flight back from Dublin, i was sat next to a guy who i'm certain has a fear of flying cause he squashed himself into a ball and wrapped his arms around himself and did not move an inch until we landed in Manchester, and the poor guys luck was down cause we had some pretty bad turbulance so the plane was shaking really badly and i kept looking over to him to make sure he hadnt fainted or that he hadnt peed his pants although if he had i dont really know what i would have done, nothing i guess...

but his reaction of being afraid to die did trigger some thoughts in my head, well to be honest i've been thinking about my place in this life for some time now, what really triggered it was the death of a sister from Dundee.

subhannallah, she went to Thailand with a friend of mine during the summer period to help out in a project that helped out the tsunami victims ie orphans, she was the deputy president of her Islamic Society at Dundee University, and a final year law student.

i guess she went to Thailand with a plan in her mind, she would gain the experience, make a difference to some ones life, enjoy herself and come back refreshed for her final year, get her qualifications and probably gain more experience in her field as well as other plans, death was not on the plan, it's not on any of our plans, we dont really think about it.

she went white water rafting, she was with four others when it capsized in rough water. The others quickly swam to safety but Shenaz failed to reappear. Her lifejacket was seen floating on the surface just seconds later, she was'nt found until more than a week later where her body was found trapped under some rocks.

her death has really shook many people, she was 22 and the last thing on anyones mind is death, its a reminder and a wake up call to all of us, are we ready?

i pray that shanaz kapoor is amongst the people of paradise, i pray that Allah swt accepts her efforts. oh Allah swt grant patience to her family, allow them to be strong in this testing time, make it easy on them.

sister shanaz you are an example to us all, a reminder for us all, to Allah we belong and to him we return....

Day 2- Essaouira...

woke up early cause we where supposed to set of something like 7:30am which some people weren't happy about cause they wanted to sleep, but I had already announced it the night before that we where leaving bright and early so to make sure that every one gets an early night or you could sleep on the coach, 2 hours was more than enough for sleeping.

we were going to a fishing village called Essaouira it's one of Morocco's main fishing ports but before reaching there we stopped off at what appeared to be a house, it was basically a cottage industry set up by UNESCO for the local woman who where in need of a job but weren't able to find one, so they set up an argon factory of some sort, where they produce oil, soaps, creams, it's a brilliant idea, it means that these ladies can have a weekly income and support there family.

the oil is delicious and healthy and can only be found in southern morocco but the way its planted is amazing, if we had come around September we would have seen argon trees filled to the branch with goats, seriously here's what it would have looked like...

The trunk of the argon is often twisted and gnarled, allowing goats to clamber along its branches and feed on the leaves and fruit. The fruit itself has a green, fleshy exterior like an olive, but larger and rounder. Inside, there is a nut with an extremely hard shell, which in turn contains one, two or three almond-shaped kernels.
When the goats eat the fruit, the fleshy part is digested but the nut remains and when the goat empties its stomach the nut is found, so yep argon oil with a hint of goat pooh, mmmm delicious.

The production of argon oil, which is still done by traditional methods, is a lengthy process. Each nut has to be cracked open to remove the kernels, and it is said that producing one liter of oil takes 20 hours' work.
argon oil is slightly darker than olive oil, with a reddish tinge. It can be used for cooking and is claimed to have various medicinal properties, such as lowering cholesterol levels, stimulating circulation and strengthening the bodyÂ’s naturaldefensess.

here are what the ladies have to go through on a day to day basis, plenty more baskets to go through..

look at the age of some of the ladies, as old as my grandmother subhanallah...

this lady is placing the roasted seeds found in the nut and grounding them so that a paste is formed and this is used for soaps, creams etc...

we left the ladies to the chants of zaghareet, which is a noise formed by repeatedly hitting thetonguee to the sides of the mouth, mostArabb ladies do this in times of happy occasions.Wee continued our journey towards Essaouira, most people had bought creams, body scrubs, soaps, itwasn'tt every day we get to visit theoriginall 'body shops' of morocco.

we got to Essaouira withing 20 minutes and walked around for a while, first thing you notice about it is the fact that its windy anda lott of people are wearing leather coats,Ii loved the weather, second thing is the smell, fish, fish and more fish...

and crabs..

