Siem Reap, Cambodia

January 31, 2007
Siem Reap, Cambodia

Val here. We leave Siem Reap tomorrow morning. How I will miss it.

Siem Reap is a town that is known by the outside world mostly because of its 20 kilometre distance from the famous Angkor Wat - the gorgeous Hindu and Buddhist sandstone temples built from the 11th to the 14th Centuries and known for their magnificent architecture and intricate carvings. The temples are scattered over 77 kilometres in what was apparently a large city of one million people. (At that time London only had about 50.000 inhabitants). It is exquisite and arguably the most magnificent place to photograph in the world. Hundreds of tourists come to see the sunrise and sunset over Angkor Wat and to see its reflection in the pool and moat in front of it. But the other, smaller temples are just as astounding.

A few have huge trees growing right out of the sandstone - a magnificent symbiosis of man and nature. Most have intricate carvings of Vishnu and Shiva and garudas and monkeys - all important figures in the Ramayana. If not characters from the Ramayana there are intricate floral carvings. The Terrace of the Elephants has carvings of lifesize elephants along its major wall which you see as you drive along the road- dramatic!


So - what did Arieh and I discuss on the Tuc-Tuc (a motorized rickshaw) going to and from the temples? The history, the majesty? No - we discussed whether one would get more seriously injured on the left side or the right side of the tuc-tuc should we have a collision. On the left is often ditches and sand which I imagine tipping into - on the right - the oncoming traffic, which Arieh pointed out, is more likely to cause a fatality. No-one seems to look - trucks, buses, tuc-tucs and bicycles and pedestrians all share the road and move this way and that with very little room between them. But we have travelled to Angkor Wat twice - and are still alive and well. Though we are finally in a country where they drive on the right side it takes some getting used to - especially crossing a busy street - after 3 months of lefthand driving.

If you want to get an idea of Angkor Wat - go to Indigo or Chapters. They have large coffee table books with gorgeous photographs of the place. We took some of our own photographs, of course. and they are beautiful as is the place.

Siem Reap is a lovely smallish town with colonial architecture. Though poverty is everywhere there are a lot of foreign NGOs and donations coming in to help the people after years of devastating civil war and the Pol Pot regime. We have a lovely hotel (See picture of Val and our tuk-tuk) in the centre of town near the market and although it's noisey at times, it's also lively and great to be in the thick of things. We overlook the river and are a block away from the old market. We are constantly approached by hawkers selling photocopied travel books, bracelets, pipes, and tuc-tuc drivers offering their services. They are making a living and we try to smile and say no. Arieh is especially good at getting the child sellers to lighten up for a while and chat and giggle and smile - before they go back to their primary purpose - selling their wares to the rich tourists.

Today Arieh and I went for a walk. First, we stopped at the Children's Hospital so that Arieh could give blood - a highly valued commodity. My hero walked away with a wonderful teeshirt stating he's a friend without borders. Several Cambodians recognized his wonderful donation and commented on it. We then saw a wonderful photography exhibit at a hotel. Yes, gorgeous Angkor Wat again! We went into the Cambodian Raffles Hotel (I should mention that there are at least thirty new, large, upscale hotels built in the last five years - Raffles is the renovated Grand Hotel). We chatted with the Hotel public relations fellow for a while and found out lots of gossip from him about hospitals, conferences, donations given and by whom, etc. We were then invited to visit the hotel and we admired the pool and restaurant, Buddha exhibit, and shops - and then left for our $6.00 (for both of us) lunch at a local restaurant.

Arieh and I also went to a buffet and traditional dance presentation the other night. The dance was beautiful - both folk dancing on a fishing theme, and classical dance. South-east Asian dance is similar but as you get to understand it, each country has its own special style and the accompanying musical instruments are different. The dance was charming and enchanting, the buffet good. Another lovely evening in Siem Reap.

We also spent Saturday night attending a concert given by a Swiss Doctor Beata. He does a cello concert with films and lecture in the hopes of promoting four state of the art Children's hospitals he has set up in Cambodia. Another interesting perspective on the situation. He finished with the Kol Nidre - at Holy Blossom in Toronto we hear it every Yom Kippur played by a marvellous cellist. It brought tears to my eyes! It is difficult not to ask for forgiveness when we have so much whereas so many places in the world have so little.

