During the day I would often putt off in the landy somewhere on my own to explore and just as often have a listen to led zep whilst lying back looking at the sky. All very hippy but it seemed a suitable place to do so.

One day when coming back from one of my little adventures I was stopped by a Chinese woman (of all things to come running out of the sand dunes at you!). She and her friend had become stuck in the sand with their rented Mitsubishi 4x4 and urgently needed help.

It wasn't from quicksand or an army of marching scorpions they needed help from. It was the locals. Merzouga, Erfoud and Rissani are the worst places in Morocco for bullshit hassle as a tourist from my experiences.

They had become stuck in some soft sand and had a hostile group of about 50 locals surrounding them and demanding 1500 dirhams each to help push them out. When I turned up with my sand ladders, tow ropes and fancy rescue gear they weren't pleased as it looked likely they would miss out on their money.

So as the landy tried to pull them out the locals pushed the Mitsubishi in the other direction! Added to this they yelled at us and tried to steal my recovery equipment when we weren't looking. All in all it wasn't a pleasant experience. I drove away after getting them out thinking fuck Merzouga for a joke. What a bunch of pricks.

The Chinese couple very kindly shouted me dinner that night at a flash auberge. They were a nice couple, but I wish they had sent me the photo's like they promised!