toilet problems

Recently my toilet seat became loose and last night, the entire seat popped out. So this morning, I went to report it to the accueil (reception), thinking that they would be able to help me out.

Me (M): Bonjour, j'habite à 5206, et ma siège de toilette est en panne. Est-ce que vous pourriez faire des réparations? (Hi there, my toilet seat is spoilt. Can you repair it for me?)
Acceuil (A): Non. (No.)
M: Mais vous vous occupez des mobiliers et des logements! (But you guys are in charge of the furnishings here!)
A: Vous pouvez me dire ton problème, mais ce que nous pouvons faire c'est le jeter pour vous. Est-ce que vous voulez le faire? (You can tell me your problem, but all that we can do it to dispose of the toilet seat for you. Would you like to do that?)
M: Et après vous échangez une autre pour moi? (Will you change a new one for me after that?)
A: Non. Ça c'est ton problème déjà. (No. That would be your problem.)
M: Je n'ai rien compris; Après vous jetez ma siège, vous ne remplacerez pas une autre pour moi? Et donc je n'aurai pas une siège de toilette après? (I don't understand; After you throw away my toilet seat, you will not replace a new one for me, then I will not have a toilet seat then?)
A: Oui, mais vous pouvez l'acheter au magasin de bricolage. Elle ne sera pas trop chère. (That's right, but you can always buy one at the DIY store, it will not too expensive!)
M: Erm.. Je vais voir. Merci quand même. Au revoir! (Erm.. I'll see, thanks anyway and goodbye!)

I can't believe it! Do they expect me to buy a toilet seat? And at the end of the semester, do I bring it home with me? O_O Not that I damaged it on purpose; I am not that heavy and plus I do not sit or stand up very forcefully: I swear that it just came loose one day! Merde.. The lady at the reception was looking at me with such suspicious and accusing eyes that just screamed "toilet seat destroyer" at me. To clarify: I DID NOT DO IT!!!

Anyway I fixed it up with some electrical tape; Hope it holds and I will not fall into the bowl: The would really mean the premature end of my Berlioz toilet service! =P

Meanwhile, looks like Singapore has her fair share of toilet problems as well. Maybe Mat Selamat Kastari was pissed that the toilet seat in the toilet was spoilt too, and he thought that he would do a good deed by going out to buy a new one. =)

十五天的農曆新年

初夕

berlioz reunion dinner

初一barnave CNY lunch

初二
CNY dinner @ jardin d'asie

初四
laksa potluck dinner

angpao giveaway!

初七
briyani @ berlioz

初八

CNY treats!

all gone!

初十二

au Sahara

初十七湯圓!!!

Quelle manière d'avoir fêté les 15 jours de la nouvel an chinois en France! =D

كتاب ألف ليلة وليل 2

On the third day we rose early in anticipation of our Sahara expedition. This was what we (or at least I) had travelled to Morocco for - The Sahara! We joined 13 other like-minded adventurers and we all sat groggy eyed in a minibus full of anticipation, expectation and puzzlement as it sped off towards the unknown. How would the next 3 days turn out to be?

the blue line traces our 3D2N Sahara trip

Not surprisingly, the combination of the early hour and the soothing hum of the bus engine lulled all of us to sleep. When we woke up, it was 2 hours later, and we were already mid-way up the High Atlas mountains! Not only was it cold up at that altitude, it was also very windy and it was no surprise that no one wanted to linger. As for me, I thought that I was back in Grenoble with the snow capped mountains and all. Indeed, Morocco struck me as a place full of contrasts. Snow, sand, hot, cold, high mountains, flat deserts: You name it, they have it. What was more amazing was the amount of this diversity located in such relative closeness to each other. In the morning we could be traversing the mountains, but at night we could be in the desert! Although it was a long bus ride, I was never bored with the ever changing scenery and all. In fact, the bus ride was already an adventure in itself.

the high atlas mountains

she'll be coming round the mountain when she comes..

treacherous roads lining the mountains

The first highlight of the day was when we stopped at a quaint little town. We did not know it at that time, but many films were actually shot at the Kasbah opposite it! A Kasbah is an unique kind of fortress/dwelling for a ruling chief in Islamic cities, and we had the chance to go to one of the most famous ones: Ait Benhaddou. It was a pity because we did not have a guide to explain to us the significance of the Kasbah as all of us decided not to head into the Kasbah for want of better and proper knowledge of the area. =(

sparse tundra after passing the mountains

Ait Benhaddou

forming a congo line to the kasbah

Anyway, from there we proceeded on to the Dades valley where we would spend the night. The serpentine roads led us slowly though community after community, villages set apart by dramatic twirls in the mountains, or by the fresh river meandering through the middle. It was difficult not to be mesmerised by the beauty of the Moroccan countryside.

lush forest now!

