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La Mamounia the destination !!

La Mamounia –La Mamounia hotel is an experience in itself. I can’t think of hotel that I have been to that has so much character and culture. From the moment you enter the hotel,Step into the porch and enter the hotel lobby.You have so much to take in. Every corner,The Guard wearing traditional outfits is worth photographing. 
The lobby is got one of the most “Modern hotel feel” but the rest is very cultured and design oriented. 
The Bars-Churchill & Piano Bar. I just did not want to move from here. Even though I don’t drink.I kept visiting these venues for coffee & orange juice.The worlds best orange juice is found in Morocco,No wonder the hotel had so many orange trees planted in the garden with lemon trees. Everyday having the freshest orange for breakfast or anytime of the day.
If that’s all you thought was the pampering the guest received while staying here. 
Well Pierre Hermé From Paris is right in the hotel lobby,Where you can enjoy some of the best Macrons & Chocolates. 
The restaurants in the hotel have a Moroccan touch in so many ways -From thr stencils glasses to the the velvet upolestry for the chairs and the lamp lighting to set in the mood during the dinner in the evenings. 
The swimming pool too has a worthy view for the ones who just want to laze around for a sun bath.
The most soothing places out of all is the spa.It’s a heaven and paradise in itself.
The Suite in the hotel known as the Riad’s is enough to call it home for many.The hotel has only 3 of these. But,The way it’s done up it’s nothing over the top like many luxury hotels.But is very spacious and tastefully done.Morning you can enjoy the view of the orange trees or rather Enjoy the sunrise between the coconut trees. 
The Moroccan restaurant in the property is one of the best places to enjoy the sun set

Trivia: 
1.Winston Churchill– Has a Bar & Suite named after him here as this was his favourite place in the world-He described the place as the most lovely spot in the world. Winston Churchill would visit often and paint during his stay- His painting are in the Moroccan museum.
2.La Mamounia is named after the prince Al Mamoun.Who was gifted the  gardens, that was attached to the hotel  as a wedding gift in the 18th century.
3.The Most Instagramable Place in #Marrakech 

Morocco Travel Journey!!


Witnessing the sunrises almost everyday and everyday it looked different.Yet the day seemed nearly the same.In the past ten days  haven’t really known what day we were living in.Even today when finally home it’s Saturday! A weekend already. 
The free time,Experienced the sunset at souk Mediana & shopped for souvenir, visited the shopping mall and ate dinner at one of my favourite cafe “Paul”until we called it a day! 
The last day that we had,Witnessed the sunrise once again, Visited  Royal Mansour hotel for their   Christmas Decorations. Afternoon went shopping for last moment shopping.And soon executed the impromptu plan for the Atlas mountain journey. It was like going to the Himalayan’s and driving around Kashmir valley snow capped mountain as our view towards the mountains and trees around the side ways leading us towards the mountain one of the craziest evening. Around   sunset when we were all creeping out with the darkness around,After some Moroccan tea & coffee left for Marrakech once again.The whole journey we were all stressed out,Just a couple of days ago tourist were murdered in the region. Visited  the Souk once again for more shopping followed by a dinner meal  at a nice quite place in the heart of Marrakech.The dinner wasn’t  complete without desserts and  coffee  that we enjoyed  post our satisfactorily meal. This was the week in Marrakech,Morocco besides the work.

The Monk of Mokha -Book Review !

