view of the Taj Mahal Hotel and India Gate from the harbour
After another 12 hour overnight bus trip in the pimpest bus to this point brought us to Bombay, or as it's now called, Mumbai. We reached our hotel at around 5 am after a short cab ride and the first thing we did was run towards the shower. After spending 5 long days in the shit hole we mentioned in our Aurangabad post it sure felt great to take a long warm shower in a clean bathroom. We chose to stay in Colaba which is known as the tourist hot spot in Mumbai. This is where you can find all of the fanciest hotels including the famous Taj Mahal Hotel, as well as budget accommodation (or as budget as Mumbai will allow), shops, restaurants and the India gate (a monument sitting on the shores of the Arabian Sea).
view from Flora Fountain roundabout
When we finally emerged from our hotel some 7 or 8 hours later the first thing we noticed was how clean and majestic this part of the city looked with the beautiful facades lining the Colaba Causeway. The streets are wide and clean (as clean as can be in India) and are filled with merchants on both sides selling anything from figs, knock-off watches to pashminas and dildos (we kid you not). We spent that first day enjoying the sights and sounds of this city and we have to say that it was love at first sight. This was a bit of a shock as everyone we talked to (except Elise) had warned us that Mumbai was polluted and hectic and how it was the worst place in all of India and there was no way that they would spend more time there then necessary to get in and on to their next destination. Because of all these warnings we had planned to spend no more than 2 days in the city but after that first afternoon strolling around we ended up staying 5 full days and if it hadn’t been for the expiring visa and crazy hotel prices we would have stayed longer.
Fashion Street
While in Mumbai we experienced the best that the city has to offer (Colaba and the Fort area) and the worst (slums on top of sewer pipes with men, women and children relieving themselves in plain view). We were extras in a Bollywood film for a day (“Jezz” or “Speed” in English), we ended up taking the local train in rush hour to Santa Cruz (another area of the city), we walked the length of the infamous Fashion Street (the best place in Mumbai to get great knock-offs of everything as well as most of the merchandise that "falls" off the back of a truck) and we ended up catching our first Indian movie in Hindi (Tees Maar Khan). We will warn you right now that this will indeed be a long post as this city really left a big impression on us. Rather than talk about the sights of the city we will concentrate more on our experiences and the things we found interesting. If you want to know what to do and where to go just Google it or buy one of many travel books available on India. Also you can look at our pictures in the link below that will show you the sights and give you a good idea of what the city is like.
Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus, formerly Victoria Terminus
They say that New York is a city that never sleeps and if that is the case then Mumbai is the city that has eternal insomnia. Compared to the rest of India the city seems like a foreign country. It is the center of the Hindi film industry (Bollywood), finance and the industrial hub of everything from textiles to media. It is also the home of the richest people in India and you have to look no further than the 27 story "house" being built in Colaba to get an idea of the kind of money we are talking about. It also has Asia’s lagers slums and powerful underworld dons (make sure you read Shantaram) all played out against a stately Victorian townscape. The city has the first organized traffic light system that we have seen in India thus far and way less spitting and public urination. Furthermore we didn’t see a single cow and for a city this large (mostly populated in India) the people are really friendly and speak impressive English.
view from 1st class of train towards 2nd class in the back
We have to tell you about our commuter local train experience. Well, not so much about the whole experience back from Santa Cruz (we had to drop off a busted Canon camera at their repair center) as it was pretty uneventful and regular with the exception that local trains have no doors and men cram around them regardless of how empty the car is. It has to do with our approach to the last stop on the line, Churchgate station. So, the train car was half empty most of the time with men and women coming on and off as they would in any part of the world. As we approached Churchgate station (which is where the tracks end) we got up and made our way to the door. There were a few people already standing at the door but as we neared the station, strangely, they went to sit down. As the train pulled into the station moving at about 20km/hr men with pure panic and bewilderment in their eyes started popping into the cart with reckless abandonment. They slammed into the poles and the door frame bouncing off like balls in a pin ball machine and pounced onto one of the hundred empty seats. All we could do was glue ourselves to the walls of the car and watch with fear and confusion. We were thinking that there was either a fire in the middle of the station or a bomb threat and these men were running for their lives. To clarify, picture a crammed truck with cattle whose doors have just flung open and all the cattle are simultaneously rushing out into the fenced enclosure, bouncing off the sides and into the holding area. This is close to what was happening on this train ride. After 30 seconds of this the train came to a complete stop. We waited a few more seconds to ensure that everything was OK outside, then stepped off onto a deserted platform. We looked back into the car and saw the men wheezing from their mad run and we couldn’t help but burst into full out laughter. This laughter continued all the way home and to this day we can’t help but laugh at the expression on those men’s faces and the determination and panic with which they entered the car. A true classic Mumbai moment. We later discovered that the train usually stops at Churchgate for only a minute before heading back in the other direction thereby not giving the people enough time to get on before its departure.