obviously where there is fish there has to be sea gulls, we where dodging themIncase they decided to drop a present onto us, 2 years ago one decided to drop its dinner all over my foot, believe me it was not a pleasant sight,Ii was so disgusted, all this goo on me, and one of my friends wasfranticlyy looking for wipes when all of a sudden aMoroccann lady out of no where comes running towards me shouting

'are you married?'

me: 'wha...what?

lady: 'Ii said are you married, (she had gotten hold of my jilbab and was shaking me when asking me this question

me: Ii was looking at her like she was an alien) uuum noI'mm not

lady: massive smile on her face, oh wow, then this is a sign, its good luck, a present from the skies, when you go home your husband will be waiting for you.

me: laughing, yeh right, sorry ladyIidon'tt believe in this stuff, but seriously what would you have said ifIi had saidIi was married, we all know thatMuslimmwomann cant marry more than one man at one time..

lady: no no, if your already then married, then it would mean that a baby would be on its way

me: laughing, ok, sure, any way nice meeting you..

so that was 2 years ago andIi stillhaven'tt married yet, but understandablyIi was trying to dodge the birds...

some more gulls surrounding this old man who was cleaning the insides of the fish...

some scenic pic of boats...

so we carried on walking and got to large, rectangular, white square called Place Prince Moulay Hassan where there where tourists sitting in a few restaurants/bars and eating lunch. The renovated recently square looked more European, it did really, reminded me more ofFrancee..

there are ramparts in Essaouira,basicallyy a large wall built round a town to protect it, but they are placed between the city and the Atlantic Ocean on a cliff coast as well.

we had to head to therestaurantt for lunch but before that we walked into a wood shop where they built every thing out of wood mainly cedar wood, smells gorgeous, Essaouira is famous for wood work and they are good at it, they havea lott ofAfricanninfluencee in there work, pretty cool,Ii bought hair clips, every timeIi put them onIi can smell the cedar..

our stomachs were rumbling so we made our way to the fishrestaurantt, nowIidon'tt eat fish,Ii cant stand the stuff soIi had steak at a fish place, and every one else had different types of aliens uumIi mean fish...

here's ookitty and blondie waiting for there fishy meal...

after the fruit salad we went for a walk and founda lott ofjewelryy shops, and girls being girls we ended spending all our time haggling over the price of beads...

shortly afterwards we had to head back to the coach, it was time to leave Essaouira and go back to Marrakech, it was nice andIi was gonna miss the cool weather although the smell of fish they can have.

we got back to the hotel andIi told every one to rest and freshen up cause by 8 every one has to be down in the lobby to meet for dinner at a traditional folkrestaurantt,unfortunatelyyIi forgot to take my camera with me soIi missed taking pic, oh well, may be 00kitty took some.

dinner was nice and entertaining, got back to the hotel and went to sleep again thanking Allah for a good day....

Cont.. Day 1 - Ourika Valley/Djamaa El Fna

so we left marrakech and headed towards the Ourika Valley which is about an hours drive from marrakech an dth drive there was really picturesque, we saw loads of fruit trees and agricultural fields and there was these really cute kids with mini baskets collecting fruits from the trees and selling them to people on the road and it amazing they all had these enormous smiles on there faces and would wave at everyone going past, could you imagine if my brother was in there place, he would be complaining about every single thing 'its too hot, its heavy, my hands hurt, I feel dizzy, I'm hungry blah blah blah'.. subhannallah these kids really deserved our money, more so than the beggars who pester you around the markets...

it was cooler than marrakech and a lot less noise as well, I was surprised to see how green it was, it really was breathtaking and you cant but help ponder over Allah's creation, purpose of life etc... That's why I truly believe that travelling really does open ones eyes and that with the right intention can be a form of worship cause when seeing such wonderous sights you cant help but say ' subhannallah, mashallah, allah akbar and be continuously reminded of Allah swt and his power and might.

Islam is an ecological religion that respects nature and living forms that are God's Creation, we gotta be conscious as to what's happening to the earth, we gotta be aware of global warming and we should do all we can to prevent it from getting worse, earth is not ours to destroy and neglect we have to look after it...

this is a view from the restraunt where we ate lunch imagine waking up to this view...

after lunch we came down to the stream and dipped our feet into the running stream, so refreshing, I got the chance to wash my feet, basically wearing sandal's in a hot country where dust seems to be every were does not do wonder to my feet,

after the splashing and trying to skid the pebbles on the water and failing miserably we made our way back to the coach to go back to marrakech, most people slept during the hour back to the hotel, every so often you would catch some one trying to take photos of others whilst sleeping which is why I always sleep with my scarf covering my face, I don't want no one to black mail me with photos of my mouth wide open and saliva dribbling down my chin, hmmm not a nice sight.

