I haven’t published an article in a long time because I have been so caught up with school, friends, and more. The following of what you will read is what I meant to publish 2 years ago. Apologies for the wait.

In my final article about our family sabbatical, I’m sharing a little bit about our last stops in Morocco, along with a few concluding thoughts.

Our last stop in Morocco was Chefchaouen. If you search “Morocco pictures” online, a good number of those photos will be of the blue streets of Chefchaouen. All the walls and many streets are painted sky blue. This gives the town a summery feeling. Whether clear skies or rainy days, in Chefchaouen, it always feels like the sun is shining down on you. But the nice paint is not just for looks – if a street is painted blue that means it is a dead end.

The Unexpected End to Our Family Sabbatical

Our travel plans began getting more complicated and more stressful as our time in Morocco wrapped up. The coronavirus was closing in, touching all parts of the world. We were considering going back to the U.S. or waiting for things to get better while staying in Europe.

We thought wherever we would go, we would be in isolation or quarantined for two weeks. If we went back to the U.S., we could not move back into our house until July (renters are living there). Or, we thought, we could go to Spain, which might be a little ahead of the U.S. in “flattening the curve.” There, we were fairly sure we could be in a nice place for two weeks.

We took a 15-minute flight to Gibraltar, walked across the border to Spain, and then drove to our apartment. We stayed in our apartment in Spain for about 1.5 weeks. Then we made a tough decision to come home to the U.S. because, in Spain, we were not even allowed to go outside. We also started getting emails from the U.S. Embassy saying to come home, and we began hearing news that Spain would extend its lockdown. I was happy I would be in the U.S. again because I could feel half-way home and see some familiar things. I was sad because I had anticipated going to Paris, Sicily, and other places in Europe.

We took several flights and finally arrived at our family’s beach house on the central Oregon coast. It was really weird because I could not believe I was back in the U.S., when only 48 hours ago I was speaking Spanish in Spain. It only took me a couple days to adjust. Now, I am excited to see familiar things like forest trails, hear frogs at night, eat at my favorite restaurants, and eventually return to school and see friends at home.

Final Thoughts

After traveling the world, I think it is important to have a balanced perspective on cultural differences and similarities. It is very important to not be so quick to point out every little difference about other cultures. We should also realize our similarities, because then we can be equals. I think it is fine to recognize the differences of other cultures because those differences make our world diverse and interesting.

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In Fez, we took a cooking class. First, we headed out to get the ingredients. We got vegetables from a produce vendor, spices from a spice vendor, chicken from a butcher, and sweets from a sweets shop. Then, we went back to the kitchen with our guide/chef/teacher. We got to work preparing the vegetables. After that, I helped make the dessert while my parents worked on the main course. Once we finished, we put the final things on the stove and in the oven, and we waited – and waited. Then, finally, the lunch was ready.

For our first course we had Harissa soup: one of my favorite Moroccan dishes. It was creamy yet watery, spicy yet just right, peppery and salty yet not overwhelming. I had seconds and then thirds. It was so good! Next was our main course: chicken tagine. It was lemony, salty, and minty and so good! After that ,was our dessert: lemon and orange pudding. It melted in your mouth, adding a smile to your face.

One night, we drove up the hill to look at the view. The sun had set and it was dark, but the valley sparkled with millions of lights, like a field of fireflies. It was beautiful!

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NEXT STOP: CHEFCHAOUEN

Essaouira is one of the places where it is popular to go on a camel ride. (Ok, in Morocco, they are actually dromedaries and not camels because they have only one hump.) Our camel ride was on the beach. Our guide picked us up and we headed there. Camels were lined up all across the beach, we walked over to four camels sitting tied together. The first camel, our guide’s camel, was named Sultan. Sultan is the name for a king in Morroco. Sultan the camel was large, tannish colored and had very short hair. Next came Timbuktu, my mom’s camel. Timbuktu was light brown, curly and fuzzy. Then, it was my camel, Aladdin. Aladdin was dark brown, small and fluffy. He also had a white patch on his head, with brown freckles. Next was Nelson Mandela, my dad’s camel. He was dark brown on his body, which faded into tan on his legs. His face was grey. We got on our camels, and I was feeling pretty confident until they stood up. They have to stand up in two steps. First, they swing forward so that they are on their knees. Second, they swing back to fully stand up. This is what this looks like on the back of a camel: A sudden jolt and you feel like you are going to fly off the camel and face plant. Then, the camel rocks back and you hold on for dear life.

