Mr. Tom, a Big Welcome!

After over a year volunteering in Cambodia, I am back in Fez. Anita of Anita’s feast offers her view of our return to the Fez medina.

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Mr. Tom, a Big Welcome!

It’s been more than a year away from Morocco for Tom. He’d previously spent the better part of two years on-site here, managing the restoration of our 400-year-old house in the Fez medina, before leaving for Cambodia. Not surprisingly, he made many friends during his time in Fez. Heart warmingly, they remembered him and as soon as they got a glimpse of us toting suitcases from a Petit Taxi, came running with bear hugs and Moroccan kisses of welcome. On our first foray through the medina, there were greetings on all sides.

Walking through the oldest part of the Medina, we stopped to chat with several shopkeepers, and the friendly warka maker in the souk around the corner from our house.

We spotted carossas taking a break from ferrying goods into the pedestrian-only streets. The moment we stepped into the Medina, our neighbors were giving directions to the fellow who was loading our suitcases into his carossa.

While standing beside the R’cif roundabout waiting for a taxi, I thought I heard someone call out “Tom!” “Tom!” I was not imaging things…It was Abdelrahim, owner of the local hardware shop we’ve frequented ever since coming to the medina. In a moment, we were admiring telephone photos of Abdelrahim’s daughter. Miriam, born not long before Tom left Fez the last time, will turn two next month.

Our favorite fruit vendor introduced his son, grown in our absence big enough to run the shop with his dad. The boy weighed up grapes on the balance scale, made change and waved us on like the little businessman he’s become.

We’ll have numerous opportunities to reconnect with old friends over the coming weeks in Fez, but it will be hard to top an extraordinary Fassi welcome extended to Mr. Tom.

Ponytail helmet

In Hanoi, there were several women wearing what looks to be a very functional invention, the ponytail helmet. What, you have never seen one.

In Vietnam, helmets are required and there does not appear to be any manufacturing standards. Helmets are not only required but they are a part of one’s outfit. We spotted helmets being sold in a hat shop.

Ponytail helmets more than regular helmets are a mark of style.

Vietnam cover-up

In Saigon, Anita and I noticed many people riding motos wearing face masks; we assumed it was to filter out polluted air, even though the air seemed fine.

We wondered why the masks were so large, some continued down over the neckline onto the shoulders and chest.

In Hanoi, we noticed even more women wearing face masks than in Saigon.

Some of them were wearing not only masks, but also helmets, huge sunglasses and lightweight windbreakers with extensions to the arms, covering the hands.

We asked a young man traveling on our tour to Halong Bay if he could explain all the cover-ups. He responded women in Vietnam are serious about protecting their skin from the sun, they do not want to get dark skin. OK, that makes sense; all of the skin creams advertized appear to have a whitener in them.

Hanoi street food

There were several things we wanted to see and do in Hanoi, Uncle Ho's mausoleum, try several restaurants, and generally explore the city. First on the list was Pho at a local restaurant, we asked the desk clerk and he gave us directions to the most authentic and best local Pho spot in Hanoi, he said it was small and on the street. We walked to the area where we thought it was and found three people eating Pho sitting on the smallest stools I have ever seen.

The woman serving was sitting under a large umbrella, clients were sitting next to a building. After asking the price and joined the people other clients.

When lunch was served, we set the bowl of soup on one of the small stools using it like a table, this put the soup about ankle height which made us bending over to take a bite (slurp using chopsticks). The Pho came with a plastic bowl full of leaves that could be added to our soup, which we placed on another stool.

The soup was good. The other clients got a chuckle having us eat with them and take photos. 

On to Hanoi

Our initial plan was to take the train from Saigon to Hanoi, but the train ride from Saigon to Hoi An changed that. While in Hoi An we purchased two tickets on Vietnam Airlines from Hue to Hanoi in hope the flight would be more comfortable than the train.

The day after looking around Hue, we packed up early and went to the airport for a 07:30 flight to Hanoi. When we got there we found out that we only had one reservation. We asked about later flights that day, they were all full until the 10:00 PM flight. What happened? The reservation document we had looked official and it said two tickets. Somehow, there was only one reservation in the airline's computer.

After much discussion we decided to stay at the airport waiting for possible standby seats on the midday flight. Would we get lucky? I was told there were a lot of free seats on the 10 PM flight, we decided to not purchase the 10 PM tickets and try for standby seats on the midday flight. The mid day flight boarded, no seats for us!

After the flight took off, I asked about the 10 PM flight, I was told there are NO seats on it. WHAT, earlier I was told there was a lot of space. By this time we knew where the Vietnam Airlines management office was, I went there and asked what to do. After a long discussion, two seats opened up. One in coach and one in business class, I said we would take them. That meant that one of us would go business and the other coach. At least we would get there.

We called our hotel in Hanoi and revised our arrival time for the second time. This time we would arrive at 11:20 PM.

We were the first people in line for the flight. We hated to leave our airport home for the day NOT!!

At check in we asked if we could upgraded the coach ticket to business class, no problem, there's lots of space. We quickly upgrade and were finally on our way.

Incense along the road

In Hue, Vietnam, Anita and I decided to rent bicycles and look around, we headed south to the tomb of Tu Duc, the longest-reigning Nguyen emperor. On the map the route seemed short and flat, unfortunately, it was not flat, with a WHEEEE we went down the first hill and then realized we had to go back up the same amount we had just came down; with some effort we peddled up and were on the flat again. When we reached the top, we spotted a very colorfully display that we thought was incense, come to find out it was just the sticks the incense is placed on.

It was early morning and the shop keeper was not yet available, we went to the next shop to take a photo of her display and were shooed away. We were back on the bicycles toward the tomb, and found several more shops with similar displays. We met a woman who was setting up to make incense by hand. She had a large mass of incense on a slanted narrow table, she wrapped a little around the stick and then twirled the sick and rolled the flat device to pull the incense from the pile, all the time working to cover the stick. She was fast.

She spoke very little English but gave Anita a short course in making incense sticks.

Anita said she thinks she should stick to her day job, rolling incense sticks did not come naturally.