Off to Phnom Penh - more soon.

Arieh here. Val mentioned everyone selling something. Well, indeed they do! The picture below is a group of Cambodian musicians who are victims of the landmines or other aspects of the history of war in Cambodia. They (and many other groups) dot the countryside or towns where tourists roam, play as a group and sell their CD. They are not begging, simply trying to make a living. The other picutre is a poster near one of the Angkor Wat sites. It's title is "We No Longer Need Weapons" and depicts how Cambodia has been transformed after the war finished. It might be hard to see but right at the "tear" of the photo is a boy crossing over the line (near the bottom). His pants on one side are ripped and torn and he is shoeless; on the other side one can see the pants are good and he has shoes. Quite the poster, I thought.

The Jewel that is Singapore

January 25, 2007

Val here:

Did you know that you cannot purchase chewing gum in Singapore? Not even at the airport?
Why not, you ask? Because Singapore attempts to be the cleanest and best run country in South-East Asia! And, I might add, it succeeds. Granted, perhaps a little colonialism and dictatorship makes it so well run - but it is a city where vision is permitted to flourish. Singapore makes Toronto look pretty unimaginative! The architecture is varied and divine - except for what they call the Sydney Opera House - their theatre centre which looks like a large (and ugly) durian fruit. Otherwise, they've given architects the run of the island - and there are some brilliantly designed buildings. The transport system is also wonderful There is an excellent, clean (no chewing gum under the seats!) metro system and an extensive system of buses. There is not a lot of need to have a car for the 4,000,000 residents - it is quite easy to get around on their very inexpensive public transport.

Our favorite building is the one called the Parkview Place.
It towered across the street from our lovely little budget New Seven Storey Hotel and we saw it daily from our window. It is about 40 storeys and a gorgeous art deco design, inside and out. There are statues of Abraham Lincoln, Chopin, Salvadore Dali and others in the courtyard. Apparently the Parkview is a prestigious office building - you must be invited to visit offices there. We did, however, have a drink in the bar - a remarkable space - totally art deco except, maybe, for the wine bar going up one huge wall. The waitress wears little angel wings and goes up to select your wine from the wine bar by winch and pulley! Quite the thing to see!

Other highlights of Singapore:
Food is everywhere and varied - outside, inside, Indian, Chinese, Malayan, Indonesian, European - and remarkably affordable. Arieh and I could have three filling meals for $15 to $20 a day! (and we did). It is such a modern city - but one's Canadian dollar goes far.

The Bird Park: We loved the bird park in Bali - but the Singapore version had even more species of birds. There were aviaries filled with hornbills, birds of prey, small birds of the African rainforest - and the favorite - an aviary filled with lorikeets - those delightful, friendly parrots of Australia (that my cousin Robyn feeds in her backyard in Sydney). You may feed these sociable little birds if you don't mind them landing on your shoulder, fighting with other birds over your head, and squawking loudly in your ear.

The Night Safari - Singapore Zoo has a night safari. You can walk through or take a tram and see all sorts of species of night animals - lions, leopards, bats, fishing cats, elephants, hyenas, etc. etc. It was a wonderful evening - quite an unusual concept!

The Chengi Museum: this museum is a well-presented collection of memories from the period of time under Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1945. A sad but fascinating place: it shows the depths and heights that people can reach. Chengi is where the political prisoners were kept - it was already a prison complex - so many British as well as Chinese were incarcerated there. It also dealth with the treatment of prisoners of war and the various armies that did their best to protect Singapore - including some from countries we've already visited: New Zealand, Australia.

On the Friday night that we were in Singapore Arieh and I went to the Orthodox Shul. The Progressive (Reform)Shul wanted a scanned copy of our passports. After that was sent, we found that they only met once every 4 weeks and this wasn't the week - so off we went to an Orthodox service. I read shul newsletters as I peered from the balcony above listening to the Sephardic and unfamiliar tunes intoned by the cantor and the 35 odd men and boys below. Not surprisingly there were only about 6 women above - all visitors to Singapore. After services we stayed for a delicious dinner and chatted with an Israeli (formerly American) couple. He was doing business seeking silver mines in China - she had met him for a little travel and r and r. We had a pleasant dinner discussing their travels and hearing bout their move to Hebron (one of the first families, they said) and their leaving Hebron for Ephrat (near Gush Etzion). Another couple from Rochester/Montreal and elsewhere in the States was in Singapore waiting for their cruise in South-East Asia. There were two young men from Chabad New York teaching students and helping with services who were delighted with thier stay in Singapore. They explained how the Orthodox synagogue was very wealthy thanks to donations from a benefactor and were looking forward to moving into the large and beautiful new building which was being constructed on the site.

