Mobile phone recharge

Every time I get a new mobile phone sim card it comes with a different recharge process and codes. When we arrived in Morocco, I picked up a new Maroc Telecom card with just a few dirham’s worth of time on it. I had forgotten that Maroc Telecom does not provide coverage in the ground floor rooms of Dar Borj Dahab.

When the time on the card ran out I purchased a Meditel sim card because Meditel provides better coverage throughout the house. The card came with 30 dirham of time. I’m set!

I put the chip in and tried to call. It did not work! I listened to the message which was in Darija (Moroccan Arabic). I understood two things: first, from the message, I assumed that I could press 1 for an option, but no idea what the option was;  and second, that I would not be using the phone until someone helped me change the language from Darija to French.

When our house manager Mouanis came over, it took him about ten minutes and two calls from another phone to get the sim card working, but finally I had a working phone.

After making a few brief calls I checked the credit remaining. With just 10 Dirham left, it was time to recharge, so I purchased a 20 Dirham recharge card at the corner store.

The Meditel recharge card is the red sliver pictured below a credit card. The instructions were in a font that was so small neither Anita nor I could read it. I tried to send a text message with the recharge code as I would have done with a Maroc Telecom recharge. That did not work.  Ok we need help on this too.

Our plasterer Abdelkader was about to leave after work, so I asked if he could help. Abdelkader, who speaks Darija, Spanish and a little French, said “Ok”. He looked at the instructions on the recharge card and dialed the access code 555. He realized my phone was set to French so he dialed 555 on his Meditel phone and then pushed the numbers on my phone to match what he was hearing in Darija on his phone.

It worked.

Beng Mealea

While we were in Siem Reap, ABOUTAsia recommended two temples that made up a half day trip, Banteay Srei and Beng Mealea. These photos are from Beng Mealea.

Banteay Srei

While we were in Siem Reap, ABOUTAsia recommended two temples that made up a half day trip, Banteay Srei and Beng Mealea. These photos are from our first stop in Banteay Srei.

Angkor without the crowds

Yes, I am in Fez, Morocco, this post and the next few are from Anita’s and my trip to Siem Reap in Cambodia.

It is hard to make good photos with if there are hordes of tourists in the way, how do you avoid them at a popular site like Angkor?

Anita contacted ABOUTAsia, a tour agency in Siem Reap who set up a two day itinerary and guide for us. The requirements were to be at the right place at the right time but not to be with the hordes of tourists. They did a great job. The staff at ABOUTAsia all have a scientific background and have studied visit patterns to Angkor and know where and when the hordes will be and can send you to areas that are relatively tourist free.

We were only 100 meters away and were the only people there. It was not the guide’s fault that the sky did not cooperate.

Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and unlike many, his presentation was smooth and did not sound as if he was reciting. He interjected pertinent facts at just the right time.

Because both Anita and I had been to Angkor before, we wanted to see some of the more remote temples. ABOUTAsia recommended two temples that made up a half-day to trip, Banteay Srei and Beng Mealea.

Here are photos from the Angkor complex.