The Monk of Mokha is a true story about Mokthar alkhanshali who did many odd jobs until one day when a lady asked  #Mokhtar have you seen the statue across the street?  and she was surprised he had never seen the statue. 
That’s a statue of Yemini dude Al Shadhili  known as the monk of Mokha. drinking a big cup of coffee, she told him. 
That’s got to mean something.May be this is your thing.You’re 25.Pick a direction for your life.
And thus began the journey for Mokthar and Port of Mokha. But it wasn’t easy and all the struggle during the civil war in Yemen is narrated and the final escape from Aden to US to exporting the grounds is nail biting.Just like as if you are reading a thriller.
Trivia:
1.Port of Mokha – Was  the primary point of all coffee grown in Yemen.
2. 2014 mokhtar became the worlds  1st Arab Q grader of arabica coffees.
3.Q Grading program :The Q grader program was first launched in 2004, It’s six full days of intense training.The certification is useful for purchasing coffee, selecting roast profiles and production/processing methods, understanding coffee origins, and more.
4.In 80 years it was the 1st time coffee left from the port of Mokha in Yemen during the civil war 
5.As of spring 2017 farmers replaced 17,000 qat plants with Coffee trees.
6.The 1st container of 18,000 kg of port of Mokha was sold out across 4 continents in 45 days.
7. February  2017 -Coffee review awarded port of Mokha’s haymah microlat 97 rating the highest score issued in the publication 20 years.
8.The first coffee house was called Qahveh Qahveh

Reading reality!

Reading as a hobby could be such a pleasure,You can  always learn about places,Culture,People,psychology of people and while you are idle, your  mind is imagining all that’s written. And what if you end up in the country,You have read so much about?Have you ever wondered about the same ? Would you have a sense of familiarity or moments of Déjà vu? 
For me as a reader,I have enjoyed reading Murakami books a lot right from the first book I read of his “colourless tazaki “to the most recent read “Norwegian wood.”May be because his stories are slightly eccentric or because he is a writer based in Japan,And there has always been a fascination for me as there is so little we know about the Japanese. And since Japan is the backdrop for all his stories the curiosity remains. 
I read Norwegian wood last month.A book who’s inspiration is from the Beatles song Norwegian wood (This bird has flown )this was  Post my visit to Japan about six months ago. And when I started reading the Norwegian wood 
And as I kept turning the pages of the book,While reading. I sensed being in Japan and it wasn’t my imagination that was going wild,But a sense of reality that I was living in. I enjoyed reading the book even more because may be the perspective had changed as I had already travelled to Japan and could now relate to the place,People and culture even more than ever.

Born a Crime -Trevor Noah Book review!

Born a crime @trevornoah is an interesting read giving insights on how it is growing up in South Africa. 
This book indulges in the stereotypical South African life and it also describes how interesting place South Africa is. The book is titled “Born a Crime” Because in South Africa his mother was black and his father was white…. 

The immortality act 1927 is the reference to why Trevor Noah was born a crime. 

1.Any European male who had illicit carnal intercourse with a native female, and any native male who had illicit carnal intercourse with a European female…Shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to imprisonments for a period not exceeding five years …
2.Any native female who permits any European male to have illicit carnal intercourse with her. And any European female who permits any native male to have illicit intercourse with her shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to imprisonment for a period not exceeding four years …

The style of the book written is interesting every chapter has a brief summary of what the chapter is about.
South African are divided into different tribes like Zulu, Xhosa,Tswana, Sotho, Venda, Ndebele, Tsonga and Pedi are just a few of them.  
Just like our Indian caste system has the Kshatriya who was known as the warriors & kings The Zulu tribe in South Africa to are known as the Warriors & like the Bhramin priest and the academics the Xhosa are the thinkers in South African tribe. 
Trivia : 

1. Streets  in Johannesburg are named after cars 
Jaguar streets, Ferrari street etc…
2. Rockery street is also known as the main strip in Johannesburg is one of the popular street filled with restaurants & bars.
3. Chinese in South Africa were classified as black and Japanese as white as they wanted Japanese fancy cars & electronic to be imported.


If you want to read something totally different this is the book! Stories from South African childhood. Interestingly this is my second South African author who I have read and realised personal stories are so interesting to read. The 1st South African Book I read was the tales of the metric system by Imraan Coovadia and the blurb of the book had caught me the attention but what lacked in the book was the storytelling. 

Over 10 chapters and 40 years—from 1970 through the end of apartheid, the election of Nelson Mandela, and the 2010 World Cup—multiple narrators provide varying perspectives. Each chapter showcases a short period of time, from a few hours to a day, in a character’s life. The small moments captured by Coovadia are snapshots of South Africa’s cultural change. 

But Trevor Noah doesn’t disappoint you at all. It’s funny, Interestingly told the story of his life in South Africa.