Rock the Kasbah

We spent a quiet, but happy New Year at Aunty V’s chatting, drinking and going through the travel books on Marrakech. I think if there has been a book published on Morocco then we have it in our collection.

I am quite literally delirious with excitement about our next leg of the travel plan. I have always had a fantasy of floating Bridget Bardot-style through the souks, effortlessly encased in a jewel coloured kaftan, eyes disguised by a pair of big black shades, hair flapping in the breeze. And at the end of this month, in just about three weeks, I will be doing it.

Of course, hair flapping is a bad idea (or so the ‘etiquette’ section of the Lonely Planet would have you believe), as they recommend females cover their barnets in headscarves to avoid unwanted attention.

Having experienced Thailand and some of the mountain villages with my hair free, I fear they may have a point as people there are utterly in awe of a shade of hair that is so different. You feel quite alien.

So I’m going to follow ‘the rules’ by the book. Not usually one to embrace being told what to do, I do believe you should conform when in another country – when you’re a guest in someone else’s country it makes me want to spit when people run amok and act all arrogant.

My Wish List for this trip:

Duty Free

YSL Touché Éclat (concealer).
YSL Mascara (I forget the exact name but you get it duty free and it is without a doubt, the best mascara ever made).
Lancôme Eye shadow (also the best, or joint best with anything MAC).

Morocco

Beaded slippers in jewel colours (preferably emerald or ruby).
Inexpensive jewellery (silver and beaded).
Kaftans.

I also really want to get both by hands hennaed in the market, I saw it in a book and it’s the real thing, the reddish brown henna and it looks spectacular. I am obsessed with body art, there’s no doubt about that.

I also really wanted to go to Fes and Casablanca, but they are both a little far away, 200 and 160 miles respectively, so those might have to be left for another time. Fes has all the markets with the pots of powdered dye on display; imagine the colours and the photo opportunities there!

So all in all, I’m really looking forward to the trip and am wishing the next few weeks away so I can go and have another adventure. I am so missing the sun and the skies and the people watching you can do when you are in unfamiliar territory. Home is fine but it’s uninspiring and dull at the moment.

I want to be free again, if only for ten days!