If you think no other land animal on the planet looks bigger than an elephant, then you are wrong. From high up on the camel it looks like you just climbed the Eiffel Tower. We rode across the beach for awhile and then started inland. Here, the wind was calm and the sand was settled. We stopped for tea in the forest, then we got back on. We came back to the beach as the sun was setting. The sun cast long shadows of camels as we walked on. The camel ride was great!

Along the drive to Essaouria and back, we saw many goats in trees along the road. They awkwardly stood on branches as they munched on the leaves. It was hilarious!

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NEXT STOP: CHEFCHAOUEN

Every building in Marrakech, along with those in most other Moroccan cities, has a hang-out area on the roof. On our riad’s roof there was a hot tub, chairs, sofa and a bar. At sunset, the sun would shine orange and pink light over all the tops of the building; it was so nice.

The main square: chaos, loud, foreign yet touristy, and tons of sad animals. There are monkeys forced to dance at the end ropes, and then they are shut into dark cages. There are snake charmers who scare me to death with their black cobras and their eerie flute music. And, there are the donkeys, heaving under the weight of something twice as heavy as them.

Something that’s really annoying about Marrakech is the people who try to direct you to the square. I would be fine if they were doing this for free, but don’t be fooled. They make it seem that way, but their intention is always to get money. Practically every two blocks there is some guy waving and hollering to you, ” Sir, square’s that way!” Next few blocks another guy, ” Sir, sir! You’re going the wrong way!” “We know!,” we would say or think. “We’re not going to the square!”

The street scene in Marrakech is pretty crazy. A typical street looks like this: a smoke-filled alley with tiny bits of light shining through rafters above; butchers; vegetable, fruit and sweets stands; many motorcycles; and, finally, donkeys. As the sound of fast hooves approach, you will hear one word that basically means, “Get out of the way, or else!”

Mint tea in Morocco is very traditional and very popular. I can see why Moroccans love it. It’s minty, fresh, with just the right amount of sugar! The way they serve it is also very unique: they use an intricate metal tea pot and fancy glasses. First, they put the glasses down, then they hold the tea pot way high up and pour. Their goal is to get bubbles in the tea; they think, “The more bubbles the better.” The stream of tea comes out of the pot, minty and clear. This tradition is a refreshing and sweet one!

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NEXT STOP: ESSAOUIRA, MOROCO

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Update: 20/April/20

Due to the Corona virus, at the end of our trip in Morocco (March 14) we took one of the last planes out of Morocco to Gibraltar and then walked across the border to Spain. We stayed in Spain for a week and a half and did the lockdown in our apartment. Then, we got on a plane to Dallas and then, from there, flew to our beach house on the Oregon Coast. To the present day, we are staying safe in our beach house.

There’s a palace in Istanbul that we went to that was magnificent! All of the rooms made you stop and stare in awe. The last room was the most grand out of all of them. It had a dome ceiling. It was so intricately carved and colorfully painted. It was gorgeous. The outside was amazing, too: gray and blue marble. The palace was also uniquely set right by the ocean.

One night at dinner time, we found a kebab restaurant. The kebabs were sooo good. They had a perfect mix of saltiness, spice, and herbs. We also had another delicious food: halva. It was puffy, chewy, syrupy, and oh so good.

There’s a bridge in Istanbul that connects two parts of Europe. On the bottom of the bridge there are dozens of restaurants. And, on the top, there are tons of people sitting on little folding chairs holding fishing rods. When you’re looking at the bridge from afar, all the fishing rods look like a big silk curtain down the bridge.

The mosques in Istanbul were incredible, especially the Blue Mosque. Tiny, shiny tiles of all the shades of blue blanketed the walls.

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NEXT STOP: MARRAKECH, MOROCCO

When we first arrived in Japan, it was early morning, so we headed off to get breakfast. When my dad had gone to Japan before, he had gone to the fish market, so that’s where we went. It was brisk as we shuffled down the amazingly clean sidewalk. We arrived at the fish market; we slid down a narrow passage where warm air was seeping out. We walked by little restaurants for awhile looking for a good one. We came up upon a little counter where people were seated around and an old man and a woman were cutting fish behind the counter. There were three stools at the end of the counter, in the corner; we took them. We ordered. Warm green tea was placed in front of us. We sipped it as our sashimi was cut and prepared. The food arrived, and we pulled out our chopsticks. The fish was not at all fishy but a fresh, cool taste. Like the sea without salt in it. It was cool, clean and see-through. It was so so so good! Even after all the sushi places in Japan, our very first experience, here, was the best.

