Tucson's Guestbook

Rug
Hello! I was wondering if I can show you a kilim I recently bought from a store and if you can advise on whether it's authentic or not! That would be a great help! Thanks!

These are banana flowers.

Thanks
Thanks for visiting my home town city. I'd like to share some of my snaps around the locality http://bipin.me/bhaktapur-durbar-square-winter/

Some beautiful pictures here. Looks like a great time.

better late than never
for a moment, thought you were flying into Lukla airport; enjoyed reading this with my morning coffee in my Boston hotel-room this morning. They say that if you've hiked the A.T., that you've essentially climbed Mount Everest something like 14 times. Not true? I bet there's nothing like seeing them in person to put things into a little perspective. Have a fun and safe trek!

re: Enis and Marco
I couldn't find your photos of Enis, but was in Selcuk in April 2011 and met both him and Marco. Don't know anything about their business practices, as I was not interested in buying anything ... guess I did well, then. Marco was more interested in talking and trying to get some, although I did find him very attractive and entertaining. Please enlighten me re: their practices as there are other mentions on the net re same but no details! I could use the diversion. Thanks!

baksheesh and bribes
Hi Ive enjoyed reading your well written experiences here - its such a true and potential series of events that I can totally believe ffrom throughout my 8 years in and out of Morocco!! When I travelled with a Moroccan fiance we were always stopped whenever we were in my rental car - but not if in his familys work car - so many many times! even though they may have asked for, as my fiance said, just small amounts of money for eg 'coffee', 'a cigarette' it would just get to the point of intolerable! If we drove off to places we didnt know for hotels that accepted us together we would end up having to pay a lot more for our accommodation so travel costs were often quite the upper end of my budget, along with other costs and then to add paying to just be there ie just because they saw us coming we should pay them some money!!?? many times we did manage to get through the checkpoints without paying anything as my guy was an excellent talker and not stupid but elevated pulse rates for the anger management. If we managed to unluckily have a light stop working, even just an indicator light that was an opportunity for more requests for money to pay for driving illegally! so we were always on the look out for that sort of thing too. Once I was speeding - I know I was - but the driver in front of me was too! We watched the police stop her and talk to her for less than a minute - but me, of course I got a lengthy ticket and lecture procedure - on and on about my licence, car papers and so on...and a request for 400 dirham cash - which am sure went straight into their pockets instead of the ticketing system. My fiance had an uncle and a cousin who were police - and very very nice - it is a pretty accepted fact that police in Morocco are not very well paid - but I do think that tourists and tourism are getting more respect in Morocco - the push for 10million tourists is helping - and for sure tourists and tourism in Morocco deserve a lot more respect too - and I think the country and its people got a knock on their heads to think about that with the recession that has affected tourism and the much needed income into their economy the last couple of years and even again with the events of the riots in Tunisia and Egypt. My present (and unintended!) Moroccan boyfriend has his own car...they can see his number plates - so we NEVER get stopped!! We have happily stopped and asked police for directions and so on and still never got asked for money...so it is a 'looking like a tourist thing' I would pretty much unfortunately say - but it is still one of my favourite countries and I still feel home when I am there and I miss it when I am not there!! and please do think about the lovely people who ARE there who will do good and kind things without any thought of reward or return!! ( I very sadly read once of an event where a bus of foreign tourists was stuck due to flood waters and a village took them in - that generally means they were poor and living subsistently dependent on seasonal provisions and harvesting and having to take care with their supplies to last through the year - they fed the tourists with all they had, including all their special almond harvest, and the tourists ate and left without giving them anything in return - and left the villagers with hardly anything to look after themselves....)