so anyway we get to the hotel and freshen up and what have you and then meet in the lobby to be taken to the famous Djamaa El Fna which was proclaimed "masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity" by UNESCO. Here you can find story tellers, snake charmers, acrobats, dancers and sellers, you can drink some freshly made orange juice, have your hands decorated with henna ornaments, I had seen it 2 years ago and wondered whether it had changed or whether it was still the same, I kinda warned the group that they where gonna see weird stuff but I they still didn't expect what they saw, very weird place you gotta see it to understand, I managed to pose with a monkey and snake, my dad being his usual self bless him , when he saw the pic said 'which one is white African and which one is the monkey?'...

the snakes where kinda drugged outa there minds poor things..

it wasn't really nice to be honest, it was actually really sad that these poor animals are used for money purposes, and they are not treated well at all, put into extremely small cages, and pulled at and chained and all sorts, like I said the snakes where drugged so as not to harm anyone, there where other animals like hedgehogs and turtles. lizards etc...

it really is a weird square filled with weird people. At one point there was a massive circle of people and curiosity got hold of me, so I wnet over ans squeezed myslef through the crowds, I have to say the majority of the people where men and I knew why as soon as I saw the sight infront of me which was a man dressed up as a belly dancer he even had a noqab thing over his face and his eyes where done up the eye make up and he knew how to shake and every one was watching him and enjoying it (eugh I shudder every time) I quickly escaped.

there are a lot of fortune tellers, and black magic stalls and stalls that remove black magic etc... Its a big business over there in Morocco here's a typical stall...

its very common to see hanging snake skin, fox fur, dried lizard etc...

it was really funny to watch the groups reaction to all this, it was a very quite coach ride on the way back, every one was still in shock as to what they saw lol...

the first day was over and again I went to bed that night thanking Allah for the success of the first day and praying that the second would run as smoothly....

morocco day 1

sallam people, i'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaack alhamdullilah and i have never been so happy to be back, talk about stress, i need a holiday from morocco and the stuff that happened from the start right up to the end of the trip, at one point i thought i was gonna be stuck in morocco for the rest of august lol but eventually we got back home safely alhamdullilah.

it was a different trip to the ones that i have been on and the group were really diverse and different, mashallah 31 people travelled all together and seriously as soon as the plane touched down at gatwick airport i let out a sigh of relief and even one of the girls travelling with us shouted out 'white african you are offically free now'

freedom, oh what an amazing feeling, not having people asking you all sorts of questions, or complaining bout all sorts of things, not having to make sure people are on the coach or awake, so yeh i'm glad to be back...

i did enjoy myslef to a certain extent, but it really wasnt a holiday for me and if it wasnt for 00kitty, blondie, and some others i would probably have gone mad, so 00kitty thanks so much for being you and for being a shoulder to cry and bang my head on, you are a star and you deserve a medal.

any way loads to blog about and post pictures and i'm sure 00kitty will do as well, bless her she really suffered in the travelling,

there where 2 groups flying out, my group where flying out from heathrow at 6.10pm all together we where 20 people, 00kittys group where flying out from gatwick at 4pm and all together they were 11 people, on my way to heathrow around 2ish, i get a call from 00kitty telling me that when they went for checking in they were informed that air marocco had double booked the seats and that there where only 1 seat left, obviously 00kitty did all she could to sort it out, and i was having a heart attack on the mini bus thinking to myself my god what to do, and every so often i would call her to get an update, the pilot didnt want to wait any longer so he decided to fly without 00kittys group, and no one would take any responsibility for the studpid mistake which meant that 00kitty was waiting all this time at the desk, i think it was like 8 hours later that a descion was made and they where to fly the next day from heathrow at 6pm which meant that they missed the first day of the tour at morocco, they did get compensation though but still it wasnt fair on them, i will let 00kitty explain it better than me as it happened to her poor thing.

mean while we arrived at marrakech airport about 9ish morocco time and made our way to the hotel, we had missed dinner so after checking in and taking luggage to the rooms and sorting out air con and the million other stuff that seem to happen, we decided to eat out, so out tour operator took us to the nearest eating place which was opposte the hotel and we had some weird sandwich which till now i have no idea what it was filled with, this is what it looks like after we had consumed what we could:

mmmmm, our first meal in morocco, lol, we had to leave kinda fast from the weirdo restraunt cause certain creatures of the night (hardly dressed woman) make an appearance and the desperate weirdos as well.

