29th April 2008
Today I made my way to Casablanca. I got up early because this annoying bratty kid in the riad just wouldn’t let me sleep in. I showered and dressed and was out in the medina by 8am. Nothing was open of course. Stupid kid, make me get up too early.
I decided to walk up and down Talaa Kabira until everything opened up for exercise. I ended up back at the tea house with the guys, who had just picked up Anna and Juan from Argentina. The two of them had not seen much of the medina and I offered to take them on a tour of the food market. I think the meat area turned Juan’s stomach a few times and Anna was exasperated at the chicken shop, with the live chickens in it. I also took them for a walk down my street to see chicken man. This guy sits there selling chocolate bars all day with his pet hen, which I think is really cute. This hen is the luckiest chicken in Morocco in my opinion. Anna and Juan were surprised at how well orientated I was around the medina, up until that point I guess I hadn’t even thought about it. I then said goodbye to my new friends and headed off to the train station.
I was hassled at the gate, but I hassled this guy back insisting he tell one of the taxi drivers to take me to the train station, which to my surprise, he did. I got to the station and purchased my ticked with minimal fuss, compared to the Alexandria fiasco in Egypt and waited around for my train.
I got on first class and was joined by this local guy who wouldn’t keep his shoes on, ugh. We went past some very nice scenery and a lot of shanty towns before arriving in Casablanca 4.5 hours later.