Singapore is truly a lovely place to visit - a restful well-organized place after the more demanding Indonesia. Come see it!

Meeting new friends in Indonesia

Solo, Indonesia

Val here.
We have been here in Solo for two days. It is a relatively untouristed town - at least in the last few years. One is greeted by smiles no matter how hot, how tired, how weary, how young or how old the person on the street. "Salamat Pagi" (good morning) gets an especially appreciative response.

I walk to the palace near our hotel - it has the beautiful name Pura Mankunegaran. I take a tour through the palace and see the area where the royal family entertains and meet the king's brother who is busy arranging costumes for a Wayang - dance performance.

I sit down at the palace performance lobby/stage - it is open air and listen to the gamelan. The dancers come to rehearse and am am lulled by the graceful subtlety of their movements to the quiet gamelan and high pitched but melodic female singers.
The dancers leave and I lean against a post and slowly fall into a light sleep. But wait - someone is speaking to me. Beside me appear two beautiful girls in headscarves with their more confident young male friend. they ask me the usual - where I am from, how long I have been in Solo, where am I staying. We chat for a while and Arieh comes to join us. We chat for a while longer and the girls introduce themselves as Laila and Ita. They are University students who are about to go into education. They declare that they would like us to come to their homes. Saoud, their friend was at one time a guide at the palace, but when the tourists no longer came he had to sell his house and now produces music on diskettes. The three will pick us up on scooters tomorrow at 9 AM if we don't mind. We don't mind!

Sure enough, at 9 the next morning, the three friends come to take us to their village. We clmb onto the back of the scooters and head out to the village of Sukoharjo near Solo. First we visit Laila. Her mother, a quiet but smiling housewife has prepared wonderful local treats for us: longtan, sweets, rice rolled around jackfruit and chillies and cooked in banana leaves, etc. etc. Unfortunately we had eaten breakfast but we all enjoyed the spread. We then headed out to visit a glass factory, a small furniture making facility. We then observed how they make bricks and how they prepare tofu (pity the vegetarians!). We then proceeded to Laila's very modest brick home. Her father, she explained was at one time a becak rider (bicycle rickshaw), but now sells chickens in the morning and makes and sells bricks at other times. she apologized for the modesty of her home but presented us with rambutans to eat and hot or cold tea.

Two days later, Laila and Ita came to our now luxury hotel. they were delighted to see the facilities and the pool. We went out for dinner together and they told us about thier boyfriends and their country's food and their hopes and dreams. they wanted us to come to their class at the mosque and meet their students.

Today we met their lovely young and older students. Arieh did a question and answer thing with the older students, I taught the little ones three songs: head and shoulders knees and toes, Where is the house, And Tommy Thumb is up. What lovely attentive children. It was a joy to meet them.

Laila would like to travel to Canada and the world if only she had money. l she commented on how hard her father works so that life will be better for her and her sister. Ita was concerned that we thought all Muslims were terrorists. She has a soft and lovely manner about her but an iron resolve to finish her education before she marries her boyfriend.

It was truly a joy to spend time with these young women (21 years old) and their friends, family, and students. We shall long remember Solo and these lovely ambassadors.

Breaking the rules in Indonesia

Arieh here. Many rules have been broken in the last few days here in Indonesia.

#1. Don't drive (or be driven) at night between towns or cities. Violated? Yes, we spent about 1.5 hours driving in the dark in order to get to Solo. The bigger the vehicle here, the less they care about anyone else. Buses and trucks pass everywhere and anyone. Oncoming traffic must move over to the edge of the road. Often a motorscooter is approaching and they simply move to the edge of the road and keep going while the bus or truck does the same (except the bus is on the wrong side of the road).


