Libations & Explorations

Two, clearly lost, tourists in the Medina It’s amazing how different a city looks at night versus during the day. When we had entered the restaurant Marrakech, the labyrinth of passageways knows as the Medina were bathed in the light of the early evening African sun. But now it was night. The shopkeepers had closed their stalls, put away their wares, and left nothing but the moonlight to lead our way.  It was as if we had left one city and gone to another over the course of diner.  Naturally, Doina, Svetlana, and I did what one does in these civilized times: fired up our cellphones.  However, other than providing a small amount of light in the dark alleyways, these devices are largely useless.  Other than getting you more lost than you were already, they let every local know that you are an ignorant tourist ripe for the picking! It’s a maze… We walked aimlessly, but always believing we knew where we were, for about 15 minutes.  We came to an intersection of four...

To the more seasoned traveler, the late Anthony Bourdain is a hero. He inspired a whole generation of us to pack our bags, get on a plane, and not eat at the hotel. When we are researching our trips to far off and exotic locations, we imagine we will be eating street food with the locals...reality tends to be a bit different. Most of us don't have a camera crew, bodyguards, and medical professionals to look after us when things go tits-up abroad.  I for one spent literally, not figuratively, 24 hours in the lavatory of my hotel room in Ho Chi Minh City after I ate some dodgy fish. Stories of overseas dining gone wrong are far from uncommon; but as Anthony himself said, "Good food and good eating are about risk. Every once in a while an oyster, for instance, will make you sick to your stomach. Does this mean you should stop eating oysters? No way".  Fortunately for Doina, Svetlana, and I; the risk didn't bite us in Morocco. For our first night in Casablanca, Doina had...