every one was really tired from travelling so we went back to the hotel and to our rooms, heres what mine looked like:

and

i went to sleep that night praying that the next day would run smoothly...

next day woke up early, got ready and went downstairs to have some breakfast, found some of the girls sat down enjoying the weather around the pool

eventually we got on to the coach, something that really kept bothering me was people's time keeping on this trip, seriously every time we would leave later than we planned because people took there time getting ready and would stroll to the coach, and most times no one would apologise for being late, very frustrating...

the paln for the day was to visit the centre of marakech which was a 10 minute drive, visiting the koutobia mosque, saadian tmbs, al bahi palace and then make our way to the eureka valleys. heres a pictureof the Koutobia minaret which is a 70 metre tall and a major landmark, that can be seen for miles away.

Dating back to the 12th Century, the minaret is the tallest in Marrakesh, topped by 4 solid gold balls. Also at the top of the tower can be seen a wooden scaffold..our guide told us that many western tourist belive that its where they hang muslim woman from which really peeved me off because i cant stand stupid people who travel to other countries and bring there stereo typical views with them, there better of staying put! any way it's real purpose is to assist the deaf...as they can't hear the call to prayer, a flag is hoisted at the appropiate times and i thought that was amazing cause islam is really considerate of all...

we took a stroll round the gardens surrounding the mosque...

we then made our way towards the saadian tombs, i managed to take some pictures of the roads..

walked past the many souvinour shops that fill the streets...

saw more minarets designed in the same style of the koutobia minaret..

we made our way to the tombs, The Saadians were an Arabian dynasty that ruled much of southern Morocco in the 16th and 17th centuries, often successfully waging war against Portuguese invaders. Marrakech was their capital. Sultan Ahmed al-Mansour created these tombs for himself, his family and ancestors. In total nearly 200 Saadians are buried here, most in the yard and the most important in the lavishly decorated halls...

some of the mosaic tiles and calligraphy..

parts of the tomb looked similar to a mosque what with all the pillars and arches..

we then had to leave and make our way to the El Bahia Palace and on the way i managed to take pic of the doors and archways of peoples homes and buildings, so many of the doors i justed wanted to take home, absouloutly gorgeous...

we got to the Bahia Palace, built in the late 19th century, is a superb example of Moroccan-Islamic architecture. The layout of the complex, with its courtyards and mazes of rooms, is typical of the style. the way leading to the entrance was lined with orange trees which apparently where not for eating but for cooking and adding a flavour to the food..

The rooms (nearly 150!), housed Ba Ahmed , his 4 wives and 24 concubines plus servants and guards. The Palace follows the patterns of typical Islamic architecture, with central courtyards, having rooms leading off, with doorways that are placed so that you can't see beyond (providing privacy) Fountains and gardens are also typical features, along with the decorative stucco panels, tiled floors, i was fascinated by the arches so i kept taking pictures of the entrances and doorways..

Each room have ist own incredible work in arcs, ceiling, walls and floors

the ceiling is so detailed...

and the fountains in the middle of the palace..

oh to have a house with an open courtyard in the centre...

one of the girls was saying that she could have her wedding in this big open courtyard, decorate it and make it look amazing, us girls are so funny, always planning weddings and what not...

i cant resist putting up another picture of arches...

we left the palace and on the way back to the coach i found this really cool spice stall..

i loved the way they put the cinnamon together, i have to say cinnamon is my fav spice, you can put it on both savoury and sweet stuff, something new i tried in morocco is cinnamon and icing sugar on banans and oranges mmmmm..

on the way to the coach i came across this graffiti which had me laughing for like half the day..

it basiclly says 'no urinating' i have never seen a sign or graffitti like that before, i just thought it was hilarious.

just round the cornor i spotted a minature begger, she was tiny, hardly there, it was really sad, every where we went they seemed to pop out of every where and anywhere, and it was hard to tell the difference between the genuine and the liar...

i ask allah swt to never put us in a situation where we have to beg to live, i'm reminded by an advice that the prophet pbuh gave which is to read surah waqi3a every night and inshallah that will protect us from poverty.

i think i have blogged enough for today, inshallah i will blog about the rest of day which involves the eureka valleys