Inspired observations gained from my travels, matched to a music track and made into a quirky blog from a recalcitrant Lancastrian.
recalcitrant
rɪˈkalsɪtr(ə)nt/
adjective
1.
having an obstinately uncooperative attitude towards authority or discipline.
noun
1.
a person with a recalcitrant attitude.
"a stiff-necked recalcitrant and troublemaker"
☯️
Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable.
Franz Kafka.
Next trip coming soon….
As the morning sun ☀️ climbs up out of the stratocumulus and above the hills, our forecast is down a bit to 27 degrees today. Early in the day the beach is devoid of people and 🐪 camels 🐪, just an odd fisherman and a few seagulls before9am.
Every morning, the fishingfellas stand by their boats with a small weigh scale to sell some of their nights catch so 2 freshly caught Dorado will do for tonight’s meal.
The camels arrive later…
Bumjak beach is the spot for today for another afternoon session on the boogie board until, completely beaten by the waves it’s time to head for the hammam.
…and then stick the fat dorado’s on the grill while we listen to Earth, Wind & Fire
There is a great sense of community here and entrepreneurial excellence as, for example, our evening meal meat was purchased direct from the butcher and then cooked on the grill next door and the drinks, bread, harissa soup, salad, tagine etc to accompany came to our table on the street from a small restaurant across the road…3 separate bills but all for next to nowt.
As we sat with our morning brew watching the sun rise up warming the bay, the local fishermen set off through the waves for their daily catch. Yesterday had been great fun as after our surfing attempt, we opted for ‘Boogie-boards’ for the afternoon and had more success riding the breaking waves into the shore. Great fun, but when you get it wrong the power of the waves fold you like paper and cartwheel you along in a white blur…Now, the older bones and muscles are feeling the battering today so we are off to the souk!
We piled on the local morning bus heading for El Had in Agadir, promising 6000 shops within the walled 13 hectare souk. I only had spectacles on the shopping list after leaving my readers in the Atlantic yesterday but finished the day with much, much more!
Now these traders are masters at flogging you stuff that you hadn’t thought you needed so by the end of the day the shopping bags were full to bursting with bargains…
….‘a kilo of Eucalyptus, 3 tagine pots, 2 small tortoises, a plastic washing basket, some fresh cut tripe a silver teapot and a live chameleon’…
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…”
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.
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.
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.
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!