McDonald's delivery vehicle
To finish the post off we have to tell you about our Bollywood experience. As mentioned above not only did we see a Bollywood movie but we were also paid extras in the upcoming Bollywood version of Speed with none other than Anil Kapoor. For those of you that are not Indian he is best known as the host of the Millionaire show in the movie Slumdog Millionaire. We got approached to be extras the day we arrived in Mumbai. Seeing how we thought that we were going to be gone in a day or so we regretfully declined. After our third day in the city and with a few more to go we decided to put aside one day and see what the whole Bollywood hoopla was all about. We got picked up in front of a McDonald's in Colaba first thing in the morning and brought to Mehboob Productions in northern Mumbai. We first went to ‘costume’ and make-up. As they were filming an office scene that day we were given suits to wear. M’s suit was about three inches too short and the tie was from the 1960’s. His shoes were a size too small, his hair was slicked back and he volunteered to shave off his three month old beard to fit the role better. Apparently all office workers in the UK wear way too much gel in their hair and are facial hair challenged. S’s suit also had pant legs that were way too short (even though they let the hems out for her) and her shoes had stubby heels that were falling apart. When in Bollywood do as the Indians tell you :) The movie we were told is an Indian remake of the Hollywood blockbuster Speed (starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock) with the exception that it takes place on a London train instead of an LA bus. The director is a famous Indian director by the name of Priyadarshan (who is a really cool guy). The main actor on the shoot with us (no, it was not Anil) is also a famous actor who usually plays a father figure in a lot of the Bollywood blockbusters. Sorry, we can’t remember his name. The whole experience was amazing. The cast and staff were great and very friendly. The main actor (father figure) was hilarious and kept cracking jokes in between takes. The female in the scene was obsessed with her hair, inserting her hair curlers and touching up her make-up between every take. They fed us well with a fantastic buffet at lunch and had the chai flowing all day. We were very lucky that out of the 19 extras they brought only a handful of us (go S&M!) got the chance to spent most of the day in and out of shots and always in the main room of the shoot. When it was all said and done it was 6pm and the whole day had past, we collected our 500IRP each (around $12CND - cha ching!) and were dropped off at the same spot we were picked up earlier that day. All in all a must do for any tourist that visits Mumbai.
off to see Tees Maar Khan!!
Our second Bollywood encounter was at the movies. We went to see the newest Bollywood blockbuster Tees Maar Khan in Hindi without subtitles. We bought our tickets and the girl that sold them to us made sure we understood that this was a Hindi movie without subtitles. I don’t think she believed that we understood her the first time as she repeated it two more times just to be sure. With tickets in hand we entered what can only be described as a six star movie theatre. We got our drinks, popcorn and samosa’s that came with the two tickets we purchased and were ushered to our assigned seats. The seats were leather and reclined to about 45 degrees. They were so big and there was so much leg room that it felt like being in a first class seat on a transatlantic flight. The movie itself was great: funny and very well done and we will definitely try to get a copy with subtitles when we get back home. So to all of our Indian brothers and sisters back home if you have a copy with subtitles please let us know. The movie was about two and a half hours long with an intermission half way through during which the ushers came to take our orders and returned with our cappuccinos and water. Like we said, six star service. One interesting thing that we noticed even during the Jezz shoot was that 25% of the dialogue is in English. Tees Maar Khan was no different. We also had an Indian kid who moved to sit next to us to fill us in on the things we missed (it was his sixth time seeing the movie!!). One thing to mention is that Indian actors are fully rounded as they act, dance and lip sing. During this movie we also found the origin of the insanely popular Indian song at that time "Sheila Ki Jawani". We must have heard this song a million times during our travels from Varanasi to Goa. This is another must when visiting India by the way. You absolutely have to go see an Indian flick but try to see a later show as the earlier shows are pretty empty. Since we were catching a train that same day we didn’t get the chance to see the singing and dancing that we heard the audience usually does in a full theater. Ah well, there is always next time!
As we mentioned above and as you can probably tell by our descriptions we absolutely loved Mumbai for everything that it has to offer. It is a great city with great people and fantastic food.
