Food, food and more food in Hong Kong

Thank you to my friend Iris and Kathy who showed me Hong Kong from the local view. I should have stayed at least 8 days, but due to interviews in London I had to shorten my HK adventures to 4 days (from the 15th to 18th of Feb). But still, it was really worthwhile and I am happy I came. So what is so special in HK about food? I tried, for experiment, a couple of local dishes, such as Chicken Feet. I am sure you are wondering what can you eat and why in hell you would do that. Still, I had 1 foot and ... it was ok. Nothing bad, nothing exceptional, but good experience. Then later on, my worst fear was the "durian". This is the deadliest fruit ever by its smell and compared to that fruit a rat dead for 1 month smells good.
I stayed with Iris' family in the New Territories (north West), in Yuen Long. It is actually closer to China than it is to the CBD and no tourist can be found there, which means everything (except for the direction signs) was written in Chinese. That made it really challenging when I was hungry and wanted to order food in a restaurant. To resume the situation, I would say that my Sweedish is as good as my Chinese, it's null! Luckily I had my HongKongese friends with me who ordered everything and I just ate whatever was coming.
Let's face it, if you stay in a central part of Hong Kong, you will be fine as most of people will speak a langage that can be assimilated to english. However, if you get lost elsewhere ... you are fucked and start praying! However, people there are very friendly and helpful.

Pau and the Pyrenees

5 days in Pau with Yannick (my friend and flatmate from Nice). We spend a sporty weekend with fantastic weather as you can see on the pictures below. Starting with snow rackets, then snowbarding/skiing the next day, and indoor rock climbing the day after ... we well deserved a break with a spa/sauna session on the last day.
This is in this moment that you realise how small we are, but how great the nature is (i am only saying this words because of the lack of oxygen) ;-P

Marseille under heavy snow

After 10 days in Morocco, I head back to Marrakech airport, catch my flight and return to Marseille. However, my flight was canceled. The only flight of the day to Marseille was CANCELED. Noooooooooo! After discussing with other people like me and the airport employees, apparently Marseille airport is closed due to snow. I can believe it! It can't be true, we only get snow once every 20 years. Thank you to Royal Air Maroc who organised 4**** hotel and pickup from/to airport for absolutly nothing. A great way to finish the trip! Many airline would have told us to bugger off and do it ourselves. But Royal Air Maroc provided excellent service and efficiency.

The buzz of Marrakech

To describe Marrakech in a few words ... it's busy, noisy and not quite like the rest of Morocco.
We arrived there after 5 days in the wild, so the choc was extreme. We had peace, quiet and tranquility and we get noise and pollution. Starting with the big square in the middle of the city, Djemaa El Fna, where you have activities all day long. During the day, some locals make the snakes dance at the sound of their flute ; the food stands sell you dried fruits (dates, nuts, apricots, figues, ...).
At night, the square is transformed and many stands are setup to make food for both locals and tourists. On the side of that, the story tellers narrate fables or legend but you need to understand arabic to understand anything ... we didn't! :-(
And within the Medina (the old town), you find the souk and the narrow streets. A real (non organised) mess for the inexperienced eye. We navigated for about 1 hour in the streets, zig zagging between tourists, locals, mopeds, donkeys and un-defined things. Basically, the same kind of stores can be found every 10 meters (babouches, souvenirs, tajins and typical clothes).
But Marrakech is still an experience to live ... but not for too long. You can get dizzy quickly with this crowd and still we went there during a more quiet time. Not for faint hearted! But the best thing in Morocco is the bargaining. You can reduce the price 2 or 3 times easily. They don't mind and in the end everyone is happy. You think you made a bargain (even if it is not true) and the shop keeper sold you an item.

Les noms rigolo au Maroc

Presque tous les jours, nous trouvions des magasins, des voitures, des immeubles, des publicites rigolotes. Les noms sont soit vraiment marrants, soit il y a des fautes d'ortographe.

Ca donne pas envie d'y aller ...

La FNAC comme en France, mais different ...

Berbers of the North

Even though we were tourist, we camped everywhere. And the berbers (either sincere or just to please us and get some money) told us that we acted like berbers.
We are the berbers of the north!

Ok, Thomas looks better than I. But I didn't "troc" / "deal" my mum and the car for a piece of fabric bought for 10 dirhams at the local market. ;-)


The ground from above (1 meter high), the shape of heart in the ground. This is so cute! ;-P

Sand dunes at the Erg Chebbi

On new year's day, the wake up call at 7.30am to see the sunrise was awfully hard, especially when we realized we slept only 4 hours and the weather was overcast. But one thing was worth it, the view of the dunes and a good breakfast.
Back on the camels (also called the 8x8 by the berber), we head back to the car (1.5h ride). This is way enough for me, my butt and legs are sore toward the end. But the sky is clearing out and we can enjoy even more the view of the dunes.