If you like intense passion, boundless joy, contagious smiles and information overloading… ask Tom about the Amazon Rainforest and it’s creatures.
Video by Ash , Essence by Tom.
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The Majorelle Garden is a two and half acre botanical garden and artist’s landscape garden in Marrakech, Morocco. It was created by the French Orientalist artist, Jacques Majorelle over almost forty years, starting in 1923, and features a Cubist villa designed by the French architect, Paul Sinoir in the 1930s.
It was incredibly busy when we visited, but the beauty of the garden still shone through. We could only imagine how truly tranquil it would be were there no tourists taking artless selfies.
A little under an hour into our first wander through the city and – boom – duped by a savvy local into buying more (average) food than we wanted. 2 tagines, a bowl of chips, and a massive egg and vegetable salad frenzy each. Eat it anyway, go to settle up. “You have to pay my wife, she’s up those stairs” … sure. 2 minutes later – boom – in his carpet shop and he’s pulling down some rugs to demo. No thanks! We have to insist. “Okay, well that’ll be XYZ dirhams for the meal please”. The number doesn’t sound right. Maybe we haven’t gotten used to the currency here yet? We linger on the notion for a few seconds longer. Yeah okay. Then – boom – it was a rip off. No other meal will cost as much as this one did for the rest of the trip.
Ruddy hell. We quickly get over it.
Besides, there’s a silver lining; everything else seems so much cheaper for the rest of the jaunt. Score! Go us.
Marrakesh was a display of entrepreneurial spirit, smiling faces and frenzied activity from all walks of life. The pace of the place was wicked and the trinket-splattered streets, filmic Souks, districts and street-vendors were a genuine feast for the senses. The souks, yeah, stunning. For the most part anyway – some more ‘genuine’ and oldy wordy than the others. Everyone seems out to achieve something, which is really refreshing and engaging to to be around. Ash nearly had a shoe pinched by a cobbler. Great stuff. Highly recommended.
I came to the UK five years ago, driven by my love of adventure, the unknown and experiencing other cultures. I walked off the plane and into my sisters Camden flat and haven’t looked back since. England for me was a massive dose of self discovery, adventure and brilliant people. But now my heart won’t shut up and it’s time to DO ONE back home to the land of the long white cloud, Aotearoa, New Zealand (eventually, after a stint in Mighty Australia).
I feel incredibly lucky to be bringing my favourite lanky bean pole, adventure buddy and trouble maker with me. We have an amazing bond I want to see grow. We are both over city life. So we are out. First stop Peru and Ecuador, South America, We want to lose ourselves in the Amazon Rainforest. We are both longing for nature, stars, cicadas, hammocks and bugs. So we are going for it.
As I write this, time is flying by at an unbelievable rate towards us leaving… Nothing but excitement for this upcoming chapter. Good times await down under and I cannot wait to see what’s going to unfold.
Ash’s travel retrospective (so far):
- Spain – Shenanigans of a bunch of 16 year olds with Mrs Pearse of Rosehill College.
- Australia – Triple8funk dance crew! Habitat hostel life!
- Japan – Triple8funk dance crew… Ninja dance set at the top of Tokyo Tower!
- Hong Kong – 3 amazing luxurious days thanks to Jojo!
- Switzerland – Street tour of the country by a great friend Joe.
- Germany – Meeting up with many of my CVNZ friends. SO. MANY. CASTLES.
- Austria – Cute day trip on my bike.
- Belgium – More meeting up with CVNZ friends.
- Amsterdam – Such a beautiful city.
- England – Mega 5 year adventure about to come to an end. Big cities / small islands / Big friendships.
- Alderney Island – A small bunch of ecologists and mates, clinging to a rock.
- France – Birding tour where I got told off for focusing the binoculars on the goats instead of birds.
- Cambodia – Learning to dive, paradise islands and Angkor Wat.
- Thailand – Maid of honour for my best frriend Sam marrying the man of her dreams Mike.
- Ireland & Northern Ireland – A highlight was checking out my family’s history in Templemore, Tipperary.
- Wales – Have spent 3x NYE here with small groups of great people. Each has been magical.
- India – 4 undescibable weeks with 2 of my best friends and a wicked tour group!
- Morocco – Tom and I’s first trip together, haggling, eating and walking about, lapping up the atmosphere.
Things I love:
- Life
- People
- Trains, busses, planes
- Wetlands
- Trees
- Birds & bees
- Food
- Drink
- Cozy friendships reuniting
- Learning
- Laughing
- Questioning everything
- Cuddle puddles
- The unknown
- Music
- Camping conversations
- Pushing limitations
- Naps
- Maps
- Deep family bonds
- The beauty in the world
Anyway, I hope you enjoy our lil blog project I will be working on with Tommo. Much love to all.
I’m not going to flog the whole “I never expected to be a blogger!” rhetoric, but it is true. Travel blogs are often a bit trite really. AshandTomdoone.com is a simple means of capturing exciting times and flexing some design and writing muscle to keep myself sharp, grateful and creative on the (dirt) road.
I’m setting off for the mighty Amazon rainforest to willfully disappear amongst the white noise of nature. I’ve got to put some serious work in to make sure this adventure lives up to my own long matured and heavily romanticised vision of what being in the wildest place on Earth will mean to me. I’ve heard every variation of the “you only live once” and “just do it” philosophies that yeah, screw it, I’m outa here. Going to do my best, change things up and smile away beneath the canopies and 10 million different species. That’s the plan, anyway.
Where I’ve been on Planet Earth up until this point:
- England, Wales & Scotland (Edinburgh), making friends, loving life and hijinx.
- Paris, getting my mind blown by the art and having spiritual interventions at Sacré-Cœur.
- Malaysia, getting mugged by macaques and raided by micro-ants.
- Egypt, getting embroiled in low-key hostage situations, quadbiking through canyons and unbelievable snorkelling.
- Morocco, getting lost in the Souks and eating millions of olives.
- USA, getting launched around on every rollercoaster possible and eating ludicrous burgers.
- Tenerife and such like… volcanoes and ice creams!
- Crete, getting entranced by Spinalonga Island, finding bats in Milatos Caves, boating and quadbiking around.
- Kos, getting trashed, lost at sea, shaved and dehydrated on an ill-fated lads holiday.
- Hungary, getting swallowed up by ruin bars, buckets of carrots and pinball museums.
- Netherlands, getting ‘relaxed’ in coffee shops and adoring the architecture.
- Spain, getting whisked around on classic family holidays!
If you don’t know me already, here’s a mini-summary of things I love:
- Wildlife and nature’s energy…
- Space exploration and technology…
- Passionately produced music…
- Talking philosophy…
- Deep friendships…
- Camping, trekking, the outdoors…
- People talking bollocks…
- Embracing and spreading positivity…
- Forests and rivers…
- Insects/Dinosaurs/Reptiles…
- Finding solutions…
- Unravelling, piece by piece, Ash of Jequitibá…
So, anyway, I’ve also found a complete nutter who wants to come with me who has given me all the emotional curveballs and inspiration I need to jump first and follow my gut. Meet Ash.
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