To see more of our Mumbai excursions click HERE (password: bollywood).
book vendor in the Fort area
seen around many government buildings - here they are guarding the High Court
We have a lot to say about travel in India as we spent a large number of the 58 days there making our way around the vast country. We travelled our way from India’s northern border with Nepal all the way down the west coast to Gokarna (almost made it to its most southern tip but unfortunately our expiring visa told us it was time to leave) and there was a minimum 11 hours of travel time between most of our destinations. Overall our traveling experience in India was great. The country is very well connected and easily and affordably accessible through an excellent mixture of air, rail and road transportation. We can only comment on India’s rail and road transportation as we only took one flight and that was out of the country.
a double bunk on one side of the aisle in A2 class
Let’s begin with train travel in India. India has an amazing railway network that connects all corners of the country and efficiently moves its 1 billion inhabitants… and not surprisingly you have to book way in advance! Sometimes this is weeks or months in advance depending on your destination, class and date of travel - especially if you are looking at a direct train for long distances with only once a week service. Buying your first railway ticket on your own in India can be a confusing experience as there are eight classes of travel available and you can purchase your ticket under three different quotas. These are the general quota, the tatkal quota and the foreign tourist quota. The first two you can purchase in person or on-line where as a tourist quota ticket must be purchased at the station. The tourist and tatkal quota (tatkal seats become available 48 hours before travel time at a price increased by 5-25% of the original ticket price) are there to ensure that last minute travellers and tourists can get seats.
the four person sleeping area in the A2 class
There are up to eight different class options when selecting your seat on Indian trains though not all trains offer every class. At the top of the list is the A1 (air conditioned first class) for longer or overnight trips. This is a sleeper car which sleeps two people and has a locking door. You get two sheets (one for the bedding and one to put your blanket on), one thicker blanklet (comes in very handy when travelling through the northern provinces in the winter months) and a pillow. This is by far the most luxurious way to travel in India and has a price tag to go along with it. We never chose this option as the two lower A classes offer similar luxury with only a few differences at a discount. The A2 (air conditioned second class) is divided into a four person section on one side with a curtain closing it off for privacy with a double bunk on the opposite side of the aisle which lies along the length of the car and is also closed off by a curtain. If you’re lucky you get the double bunk. The A3 (air conditioned third class) fits in more people with six to one side and a double bunk on the other side of the aisle and has lower quality sheets, blanket and pillow compared to A2 (which in turn has lower quality than A1). Then you move down to the sleeper class which is the same in size and layout as the A3 except that you do not get any bedding, there are no curtains dividing the areas and no air conditioning. The cars themselves are built differently without the glass sealed windows of the A class (these are slats and in the lowest classes, just bars) and the frames and seating are of a lower quality. Needless to say if you are travelling in the winter and get a sleeper car, bring a blanket as it gets cold in there. Sometimes a non AC first class sleeper offered, with double or quadruple lockable berths, then you have your two AC seater classes and finally the unreserved second class. This last class is what you see in movies with open doors and wooden or padded plastic seats and yes, it does get rammed with people and people do hang out of the door.
With our way of last minute traveling we only had the chance to use the train on a handful of occasions and all but one of the times we were waitlisted to get on. How the waitlist works is when all the seats are sold out you get put on the list and hope that people cancel their trip so you can get their seat. You are notified by email and/or text telling you that you are off the waitlist and will be issued a seat. So how do you find out what seats you were given? There are rows of boards in every train station with lists of all the passengers leaving on the trains in the following two hours. The lists are organized by train number, class and finally cabin number. The lists are then organized by seat number and provide the full name, age and gender of each passenger assigned to each seat. The lists are also posted on the door of the two entrances of each car but only the lists with the passenger info for that particular car are posted.
chicken lollipops
One of the best parts of traveling on the train, especially when you are going on long hauls, is the variety of food that is available for sale at any given time. The chai merchant passes by every 15 minutes followed by men selling chicken and veg biryani, omelettes, samosas, chicken lollipops (chicken drumsticks which are breaded and fried and smothered in hot sauce), tomato soup (very random we know :), and a variety of chip like snacks and pop. Although the food might not be the best, considering its train food, it’s not bad at all.