I loved the buildings in Japan. They were mainly wood and had a cool faded look to them. Most of the wood was dark brown but slowly to the edges it got lighter. Whole neighborhoods were full of these buildings and big red lanterns and pink cherry blossom trees. The neighborhoods like these were awesome. Especially one neighborhood in Kanazawa.

In that same neighborhood in Kanazawa there are probably ten sweets shops on each block. They sold my favorite Japanese sweets, like mochi balls with sweet soy sauce, soy jelly with soybean dust, macha jelly with macha poweder, and flat mochi with bean paste inside. The sweets were so good!

In a city called Kyoto, I rented a kimono. It was purple with blue and yellow flowers. I also had a purple handbag. It was pretty, but so tight! Also, the dress went so far down and was so tight that I had to do a shuffle kind of walk. I was wearing Japanese flip flops. When I took off the kimono, I counted 18 layers.

In a city just outside Kyoto called Nara, deer roam the streets, parks, and even the stores. They’re everywhere! They’re so tame and used to people that you can pet them, and if you have food they literally bow to to you. The baby deer are so cute!

The Japanese culture is different from any other.

One: They are very polite! Here is a comparison I made from their culture to Turkish culture. One time in Turkey, my dad was looking for a pair of shorts, and we went into a store but they didn’t have my dad’s size. Well, the store keeper wasn’t too happy that we didn’t buy anything, so when we left he merely went “hmph!” and shot us a glare. Whereas in Japan, they would probably say something like this, ” Were so sorry! Sorry for the inconvenience of not having your size. Sorry! Have a nice day!”

Two: Everything must be and go in a orderly, neat fashion.

For example, at the train station it’s super clean! And there are tons of signs everywhere directing you where to go. Even once you get to the platform of your train, there are tons of signs, like where each car will be, which cars have bathrooms, and even which direction to put your feet when standing in line to get on the train.

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NEXT STOP: ISTANBUL, TURKEY

ตลาดสด

ตลาดสด, or Wet Market, is a market in Bangkok. This is the only place in South East Asia where I have actually felt overwhelmed. As we entered the market, it all seemed relatively fine. As we started going deeper into the market, it got more and more eccentric. Alive and dead frogs were piled in bags. Chicken feet were poking out of baskets that ladies were carrying. And, turtles were laying in buckets with a centimeter of water. We headed down an alleyway that had red umbrellas and tarps that hid the sky and that gave everything a red glow. Flies swarmed around the slaughtered fish in alarming numbers. The heat was intense, yet it seemed the locals were never slowed by it. Crowds shuffled around. A hoard of people pushed me unsettlingly close to animal hearts that were laid out in rows on a table. My heart jumped at this sight. The sound of large knives hitting cutting boards echoed all around me. But, this chaos was not what the locals saw. They possibly saw a reasonably priced heart here or there, or a good-looking chunk of meat. I could only imagine what this would be like – to see the market through that lens.

Four Malls

Bangkok is definitely the shopping capitol of the world. There are four main malls, Siam Discovery, Central World, Siam Paragon, and the MBK Center. So, first on one side of the street, you have the MBK Center. The MBK has cheap t-shirt stores, a non-reliable big department store and bad food. Next, on the other side of the street, there is Siam Discovery, my favorite mall. It has a cube decorating theme going on. Inside you can find Jamie Oliver’s Kitchen (delicious!) and other tasty but kind of expensive restaurants. And, you can find the trendiest and most fashionable clothes stores. Farther down is Central World; it’s a tube shaped mall. It mostly has athletic shoe brands and wax figures. Last, but not least is Siam Paragon. Siam Paragon is ginormous. After awhile you will start hallucinating where the exit is. It’s like the size of a two-story football field. WARNING: Trust me once you get in, you will never get out.

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The street food in Hoi An was crazy. Fried frog, grilled sparrow and even a rotisserie crocodile. None of us were adventurous enough to even consider buying one of these things. But, I did love a meat stick that I got from a vendor. It was pork with barbecue sauce and sesame seeds. It was delicious!