#2. Don't have ice in your drinks. Violated? You bet! All the drinks (juice or just plain soda) have ice thrown in to them and gosh they taste nice and cold.


#3. Don't leave money or documents in your hotel room. Violated? Only by Arieh. Val "told me so"!!! Fortunately, the $1,100 in travellers cheques are replaceable; the $100 cash is not. Where did the brilliant one leave my pouch--inside the pillow case. Who would ever look there?? We think it happened in Bromo and discovered it 4 or 5 days later here in Solo.


Val here:

#4 don't get enchanted by the chant of the call to prayer! It is supposed to be imposing and yet after a few days I find it haunting and beautiful!

#5 Don't ride on the back of a motorscooter in the raucous traffic of a developing country - well, only if you want to get somewhere with new friends!!

#6 And be sure to wear a solid and fitted motor cycle helmet not a sloppy fitting eggshell - well only if you want to go to visit a classroom or the home and neighbourhood of new Indonesian friends!

#7 Backpackers don't stay in luxury hotels. Well - only if the budget hotel where you first stayed no longer has airconditioned rooms available (and no windows in those rooms) and it is 35 degrees celsius during the day, and the pool is gorgeous and immediately outside the door of your hotel room.

#8 Don't eat street food. Only if a friend gives you an absolutely delicious bag of satay ayam (chicken stay) with longam (rice cooked in banana leaves) and scrumptious sauce.

#9 You won't hear Christmas carols in a Muslim country - well only AFTER Christmas at the hotel restaurant during breakfast (a rather jazzy version at that!) and when the Luves roti man wheels his (ice cream) cart around (see photo) attracting buyers to his wares to tinny tunes of Away in a Manger and Jingle Bells.

Java. Indonesia

Mount Bromo, Indonesia

Val here. Well, Val climbed a mountain! Arieh and I left wonderful Bali the day after seeing Avidan and Eitan off at Denpasar airport. We took a LONG bus ride leaving Ubud at 5:30 A. M. and arriving in Probolinggo on Java at 2:00 P. M. We were delivered into the hands of he whom we shall call THE ORGANIZER. He proceeded to arrange a visit to the live volcano, Mount Bromo. Once we got to the town (Cemerru?) overlooking the mountain, we rise at 3:30 in the morning and take a four-wheel drive jeep up to the viewpoint to see the sunrise, then go down to the base of Bromo and climb the 253 steps to the top. After breakfast we would get a bus to Solo, our next destination.

To save a little money we ignored THE ORGANIZER'S recommendation that a shuttle would take ONE hour and chose the cheap THREE hour (impossible it would last three hours you think) public transport. What a savings! It would only cost $2.00 instead of $5.00. We climbed onto the public bus and had a comfortable pleasant ride for about 5 minutes at which time we began to climb a very narrow road. Villagers came on carrying rice, grasses, boxes of unknown treasures. Then we took a side road. How the overloaded minibus could climb such a narrow rocky steep mountain road with its load of 28 passengers instead of 16 was a wonder. To our amazemement more and more locals got on - hanging out the side door and up on top of the bus! It did, indeed, take three hours - in part thanks to a detour to a lonely village on the montain to deliver a woman and her 10 huge bags of rice and other grains and staples. I must admit I was kind of getting into the fun of it - the villagers were laughing and talking - probably discussing how far it was to the bottom of the mountain should the minibus tumble over the side of the mountain.. My only problem was I had to pee. Oh -- it was a long time but we finally made it to our rather dingy hotel. But oh the view!!! You can see puffs of smoke coming out of this moonscape mountain! (picture)

We had a Saudi friend join us for dinner. Most interesting fellow - loves Indonesia and seems to know the language fairly well! And quite "liberal" as well (even though he tried to "daven" 5 times a day.