Before we leave off to talk about the bus system, we have to tell you a little bit about the train stations themselves. On our first visit we arrived in the late afternoon and the station was as full of people as you'd expect any station in India would be. We came back a few hours later to find out that the population at the train station had tripled with people not only buying tickets and standing around but making themselves comfortable all over the floors with blankets and dinners.
in our first double sleeper bunk
Since we could almost never find an available seat on a train we ended up travelling a lot by bus. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that for long distance buses there is a sleeper option. A sleeper bus is a regular sized travel bus that has been converted into horizontal cubes that sleep either one or two people. A bus can be either a complete sleeper bus with only single and double bunks lining the bus or it can be a bus with seats on the bottom and single and double bunks on top on either side of the aisle where the luggage racks normally are. We have to say that we really enjoyed travelling in a sleeper bunk although on one occasion the bus was really disgustingly dirty. We eventually found a fantastic website (www.redbus.in) where you can easily find route information and book and print your own ticket but the best part is that the bus companies are rated and pictured so you know what you are getting into before hand.
inside a Mumbai taxi
Once we made it to the many cities we encountered more options of transportation. Every city that we visited had some form of a bike or auto rick-shaws (tuk-tuk) that would line the corners of busy streets and thruways. There would be hundreds of them at any bus or train station and riding in one was an adventure to say the least. Then there were your standard cabs which really stand out in Mumbai with their yellow and black paint job in addition to their funky interiors. We highly recommend taking one if you are ever in this city as the feel of being in one is an experience on its own. In addition to being driven you can rent yourself a moped, bike or car and join the madness on the streets. While on the Goan coast we used a moped quite a bit and found it to be a great way of exploring the local beaches and towns.
Overall we have to say that traveling throughout India was a comfortable, safe and enjoyable experience. The country is really well connected with affordable options of which we found the train to be the most comfortable if you can get a seat on one. Buses were a great second option with some variation in their appearance, smell and capacity. Both buses and trains are almost always late but jus as often happen to leave on time.
taxi's outside of Victoria Terminus, Mumbai
front of a cargo truck in India - they are all pimped out in their own way
back of a Cargo truck in India with the stanard "Horn Please" as you are to honk so it'll get out of your way for you to pass
getting around on a moped or bike (note that almost all women sit sideways so they have special footrests for that)
a mixed sleeper/seating bus
a full sleeper bus ... with a man caught in action :)
the dirtiest sleeper bus we ever took - yes we tried to touch as little as possible ... wished we could float!
Our next stop on our tour of Nepal was Chitwan National Park, which is a World Heritage Listed Park reserve that protects over 932 sq km of sal forest, water marshes and grassland. The park boasts 50 different species of mammals including rhinos, royal Bengali tigers, deer, monkeys, wild elephants, leopards, sloth bears and wild boars, as well as 500 different species of birds and butterflies. The one-horned rhinoceros is the most famous animal in Chitwan and one that you are likely to see. The tiger, on the other hand, is a rare sight as there are only 100 or so in Chitwan and they are nocturnal animals.
Before we get into the details of our jungle adventure we must tell you a bit about our bus ride to the park and the bus system in Nepal in general. The only way to get around the country economically is by bus. Buses reach as far up the mountains as conditions will allow and have a very interesting organization system. Though they aren’t the newest and at times not the most comfortable for tall people, they sure are efficient and an adventure! All the buses (and trucks) are made by Tata, an Indian conglomerate, and we’d say 98% of them are pimped out with designs and murals on the outside and sometimes inside by the cabin. Pretty funky to look at. The insides vary in states of disrepair, with the local buses having the most wear and tear, but they still get you to your destination. We can see why they would be in those conditions due to the state of Nepali roads: either lots of dust and dirt or lots and lots of rocks. Let us tell you a bit about how the buses works. There is always a young boy working the door of the bus. The boy has many jobs from taking all the payments to helping the driver navigate the roads and traffic to soliciting passengers. So what this young boy does is he hangs out the bus door as the bus drives along and yells to the people on the side of the road the buses destination. If someone indicates they want to get on, he bangs once on the side of the bus and the driver stops. Once that person is on (and the luggage has been thrown on the roof) the boys whistles or bangs twice on the side of the bus and the driver takes off and the boy collects the money. This continues throughout the journey. Likewise when someone wants to get off, the boy bangs once to stop the bus, grabs the luggage off the roof, hits the bus twice or whistles to start it up again and then runs to get back on the bus. The boy also removes obstacles from the road and is the driver’s left side mirror when navigating through heavy traffic or narrow streets - he bangs in successive double taps to let the driver know that he has space to pass. Note that all of running, climbing and jumping on and off the bus is performed in flip flops J .