When we arrived at our hotel, it was - as forewarned by Hassan - freaking cold. We were situated at the bottom of a gorge which meant that no sunlight could reach us to offer any respite from the cold, and the liberal use of ceramic tiles trapped the cold indoors, making the inside of hotel even colder than outdoors (it felt like we had the air conditioning on at full blast)! It didn't help that there was no central heating system as well. =/ Well at least dinner was great and after that I tried to sleep through the cold.

dades valley

sunset

after dinner shot (notice we are all still in our coats)

Next morning was another long drive towards our ultimate destination. To break the monotony, we visited a kasbah, sort of to make up for the disappointment the day before. We were first treated to a traditional Berber (the indigenous nomadic tribes of Morocco) welcome and given an insight into their daily life. It was really interesting to observe society functioning inside, and I felt that we had entered a city within a city. One could really be self sufficient inside a kasbah as it has almost everything required for survival, and I guess it was designed to be so as in the olden days sieges were pretty common. However one bad thing about the kasbahs is that they are made of clay and mud, so every time it rains, pieces of the kasbah will get washed away and there will be a lot of repair works to be done. But I guess all these gives a kasbah its charm and character.

inside the kasbah

hole in the sky

electrical repairs

traditional Berber hospitality

plethora of Berber carpets

After some more driving, we finally arrived at where we had all been waiting for - The Sahara! At this point of the trip our minibus left the road and we had a super bumpy ride through the dirt tracks. Somehow, it really reminded me of my days in Mongolia, where everyday we would drive at least 8 hours through the same bumpy dirt tracks. Anyway, luckily none of the wheels of our bus broke off and we managed to reach the edge of the desert where we had to change our mode of transportation to camel!

first contact

camelba(c)k

sensual curves

guess who? =P

moi encore!

trekking through the sahara

more dunes

I love camel rides! Unlike horses, they are very gentle and hence I did not have much problems this time! Haha.. The feeling is just like sailing through the desert! We reached base camp in a little less than hour, and by then, the sun was already setting. Wanting to maximise out time in the desert, many of us went sand-surfing or sand-luge-ing. Haha.. We were all a little delirious already from the many hours on the bus and we were glad to be able to move about, sand-in-hair or not. =)

sand surfing!

what was the jedi doing to the camels?

sunset

Dinner was once again tagine and couscous (no surprises there), and after dinner we had a campfire where we gathered around to sing songs. Moroccan karaoke! Anyway I was not so much interested in singing than in getting some warmth from the fire. For the second consecutive night, I had a major brain freeze! Damn.. It was still rather promising in the day when it got rather warm! In the end I had another sleepless night shivering in my full battle order (jacket, jeans, shoes and even a thick blanket) in the tent.

Anyway I managed to survive yet another night in the cold and we cameled back in the morning to our bus and it was a 12 hour bus ride back from the Sahara. I remember drifting in and out of consciousness during the bus ride because it was mile after mile of the same scenery (we took another faster route back). In testimony to the harshness of the terrain, our bus broke down and we had to change buses, and the one which we changed to broke down as well.

Finally reached back to Marrakech about 13 hours after we first set off in the morning. Did some shopping, then I reluctantly had my last meal at Djemaa al Fnae. It had really been a great time in Africa: The conviviality, the hospitality and the vibrancy of the place is something which I guess is missing in more developed and industrialised countries. That is why I always like to travel to third world countries as compared to the so-called first world countries.

Morocco, vous me manquerez surement! =)

got hump?

mes entraînements du semaine W-19

22 vendredi: CàP 11km (La Tronche), Nager 1.5km (PU)
23 samedi: Cycle 92km (D1090 - Pontcharra + D525 - Allevard)
24 dimanche: Cycle 40km (D1090 - Crolles), CàP 12km (La Tronche)

En total: Nager 1.5km, Cycle 132km, CàP 23km

This was a weekend of ups and downs for my training. Really could feel the lack of training during my first warm-up run, and the wetsuit swim after that didn't help much either. Then I really bonked on the bike yesterday - For a large portion of the return journey I was just in survival mode and just trying to make it back to Grenoble!

At least today was better. Think my body has sort of resigned to the fact that I would be training whether or not it likes it, and it decided to cooperate. On my part, I didn't really feel up to my planned long slow run today, so I decided to do a brick session instead. The 40km bike was fast enough to prep my legs up for a nice 12km run after that.