All of the breakfast buffets we had in South East Asia were delicious and huge, but we named our hotel buffet breakfast in Hoi An the best. It would look like this: ramen, appetizers like olives and salami, stews, fried rices, vegetables, other main dishes, matcha cakes, cinnamon cookies, brownies, elaborately carved fruit, juices, coffee, fruit punch and tea. It was so, so, so delicious. As you might guess, I especially liked the desserts.

The inside of the town wasn’t actually very interesting. It was mostly overrun by tour groups and everything was touristy. So one day, we decided to get out of the town on bike. We took only two bikes; I rode on the back of my mom’s bike. It was so fun! We pedaled through the country, taking in the fresh smells. I stood up on the back of the bike. We pedaled away from the town and into the peace. At that moment, I had the same feeling as I did at Hobbiton: comfort. The wind tousled my hair and chilled my face. I didn’t care, though, because it also tossed away my worries. Soon we would be going back to the town – to the chaos – but for now, it was peaceful. After awhile we arrived at our destination, the vegetable village. Rows and rows of fresh herbs and vegetables were soaking up the sunlight. We slowed down and came to a restaurant called Baby Mustard. There, we had delicious food and then hopped back on our bikes. We pedaled out of the quiet village. The air smelled cool as the first raindrop fell on my nose. Slowly, the bliss melted away as we heard the first honk of the upcoming city. But, the bike ride was so worth the pedaling.

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NEXT STOP: BANGKOK, THAILAND

While we were in Hanoi, it was Tet. Tet is the Lunar New Year’s celebration; it is the biggest holiday in Vietnam.

Tet traditions

Before Tet, it’s a mad house. It’s chaotic, and it’s probably the busiest time in the year for Vietnamese people. All throughout the day, you see people carrying clementine and pommelo trees on their motorcycles. Occasionally, you will see all of this on a bike: a baby, mom, tree and a toddler. Sometimes, you see bundles and bundles of flowers on one bike. Not bundles like the size of your fist, but bundles the size of a young elephant. Some streets are completely decked out with red and gold decorations and Year of the Rat balloons. On Tet, people burn real money on the street because they believe this will allow their ancestors to have it. For Tet, people will usually dress up in their fanciest and newest clothes.

The Streets

The pollution in Hanoi is crazy. There is a lake in Hanoi that we went to see, but we couldn’t even see across it because of the pollution. There is no word to describe the streets in Hanoi, but here are a few I can come up with: chaotic, loud and insanely crowded. It seems like the only requirement to get your driver’s licence is to have a horn. It is gridlock on every intersection. Motorcycles are wedged in every corner, in every way. Horns beeping are almost a constant, and no one stops for you. They seem like they would rather run over you than to stop.

Food

We all agreed that we had the best noodles in Vietnam at our first restaurant in Hanoi. The restaurants in Hanoi have an interesting style, you could call say. First, they are all outside; two, you sit on tiny plastic chairs and another plastic chair is your table; and three, let’s say it’s not all sanitary. The first time we squatted awkwardly on the tiny chairs, unsure what to do next. A lady came over and my dad motioned toward all of us and said, “Three.” A minute later the lady came out with three bowls and a tray. On the tray were fresh vegetables that we avoided like the plague. We poured broth into our bowls with noodles, and herbs that we couldn’t avoid. The noodles were delicious! One day we had another delicious meal. It was like a rice crepe. The rice crepe was wrapped around ground beef and some herbs. You also had a bowl with broth that you dunked your crepe into. This was my favorite meal of Hanoi. One afternoon we were walking down a street when a amazing smell drifted across the road. We looked up and on the other side there was a bakery called King Roti. They were selling something brown and roundish. We crossed the street and bought one. You picked your middle flavor: cream, custard, Nutella, and coffee with chocolate. We chose coffee and chocolate. The outside of the roti was crunchy, but once you bit through the outer layer, a soft bread was in the middle. The middle bread’s texture was like clouds and tasted sweet. Deeper, the chocolate oozed out dampening the soft bread. It was so delicious.