Now a little about the ride itself. Besides being highly entertaining and at times scary (overtaking trucks on blind corners on the side of the mountains in single lane roads) the bus is made for much much shorter people and the windows and doors rarely stay shut. On our ride to Chitwan, every five minutes M would shut the window in front of us leading to the cabin and the window next to us as it was quite cold and we wanted to keep the dust out. It was so dusty that the trees and bushes lining the road were grey rather than green (see picture here: sad grey trees ) and shockingly, villages were drying their laundry along the side of the road. The windows weren’t the only thing sliding open throughout the ride. As we bumped along, the door latch would slowly start to turn and eventually the door would swing completely open. We would ride with the door open (and S&M giggling) until the boy would notice and latch it again. Simply priceless.
water buffalo in the fields of Sauraha
So we finally arrived to Sauraha which is a small village in the parks buffer zone. The first thing that is noticeable as you step off the bus is the clean fresh air and peacefulness of the place. Coming from Kathmandu which was very noisy and polluted this was a welcome change. The area of the village is surrounded by yellow flower fields and native mud huts (houses of the Tharo people). There are elephants and water buffalos everywhere. The first thing we did upon arriving at our hotel was take a long overdue shower. Due to the water shortages and consistent power outages that are more than common in Nepal’s winter months we were unable to shower for the last four days we were in the Kathmandu Valley (note: two of the four days were spent hiking the Himalayas). Yup we are your typical North American prima donnas J .
We spent a total of 3 days and 2 nights at hotel Parkland in Sauraha. They had our whole itinerary planned out for us from the time we woke up to the time we went to bed. This was probably our least favorite part as we both like to explore and do things on our own time … but when in Rome (or in this case Chitwan) do as they do (or say!). Our action packed days included a few nature hikes through the jungle, a beautiful sunset buy the river, a canoe ride down the river (this is where we got our first look at the crocodiles that are quite common along the river side), a visit to the elephant breeding centre and an elephant back safari. All in all we saw and experienced a whole lot. The highlight of the visit was definitely the elephant back safari into and through thick jungle. What magnificent animals. For such a large and powerful mammals it’s amazing how gentle they can be. We both fell in love. While we are on the topic of elephants we also got to visit with a local elephant on our first night in Chitwan. We sat next to him while he was being fed “Kuchi” which are bundles of grasses filled with rice, molasses and salt, while our guide Hari told us all about the captive elephants as well as the difference between Asian and African elephants. We can’t remember them all but one of the differences is the ears with the African elephant having the big ears shaped like Africa (i.e. Dumbo) where as the Asian elephant has small ears shaped like India.
We saw so many animals that one can only see when visiting a zoo in most parts of the world. On our first day we saw two one horned rhinos grazing by the side of the river. During our forays into the jungle we saw many crocodiles, spotted deer, brown deer, monkeys, water buffalos, peacocks, many different birds including storks, wild boars and the ever dangerous wild chicken! What a great experience!!!
As always, here are a few pictures with many more HERE (password: elephant).
There are a number of ways to get around this country.Some very fun and others not so much.We luckily experienced them all and then some.
Morocco’s four major cities are all connected by train.The other 99% are reachable by one of many bus companies that operate in Morocco and the last 1% is possible to cover by a grand taxi.Since all of you are familiar with buses and trains we will take a moment here to disrobe a grand taxi and how it operates.
Grand Taxi Stand
Ok, so a “grand taxi” is almost always a Mercedes Benz that was manufactured anywhere between 1970 and 1985. It fits six people plus the driver (three in the front and four in the back) and it is used to travel between cities.Each passenger pays a set fee (which based on distance traveled) and each passenger can be dropped off and picked up along any given route as long as there is space available in the car.Here is an example of how this system operates.Each taxi leaves a taxi stand when there are six paying customers and travels from taxi stand A to taxi stand B.As you are driving along one of the original six passengers might get dropped off before taxi stand B at which time he is replaced by another passenger down the road that needs the services of the taxi.So, if you are traveling a distance of lets say 40km you might have 15 different people come and go before you reach your final destination.Once the final destination is reached the driver waits for another 6 paying customers and the fun starts all over again. J
Petit Taxi
Grand taxies are always used to travel from city to city.If you need to travel within a particular city then you would need the services of a “petit taxi”.This is always a hatchback made by Peugeot or Fiat.All of the petit taxies are painted the same colour and the colour varies from city to city.Petit taxies can take a maximum of three passengers (by law) and cannot under any circumstances drive outside the city limits.
