Wetsuit…

“ If at some point we all succumb

For goodness sake, let us be young

‘Cause time gets harder to outrun

And I’m nobody, I’m not done…”

So, we have arrived at Taghazout, a small Berber fishing village on the Atlantic coast about an hour north of Agadir and nestled in the foothills of the High Atlas mountains directly behind us.

Behind the penthouse door we found a wonderfully equipped and spacious ‘Surf Berber’ apartment that had everything we needed for the week and overlooked  the beautiful Taghazout bay….and the surf was looking good! 

From the balcony we can sit and watch the enticing sets rolling in.

Whoever said surfin’ was difficult just hasn’t tried hard enough…all you need is to be flexible and supple with a good balance, paddle-speed, technique, posture and the perfect wave and anyone can do it…

That said, it took a good hour to slip gracefully into the neoprene snake-skin before we eventually managed to get the zipper to the position where the breathing became an issue and then, restricted by loss of blood supply to the limbs we were instructed to choose our ride…

We both opted for the ‘triple XXXL Waverider’ in matching green and about 20 foot in length. As instructed, we lashed them to our ankles for safe keeping before heading up the street in the style of ‘Max Wall’ to find  the perfect wave on the iconic surfers paradise named ‘Panorama Beach’.

Luckily, we were the first ones there and we set about mastering the art of wading into the oncoming waves with a fervent anticipation of some Hawaii Five-O action, Honolulu style circa. 1972.

As the first wave hit us, I looked over with a wry smile but there was no one there? I looked  behind in time to see an ankle with a leash attached sticking out of the surf and a 20 foot, green board rising vertically about another 10 foot above the water…Hmmm…not good I thought!

We don’t need to go into too many more details but safe to say, within the hour, we had returned the faulty equipment and had washed a couple of kilos of sand out of all the nooks and crannies and we were sat comfortably back on our balcony watching the ‘dudes’ at a safe distance.

Not sure how ‘Panorama’ beach got its name but over the years, I have watched some dreadfully terrible and unpleasant scenes on this BBC investigative documentary series that reveal the truth about the stories that matter…

Just let’s enjoy this great song by ‘The Vaccines’ and move on shall we?

“Put a wetsuit on, come on, come on
Grow your hair out long, come on, come on

Put a T-shirt on, do me wrong, do me wrong, do me wrong…”

Marrakesh Express…

 

Pinch, punch it’s the start of the month…and the start of another blog!

As the barrier lifts up it’s pitch black, wild and windy and the winter rain feels a few degrees above zero as we make our way into the long stay car park at Edinburgh airport to catch the early morning’Marrakesh Express’ flight out to the Kingdom of Morocco.

We have between us 3 pairs of shorts, a speaker, sunglasses and a large lump of Mr Zogs Sex Wax…what more do u need for a winter break at a surf camp?

This time, we are off to the Moroccan sunshine, spiritual home of the camel and the tagine…that would make a great name for a pub “Il meet you for a pint in the Camel & Tagine”…I digress…

A week in the waves should be a tonic…so once Iv been swabbed for explosives by a stern Border Control operative we head for the Duty Free to purchase gin to go with it!

Winding past the plethora of perfumeries and scarf-mongers we head for the gate, stopping to frown in despair at society as the baseball capped, shell-suited holidaymakers with matching white trainers tuck into their hearty breakfasts of Stella Artois and Tenants Pilsner at 05:45 in the morning in the Wetherspoons…

The onboard entertainment for the 4hr flight was the memoirs of the larger than life loose-head and newly retired, harlequin Joe Marler.

By lunchtime we were in the warm Moroccan ☀️ sunshine 

Graham Nash wrote the song about a train trip he took in Morocco in my birth year of 1966 so this is a good place to start the trip. Here is a live version with Crosby,Stills,Nash & the obligatory Neil Young to get us on our way.

What’s up…?

Our pad in KLCC

Arriving back into Malaysias capital we had a private apartment for the last couple of days in on the opposite side of the city from our previous stay in KLCC.