We woke up, as planned at 3:30 in the morning and at 4:00 we were on our way in a rather rundown jeep with a quiet driver. We went down the hill, over the sea of sand at the base of Bromo, and then up to the viewpoint. What a surprise - two volcanoes - Bromo and Semeru. Semeru is the bigger volcano only visible from the viewpoint. It spews huge puffs of black smoke every so often. How stunning to see this ashy barren landscape bulging with ashen volcanoes, smoking and dormant! We then drove (with some difficulty - the jeep wasn't turning all that well) down the mountain to the sea of sands to the bottom of Bromo. I knew immediately that I couldn't climb the steep hill AND the stairs - so I braved a ride on a horse (see the photo) - lead by its owner up to the
bottom of the stairs and then climbed the 253 steps to the top of Mount Bromo! (pphoto) This one was an easy climb, unlike Mount Batur and we got to the top to peer into the smokefilled crater and hear the rumbling of the vent. Quite an extraordinary experience until the wind changed and the sulphur smoke choked us! We had about 15 good minutes, though, before the wind changed ato take photos and admire nature's wonders.

When we returned to the bottom we were not surprised our jeep would not start! Eventually our driver's friend picked us up in his jeep and all was well to return to the hotel and then back in a REAL shuttle (one hour) to Probollingo. Very efficient we were. We then went on an eight hour ride to Solo, where we are at this moment. More soon.

Gecko, Gecko--Bali

Gecko, Gecko--Bali, January 6, 2007

Arieh here. I tried to get Eitan or Avidan to write this entry but no luck. We have just spent two glorious weeks with our two wonderful boys--all of you know that I am objective on that point. Other than eating, shopping and watching dance performances almost every night, Bali is pretty boring. Actually, I am kidding a lot on that. Bali is very exciting. At night one learns why a Gecko is called a Gecko. It makes the sound of it's name and always twice in a row--Gecko, Gecko.

I am not going to write about everything we did in this entry. In addition to climbing up to a very nice waterfall (which seemed a dubious enterprise at first) I am also going to tell you about climbing up Mt. Batur, one of their holy mountains that is also a relatively active volcanoe (last minor eruption only 4 years ago--just some volcanic rock and fireballs, no lava flows). Of course there are lots of organized tours to take you there and back to wherever you are staying. We, on the other hand, were travelling with two of Eitan's impoverished student friends and that meant we were not going to do a really organized trip. That's not to say I would have done anything differently than we did. It just meant that I let the students do the negotiating and that worked out better for all of us. In short, we stayed at a hotel near the mountain and were woken up at 3:30AM for the morning ascent. There were 5 of us--me, Eitan, Avidan, Gregg and Danuta (Eitan's two friends). Val stayed back to guard the bed. The one-way trip is only about 1.5 hours, somewhat steep near the end and one then is treated to a view of the sunrise and Lombok island to the East. Mt. Batur is not the tallest mountain, it is just not too difficult or long to climb. We were treated to breakfast at the top in the midst of the morning cloud--the view was not that great. We then continued on for another 3.5 hours during daylight and cleard skies. This was the real exciting part--able to see the inside of the crater(S) and walk along the ridge.

The craters are not boiling lava as one might see on TV. No, these are pretty dry and covered in vegetation. There are some steam vents in evidence and some burned areas on different parts of the mountain, but no molten lava. However, walking along the ridge was a big treat (or threat if one is weak of heart). Parts of the top of the crater were no wider than two feet. And certainly not a nice paved walkway. There was also quite a strong wind up there and sometimes we were crouching low as we walked along. At times the path was slightly (60 cm) below the ridge and there was a "wall" to hold on to. Other times, the walkway was right at the top and nothing to hold on to. Falling or being blown off the trail may not have been fatal, but it would certainly have hurt. Both sides had quite steep dropoffs and I didn't see a lot of things to stop one's fall. Thankfully, no one fell and I can happily write about it.


Once off the ridge, we still had to descend to the base of the mountain and see other craters. That was about 2 more hours walking down the mountain through volcanic earth (very fertile), sparse vegetation and evidence of other steam vents. While we did not experience it (the sulphur levels were deemed too high), the guides sometimes are allowed to demonstrate the mountain by cooking an egg over one of these vents. We were also able to see the lava flows from the last major eruption in the 1960s (I think). Lots of black rock and easy to see from above where the lava stopped flowing. Quite impressive.

One final item. The day before we climbed the mountain Eitan's friends needed to buy a cell phone card. We were all there together and I was able to convince the store to give me one of their promotional t-shirts. I promised I would wear it and did so to the top of the mountain and then sent them a beautiful picture of us at the top advertising for them. Hope they are pleased. (picture).