We have to take a moment to tell you about our attempt to catch a taxi, any taxi, outside the Fez medina at the time of closing.We had been in Fez for about two days at this point and the four of us (S&M and S&M – M’s best friend and our kum joined us with his girlfriend for the first week of the trip… they happen to have the same initials… lots of S&M going on here J...pure cheese we know… but it amuses us) felt brave enough to attempt to get home via cab.Being from Canada the four of us did what any one of our country men would do and orderly lined up in what we thought was the lineup for the cabs that were constantly arriving.After about ten minutes of standing there and watching countless people go around us and take taxies we decided to abort the lineup idea and venture into no mans land.So, the first problem was getting a taxi to even stop for us. After a dozen failed attempts one finally did.We all piled into the car only to leave in frustration as the driver kept yelling “three” in French.Thinking that this was a tourist thing we repeated this process another three times.On our fourth attempt we were finally told that the petit taxies that we were getting into can only take three people by law.Our next plan of action was to grab one of these big old white Mercedes Benz cars that everyone kept piling into.This was much harder than it sounds.There were about two of these cars around at any given time.The thing we found the oddest was the fact that there were always seven people in this car.Not wanting to look like amateurs… again… we decided that the best thing to do was stand aside for a few minutes and see how the locals get these cars to stop for them.What we witnessed was that every time one of these white Benzes would arrive a swarm of people would literally fight for an available seat.Imagine playing musical chairs with about a hundred people and when the music stops the first six to pile into the car get a ride.This is exactly what this was like.Needless to say we didn’t even try to get into any of these cars.So we ended up taking two different petit taxies and we got dropped off in two different locations.Our friends got dropped off at the right location and the two of us about two entrances to the medina short.After wandering and trying to find our way home for about 45 minutes we ended up paying an eight year old kid to get us home and finally met with up with our friends.One for the books folks that’s for sure!
Moving onto the interesting Moroccan bus industry.There are two main bus companies that operate in the country.One is CTM and the other Supr@tours which is associated with ONCF (Morocco’s railways company).In addition to these two operators there are about a dozen or so privately owned companies that operate throughout Morocco.Some are great and some are as shady as can be.We got to experience both sides of the coin.Buses overall are very modern and comfortable.They leave and arrive on time but this can be said only for the two main operators.While we had excellent service from CTM and Supr@tours we were left a bit frustrated with some of the other operators.The frustration lies in the pricing structure (different price for tourists and locals), the fact that the bus leaves the station only when it fills up (this can add hours to your departure time), the quality and smell of the bus and the fact that the other bus companies will take anything from sheep to luggage in the luggage compartment of the bus.I kid you not, you have not lived until you see a luggage compartment open with a sheep and a goat tied to the inside both looking as confused as can be.Overall we both agree that the bus industry of Morocco is well organized and mostly reliable. We rate it 7/10.
A sheep in the cargo space of a bus
Remnants of the accident :( *photo courtesy of Sara
The railway system is pretty impressive we have to say.The trains are clean (with the exception of bathrooms which we would not wish upon our worst enemy) and very reliable.We experienced the train on five different occasions and three out of these five times they arrived and departed on time.The last time was right after a big holiday in Morocco and the train schedule was all over the place.Our first impression of the trains was arriving into Casablanca from the airport.We will be honest and say that we were pretty skeptic but the train that greeted us was clean and much better than a lot of the trains we had throughout Europe.It left and arrived on time.On our way from Fez to Marrakech we had a bit of an unfortunate accident where our train hit a crossing car and we were delayed for about 3 hours.After the operator noticed that our train was not operational we had another train pick us up and take us the rest of the way.On our way from Marrakech back to Casablanca we were traveling during the above mentioned holiday and the rail company added trains to the schedule to meet the demand.Very cool indeed!We rate the train service 7/10.All points were lost because of those horrid bathrooms.They still keep us up at nights!!!! J
We won’t comment on the plane portion of the trip as we took the planes to only get into and out of the country.But we will say that the Mohammed V airport in Casablanca is very modern looking but also very backwards.They have flights leaving past yet the entire food court closes after 9.So if you have a flight leaving late pack yourself a sandwich or buy food before you arrive at the airport.The phones in the terminal all have a calling card slot but only take coins (but none of them were operational).The security check was a joke and we’re not the ones to harp on security but if the metal detector goes off as someone is walking through it, please check that person and don’t just wave them through because they are a tourist and a female.It was very bizarre and a bit alarming to say the least.We rate the airport experience a 6/10.
Settat Train Station (waiting for our replacement train)
