first day was spent trawling the souqs in the medina of marrakech. it reminds me of the little markets in hanoi because each street literally sells a different type of thing. leather street, lamp street etc. didn't bargain to well for my first purchase, i didn't know the prices and i got it down to only half and i felt in a rush. got it down to 40% of his price.

in contrast, in Ouarzazate, ورزازات ,which was a Saharan desert outpost 200 km south of Marrakesh, I got bored with the really really boring kasbah there. 1. It was really hot, about 42 degrees celsius. 2. it was a crappy kasbah. i had seen Ait Benhaddou a while earlier. I had one and a half hours to spend, and i didn't want to sit in the cafe listening to the old man playing his two-stringed instrument strangely reminiscent of the erhu. even the spanish couple remarked as such. anyway, i looked around, and i got waylaid by a berber who tried to sell me cloths and camel skin leather. i get pretty irritated when people konichiwa me, although it usually means they haven't seen enough chinese in the area to tell me apart from japanese. i usually try to set them straight. anyway, i went off in franglish, and the berber got confused and asked me what language i wanted to bargain in. i said anything, and he said arabic? so i asked if he would like to bargain with me in chinese, we all laughed and sat down. the rivalry had begun.

so this time i got the price down to very very low. (albeit it was a crappier quality, and they start with higher prices. it's so unrealistic. 65 euro starting price?) it got down to the point where i refused to budge, and he asked if i had anything to offer him. no cigarettes this time, and then he wanted to look through my bag to see if i had anything interesting. i anticipated him asking if i was willing to sell any of my prized possessions for a low low price. now, i'd just bought my fred perry jacket for £15, but i wouldn't mind selling it to him at 225 dirham. there, just so you know i can part with things for above cost as well. aah yes, but why would he need a jacket in the sahara? (for the desert nights i retorted). no cigarettes on me, and there was no way i was giving him my only pen required for filling in embarkation cards.