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For the majority of Laos, we were traveling by longboat. We first took a car early in the morning to the Thailand-Laos border crossing. It was a very foggy, yet beautiful sunrise. I yawned. I was so tired. We made it to the border crossing and crossed. We met up with the rest of our boat crew and piled into vans. We drove out to the Mekong River. We, and our group, went onto the longboat. The longboat’s width was about the size of my twin bed turned sideways and the length was about the same as a bus. The interior of the boat was quite nice. The floor was made out of smooth orange-ish wood. Tassels hung at the top of the open air windows, and colorful blankets and cushions were laying on the benches. The captain’s steering wheel was at the front; next, there were cubbies to put your shoes in. After that, there were four daybeds and probably ten or so tables with comfy benches around them to sit at. Behind the rows of tables and booths was a large table where the food was served. And behind that, was the boat crew’s cabin area. We and the other passengers slept at hotels. As we piled into the boat, everyone swarmed to the tables and booths. We were last to board and, at first, we were kind of sad we didn’t get a table. There were only the daybeds left. We put our stuff under the bed and laid down. I might of been sad first but in two minutes I was so glad we got the beds. I liked the beds so much I got mad later on when someone else took the beds. On the beds, you could turn your head and stick it out the window and feel the wind sweep across your cheeks. If you turned your head down you could see the water rush out from below. It was so nice. Occasionally, you would look out and see a herd of buffalo or cows drinking at the river. Animals and people deeply depended on the river. Fishermen came in very skinny, small wood boats with usually only a net or a fishing pole. It looked like a scary job, keeping the boats from tipping while fishing. The river also brought out women, sometimes with babies on their backs, and kids to pan for gold. The sun scorched their back as they leaned, hunched over, looking down. After a beautiful day on the river, we got off at a small village and took vans up to our hotel. In this village, the best job you can get is probably working at a hotel. Our hotel was called Le Grand, kind of a cheesy name. Despite its cheesy name the Le Grand hotel was awesome. There was a giant infinity pool, too. An infinity pool is usually high up and you can’t see the edge of the pool, so it looks like the pool is never-ending. My dad and I hopped in. We swam around and came to the edge. There, we watched the sunset. Our view looked like this: below us was the little village that sat at the bottom of the mountain. A whole mountain range surrounded us. The Mekong River weaved around the mountains. The mountains were not jagged and grey, but lush green. The mountains seemed comforting. As the mountains and earth ate the sun, a magnificent sunset shone through the valley. Pink, purple, orange and yellow streaked the sky. The Mekong River glittered gold. It was stunning. The next day we awoke refreshed. We drove down to the long boat and had another beautiful day on the river. In the late afternoon, we arrived at Luang Prabang a small, yet popular city. The other travelers on the boat really seemed to like Luang Prabang. They said it was “so amazingly amazing.” We checked in at our hotel.

Next door to our hotel there were puppies that were always playing in the vacant lot. I named them Toffee and Peanut. Toffee had long and fuzzy fur. Her coat was brown with some black. Peanut had short and smooth fur. And, well, his coat was, peanut colored. I loved the puppies; they had black shining eyes, and ears that bounced up and down when they ran. Every day I played with the puppies. It killed me to look into their eyes and know I would have to leave them. Peanut was mischievous. Toffee was more obedient, and I taught her how to shake or paw. I loved them so much!

Luang Prabang was full of delicious places to eat. Each night food vendors would park down at a corner of the street or in a market and sell delicious food. We noticed one night that many vendors were selling coconut aebleskivers. They looked delicious so we bought three. And let me tell you, they definitely lived up to our expectation and more. As you bit into the crunchy crust, a coconut-y goo poured out accompanied by some cubes of coconut flesh. It was deliciously coconut-y and creamy. This was not the only great food we had in Luang Prabang; we also had another great experience. It was at Ock Pok Tok (OPT). OPT was a very popular store. OPT sold handmade scarves, clothes, toys and handbags. Everyone loved their handmade stuff, but they also had a cafe called The Silkworm Road. This is where I had the other delicious morsel of Luang Prabang. My dad ordered silkworm poo tea, which is exactly what it sounds like. I ordered river weed (like seaweed but found in the river) with purple sticky rice. It also came with some delicious spicy reddish brown sauce. I put the purple sticky rice on a sheet of river weed with a dollop of sauce. The saltiness of the river weed, the milky-ness of the rice the smoky-ness of the sauce. It all mixed together to form my new favorite snack.

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