家父常常會對我說不要自己一個人到處跑，好歹也找個一起伴吧（不過近年來他的這番話開始讓我懷疑有另一層含義，相信各位懂的，科科；老爸不好意思連續兩天cue你出場）！不諱言我已經非常習慣一個人旅行，而且有些行程是真的找不到伴，不過偶爾為了要去一個人比較難到的地方（通常是因為交通不便或單人成本太高）我還是會讓自助旅行變得不太自助，順便讓認識新朋友也變成旅行的一部分；今天和接下來兩天前往撒哈拉的行程便是如此。
My dad often said to me "don't always travel alone. You should find some partners!" (Which probably also implies he wants me to find a partner for the journey of life ASAP, haha.) Indeed I'm very used to traveling alone, and it's often hard to find people to join my trip, but occasionally I made exceptions -- due to lack of public transit or high cost, in some places I'd join tour groups. This is what I'm doing today and the next two days, on my way to Sahara.
今天的旅程是翻過北非的屋脊「地圖集山」（Atlas Mountain，其實是亞特拉斯山，但是身為一個地理人很私心的想把它翻譯成地圖集山，哈哈）。山的北邊是地中海氣候，最近正好是雨季，兩天都斷斷續續的下著雨，出發時下著滂沱大雨的山路讓人開始擔心會不會碰到土石流阻斷去路；幸好到了山的南邊就成為類似加州內陸的乾燥氣候帶，雨再怎麼下也下不過山脊，倒是在稜線上留下了皓皓白雪，像是塗滿糖霜的巧克力蛋糕那樣可口（我是肚子有多餓才會寫出這種奇怪的比擬啊）XD。
We crossed over Atlas Mountain, the ridge of North Africa. The north of the mountain has typical Mediterranean climate, and it was quite rainy when I visited, to the extent that I was concerned about the trip; the other side of the mountain, however, has arid climate similar to Californian inland. The rain only went as far as the mountain ridge, and stopped as snow on tope of the ridge. The snow-capped ridge looked like chocolate cake with icing on top. The other side of the mountain was quite nice and sunny.
山的另一邊是廣闊的赭紅色土地，上面長著棕櫚樹和矮灌木，傳統民房多為土造，因此顏色也自然和大地毫無違和的融為一體；即使是新建的磚造房屋，在顏色和風格上也保留了原本的協調性。這裡的重要景點是泥造古城Aït Benhaddou，一個讓人看到馬上就會想到典型電影中東或北非場景的地方。這裡原本是柏柏爾人的聚落，人去樓空之後透過電影獲得第二春，後來的確拍了不少電影，尤其是1970到1990年代間的聖經電影，最新的出鏡則是在劇集《權力遊戲》裡。到了這裡，同團的人都說真的有來到印象中的北非的感覺。不過漂亮歸漂亮，當地人無所不用其極從觀光客身上榨出錢的功力也是一絕，最好要有點心理準備。
Most buildings are made from mud, and thus retain the brown-red color of the land. Even contemporary buildings made from bricks still match this local style. Our major stop is Aït Benhaddou, previously a Berber village and later became a well-preserved ancient city. It has been featured in many films with north Africa and middle East backgrounds. Particularly, many of the "Bible movies" in 1970-1990 were shot here, and the latest on-screen appearance is on the game of thrones. The beauty here, however, comes at the cost of ambitious locals, who would try everything they can do make to buy things.
最後來講講新朋友這塊。雖然英文是大家的最大公約數，團裡卻沒有人的母語是英文，大概調查了一下國籍包括：比利時、義大利、波蘭、斯洛伐克，再加上文化相對接近的兩個中國女生、三個日本女生和一對日本情侶，這下又被我逮到練習其他語言（尤其是想學好卻超級破的日文）的好機會了。另外很有趣的是我透過自己知道的少少西班牙文，竟然可以從義大利文對話裡聽懂一些，意外讓我親身印證了兩者間的高度關連。跟團出來還有個超大的好處：終於有我能入境的照片啦！
明天就要和這些可愛的小夥伴前進撒拉拉沙漠了。令人期待。
Lastly about the "partners" I found in this group -- while English is the common language, none of us are born in a English-speaking country. Nationalities include: Belgium, Slavokia, Poland, Italy, Japan and China. This gave me good opportunities to practice foreign languages, especially Japanese. Even listening to Italian conversations make me realize its similarity to Spanish. What a bonus!
They'll be my peers to Sahara tomorrow. Look forward to it :)