Wonderful views of the Merdeka 118 from the 43rd floor apartment window.

Plus an incredible view of the city skyline from the amazing infinity pool on the 51st by day and by night.

 

Everything thing here is high.

Incredible and high…

“And so I wake in the morning 

And I step outside 

And I take a deep breath and I get real high

And I scream at the top of my lungs

What’s going on…”……..from the 4 Non Blondes!

Downtown train…

We have enjoyed our short time seeing the sights of Ipoh, a real foodie town with a great night market. 

Footsie 100 Index

Ipoh had been a cool little town, quite bohemian with the river splitting old from new.

Bed

Rock

Whisky Room

Staying at the ‘Bedrock’ was a great choice, a boutique 10 room hotel with an air-con wine cellar, whisky room all with a Geological and a funky Andy Warhol-esque decor and vibe. 

Ipoh Railway Station

Morning came and at 10:30 on the dot the electric bullet, train bound for KL, pulled out of the station. We had Business Class booked for this and as it reached 140km per hour it was time to sit back in the recliner, stuff our faces with more free food and catch up on a good blog. 

‘Downtown train’ by Tom Waits from the ‘Rain Dogs’ album before Rod Stewart got his greedy little mitts on it a few years later. Enjoy a great live version here.

C’est si bon…

We are finally tearing ourselves away from Pangkor Island having thoroughly enjoyed our time here.

Every day the sun has shined on us, but we must say goodbye to our little chalet home and the amazing hornbills in the beautifully manicured garden by the sea.

We have traversed the island daily, finding secluded beaches, monkeys and monitor lizards and searched out places to eat choosing where to watch the sunset. 

Life has been easy here so thanks Pangkor, C’est si bon!…

We said goodbye to Kevin before the 10:15 ferry took us back to the mainland where we arranged a ‘grab’ to take us to Ipoh for the day.

Enjoy the harmonious ‘Say She She’ with a video featuring a Silver Shadow!

 

Crazy Again…

Bit of an action packed water sport fest next to report.

To mark surviving 58 years on this planet I thought I’d turn the heat up a bit as Iv been told that life can get a bit fusty if you let it, as you get older, so a bit of crazy stuff every now and then should be just the tonic.

So I booked myself for half an hour on Great Big Mable….Hey!, Steady!…don’t make up ur own jokes, it’s MY blog!

She was ready and waiting for me on the beach, looking radiant in her bright red livery.

Strap yourself in for da ride..

I climbed up and fastened myself in, it was going to be one helluva birthday ride…she set off like the clappers and all I could do was hang on for dear life, bouncing up and down I yelled for her to stop but she had got a grip of me now and all I could do was to close my eyes and wait for her to finish….#ifuwannagofasterjustscream!

Next stop, a throbbing Yamaha 700 jet ski was wheeled out by my water sport ‘fixer’, Mr Kunabalan.

His only instruction was…” just clear the boats before you let rip”

I manoeuvred slowly around the moored craft and when clear, hit the accelerator. My arms extended about six inches as the Gforce locked out my elbows as I clung on while maintaining suction on the seat with my limpet like bum.

At top speed and flat out I was out to see what this thing could do as I blasted towards the distant island. Best of all, no-one could hear me shouting in my head “we are the mods, we are the mods, we are, we are, we are the mods”….

A few doughnuts and figures of eight around the bay and my old bones had been subjected to enough of this craziness, it was time to winch it back in.

It was AWESOME, dude!

The winch man 

Next was a more sedate kayak trip over to Coral island 🏝️, a spot we were already familiar with that was great for a spot of snorkelling.

Coral island 

All in all it was a great fun and exhilarating day and finished off with an BBQ on the beach looking at what we had achieved….

Oh, yeah, And…I’m off the see ‘The National’ at Edinburgh Castle…Yip, Yip!!

To accompany please find ‘The Gossip’s new single ‘Crazy Again’, great new song and must watch bonkers video!

Be thankful for what you got…

 

Normal service will resume when I can be arsed…

Just sit back with a bit of Massive Attack