Goodbye Asia, Europe beckons...

We had a few days in Sukhumvet, Bangkok staying with a lovely warm showers host, Carl, also about to embark on a long cycle trip, we hope to see him on the rd in Europe. Plus a nice weekend on the Ko Si Chang island, a very local island, just a bus and boat ride south of Bangkok.  Aeroflot flight to Malaga in southern Spain  via  a 12 hr stopover at Moscow airport. Our bikes arrived a day late but delivered to us and no damage.
Absolutely freezing when we arrived, a chilly wind, but clear blue sky, unheard of in Asia. And so civilised! Cars stopping at pedestrian crossings, great food, we enjoyed sardines, bread and beer near the beach one afternoon with Pierre, a very accommodating warm showers host, (French but living in Spain)  just packing up his house to embark on a year long cycle adventure. There had been a late snow storm in the mountains where we wanted to ride so we decided to head to Morocco for a few weeks till Spain warmed up. So off on a cruisy calm 7 hr boat trip from Malaga to Melilla, a gorgeous Spanish city on the African coast. We arrived late, had dinner at 10pm, the norm in Spain, found something open for breakkie next morning, then off to the Moroccon border. Good to be back on the bike.
Melilla to Drioche, 84 km
Border towns are so bad, we got some money from the ATM and headed to Nador the nearest coastal town where we had lunch. Flat riding all day on a narrow highway which had a small shoulder. Not a lot of traffic just white Mercedes Benz taxis! All the same. 4 guys in the back, 2 in the front plus the driver with his foot flat to the floor on the straights.  All with the hoods of their long gowns up and arms hanging  out the windows. No motorbikes and only a few private cars. We brought some oranges from a truck on the road side. Delicious. Tangy and juicy.  The small, quite barren villages we road through seemed deserted and the thing that struck me most was I saw no women. We reached Drioche about 5pm and were directed to the only hotel. Oh my goodness!! This place was no tourist destination. We took a room with only one bed as it was half the price of two beds and no way were we going to sleep in them. We put our tent up in the room and used our sleeping mats and sleeping bags! But there was a shower and toilet to share...
Got ripped off at dinner, we will have to be careful, we heard that fleecing tourists is the norm. We took a short walk down the street, not very welcoming.
Drioche to Kassita, 50 km
We found a coffee shop on the way out of town that was quite nice so had coffee and ate the fresh bread and cream cheese we had bought. The coffee shops just sell coffee... But it is very good and cheap. Tall glass, shot of coffee then they top it up with really hot milk and give at least three lumps of sugar!
Very hot, sun burning weather and another highway day. Many men doing not much, lots drinking coffee. People wait for taxis on the side of the rd, eventually one comes along with a spare seat and they go wherever they need to. Still no women around.
We were trying to find out if there was a hotel near the turnoff to the Rif mountains. We got conflicting advice so asked the local gendarmerine (policemen) at the town we were in. That resulted in an hour checking in our passports, they even required our parents names... they did phone and confirmed the next accommodation was 55 km away and heading into the hills so too far to continue. That left the two local options, I thought last night was bad.. we settled on the better of the two hotels and this time put our tent up on top of the beds... There was no shower. But the town had a slightly better vibe.  I feel uncomfortable being the only woman around in this male dominated society. Some people are friendly, come up and say welcome to Morocco, enjoy your stay but most totally ignore us.
Kassita to Aknoul -  55 km
Next morning we left as early as we could. Grabbed the daily round loaf of flat bread. We saw lots of women working in the fields, donkeys everywhere and then got invited for coffee by an older guy, ( photo with Trevor) he had retired to Morocco from The Netherlands so spoke a little English and was lovely. We sat outside in the sun at his house and his wife and other family were there too. So that was nice. We turned off the highway and the riding was superb, no traffic, great scenery. Lovely winding hilly country road. The lack of people compared to Asia is phenomenal. Not much wealth here, in fact not much evidence of industry at all. And the people, Berber people in this region, do not seem happy. Life looks like a chore for all. Hard work for the women and boredom for the men. Interesting...