Category Archives: General

Casablanca 卡萨布兰卡

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Falling in Love in Casablanca
Drinking champagne and eating caviar
Watching the world goes by

Realised a kiss is not a kiss in Casablanca
A kiss is not a kiss if you are not by my side
Come with me to Casablanca
I will love you more as time goes by

There are so many broken hearts in Casablanca
Throwing away champagne and unfinished caviar
The world still goes by

A kiss is still not a kiss in Casablanca
A kiss will never be a kiss if you are not by my side
Please come with me to Casablanca
I will love you more as time goes by

Arrived in the romantic city of Casablanca on a sunny Saturday afternoon. From the airport, I took the train to the city. I got off from the Gare de Casa Voyageurs station and took the impressive metro to the city.

I only stayed 2 nights in Casablanca but I managed to visit some interesting places.

This market place is full with people. It sells almost any things from fruits, clothes and others. With my limited French, I managed to get myself a pair of slipper after some bargaining.

The next day, I walked around taking pictures and I reached the Grand Casablanca. I did not manage to get it as it was closed.

I walked further and took more pictures.

I found a restaurant called Chinatown. There are also McDonald’s and Burger King.

I passed by the beaches and hotels.

I met up with Mahdi in the cafe. I stayed in his apartment for 2 nights.

I took the unpleasant train ride to Marrakesh. I think they might have over sold the second class train tickets as many people couldn’t even get into the train when it reached the Casa-Oasis railway station. I had to wait for 2 hours for the next train. Moreover, the train was delayed for 30 minutes. I had a tough fight with the other passengers to get myself, my 28 inches luggage and haversack up into the train. The cabins were just physically full and many of us had to stand along the narrow pathway for 3 long hours. Next time I must get first class ticket so that I could have a more comfortable ride.

Marrakesh 马拉喀什

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I had an interesting chat with the Berber on the public bus from the town in the mountain to the city of Marrakesh. My seat mate was so helpful that he asked his friend to drive me to the hotel, in the Marrakesh square.

I had a delightful night in the Marrakesh square with Moroccan kebab, pea soup, green salad, mint tea, belly dancers, charming snakes, mischievous monkeys and Arabic music.

Sahara Desert 撒哈拉沙漠

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From Marrakesh, I took a 3 days and 2 nights magnificent tour to the Sahara Desert. It was a long 2 days drive from the city to the border of the desert.

We stopover for a mountain view. We also visited the mountain pottery making place.

We had another stopover at a cafe for lunch .

We had dinner in the hotel and stayed there for a night. I shared the room with another 2 people.

The next day, we visited the carpet making place.

We proceeded for more sightseeing.

Aït Benhaddou (Arabic: آيت بن حدّو) is a historic ighrem or ksar (fortified village) along the former caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakesh in Morocco. It is considered a great example of Moroccan earthen clay architecture and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. We visited this place.

Movies like The Mummy and Gladiator are shot here.

Finally, we reached the border of the desert in the late afternoon.

We rode on the camel into the desert for about one and the half hour before we reached the camp side at about 8pm. Dinner was well prepared for us. We were entertained by the locals with songs and dances under a wonderful Arabic starry night. We left the desert in the next morning at about 6am.

Tanger 丹吉尔

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Reached Tanger in the late afternoon. This Melting Pot Hostel is difficult to locate if you do not have someone to bring you there.

When the taxi dropped me at the entrance of the Medina, this man rushed to me saying that he will bring me to the hostel. This looks like I have made arrangement with the hostel to pick me up but I did not. After a few turns of corners, I asked the man do I need to pay him. He said 5 Euro. I stopped. He also stopped and looked back. I said 10 Dirhams. He said okay. We continued for another few more turns before we reached the hostel.

Normally, I will book a hotel that provides breakfast when I am travelling.

After I have settled down in the hostel, I went out for dinner in this expensive petite restaurant.

The next morning, I saw the man waiting outside the hostel. He offered to show me around but I refused. I walked alone and got lost in the maze again. However, I managed to find the way back to the hostel after a few hard tries of turns.

The next day, I took the ferry and crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to Spain. The immigration and customs checks were easy to pass through with a Singapore passport.

Morocco 摩洛哥

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Morocco is a tourist destination and it is clean and safe. When I was in Marrakesh, I could see armed police and soldiers patrolling the city. The things are rather cheap as compared to Singapore. One Morocco Dirham (DM) equals to Singapore 14 cents. 

Casablanca 卡萨布兰卡
Marrakesh 马拉喀什

One glass of freshly squeezed orange juice in the  square of Marrakesh is 40 MD which is about S$0.56. One meal could cost about S$5 – S$9. The issue is that from a small city to a big country, we could find that travelling is such a pain. I spend more than 3 days waiting and travelling on the bus/train/coach during the trip.

The Berbers 柏柏尔人
Sahara Desert 撒哈拉沙漠
Fes 非斯
Chefchaouen 舍夫沙万
Tanger 丹吉尔

Learn about the Roman Number System

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The Roman number system is based on seven letters, all of which are assigned with specific values. These seven letters, with their Hindu-Arabic number equivalents, are:

 I (1)       V (5)      X (10)      L (50)      C (100)      D (500)      M (1000)

There are a few rules in the Roman number system.

Rule 1: When a letter is repeated, its value is repeated.
Examples : I = 1, II = 2, III = 3          X = 10, XX = 20          CCC = 300

Rule 2: When a letter follows a letter of greater value, its value is added to the greater value.
Examples : VI = 6 (5+1)       XV = 15 (10+5)        LX = 60 (50+10)        DC = 600 (500+100)

To write 70 in roman numerals, we just need to add XX to L (10+10+50). So, 70 will therefore be written as LXX. To write 800, just add CCC to D (100+100+100+500). In this case, 800 is written as DCCC.

Rule 3: When a letter precedes a letter of greater values, its value is subtracted from the greater value.
Examples : IV = 4 (5-1)                       IX = 9 (10-1)                      XL = 40 (50-10)
                   XC = 90 (100-10)             CD = 400 (500-100)

The smaller value I is in front of V, means subtract 1 from 5 to get 4. In the same way, X is in front of the L reduces 50 by 10 to get 40. In like manner, X is in front of C means 100 less 10 and CD denotes 500 less 100.

Note: Generally, the symbols are not repeated more than three times to denote a number. To show the number 40, we would need to write XL (50-10) and not XXXX. (10+10+10+10). As for 4, it is usually written as IV (5-1) and not IIII (1+1+1+1).

Rule 4: A horizontal bar over a letter or letters indicates that the value given to the letter or letters is to be increased one thousand times.
Examples : MCD = 1,400 (1000+ 500-100).
____
MCD = 1,400,000 (1,000 times of 1,400)

Summary

VII = 7          XI = 11          XIV = 14         XVIII = 18         XXII = 22      XXXVII = 37
XLI = 41       LXII = 62       CXIII = 113     CCX = 210      MCM = 1,900

__                              __                               ______    
XICCC = 11,300       CLXX = 150,020         MCMV = 1,905,000  

 __                         __
 M = 1,000,000       XCC = 10,200

Source : “Arithmetic Made Simple – Revised Edition” by A.P. Sperling and Samuel D. Levison. Revised by Robert R Belge, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Syracuse University. Published by Doubleday, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.