They traveled for thirteen hours

They travelled for thirteen hours down-hill, whilst the streams broadened and the mountains shrank, and the vegetation changed, and the people ceased being ugly and drinking beer, and began instead to drink wine and to be beautiful. And the train which had picked them at sunrise out of a waste of glaciers and hotels was waltzing at sunset round the walls of Verona.

~ E.M. Forster, Where Angels Fear to Tread, 1905

We are here to suffer

I'd like to think of myself as a "seasoned" hiker, yet in the middle of a hike I, gasping for breath and willing my legs to move, always ask myself why I'm there: a foot away from falling into a cliff and surrounded by the world's endless expanse of beauty.

While hiking in the High Atlas Mountains in Morocco

Why are we doing this instead of sipping pina coladas on a beach in Thailand? My partner, in life and in travel, gave the most perfect answer: 

"We are not here for a vacation; we are here to suffer."

My Favorite Experiences in Morocco

I just came back from Morocco.  It was far from what I expected to be. I imagined a raucous country not unlike Delhi or Kathmandu, but what I experienced were serene tree-lined boulevards devoid of traffic, subdued tourist attractions with only a few visitors mingling about, touts and shopkeepers that were infinitely less aggressive than the ones I encountered in other countries, and local people who are welcoming to tourists.

Let me start a series on my travel experiences in Morocco by listing down the best ones: