Geleez Super Smooth Crayons - RoseArt (2000) 🖍️

Clearleaf Namiida

Thought to be a cross between the Flyona family and some of the clear plants from Crescent Minoria, the Clearleaf Namiida bears particularly sweet blossoms which rivals that of the Sweetpetal Flyona. Namiidas are also said to glow on nights where the moon is particularly full, leading some to believe it may also be related to Flarowan Pikanas.

【D's Speak】消費ポイント変更のお知らせ

いつもD's Speakのご利用誠にありがとうございます。

9月30日（木）より、下記4名の教師教師の消費ポイントを50ポイントとさせて頂きます。 ・Dwarven ・Elrond ・Periwinkle ・Standall

また、10月8日（金）に下記27名の教師の消費ポイントを50ポイントとさせて頂きます。 ・ Zabini・Terry ・Barrola ・Niklaus ・Celestron ・Anza ・Harlan ・Fretchie ・Geleez ・Trudie・ Kirlia・ Zahid・Madera ・Kojiak ・Marliza ・ Peralta・Fitzalan ・Andes・Jhunmie ・Romer ・Jynx・Heimdall ・Marcel ・Ursabia ・Shasta ・ Daynee・Lenie

引き続きD's Speakをどうぞよろしくお願い致します。

The magical manic of Marrakech

I'd heard and read a lot of things about Marrakech before our trip there. Mainly good things, but the bad ones are what stuck in my head. 'You're entering a Muslim country so dress moderately and adhere to the rules'. 'Never take the first price a taxi driver gives you, always haggle.' 'Don't take directions from someone who is pretending to be a tour guide because they most likely are trying to get money from you.'

These were the thoughts that went through my mind on the plane ride to Morocco. I didn't want to mess up, get into trouble with the law, or haggle, I really wasn't looking forward to haggling. We got to the airport, converted some money then thought we would check out the main square, Jamaa el-fna since it was closer to the airport than our hotel. This was our first mistake. 

It wasn't After hopping off the bus and making our way to the square that we were shouted at from all directions. Men leading up to the square trying to sell us watches, glasses, or vr headsets, women cutting on small chairs selling  books, men in large stalls selling all manor of seeds, nuts and fruit juice. It wasn't the type of shouting that you get down an East end market, it was the targeted, personalised type, with eye contact. 'Excuse me sir', 'hey madam', 'come and try this', 'take this', 'buy this'. It wasn't something either of us had experienced before. Although we were impressed with the colourful, business of the place we didn't stand in one place long enough to take it all in. We continued Brockley walking into a sheltered, narrow market. At this point our costs a bags were still on and we hadn't freshened up from the flight so we weren't intending to spend too long in the Medina. 

It was much quieter here, less open but that was alright. People sold more food, bread, ornaments, bags, shoes, clothes, everything you could think of. It was nice, but after a few minutes if walking we weren't seeing anything new so we thought we'd make our way back. Stopping to locate ourselves on Google maps we were stopped because a friendly local who informed us there was a leather market worth checking out, he started leading us before we agreed and we followed as not to seem rude, but we had a feeling he would ask for money afterwards. Surprisingly he didn't but passed us to his friend for some reason. The walk was long and it looked like we were getting more lost so we thought we'd make our own way which, didn't work out too well. We got lost again and was directed by another local. The dirt paths we walked along were incredibly busy and tight, we had to stop every so often to let a motorbike past, or a main on a donkey pulling a cart. Once the local could take us no further he asked for money and we complied buy, he wasn't too happy. He wanted more, the money in my pocket he said, and another man out of nowhere came along and agreed with him. We refused, made and walked away, but we were still lost. 

We were there for about an hour and a half in total, walking past stalls we had seen before almost in circles until we asked tourists, not locals for the exit. After we got out we vowed not the return there anytime soon and looked for a taxi. We caught the eye of one and went through our haggling strategy. Don't go above 150 Dhs, we'll start at 100. As soon as we have our destination the taxi driver said the journey would be 200 Dhs, around £18 for a 25-minute journey, that sounded a bit expensive. We said 150 or we walked, and as we started to go elsewhere he called us back and said he'd do it for the price we asked, but called someone else to drive us. This driver ended up taking an unusual route. Driving through dirt tracks with open fires and stray sheep. We were worried, 'maybe he would threaten us for more money', we though tracking our journey on Google maps, 'maybe he would beat us'. Luckily none of that happened and we arrived, safely to our hotel. We paid him 150 which he wasn't happy about. After checking in we emptied our bags, and lay on our bed and went through the day. Is this what Marrakech will be like? What kind of holiday have we organised for ourselves? Fortunately, our trip took a very different turn in the subsequent days.

Parts of Marrakech look quite third world with large empty dirt blocks, people riding donkeys and overgrown weeds, but it also has some really nice places like Gueliz. Gueliz (pronounced Geleez) is the part of Marrakech I believe most resembles a European city with Arabian architecture. It had upmarket retail stores(H&M, [Strada various]) as well as fast food restaurants(McDonald, KFC) and small [creperies] along the pavement. We went into a large shopping mall with plenty of more stores. But we didn't just visit Gueliz for shopping, we were there for the Jardin Majorelle. This was a small, beautiful garden with exotic plants which were well looked after. There was security guards along the way to keep people moving but that didn't stop a crowd of people congregating around a blue building taking pictures of themselves. The garden also included a memorial to fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent who happened to have a museum very close to the Jardin. Overall it was worth the long queue and the 70Dhs for the experience and a nice change from the hustle and bustle we experienced on our first day.

The following day was an earlier start than usual for us. We booked a camel ride about 40 minutes drive outside the city, near the Ours Tensift river. Luckily our hotel booked taxis for us so we didn't have to haggle again, good news for the both of us. Neither of us had ridden a camel before and we both really enjoyed it. They were large, didn't smell, and moved really slowly. My camel (Madi) was less stable than Hannah's (Olivia), but as long as I held on to the metal handle I knew I would be fine. Our guide Ali spoke great English and did a good job of keeping us calm. He even made a camel for me out of leaves he picked up nearby as a birthday present. We met Ali's aunt who gave us some sweet Morocco mint tea and some star-shaped biscuits.

We relaxed a bit the next day before taking a taxi to the Bahia Palace, a must-see attraction in Marrakech. I usually keep myself informed when visiting a museum or building as to why it exists and who it's for, sadly I have no idea why the palace existed or who stayed in it, nevertheless, we still enjoyed it. The palace has plenty of white walls and fountains (which were not working). We had fun looking through the colourful stained glass windows and taking pictures around the large spaces. Although there were a lot of tourists around the place never got too busy. The area around the palace–Mellah was surrounded by shops and restaurants. We purchased a fridge magnet and tries some famous Moroccan couscous which, to be honest, wasn't much different from couscous in the UK. As we were not far from it we decided to give the market square another chance. It was busier than when we first went with snake charmers and people carrying monkeys this time. Once again we couldn't take the shouting and the attention we got so left five minutes after entering.

As the day got cooler and darker we walked around Marrakech and ended up at the beautiful Koutoubia mosque then though Parc Lalla Hasna which had the most amount of fountains I have seen in a park. It was also very green and peaceful which was uncommon around the brown and red buildings of the city. We felt safe around d the part we were, the King was in Marrakech so there were plenty of police and guards so we continued walking. We ended up in another park, the Cyber Park to be exact. It was different from Parc Lalla Hasna but also beautiful and peaceful, with bus stop size screens around most corners.

Although we spend a lot of time in the city walking around and visiting museums we spent a reasonable amount of time in our hotel, the Fellah. The Fellah Hotel was a gated compound which had a great swimming pool, a gym, library, spa and restaurant. We spent every morning in the restaurant for breakfast and was there one evening where we both tried and fell in love with tagine. We didn't spend much time in the library or gym and although the weather was around 24 degrees the pool was too cold to swim in. We did, however, experience a traditional Moroccan hammam session in the spa which, was different. Being in a steamy room for half an hour then getting scrubbed and showered by someone wasn't what I expected, but both our skin felt softer and cleaner from it so it'll most likely be something we try again.

Overall we had an amazing time in Marrakech and although we would have done things differently knowing what we know now it's somewhere we would be more than happy to visit again.