A Year in Marrakech: Marrakech and Yangshuo

I hope that you don't mind image-heavy posts, even if they take a little longer to load. I have a few things I want to show you this evening before I go to bed.

First of all, I am still sufficiently excited about gorgeous riads to want to show them to people at the slightest excuse, so here is a picture of the house where we will be spending our first few nights in Marrakech, the Maison Do:

Isn't it pretty?

Secondly, if you haven't seen The Painted Veil yet, do. Katie and I saw it a couple of weeks ago, and apart from the breathtaking scenery, to which I will return in a moment, I couldn't help noticing the costumes. After all, isn't that the main reason we watch films set in any period prior to our own? I grant you that a Gieves and Hawke wet shirt would look just as becoming on Colin Firth as a regency one, but for the most part I am squinting at shoes, and envying gorgeous dresses and long coats (for the latter, Colin Firth again, but also Richard E. Grant's in Withnail and I, a replica of which the designer will make you for €1000). Anyway, among the otherwise relatively simple wardrobe of Naomi Watts in the film, a parasol caught my eye - you've already seen it, even if you haven't seen the film, because it features in the promotional poster:

Here it is again, more clearly:

Isn't it lovely? Well, get thee to ebay.co.uk, gentle reader and search for ivory lace parasol and behold! It can be yours for $28AUD! I have just ordered two, so if you come to Marrakech to visit, you can have one all to yourself as we sit on the roof drinking mint tea and eating sticky buns.

But the parasol isn't the only connection between The Painted Veil and me, as it just so happens that I have seen the stunning landscape featured in the film with my own eyes last year when John and I visited Guilin and nearby Yangshuo and where John proposed, so I will always look at the landscape and the film which showed it so beautifully (not particularly challenging, really - it's very photogenic) with particularly romantic eyes.