So I end this weekend feeling strong.. Let's hope that next week will be better! =)

كتاب ألف ليلة وليل 1

Just like the many protagonists in 1001 Arabic nights, I finally had my own African adventure last week! Wanting to escape the long cold winter here in Europe, I decided to head southwards to the continent of Africa for ironically, my winter break.

Our flight to Marrakech was from Marseille, so we spent an afternoon wandering about France's 2nd largest city. Interestingly, one of the earliest and most popular crossings from France to Morocco was from Marseille to Tangier (another Moroccan city) but via steamship of course, so in a way you could say that I was retracing an ancient travel route. We had about 5 hours to spare in Marseille, but that was insufficient for us to head out to the calangues or the île d'If (island of If), so we just people watched along the Vieux Port area until our flight. Marseille was one of the premier ports of Europe in the past and it definitely has retained much of its glamour although its importance has been eroded with the advent of the aeroplane.

les bateaux autour du port

aerial view of the port area

We reached Marrakech at 2030 and we immediately headed to the Medina quarter, which was the ancient walled-up city in Marrakech. Locating our riad in it was no easy task as it was already dark, and it did not help also that all the streets in the Medina were seriously narrow and maze-like! In fact, there was no map of the Medina quarter as it would be impossible to path out all the routes! Nevertheless, we managed to find our riad in the end, but only with the help of many friendly Moroccans.

For the first two nights, we stayed at Riad Massin 2. In the traditional sense, a riad is just a traditional Moroccan house with a garden inside. However, many riads now have been refurbished into hotels and restaurants. It was impossible to imagine that behind the narrow and stinky alleys would be these oases of such calm and serenity! It was like stepping into another parallel universe. As much as we wanted to stay, we (or rather just I) had to fill my rumbling stomach so it was out again to the hustle and bustle after dropping off our bags.

riad massin 2 in the morning

chilling out in the morning as well

I was like "WOAH" when we got to Djemaa al Fnae where the food stalls were. I couldn't believe my eyes at the sight of the quantity and variety of food offered. I won't go into detail here, but read all about them here. And as if these were not enough, I was definitely in heaven after looking at the prices! =D This was looking more like makansutra rather than Africa! Anyway I just sat myself down at one of the many stalls and proceeded to gorge myself to death with the impossibly diverse and delicious delights which were on display. Letch, as usual, remained a spectator as I went about practically inhaling up just about everything on the table.

fruit and spice stalls

the main attraction: food stalls

check out the food!

sup kambing

fried brains!

Letch getting taken hostage

delirious

We got back not a moment too early, as it started pouring just as we stepped foot into the riad. Hassan the proprietor of the riad happened to be preparing a shisha for the other guests and so he invited us to join in. With the prospect of a free smoke, free beers, and a pair of beautiful Canadian sisters, it was difficult to say no. There in the coolness of the Moroccan night air, we made fast friends, smoked, and chatted the night away. Sweet. =)

puff goes the magic dragon

letch that's not a phone! =P

hassan showing us how to do it properly

smokers corner

A word about Hassan. He has to be the most friendly hostel owner ever! Not only did he provide us with the best accommodations in his riad, he also gave us a lot of tourist advice, extended his genuine friendship, and most importantly, offered lots of free beer! All these, and he refused to accept payment until the very last hour on the eve of my departure! All because he felt that we should be able to feel at home away from home. How cool is that? Hassan really reserves an A+ in his guestbook!

The next day we set out to explore Marrakech proper. Our spirits were a little dampened in the morning when it began to rain, but luckily the rain did not last long and we were still able to head out as planned. Actually, the attraction of Marrakech lies in its people. It does not particularly have many tourist attractions, but tourists still flock to it like bees to honey, and I suspect that it is due to the warmth of the Moroccans. Of course, there are the ones who are friendly for commercial gains, but most of the Moroccans are genuinely nice and helpful. The only notable tourist attraction we visited was the Museum of Marrakech, and we just spent the whole day wandering about the numerous souks, gawking at the many wares laid out for sale, and also trying not to get killed by cars donkey carts, horse carriages, motorcycles, scooters, rollerbladers, cyclists and just about every conceivable form of human transport, which are all amazingly allowed on the roads. And yet in this chaos, not once did I see a traffic accident during my stay there! Incroyable!

mosque at the edge of Djemaa al Fnae

aerial view of Djemaa al Fnae

another view of the square

Moroccan street

inside the museum

hand of no mercy

soaking in the souks

vibrant Djemaa al Fnae at night

Ended off the day with yet another amazing dinner at Djemaa al Fnae, then we headed back to our riad for what we though would be an early night for us as we had to leave early the next morning. But it was not to be as Hassan was already waiting for us with a bottle of wine! And so we headed up to the terrace and under the starry skies, I dozed off to slumber on wine and friendship. =)