WHERE ARE WE ANNE?: OUR MAN IN FEZ

MINT TEA ON ARRIVAL

DEEP IN THE MAZE OF THE MEDINA

The Rough Guide says Fez is the oldest of Morocco's four imperial capitals and the most complete medieval city of the Arab world. It says they owe little to the West beside electricity and tourists. With the addition of the internet, I'd go along with that. While they do have gravity, the plumbing seems to defy it.

The rough guide also plugs a blog site called 'The View from Fez' http://riadzany.blogspot.com. It's run and operated by the redoubtable Sandy McCutcheon, ex ABC radio host where I used to work. I haven't seen Sandy for a while. After his ABC life he led a tour to Morocco. The baton was handed to him by ex Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam who decided he was too old for the celebrity tour guide gig and Sandy was duly anointed. The rest is history but suffice to say that Sandy and his wife were more than impressed with Morocco and bought a run down 'renovators delight' riad in Fez to undertake the awesome, many would say insane task of restoration in a UNESCO cited world heritage ancient medina. And I thought I had cornered the market on ambitious projects.

The process was documented by Sandy's wife, Suzanna Clarke, to become the book, 'A House in Fez'. The book became an international best seller and is still being translated to other languages. In their time in Fez, Sandy appears to have achieved something like rock star status locally by immersing himself in the culture, respecting the community, helping people with ideas, improving peoples lives and businesses, running his blog, speaking Arabic and being his talented self. Sandy leads an interesting life, you may be getting the picture? He has in effect, been inducted into the community and has accepted certain obligations. He also bangs out his thriller novels now numbering twelve. I know the plot to his next one but I'll keep schtum.

Sandy was our man in Fez and it was great to catch up with him after many years. He showed us around 'his' Fez and gave us an insight with his knowledge and experience of Muslim culture. To quote Sandy, he says the more he knows, the more he realises his ignorance is profound.

We stayed at Riad Rcif, a minute or two through the labyrinth from Sandy if you don't take the wrong turn. It's run by Sue, an Aussie friend of Sandy's. Riad Rcif is itself a monster renovation of a run down Riad and now a multistoried guest house with all rooms opening inward to a balcony overlooking the central courtyard.